Henry J. Tessler drew up the plans for the new Liberty Theatre in 1927 for Winchester Amusement Circuit. The original site for the theatre fell through but then 735-741 Carew Street was secured early in 1928. The Liberty opened on October 17, 1928 with a double feature of Clara bow in “The Fleet’s In” and Mary Brian in “Forgotten Fences.” It appears to have closed for movies on March 2, 1954 with “From Here to Eternity.” Wrestling matches are held in the Fall of 1954.
Loews left the Poli behind on June 30, 1964. It was taken on for a one year lease as the Poli Theatre closing June 30, 1965. It went dark for nearly one year before operators C&F Theatres took it on and renamed it the Poli Cinema April 7, 1966. At that time, they also had the Bijou operating in downtown. The theatre didn’t attract audiences and was closed permanently five months later on September 7, 1966 with “Cat on a Hot Time Roof” and “Butterfield 8.”
Associated Building Wreckers tore the building down in the 1980s. (And the address was 194 Worthington (on the opposite side of the street.)
Retailer W.T. Grant’s Grants Plaza launched in the fourth quarter of 1971. The plaza was to receive a Jerry Lewis automated twin theatre. However, as the venue was being built, the Lewis chain and its parent company were in free fall financial collapse. C&F Theatres took on the project as the Allen-Cooley Cinema Twin located in Grant’s Plaza. It launched May 25, 1973 with “The Family" and a Disney double feature of “Charley and the Angel” and “Cinderella.”
In 1975, the situation didn’t improve when W.T. Grant went into free fall and it closed its Grant City Allen-Cooley store in December and the remainder of its stores within a year’s time. But the theatre soldiered on likely to an opt out point at its lease. The Allen-Cooley Cinema Twin bolted after showtimes on November 12, 1986 showing “Tough Guys” and splitting a screen with “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Karate Kid II.”
The Rialto was a fairly short-lived theater. During the Depression it gave away free linens every Monday, free vanity wear on Tuesday, Big Country Store items on Wednesday and free cosmetics on Thursdays. The Rialto closed in December of 1930. It became a dance hall for two years. It was then converted into an A&P grocery store in 1935.
Goldstein Brothers Amusements announced the Strand Theatre early in 1916. Constructed by Patrick J. Mahoney, the Strand opened with “Who’s Guilty” on October 7, 1916. The venue converted to sound to main viable. The final shows on May 31, 1953 were “Jack McCall” and “White Lightning.” On June 9, 1953, it was announced by the Strand’s final operator, Liberty Theatres of Herman Rifkin Theaters, that the theater would become a parking lot for a Winchester Square supermarket. A salvage sale ad offered parts of the theatre for sale in July of 1953 including the marquee - cheap - during the demolition by Springfield Demolition.
The new-build Princess Theatre launched October 18, 1915 with Mary Pickford in “Rags.” It was equipped with a Wurlitzer Photoplayer. The J.E. Burke Building housed both the theater and the Candy Kitchen that served as the de-facto concession stand. Over 1,000 people came to the opening film.
The Princess Theatre opened on April 11, 1915 with “The Last Days of Pompeii.” It closed as a silent movie house in March of 1930. Homer Morley took on the venue equipping for sound at a grand relaunch on March 18, 1931. He declared bankruptcy closing the theatre on October 26, 1932. Phay A. Graffort took on the venue operating it as of February 28, 1933 changing its name later that year to the Hollywood Theatre. It closed October 18, 1962 with Rock Hudson and Lauren Bacall in “Written on the Sand.”
The Ready Theatre launched October 20, 1927 with “Swim Girl, Swim.” It closed as the Ready 4 Theatre on December 30, 2004. The next day, operators Moore Theatres relocated the multiplex into the former Wonderland Discount Store as the Wonderland Cinema opening December 31, 2004.
The Wonderland Cinema was opened by Moore Theatres on December 31, 2004 and got its name from the previous tenant, the Wonderland Discount Store. Ranging in size from 100 seats to 299, Moore Theatres replaced the Ready 4 Theatre which closed on December 30, 2004.
Baumann’s Riviera Theater launched November 25, 1920. On September 8, 1929, it was equipped with sound playing, “Alibi.” Discontinued advertising following a November 24, 1957 double feature of Spook Chasers and Target Earth. An urban renewal project led to the former Riviera’s demolition in 1970.
The Galleria Cinema I•II•III•IV•V operated for nearly 18 years by General Cinema Corporation (GCC). It launched December 17, 1982 - within two months of the Dallas Galleria’s launch on October 30, 1982. It would miss its leasing expiry with General Cinema Corporation (GCC) in economic freefall closing on October 17, 2000 just prior to the chain’s departure in Chapter 7 bankruptcy a year later. The GCC Galleria Cinema I-V venue operated in the Mall’s basement and was simply boarded up and used for storage. Many years later, the former theater’s lobby space was finally redesigned for restaurant usage. Its sloped floor auditorium space was not recaptured for usage as the Mall’s high vacancy rates in its upper floors proved much less costly to redevelop.
When the Galleria took Houston by storm in the 1970s, its developer, Gerald D. Hines, was ready to follow up his mall’s 1977 Galleria II expansion with a Galleria in Dallas, The original concept for the Galleria had been announced by George Poston in 1974 and, upon combining with Hines in 1977, looked to be a “go” and a sure-fire winner. The Poston-Hines’ Galleria was ready to feature high-end retailers Sakowitz, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue as anchors. Its proposed location would eventually be where the Galleria was built. But the Poston-Hines concept was scuttled in 1978 when the Prestonwood Mall was being built a mile north of Valley View Mall - itself, just blocks from the proposed Galleria.
General Cinema operated a twin-screen venue in the Valley View Mall opening in 1973 and operating there for about 20 years. Neiman Marcus had bolted to the new Prestonwood Mall and Sakowitz couldn’t wait any longer and opened its store in Sakowitz Village about a mile away in 1979. Each of those facilities would house cinemas. The Sakowitz Village was placed at Belt Line Road and the Dallas Parkway and in 1979, GCC created its Prestonwood Cinema IV there. Meanwhile, AMC opened an exterior cinema at the Prestonwood Mall.
In 1981, the Hines’ Galleria plan was back on following a short recession in the area. GCC had announced plans to add a single “Northpark III & IV” styled-auditorium as its “A” screen to become the GCC Montfort V. That project never occurred as Hines signed GCC to his Dallas Galleria concept late in 1981 with the chain turning its attention to its Galleria space that it had acquired that same year. Gyo Obata of the firm Hellmuth, Obata & Kassebaum were the main architects for the Galleria project including the cinema.
Newspaper accounts of GCC’s Galleria development promised an experience between the North Park I & II and the Northpark III & IV concepts. It sounded as swanky as the impressive Galleria Mall. The Galleria Mall opened in October 30, 1982 retaining Saks Fifth Avenue as an anchor and now joined by Chicago-based Marshall Field’s and San Francisco-based Gump’s. GCC was supposed to have opened at that time but wasn’t quite ready. However, it did launch within two months of the center’s start date opening on December 17, 1982 following a gala opening the previous night with the film, “Best Friends.” Two additional screens were ready for opening night with “Still of the Night” and “Kiss Me Goodbye” joining as opening attractions. But the venue was anything but a home run never achieving the grandeur of the Galleria’s ambitious mall design, the magic of the neighboring skating rink or even GCC’s promise to be more Northpark III/IV and less like a lesser mall theater.
As an aside, this was a favorite theater for me, personally. But the shortcomings abounded. First, the location within the Galleria was just off. While it was located in a high visibility mall near the bustling skating rink in the Galleria’s basement, it could easily be missed. It was challenging to view the cinema even peering down from the busy mall’s main floor. In-mall wayfinding and advertising was slight. As has been noted by commenters, rest room access was not well thought out and accessibility was even worse.
A second - and even more damning problem - was auditorium design which that proved to be much closer to the GCC Prestonwood than anyone anticipated with long, “shoe box” designs instead of the promised Northpark III & IV design. Further, Sunday night screenings were very challenging to navigate as the Mall was ostensibly closed at 6p on virtually all Sundays. Having a private show on Sunday night was one of the great joys of the GCC Galleria. And posts by employees on the site, Fickr, showed bored employees taking naps when all five screens were empty on Sunday late nights.
For General Cinema, having three theaters in such close proximity could have been viewed as a luxury were it not for GCC’s vastly superior locations at Northpark Mall (Nothaprk West I & II) and Northpark East across the highway (Northpark East III & IV). Those two locations were far more economically advantageous, had far better auditoriums and technology, and were destination venues. The three North Dallas locations were for convenience and not destination locations. Further complicating the profitability of all three North Dallas GCC locations were superior locations built by AMC with its Prestwood V (opening May of 1980) and United Artists with its UA Prestonwood Creek V (December 1980) each just two miles away. The majority of moviegoers selected the AMC and the UA as destination points for major films in that part of town. It was a zone within Dallas that had become the second most economically viable next to its Central Zone.
But with leases signed, GCC decided to keep all of the locations going until finally dumping its Valley View twin screener on January 5, 1992. General Cinema’s fortunes faded quickly thereafter as its aging multiplexes were being decimated all over the country by AMC, United Artists, and Cinemark - amongst others - building megaplexes in the 1995-2000 time range that featured 12 to 30 screens. In Dallas, the Cinemark 17 was built in 1995 less than four miles from the Galleria and the Loews Keystone was just five miles away opening in 1997. They, too, were destination locations for major films. The GCC Prestonwood / Montfort theater stayed afloat only by shifting to discount status somehow lasting to its ending on August 20, 1998 and, according to GCC, well beyond its profitability.
In a period of just a few months in 1998, GCC would additionally shutter the majority of its DFW locations including the Carrollton VI, Redbird V-X, Northpark III&IV, Town East VI, Town East V, White Settlement, and Collin Creek. Another wave of closures for the circuit took place on October 5, 2000 when four of the remaining seven DFW locations were closed. The company announced its Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan and the good news is that it said it was confidence of continuing as a leaner operation with its three complexes in DFW. It was such a small number of venues that it would have seemed impossible in the DFW marketplace less than ten years prior.
GCC gave the Galleria a vote of confidence not only saving it from the October 5th closures but in promoting it during its October 11, 2000 filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Galleria, the Furneaux Creek, and the newly-built Irving Mall 14 (reopening there in 1998) as part of GCC’s active and leaner 73-venue portfolio. But to highlight how badly positioned General Cinema was, that the sleepy and poorly designed Galleria V was viewed as one of its three most viable DFW locations moving forward spotlighted that General Cinema’s survival to industry experts had gone from a long shot to impossible.
And, within two weeks after it had gotten its vote of confidence, GCC rethought the plan as it was struggling to get bookings and to pay for advertising. GCC wisely, though sadly, quickly closed the Galleria and Furneaux Creek on the same date of October 17, 2000. “Space Cowboys” appears to be the last film shown. That evening’s showtimes - though posted and with employees - were not run despite a couple of patrons showing up. The Wednesday and Thursday posted shows were also not presented. Those with gift cards were directed to the only remaining DFW GCC in Irving Mall. That facility would operate through GCC’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy announcement one year later in October of 2001 to AMC’s December 2001 takeover of GCC locations.
The Galleria I-V theater space was expensive to convert and was simply boarded up and used for storage for a lengthy period. In late 2002, an architect re-envisioned the space with a plan that would turn the basement area into a restaurant court. Parts of the theatre - especially its lobby - were later retrofitted for the small restaurants. The auditorium spaces, due to their sloped floors, still remained in the 2020s as the Galleria struggled to remained viable with vacancy rates rising especially post-COVID 19 pandemic. The Galleria Mall did have the distinction of outlasting the Prestonwood Mall which was demolished in 2004 and the neighboring Valley View Mall which was demolished in 2023. And its Cinema did have bragging rights as being one of the final three locations for General Cinema in DFW.
There were three Boyes Theater buildings. Gerald MacPerhason opened this third and final location on November 6, 1948 at 96 Boyes Boulevard. The old Thomas Organ that had been situated in the previous theater - it having launched May 20, 1925 - was placed here and remained until it was sold in 1961. The original theatre appears to have opened in 1918.
The New Boyes Theatre was converted to widescreen in 1956 to present CInemaScope titles. Alton W. Finlay took on the theater along with two Petulauma theaters. The Boyes Theatre drew the ire of the community becoming a long-running adult theater beginning in 1971 during the height of the porno chic era of movie exhibition. The theatre closed in style with “Deep Throat” and “The Devil in Miss Jones” at the end of its thirty-year lease on April 30, 1978. In October of 1978, the theatre was converted to a Western Auto retail store.
This final chapter in movie exhibition history - and one hopes it will be a lengthy chapter - will be challenging to witness for theatre aficionados. At the same time, it’s equally worthy of recognizing the efforts of those facing insurmountable odds to keep their theaters going as long as they can or could. Well done, Regent / New 400. We salute you.
The Elvis Arvada location closed on March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic along with Elvis Cinemas other two locations. The Arvada showed outdoor movies on the face of the building as a drive-in during the pandemic before reopening late in the year. The location then switched to a first-run house and was completely reseated in 2022. However, it was permanently closed along with many movie theaters due to dwindling audiences in the streaming era on February 28, 2023. The other two Elvis locations had also closed - the Elvis Tiffany Plaza Movies 6 in December 2022 and the Littleton Elvis Cinemas Kipling 6 in February of 2023 - ending the fledgling circuit.
Manos Quality Theatres Enterprises opened this as the Mercer Mall Cinemas 8 as an outparcel building to the Mercer Mall in Bluefield, West Virginia on November 16 1990 with a benefit screening. It replaced an interior mall cinema that reportedly had launched when the Mercer Mall opened in 1980. On November 19, 1993, Carmike Theatres bought out the 1912-founded circuit started by Michael Manos - then operated by Ted Manos. The venue became the Carmike Cinemas 8.
In 2016, AMC bought the 1968-founded circuit started by C.L. Patrick and named after sons Carl and Mike (CarMike / Carmike). AMC rebranded all of its locations as one of three designations AMC Theatres, AMC CLASSIC, and AMC Dine-In on February 28, 2017. The majority of inherited - and especially older - locations including Carmike and Kerasotes locations - were given the Classic designation that included the Carmike “C” logo distinction. The Mercer Mall 8-plex was among the vast majority of Carmike locations rebranded. It became knows as the AMC CLASSIC Bluefield 8 on March 1, 2017.
The AMC CLASSIC Bluefield 8 closed on March 16, 2020 along with most other hardtop theaters in the U.S. due to the COVID-19 pandemic. AMC reopened its CLASSIC Bluefield 8 on September 4, 2020. In the streaming era, the circuit closed the AMC CLASSIC Bluefield 8 on February 26, 2023 at the end of a leasing period.
Eugene Phalan’s $100,000 new-build Allis Theatre was announced in 1925 as a replacement for the existing Allis. It launched for Phalan’s Allis Amusemements Co. on September 4, 1925 with Motiograph projectors, a Barton pipe organ and Stafford seating.
Henry J. Tessler drew up the plans for the new Liberty Theatre in 1927 for Winchester Amusement Circuit. The original site for the theatre fell through but then 735-741 Carew Street was secured early in 1928. The Liberty opened on October 17, 1928 with a double feature of Clara bow in “The Fleet’s In” and Mary Brian in “Forgotten Fences.” It appears to have closed for movies on March 2, 1954 with “From Here to Eternity.” Wrestling matches are held in the Fall of 1954.
The Bijou closed following the showings of “Sexual Hangup” and “Executive Wives” on July 30, 1975.
Loews left the Poli behind on June 30, 1964. It was taken on for a one year lease as the Poli Theatre closing June 30, 1965. It went dark for nearly one year before operators C&F Theatres took it on and renamed it the Poli Cinema April 7, 1966. At that time, they also had the Bijou operating in downtown. The theatre didn’t attract audiences and was closed permanently five months later on September 7, 1966 with “Cat on a Hot Time Roof” and “Butterfield 8.”
Associated Building Wreckers tore the building down in the 1980s. (And the address was 194 Worthington (on the opposite side of the street.)
Retailer W.T. Grant’s Grants Plaza launched in the fourth quarter of 1971. The plaza was to receive a Jerry Lewis automated twin theatre. However, as the venue was being built, the Lewis chain and its parent company were in free fall financial collapse. C&F Theatres took on the project as the Allen-Cooley Cinema Twin located in Grant’s Plaza. It launched May 25, 1973 with “The Family" and a Disney double feature of “Charley and the Angel” and “Cinderella.”
In 1975, the situation didn’t improve when W.T. Grant went into free fall and it closed its Grant City Allen-Cooley store in December and the remainder of its stores within a year’s time. But the theatre soldiered on likely to an opt out point at its lease. The Allen-Cooley Cinema Twin bolted after showtimes on November 12, 1986 showing “Tough Guys” and splitting a screen with “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Karate Kid II.”
Opened November 1916
The Rialto was a fairly short-lived theater. During the Depression it gave away free linens every Monday, free vanity wear on Tuesday, Big Country Store items on Wednesday and free cosmetics on Thursdays. The Rialto closed in December of 1930. It became a dance hall for two years. It was then converted into an A&P grocery store in 1935.
Goldstein Brothers Amusements announced the Strand Theatre early in 1916. Constructed by Patrick J. Mahoney, the Strand opened with “Who’s Guilty” on October 7, 1916. The venue converted to sound to main viable. The final shows on May 31, 1953 were “Jack McCall” and “White Lightning.” On June 9, 1953, it was announced by the Strand’s final operator, Liberty Theatres of Herman Rifkin Theaters, that the theater would become a parking lot for a Winchester Square supermarket. A salvage sale ad offered parts of the theatre for sale in July of 1953 including the marquee - cheap - during the demolition by Springfield Demolition.
Opened March 1, 1948 by R.A. Goodman, the operator of the Mae Theatre in Oakboro and the Norwood Theatre in Norwood.
The King-Ridge (hyphenated) Drive-In Theatre opened on November 15, 1952 with “Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair.”
The new-build Princess Theatre launched October 18, 1915 with Mary Pickford in “Rags.” It was equipped with a Wurlitzer Photoplayer. The J.E. Burke Building housed both the theater and the Candy Kitchen that served as the de-facto concession stand. Over 1,000 people came to the opening film.
The Princess Theatre opened on April 11, 1915 with “The Last Days of Pompeii.” It closed as a silent movie house in March of 1930. Homer Morley took on the venue equipping for sound at a grand relaunch on March 18, 1931. He declared bankruptcy closing the theatre on October 26, 1932. Phay A. Graffort took on the venue operating it as of February 28, 1933 changing its name later that year to the Hollywood Theatre. It closed October 18, 1962 with Rock Hudson and Lauren Bacall in “Written on the Sand.”
The Ready Theatre launched October 20, 1927 with “Swim Girl, Swim.” It closed as the Ready 4 Theatre on December 30, 2004. The next day, operators Moore Theatres relocated the multiplex into the former Wonderland Discount Store as the Wonderland Cinema opening December 31, 2004.
The Wonderland Cinema was opened by Moore Theatres on December 31, 2004 and got its name from the previous tenant, the Wonderland Discount Store. Ranging in size from 100 seats to 299, Moore Theatres replaced the Ready 4 Theatre which closed on December 30, 2004.
Baumann’s Riviera Theater launched November 25, 1920. On September 8, 1929, it was equipped with sound playing, “Alibi.” Discontinued advertising following a November 24, 1957 double feature of Spook Chasers and Target Earth. An urban renewal project led to the former Riviera’s demolition in 1970.
The Galleria Cinema I•II•III•IV•V operated for nearly 18 years by General Cinema Corporation (GCC). It launched December 17, 1982 - within two months of the Dallas Galleria’s launch on October 30, 1982. It would miss its leasing expiry with General Cinema Corporation (GCC) in economic freefall closing on October 17, 2000 just prior to the chain’s departure in Chapter 7 bankruptcy a year later. The GCC Galleria Cinema I-V venue operated in the Mall’s basement and was simply boarded up and used for storage. Many years later, the former theater’s lobby space was finally redesigned for restaurant usage. Its sloped floor auditorium space was not recaptured for usage as the Mall’s high vacancy rates in its upper floors proved much less costly to redevelop.
When the Galleria took Houston by storm in the 1970s, its developer, Gerald D. Hines, was ready to follow up his mall’s 1977 Galleria II expansion with a Galleria in Dallas, The original concept for the Galleria had been announced by George Poston in 1974 and, upon combining with Hines in 1977, looked to be a “go” and a sure-fire winner. The Poston-Hines’ Galleria was ready to feature high-end retailers Sakowitz, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue as anchors. Its proposed location would eventually be where the Galleria was built. But the Poston-Hines concept was scuttled in 1978 when the Prestonwood Mall was being built a mile north of Valley View Mall - itself, just blocks from the proposed Galleria.
General Cinema operated a twin-screen venue in the Valley View Mall opening in 1973 and operating there for about 20 years. Neiman Marcus had bolted to the new Prestonwood Mall and Sakowitz couldn’t wait any longer and opened its store in Sakowitz Village about a mile away in 1979. Each of those facilities would house cinemas. The Sakowitz Village was placed at Belt Line Road and the Dallas Parkway and in 1979, GCC created its Prestonwood Cinema IV there. Meanwhile, AMC opened an exterior cinema at the Prestonwood Mall.
In 1981, the Hines’ Galleria plan was back on following a short recession in the area. GCC had announced plans to add a single “Northpark III & IV” styled-auditorium as its “A” screen to become the GCC Montfort V. That project never occurred as Hines signed GCC to his Dallas Galleria concept late in 1981 with the chain turning its attention to its Galleria space that it had acquired that same year. Gyo Obata of the firm Hellmuth, Obata & Kassebaum were the main architects for the Galleria project including the cinema.
Newspaper accounts of GCC’s Galleria development promised an experience between the North Park I & II and the Northpark III & IV concepts. It sounded as swanky as the impressive Galleria Mall. The Galleria Mall opened in October 30, 1982 retaining Saks Fifth Avenue as an anchor and now joined by Chicago-based Marshall Field’s and San Francisco-based Gump’s. GCC was supposed to have opened at that time but wasn’t quite ready. However, it did launch within two months of the center’s start date opening on December 17, 1982 following a gala opening the previous night with the film, “Best Friends.” Two additional screens were ready for opening night with “Still of the Night” and “Kiss Me Goodbye” joining as opening attractions. But the venue was anything but a home run never achieving the grandeur of the Galleria’s ambitious mall design, the magic of the neighboring skating rink or even GCC’s promise to be more Northpark III/IV and less like a lesser mall theater.
As an aside, this was a favorite theater for me, personally. But the shortcomings abounded. First, the location within the Galleria was just off. While it was located in a high visibility mall near the bustling skating rink in the Galleria’s basement, it could easily be missed. It was challenging to view the cinema even peering down from the busy mall’s main floor. In-mall wayfinding and advertising was slight. As has been noted by commenters, rest room access was not well thought out and accessibility was even worse.
A second - and even more damning problem - was auditorium design which that proved to be much closer to the GCC Prestonwood than anyone anticipated with long, “shoe box” designs instead of the promised Northpark III & IV design. Further, Sunday night screenings were very challenging to navigate as the Mall was ostensibly closed at 6p on virtually all Sundays. Having a private show on Sunday night was one of the great joys of the GCC Galleria. And posts by employees on the site, Fickr, showed bored employees taking naps when all five screens were empty on Sunday late nights.
For General Cinema, having three theaters in such close proximity could have been viewed as a luxury were it not for GCC’s vastly superior locations at Northpark Mall (Nothaprk West I & II) and Northpark East across the highway (Northpark East III & IV). Those two locations were far more economically advantageous, had far better auditoriums and technology, and were destination venues. The three North Dallas locations were for convenience and not destination locations. Further complicating the profitability of all three North Dallas GCC locations were superior locations built by AMC with its Prestwood V (opening May of 1980) and United Artists with its UA Prestonwood Creek V (December 1980) each just two miles away. The majority of moviegoers selected the AMC and the UA as destination points for major films in that part of town. It was a zone within Dallas that had become the second most economically viable next to its Central Zone.
But with leases signed, GCC decided to keep all of the locations going until finally dumping its Valley View twin screener on January 5, 1992. General Cinema’s fortunes faded quickly thereafter as its aging multiplexes were being decimated all over the country by AMC, United Artists, and Cinemark - amongst others - building megaplexes in the 1995-2000 time range that featured 12 to 30 screens. In Dallas, the Cinemark 17 was built in 1995 less than four miles from the Galleria and the Loews Keystone was just five miles away opening in 1997. They, too, were destination locations for major films. The GCC Prestonwood / Montfort theater stayed afloat only by shifting to discount status somehow lasting to its ending on August 20, 1998 and, according to GCC, well beyond its profitability.
In a period of just a few months in 1998, GCC would additionally shutter the majority of its DFW locations including the Carrollton VI, Redbird V-X, Northpark III&IV, Town East VI, Town East V, White Settlement, and Collin Creek. Another wave of closures for the circuit took place on October 5, 2000 when four of the remaining seven DFW locations were closed. The company announced its Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan and the good news is that it said it was confidence of continuing as a leaner operation with its three complexes in DFW. It was such a small number of venues that it would have seemed impossible in the DFW marketplace less than ten years prior.
GCC gave the Galleria a vote of confidence not only saving it from the October 5th closures but in promoting it during its October 11, 2000 filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Galleria, the Furneaux Creek, and the newly-built Irving Mall 14 (reopening there in 1998) as part of GCC’s active and leaner 73-venue portfolio. But to highlight how badly positioned General Cinema was, that the sleepy and poorly designed Galleria V was viewed as one of its three most viable DFW locations moving forward spotlighted that General Cinema’s survival to industry experts had gone from a long shot to impossible.
And, within two weeks after it had gotten its vote of confidence, GCC rethought the plan as it was struggling to get bookings and to pay for advertising. GCC wisely, though sadly, quickly closed the Galleria and Furneaux Creek on the same date of October 17, 2000. “Space Cowboys” appears to be the last film shown. That evening’s showtimes - though posted and with employees - were not run despite a couple of patrons showing up. The Wednesday and Thursday posted shows were also not presented. Those with gift cards were directed to the only remaining DFW GCC in Irving Mall. That facility would operate through GCC’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy announcement one year later in October of 2001 to AMC’s December 2001 takeover of GCC locations.
The Galleria I-V theater space was expensive to convert and was simply boarded up and used for storage for a lengthy period. In late 2002, an architect re-envisioned the space with a plan that would turn the basement area into a restaurant court. Parts of the theatre - especially its lobby - were later retrofitted for the small restaurants. The auditorium spaces, due to their sloped floors, still remained in the 2020s as the Galleria struggled to remained viable with vacancy rates rising especially post-COVID 19 pandemic. The Galleria Mall did have the distinction of outlasting the Prestonwood Mall which was demolished in 2004 and the neighboring Valley View Mall which was demolished in 2023. And its Cinema did have bragging rights as being one of the final three locations for General Cinema in DFW.
Architect - David Rockwell
There were three Boyes Theater buildings. Gerald MacPerhason opened this third and final location on November 6, 1948 at 96 Boyes Boulevard. The old Thomas Organ that had been situated in the previous theater - it having launched May 20, 1925 - was placed here and remained until it was sold in 1961. The original theatre appears to have opened in 1918.
The New Boyes Theatre was converted to widescreen in 1956 to present CInemaScope titles. Alton W. Finlay took on the theater along with two Petulauma theaters. The Boyes Theatre drew the ire of the community becoming a long-running adult theater beginning in 1971 during the height of the porno chic era of movie exhibition. The theatre closed in style with “Deep Throat” and “The Devil in Miss Jones” at the end of its thirty-year lease on April 30, 1978. In October of 1978, the theatre was converted to a Western Auto retail store.
And finally - and mercifully - the former theatre was razed in March and April of 2023.
This final chapter in movie exhibition history - and one hopes it will be a lengthy chapter - will be challenging to witness for theatre aficionados. At the same time, it’s equally worthy of recognizing the efforts of those facing insurmountable odds to keep their theaters going as long as they can or could. Well done, Regent / New 400. We salute you.
The Elvis Arvada location closed on March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic along with Elvis Cinemas other two locations. The Arvada showed outdoor movies on the face of the building as a drive-in during the pandemic before reopening late in the year. The location then switched to a first-run house and was completely reseated in 2022. However, it was permanently closed along with many movie theaters due to dwindling audiences in the streaming era on February 28, 2023. The other two Elvis locations had also closed - the Elvis Tiffany Plaza Movies 6 in December 2022 and the Littleton Elvis Cinemas Kipling 6 in February of 2023 - ending the fledgling circuit.
Closed as the Elvis Tiffany Plaza Cinemas 6 on December 4, 2022
The Temple announced its final day of operation as June 29, 2023.
Manos Quality Theatres Enterprises opened this as the Mercer Mall Cinemas 8 as an outparcel building to the Mercer Mall in Bluefield, West Virginia on November 16 1990 with a benefit screening. It replaced an interior mall cinema that reportedly had launched when the Mercer Mall opened in 1980. On November 19, 1993, Carmike Theatres bought out the 1912-founded circuit started by Michael Manos - then operated by Ted Manos. The venue became the Carmike Cinemas 8.
In 2016, AMC bought the 1968-founded circuit started by C.L. Patrick and named after sons Carl and Mike (CarMike / Carmike). AMC rebranded all of its locations as one of three designations AMC Theatres, AMC CLASSIC, and AMC Dine-In on February 28, 2017. The majority of inherited - and especially older - locations including Carmike and Kerasotes locations - were given the Classic designation that included the Carmike “C” logo distinction. The Mercer Mall 8-plex was among the vast majority of Carmike locations rebranded. It became knows as the AMC CLASSIC Bluefield 8 on March 1, 2017.
The AMC CLASSIC Bluefield 8 closed on March 16, 2020 along with most other hardtop theaters in the U.S. due to the COVID-19 pandemic. AMC reopened its CLASSIC Bluefield 8 on September 4, 2020. In the streaming era, the circuit closed the AMC CLASSIC Bluefield 8 on February 26, 2023 at the end of a leasing period.
February 28, 2023 is the final date. A burst pipe and argument with the City of International Falls seems to have been the final straw.
Eugene Phalan’s $100,000 new-build Allis Theatre was announced in 1925 as a replacement for the existing Allis. It launched for Phalan’s Allis Amusemements Co. on September 4, 1925 with Motiograph projectors, a Barton pipe organ and Stafford seating.