Showcase Cinemas Milan
107 West Tenth Street,
Milan,
IL
107 West Tenth Street,
Milan,
IL
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This complex put almost all of the downtown theaters out of business when it opened in 1968. The ones that survived went to second-run status. This was essentially abandoned in favor of a bigger complex across the river in Davenport. A Hy-vee supermarket and a few other establishments now occupy the property.
Ah, yes. I remember this one well. My family moved to the QC in 1981 so dad could take over as Managing Director. We were too late for Star Wars, but I sat through Raiders of the Lost Ark a dozen times, and Superman, E.T., and Porky’s – the first R-rated film my parents ever let me watch. Even worked there one summer as a grounds keeper before switching to the newly opened (and short-lived) RazzMaTazz on the same lot.
I saw Star Wars at Showcase Cinemas in Milan when I was 7, and saw every movie of my childhood there until 1983 when a small one screen theater opened up in nearby Moline, IL.
I was disappointed when Showcase cinemas spit most of their original theaters, thereby making their big screens not that big, but If I remember right,they left just one of the big screens in tact for big first day showings. I move away to Chicago in 1991 and only saw a few movies there in the following few years, when coming home for holidays.. then I never saw the theater again till several years later when I moved back to the Quad Cities, only to find they closed it in favor of the Showcase Cinemas in Davenport, which is one of those Cookie Cutter megaplexes.
While the Cookie Cutter type theaters are nice, and modern…. I preferred the old school Showcase Cinemas in Milan, and was sad to see it torn down. The property is now being used to build a new Hy Vee grocery Store… all I can say is.. That property is supposed to have a theater on it… the grocery store that is now in its place is an abomination of the property :)