Petite 3 Theatre
1265 East Battlefield,
Springfield,
MO
65804
1265 East Battlefield,
Springfield,
MO
65804
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The three screen Petite opened in 1964. It was one of the first to open around the Battlefield Mall. This 700 plus seat theatre lasted until 1992 when compitition from the newly opening multiplexes took its toll on the Petite. The last couple years it was operated as a discount theatre.
Contributed by
Chuck Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
The Petite 3 opened in the early to mid 1970’s, as that stretch of Battlefield road/street didn’t exist in 1964. It has been torn down, and the site is now a Pep Boys auto parts store.
I worked at the Petite 3 when it showed Top Gun. I had a lot of fun. It was always packed.
The theatre actually opened as a opening gala on April 19th, 1973 and publicly opening the next day with The Life and Times Of Judge Roy Bean on Screen 1, The Thief Who Came To Dinner on Screen 2 and Fiddler On The Roof on Screen 3. The theatre probably made Springfield movie theatre history when The Legend Of Boggy Creek was shown on two screens due to popular demand on July 27th of that same year after its July 25th start.
The Petite was THE theater for teenagers, as I recall. My high school (Glendale) even took their yearbook pictures in the lobby. They always seemed to get the “cool” movies, despite having dinky auditoriums. For about 12+ years, the Petite and Fremont were fierce rivals, being across the street from each other and both about the same size. Both were done in by the Campbell 16 that Wehrenberg opened in 1996.
This theatre showed Raiders Of The Lost Ark for 54 weeks from 6/12/1981 to 6/24/1982.
The theatre opened as a Dubinsky theatre and became a Dickinson theatre on December 2nd, 1983.
The theatre was closed from November to December 1985 for remodeling and reopened on December 20th, 1985 with 101 Dalmatians, Plenty and A Chorus Line.
The theatre would switch to second run on November 27th, 1991, less than two weeks after the Dickinson (now Springfield) 8 opened with The Naked Gun 2 ½, Backdraft and V.I. Warshawski.
This would not last long as the theatre would close less than six months later on May 17th, 1992 with Medicine Man, Hook and Blame It On The Bellboy.
Actually, it was less than a week later.