Charles Cinema
185 Cambridge Street,
Boston,
MA
02114
185 Cambridge Street,
Boston,
MA
02114
10 people
favorited this theater
The Charles Cinema had, for a time, the biggest movie screen in Massachusetts. It was a great place to see an ‘event’ movie, like “The Empire Strikes Back” or other blockbusters. The style was modern and simple. The Charles Cinema was the “Astor Plaza” of Boston: a top-notch presentation with a huge audience.
The Charles Cinema was built for the Walter Reade circuit. The Charles Cinema eventually became part of Loews and was closed in 1994.
If anybody else knows more history on the Charles, please share!
Contributed by
Ian Judge
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Recent comments (view all 76 comments)
Not quite as famous as Leno or Fonzie, but I worked at the Charles with Mario Cantone, who was as high-energy then as he is now (and I mean that in a good way).
But I saw Gettysburg at the Charles. Maybe it opened simultaneously at Coolidge?
I believe that gettysburg opened 1st for about 3 weeks at the Coolidge Corner then Moved over to the Charles. Sack didnb’t want it because it was too long and he could only get about 3 screenings per day. So the coolidge tookit. The same thing happened to the 1st Muppetts movie. Sacl controlled downtown at that time and he thought it was probably too G to make money. So of all the theatres to take it was the Exeter and they laughed all the way too the bank for many weeks.
I think Loews had taken over the Charles by the time Gettysburg opened.
There are two pictures of the Charles Cinema (scroll down about a third of the way) on this webpage.
To Dan P and others. When Reade opened the Charles it had the 2nd largest ccreen in downtown Boston. #1 was the Music Hall and # 2 was the Astor which was never owned or run by Sack or USA or Lowes. Gettysburg opened at the Coolidge Corner and then 3 weeks later at the Charles. Both theatres ran it in 70mm. I believe the CC is still equipped with 70mm. I don,t believe the CitiWang(Music Hall) has 70mm anymore.
For people who have been posting them here, and those who don’t know- there are exterior & auditorium photos of this one on cinematour. It doesn’t matter if other websites steal those photos. THIS website has a policy against that so those photos have been removed.
“Shadow Box Screen” pictured in this 1967 trade report: Boxoffice
When I was a kid, standing on line at the Charles was an essential part of the Star Wars experience, for all three movies. The line would wrap around the building. Waiting added to the excitement, made the whole thing an event.
Recently, some friends held their daughter’s birthday party at the Brattle, and screened a DVD of Star Wars. When the opening theme started, I was instantly back at the Charles, finally in my seat after a half hour in line.
April 7th, 1967 grand opening ad uploaded here.