The Town & Country appears to have closed on August 10, 1986 with double-features of “Club Paradise” and “Wildcats” on one screen and “Ruthless People” and “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” on the other.
Grand opening of the new Washita Theatre took place August 1, 1941 with Ginger Rogers in “Tom, Dick and Harry” with Abbott and Costello in “Hold That Ghost.”
Commonwealth Amusements built the The Heritage Plaza 5 that opened on March 21, 1986 in a strip shopping center just behind the Heritage Park Mall giving them a more convenient multiplex for Midwest City patrons. Commonwealth had acquired the interior Heritage Park Mal Mall 3 from the Oklahoma Cinema Circuit on June 5, 1981.
United Artists bought out Commonwealth Amusement in November of 1988. Aggressively building 6- and 8-screen facilities throughout the United States, UA started to weed out smaller theaters. It had 9 OKC locations at the start of 1989. A year later, it had just four. UA closed the French Market 2, Quail Plaza 2, Reding 4, and Shepherd Twin in 1989. It would retain both Heritage Park locations, its Almonte 6, and would keep the North Park quad a little longer before closing it.
On November 16, 1996, Hollywood Theaters took on the remaining United Artists theatres with the two Midwest City Heritage Park venues and the Almonte. Hollywood would join the megaplex boom soon thereafter operating the Spotlight 14 and Penn Square 10 as market-changers, Cinemark launched the Tinseltown USA and AMC opened its Quail Spring 24 in OKC.
Hollywood Theaters made it to the end of a 30-year lease as the Heritage Park Mall 3 as a first-run theater closing July 25, 1999. The circuit locked up the Heritage Park 5 after shows on January 31, 2006 and didn’t come back. The operator was likely assumed the end of a 20-year lease. But later in the year, it was sued for back rent payments with a November court order trying to evict the theater circuit. This appears to have been a successful plan and the facility was converted to a church.
The Edmond Plaza Twin closed July 8, 1993. On September 15, 1993, an auction was held. The theater’s marquee sold for $1. Theatre seats were auctioned off bringing five cents per seat.
United Artists closed the Apollo Twin at the end of a 20-year lease on December 31, 1989 with two sub-run $1 discount showings of “Parenthood” and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”
The Wiley Post Cinema was named for the aviation enthusiast and the airport that was about three miles away. Galaxy Theatres’ twin-screen cinema lifted off on October 20, 1974 (ad in photos) at what was called MacArthur Mall in Warr Acres when it opened that year. It launched with “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” paired with a Three Stooges short and “Young Guns of Texas” on a repertory 45 cent opening day. The MacArthur was a minor mall and would struggle at the outset. Galaxy Theatres' portfolio was soon in the hands of the Oklahoma Cinema Theatres Circuit and the Wiley Post appears to have been grounded as churn was afoot at the MacArthur Mall.
On April 1, 1975, the Macarthur Mall changed names to the Westpark Mall with a grand opening. The theatre was renamed the Westpark Cinema often advertising as the West Park Cinema (should be its other alternate name along with Wiley Post) which was opened December 25, 1975 with George Kennedy in “The Human Factor” & Charles Bronson in “Hard Times”. However, its name was officially the one-word Westpark Cinema but both shops and cinema vacillated between West Park Mall / West Park Cinema and the correct Westpark Mall and Westpark Cinema. As long as the rent checks cleared, my guess is that the developer didn’t care all that much.
The Westpark was closed on June 29, 1986 with Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Raw Deal” & Jean-Claude Van Damme in “No Retreat, No Surrender”. The Westpark Mall reached greyfield status as retailers bailed at the end of ten-year leases. The mall transferred to new operators in 1993 who got one anchor - a Dollar General - which carried it through for its next 20-year cycle. Nearly empty, the Westpark was sold in 2012 for $2 million. The former theater and former MacArthur turned Westpark Mall was torn down and is now an all outdoor shopping strip that featured a popular WalMart Grocery Store.
The Adair Mini-Mall opened on June 1, 1971 with Adair’s Cafeteria being the operator and star attraction. But in the exterior of the center was a theater that projected 16mm repertory fare along with contemporary features. It opened as the M-M Cinema with the initials standing for “Mini-Mall” Cinema (it was not the M “&”M”). In 1975, the cinema was renamed as the Mini Mall Theatre to perhaps make it clearer what M-M stood for. That was its name to closure in 1977 when the “Adair’s” was dropped from the Mini-Mall when Adair’s Cafeteria moved to new digs.
But the theater wasn’t through quite yet. Bob Hammack and Kim Kueteman reopened the theatre as the Bijou Classic Cinema in the Mini-Mall in July of 1978 which started with an all rep policy. When folks weren’t coming, it changed to mainstream films with repertory at midnight as the Bijou Cinema. People didn’t like that either. So the Bijou Cinema closed in 1979 with Hammack and Kueteman citing low attendance and with the pair moving all future screenings to the Grover Cleveland Arts Institute beginning in October of 1979.
With the theatre and Adair’s departing, Tuesday Morning, Inc. became the main attraction and the name of the plaza became the Tuesday Morning Mall. When Tuesday Morning bolted, the center went with a “micro” vendors concept and was renamed the Britton Street Mall in March of 2009.
The French Market Mall launched with its first phase theatre-less with a preview on August 4, 1972. The second phase including an Oklahoma Cinema Theaters Inc. Circuit twin, the French Market Cinema Twin that opened November 14, 1975 with George Kennedy in “The Human Factor” and Natalie Wood in “Peeper.” On June 5, 1981, Commonwealth Amusement Circuit added the Oklahoma Cinema Circuit’s locations of North Park Theater 4, Heritage Park Mall Cinema Three and the French Market Twin.
United Artists bought out Commonwealth in November of 1988. It started to weed out smaller theaters. UA bid au revoir to the French Market 2 theatre which had been demoted to discount $1 house status on September 3, 1989 with “Lock Up” and “Weekend at Bernies.” It also shuttered its Quail Plaza 2, Reding 4, and Shepherd Twin - all aging locations as it wanted to concentrate on 6- and 8-screen multiplexes instead of twins and aging quads.
The theatre was used as a live theatre venue from 1992 to 1994.
The Almonte Shopping Center launched theatre-less in 1963. But Commonwealth Amusement Corp. Circuit changed that with the addition of the Almonte Cinema 6 on June 19, 1981. At the same time, Commonwealth added the Oklahoma Cinema Circuit’s locations of North Park Theater 4, French Market Twin, and Heritage Park Mall Cinema Three. United Artists bought out Commonwealth. It started to weed out smaller theaters. The Almonte 6 made the cut operating all the way until October of 1996 when UA dropped it at the end of the month likely at the end of a 15-year opt out on a lease.
Hollywood Theaters picked up the Almonte in December of 1996 and then all of the discarded GCC locations as of August 15, 1997. It ran its expanded portfolio with the Almonte 6 staying first-run to 1999. But the launch of megaplexes including Cinemark Tinseltown and the AMC Quail Springs 24-plex was a disaster to Hollywood Theater’s aging multiplexes. It closed the Almonte theater briefly in May of 1999 to reposition the aging six-plex to a dollar house along with the Quail Springs 6 location. But with a marketplace overstated with aging discount houses, both the Almonte 6 and Quail Springs 6 were quick casualties. The Almonte closed on December 17, 1999. The Quail Springs closed two weeks later. Hollywood would continue to shed locations including the Brixton 8 until it had just one theater in the market in January of 2008.
The AMC Northwest Cinema opened May 20, 1986 with four screens active playing “Sweet Liberty,” “Short Circuit” and “Top Gun” on two screens. It closed September 6, 1999.
DeVargas Shopping Center launched in phases beginning on October 28, 1970 with its first anchor, Montogmery Ward opening there. Additions led to name changes over time that included DeVargas Center Mall, DeVargas Mall and DeVargas Center. At the DeVargas Center Mall phase of 1973, a spot was carved out for a twin-screen theater for the American Automated Theatres Inc. Circuit (AATI).
Arguably, this was the most successful of all AATI locations. J. Cooper Burks out of Oklahoma City identified Ralph Lindell as the franchisee late in 1973. The theatre launched February 16, 1974 as The Movies! 1 & 2 - De Vargas Center Mall. New operators took on the location and in June of 1980 it lost its exclamation mark as the more sedate, Movies Twin - DeVargas Mall. The theatre closed at the end of a ten-year leasing agreement.
The theatre relaunched as Movies. Commonwealth ran the theatre as the Movies Twin and then the De Vargas Twin before selling out to United Artists. The theatre closed on January 10, 1992 for a major remodel as UA was shuttering twin-screen locations in favor of 6-screen and 8-screen multiplexes. The theater re-emerged on May 22, 1992 as the UA De Vargas 6. UA closed at the end of a 15-year lease opt out on January 22, 2017. At 44 years of operation, this was the longest-running of any of the AATI venues.
Arguably, this was the most successful of all of the American Automated Theatres Inc. Circuit (AATI) locations. J. Cooper Burks out of Oklahoma City identified Ralph Lindell as the franchisee late in 1973. The theatre launched February 16, 1974 as The Movies! 1 & 2 - De Vargas Center Mall. New operators took on the location and in June of 1980 it lost its exclamation mark as the more sedate, Movies Twin - DeVargas Mall. The theatre closed at the end of a ten-year leasing agreement.
The theatre relaunched as Movies. Commonwealth ran the theatre as the Movies Twin and then the De Vargas Twin before selling out to United Artists. The theatre closed on January 10, 1992 for a major remodel as UA was shuttering twin-screen locations in favor of 6-screen and 8-screen multiplexes. The theater re-emerged on May 22, 1992 as the UA De Vargas 6. UA closed at the end of a 15-year lease opt out on January 22, 2017. At 44 years of operation, this was the longest-running of any of the AATI venues.
Sorry to be five years late in response, but this wasn’t a Jerry Lewis Cinema. Not in concept and not when in business - the company, Network Cinema Corporation, was already out of business. It was The Movies! - Brookhollow as stated above by American Automated Theatres Inc. Circuit by J. Cooper Burks out of Oklahoma City and franchisee was Major Walt Mergenhagen.
The Sunset Plaza was a $1 million retail strip built theatre-less in 1959 and opening in 1960. In February of 1971, American Automated Theatres, Inc. announced its second location to be built at the Plaza. AATI was in the vein of Jerry Lewis Theatres and National General in putting classified ads that basically asked for a franchise fee in exchange for blueprints for a fully automated, one-button touch movie theater that would operate itself and watch the profits roll in.
Don E. and Carol Porter were the franchisees and launched the Movies! 1 & 2 June 30, 1971 with “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and “One More Train to Rob.” And it didn’t take long for both parties to be in court as on April 5, 1972, the two were engaged in a legal suit over the franchise contract. It was the first of many court dates for American Automated Theatres' venture and not its last in Salina. In June of 1972, the Porters were out at the Sunset Plaza and AATI took on the venture, itself.
On July 23, 1974, with AATI on the ropes, Dickinson Theaters took on the venue renaming it the Sunset Cinemas. AATI would be in court for allegedly not paying for radio advertisements to KINA radio. On January 14, 2000, Dickinson repositioned the theatre as a discount sub-run $1 ticket and concession house as a test run for the circuit. It was a failure and the theatre closed soon thereafter and offered for lease.
The Radford Hills Movies! was announced in 1974 as part of the American Automated Theatres Inc. circuit based in Oklahoma City. AATI offered one-button theatre operation blueprints for a franchise fee. But the theatre operator was oft-suied as was the case here where AATI was brought into two different suits, the first of which it lost in December of 1974 by default and the second of which was in 1976 at which time the Radord Hills Shopping Center figured out that there was no chance of a Movies!
Fast forward to August 5, 1977 and E&B Enterprises took over the project and launched the Radford Hills Cinema 3 in the shopping center of the same name. E&B’s Circuit had 35 theaters at the time it opened teaming with Cinema Southwest Inc. The 9,900 sq. ft. facility was built at a cost of $580,000 with each identical auditorium seating 300 and screen size of 14x28'. Each screen had its Optical Radiation Corp. Orcon II platter projection system and was automated.
Correction: American Automated Theatres opened the theater after Spectro decided against the quad-plex. (and technically, it’s original name was The Movies! and not Movies )
The City of Moore Shopping Center was a retail plaza that opened theatre-less in 1963. Joseph Cooper Burks of American Automated Theatres Inc. (AATI) announced the Moore The Movies! in 1971 as the fledgling circuit’s fourth location. Like the Jerry Lewis Circuit and National General Circuit, AATI would show family films in theaters that were placed in or often behind strip shopping centers. They were also pitched as “one button” operations that had a nickelodeon vibe. It opened on November 19, 1971 with free films, “A Man Called Horse” and “Tarzan’s Jungle Rebellion.”
AATI would go out of business not finishing its proposed Reding IV - which would have been the circuit’s first non-twin or single screen venture. Additionally, Burks would end up in other problems soon thereafter. But new operators took on the Moore The Movies! venue in March of 1975. The Movies! turned to discount, sub-run films in 1980 under manager Kerry Rogers. There was no more Moore’s The Movies! which closed on January 31, 1985 with “Pinocchio.”
And, by the way, the name of the theater was The Movies!
The land of George T. Shepherd became home to Oklahoma City’s first enclosed shopping center announced in 1963 as Shepherd’s Plaza. The “L”-shaped mall had 725,000 square feet and attracted downtown stalwart J.C. Penney’s and Kerr’s leading to retailers leaving downtown and moving to suburban plazas. It opened theatre-less in September 1964. Announced on January 9 1966, the theater was operated by Earl Snyder and John Ashley. The Shepherd Twin opened on May 25, 1966 with Jason Robards in “A Thousand Clowns” & James Garner in “A Man Could Get Killed”. The theatres each seated 550 patrons for a total seat count of 1,100.
Marge Snyder owned the theatre after Earl’s death until selling it to Bill Warren’s American Entertainment (AE) in 1979. In 1982 Commonwealth acquired AE from Warren taking over the Shepherd Twin on June 5, 1981. United Artists acquired the theatre in 1989 from Commonwealth Theatres. UA closed the theatre on September 3, 1989 with a double feature of “Indiana Jones” and “Star Trek 5” and “Wired.” It also shuttered its Quail Plazam2, Reding 4, and French Market aging locations as it wanted to concentrate on 6- and 8-screen multiplexes instead of twins and aging quads.
Cooper Burks of American Automated Theatres Inc. (AATI) announced the Reding Movies IV as its first theater that didn’t have a single or twin screen set-up. The circuit had just 20 theaters in 1973 but announced that it would have 100 more in 1974, alone. But none of that really worked out and AATI stumbled failing to launch the four-screener.
Commonwealth Theatres picked up the project as the Reding 4 Theatre launching April 23, 1975 with 45 cent admission for films “Paper Moon,” “Neptune Factor,” “True Grit” and “When Legends Die.” The theatre had 4 identical 400-seat auditoriums for 1,600 total seats. United Artists acquired the theatre in 1989 from Commonwealth. UA closed the theatre on September 3, 1989 along with the Shepherd Twin, Quail Plaza, and French Market aging locations as it wanted to concentrate on 6- and 8-screen multiplexes instead of twins and aging quads.
The venue got one more shot as a sub-run discount house known as Dollar Movies 4 on January 4, 1990. It appears to have closed December 29, 1990 as many of the area’s discount theaters struggled in the video store age.
Heritage Theaters dropped the twin-screen Park Terrace on January 14, 1990 after showings of “Tango & Cash” and “Transylvania Twist” splitting with “All Dogs Go To Heaven.”
The former adult theatre turned to Hispanic films in 1985 known as the Chieftain Twin Theatre. It closed January 3, 1985. When the South Shields Mall was converted to an all outdoor plaza, the South Shields Twin was booted out of the mall. The operators found their new home here at the former at the former Chieftain Twin. The New Airline Twin launched on April 11, 1986, with “Rocky IV” and “Back to the Future (ad in photos) The theater’s last advertisement was on August 16, 1987 - perhaps its closing date. But it’s very likely that it returned to Hispanic screenings that were likely held there up to 1990 unadvertised in the local newspaper.
The theatre was converted for other uses which included a cabinet factory. And in the 2020s, the venue was used as a place of worship for the La Roca Community Church.
The Town & Country appears to have closed on August 10, 1986 with double-features of “Club Paradise” and “Wildcats” on one screen and “Ruthless People” and “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” on the other.
5G Studio architects
AKA Dabel Cinema
AKA Dabel Theatre
Grand opening of the new Washita Theatre took place August 1, 1941 with Ginger Rogers in “Tom, Dick and Harry” with Abbott and Costello in “Hold That Ghost.”
Commonwealth Amusements built the The Heritage Plaza 5 that opened on March 21, 1986 in a strip shopping center just behind the Heritage Park Mall giving them a more convenient multiplex for Midwest City patrons. Commonwealth had acquired the interior Heritage Park Mal Mall 3 from the Oklahoma Cinema Circuit on June 5, 1981.
United Artists bought out Commonwealth Amusement in November of 1988. Aggressively building 6- and 8-screen facilities throughout the United States, UA started to weed out smaller theaters. It had 9 OKC locations at the start of 1989. A year later, it had just four. UA closed the French Market 2, Quail Plaza 2, Reding 4, and Shepherd Twin in 1989. It would retain both Heritage Park locations, its Almonte 6, and would keep the North Park quad a little longer before closing it.
On November 16, 1996, Hollywood Theaters took on the remaining United Artists theatres with the two Midwest City Heritage Park venues and the Almonte. Hollywood would join the megaplex boom soon thereafter operating the Spotlight 14 and Penn Square 10 as market-changers, Cinemark launched the Tinseltown USA and AMC opened its Quail Spring 24 in OKC.
Hollywood Theaters made it to the end of a 30-year lease as the Heritage Park Mall 3 as a first-run theater closing July 25, 1999. The circuit locked up the Heritage Park 5 after shows on January 31, 2006 and didn’t come back. The operator was likely assumed the end of a 20-year lease. But later in the year, it was sued for back rent payments with a November court order trying to evict the theater circuit. This appears to have been a successful plan and the facility was converted to a church.
The Edmond Plaza Twin closed July 8, 1993. On September 15, 1993, an auction was held. The theater’s marquee sold for $1. Theatre seats were auctioned off bringing five cents per seat.
United Artists closed the Apollo Twin at the end of a 20-year lease on December 31, 1989 with two sub-run $1 discount showings of “Parenthood” and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”
The Wiley Post Cinema was named for the aviation enthusiast and the airport that was about three miles away. Galaxy Theatres’ twin-screen cinema lifted off on October 20, 1974 (ad in photos) at what was called MacArthur Mall in Warr Acres when it opened that year. It launched with “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” paired with a Three Stooges short and “Young Guns of Texas” on a repertory 45 cent opening day. The MacArthur was a minor mall and would struggle at the outset. Galaxy Theatres' portfolio was soon in the hands of the Oklahoma Cinema Theatres Circuit and the Wiley Post appears to have been grounded as churn was afoot at the MacArthur Mall.
On April 1, 1975, the Macarthur Mall changed names to the Westpark Mall with a grand opening. The theatre was renamed the Westpark Cinema often advertising as the West Park Cinema (should be its other alternate name along with Wiley Post) which was opened December 25, 1975 with George Kennedy in “The Human Factor” & Charles Bronson in “Hard Times”. However, its name was officially the one-word Westpark Cinema but both shops and cinema vacillated between West Park Mall / West Park Cinema and the correct Westpark Mall and Westpark Cinema. As long as the rent checks cleared, my guess is that the developer didn’t care all that much.
The Westpark was closed on June 29, 1986 with Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Raw Deal” & Jean-Claude Van Damme in “No Retreat, No Surrender”. The Westpark Mall reached greyfield status as retailers bailed at the end of ten-year leases. The mall transferred to new operators in 1993 who got one anchor - a Dollar General - which carried it through for its next 20-year cycle. Nearly empty, the Westpark was sold in 2012 for $2 million. The former theater and former MacArthur turned Westpark Mall was torn down and is now an all outdoor shopping strip that featured a popular WalMart Grocery Store.
The Adair Mini-Mall opened on June 1, 1971 with Adair’s Cafeteria being the operator and star attraction. But in the exterior of the center was a theater that projected 16mm repertory fare along with contemporary features. It opened as the M-M Cinema with the initials standing for “Mini-Mall” Cinema (it was not the M “&”M”). In 1975, the cinema was renamed as the Mini Mall Theatre to perhaps make it clearer what M-M stood for. That was its name to closure in 1977 when the “Adair’s” was dropped from the Mini-Mall when Adair’s Cafeteria moved to new digs.
But the theater wasn’t through quite yet. Bob Hammack and Kim Kueteman reopened the theatre as the Bijou Classic Cinema in the Mini-Mall in July of 1978 which started with an all rep policy. When folks weren’t coming, it changed to mainstream films with repertory at midnight as the Bijou Cinema. People didn’t like that either. So the Bijou Cinema closed in 1979 with Hammack and Kueteman citing low attendance and with the pair moving all future screenings to the Grover Cleveland Arts Institute beginning in October of 1979.
With the theatre and Adair’s departing, Tuesday Morning, Inc. became the main attraction and the name of the plaza became the Tuesday Morning Mall. When Tuesday Morning bolted, the center went with a “micro” vendors concept and was renamed the Britton Street Mall in March of 2009.
The French Market Mall launched with its first phase theatre-less with a preview on August 4, 1972. The second phase including an Oklahoma Cinema Theaters Inc. Circuit twin, the French Market Cinema Twin that opened November 14, 1975 with George Kennedy in “The Human Factor” and Natalie Wood in “Peeper.” On June 5, 1981, Commonwealth Amusement Circuit added the Oklahoma Cinema Circuit’s locations of North Park Theater 4, Heritage Park Mall Cinema Three and the French Market Twin.
United Artists bought out Commonwealth in November of 1988. It started to weed out smaller theaters. UA bid au revoir to the French Market 2 theatre which had been demoted to discount $1 house status on September 3, 1989 with “Lock Up” and “Weekend at Bernies.” It also shuttered its Quail Plaza 2, Reding 4, and Shepherd Twin - all aging locations as it wanted to concentrate on 6- and 8-screen multiplexes instead of twins and aging quads.
The theatre was used as a live theatre venue from 1992 to 1994.
The Almonte Shopping Center launched theatre-less in 1963. But Commonwealth Amusement Corp. Circuit changed that with the addition of the Almonte Cinema 6 on June 19, 1981. At the same time, Commonwealth added the Oklahoma Cinema Circuit’s locations of North Park Theater 4, French Market Twin, and Heritage Park Mall Cinema Three. United Artists bought out Commonwealth. It started to weed out smaller theaters. The Almonte 6 made the cut operating all the way until October of 1996 when UA dropped it at the end of the month likely at the end of a 15-year opt out on a lease.
Hollywood Theaters picked up the Almonte in December of 1996 and then all of the discarded GCC locations as of August 15, 1997. It ran its expanded portfolio with the Almonte 6 staying first-run to 1999. But the launch of megaplexes including Cinemark Tinseltown and the AMC Quail Springs 24-plex was a disaster to Hollywood Theater’s aging multiplexes. It closed the Almonte theater briefly in May of 1999 to reposition the aging six-plex to a dollar house along with the Quail Springs 6 location. But with a marketplace overstated with aging discount houses, both the Almonte 6 and Quail Springs 6 were quick casualties. The Almonte closed on December 17, 1999. The Quail Springs closed two weeks later. Hollywood would continue to shed locations including the Brixton 8 until it had just one theater in the market in January of 2008.
The AMC Northwest Cinema opened May 20, 1986 with four screens active playing “Sweet Liberty,” “Short Circuit” and “Top Gun” on two screens. It closed September 6, 1999.
The AMC closed on July 29, 1999.
DeVargas Shopping Center launched in phases beginning on October 28, 1970 with its first anchor, Montogmery Ward opening there. Additions led to name changes over time that included DeVargas Center Mall, DeVargas Mall and DeVargas Center. At the DeVargas Center Mall phase of 1973, a spot was carved out for a twin-screen theater for the American Automated Theatres Inc. Circuit (AATI).
Arguably, this was the most successful of all AATI locations. J. Cooper Burks out of Oklahoma City identified Ralph Lindell as the franchisee late in 1973. The theatre launched February 16, 1974 as The Movies! 1 & 2 - De Vargas Center Mall. New operators took on the location and in June of 1980 it lost its exclamation mark as the more sedate, Movies Twin - DeVargas Mall. The theatre closed at the end of a ten-year leasing agreement.
The theatre relaunched as Movies. Commonwealth ran the theatre as the Movies Twin and then the De Vargas Twin before selling out to United Artists. The theatre closed on January 10, 1992 for a major remodel as UA was shuttering twin-screen locations in favor of 6-screen and 8-screen multiplexes. The theater re-emerged on May 22, 1992 as the UA De Vargas 6. UA closed at the end of a 15-year lease opt out on January 22, 2017. At 44 years of operation, this was the longest-running of any of the AATI venues.
Arguably, this was the most successful of all of the American Automated Theatres Inc. Circuit (AATI) locations. J. Cooper Burks out of Oklahoma City identified Ralph Lindell as the franchisee late in 1973. The theatre launched February 16, 1974 as The Movies! 1 & 2 - De Vargas Center Mall. New operators took on the location and in June of 1980 it lost its exclamation mark as the more sedate, Movies Twin - DeVargas Mall. The theatre closed at the end of a ten-year leasing agreement.
The theatre relaunched as Movies. Commonwealth ran the theatre as the Movies Twin and then the De Vargas Twin before selling out to United Artists. The theatre closed on January 10, 1992 for a major remodel as UA was shuttering twin-screen locations in favor of 6-screen and 8-screen multiplexes. The theater re-emerged on May 22, 1992 as the UA De Vargas 6. UA closed at the end of a 15-year lease opt out on January 22, 2017. At 44 years of operation, this was the longest-running of any of the AATI venues.
Sorry to be five years late in response, but this wasn’t a Jerry Lewis Cinema. Not in concept and not when in business - the company, Network Cinema Corporation, was already out of business. It was The Movies! - Brookhollow as stated above by American Automated Theatres Inc. Circuit by J. Cooper Burks out of Oklahoma City and franchisee was Major Walt Mergenhagen.
The Sunset Plaza was a $1 million retail strip built theatre-less in 1959 and opening in 1960. In February of 1971, American Automated Theatres, Inc. announced its second location to be built at the Plaza. AATI was in the vein of Jerry Lewis Theatres and National General in putting classified ads that basically asked for a franchise fee in exchange for blueprints for a fully automated, one-button touch movie theater that would operate itself and watch the profits roll in.
Don E. and Carol Porter were the franchisees and launched the Movies! 1 & 2 June 30, 1971 with “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and “One More Train to Rob.” And it didn’t take long for both parties to be in court as on April 5, 1972, the two were engaged in a legal suit over the franchise contract. It was the first of many court dates for American Automated Theatres' venture and not its last in Salina. In June of 1972, the Porters were out at the Sunset Plaza and AATI took on the venture, itself.
On July 23, 1974, with AATI on the ropes, Dickinson Theaters took on the venue renaming it the Sunset Cinemas. AATI would be in court for allegedly not paying for radio advertisements to KINA radio. On January 14, 2000, Dickinson repositioned the theatre as a discount sub-run $1 ticket and concession house as a test run for the circuit. It was a failure and the theatre closed soon thereafter and offered for lease.
The Radford Hills Movies! was announced in 1974 as part of the American Automated Theatres Inc. circuit based in Oklahoma City. AATI offered one-button theatre operation blueprints for a franchise fee. But the theatre operator was oft-suied as was the case here where AATI was brought into two different suits, the first of which it lost in December of 1974 by default and the second of which was in 1976 at which time the Radord Hills Shopping Center figured out that there was no chance of a Movies!
Fast forward to August 5, 1977 and E&B Enterprises took over the project and launched the Radford Hills Cinema 3 in the shopping center of the same name. E&B’s Circuit had 35 theaters at the time it opened teaming with Cinema Southwest Inc. The 9,900 sq. ft. facility was built at a cost of $580,000 with each identical auditorium seating 300 and screen size of 14x28'. Each screen had its Optical Radiation Corp. Orcon II platter projection system and was automated.
This was the first location for the circuit known as American Automated Theatres, Inc. It was known as The Movies! 1 & 2 - Altus Plaza.
Correction: American Automated Theatres opened the theater after Spectro decided against the quad-plex. (and technically, it’s original name was The Movies! and not Movies )
The City of Moore Shopping Center was a retail plaza that opened theatre-less in 1963. Joseph Cooper Burks of American Automated Theatres Inc. (AATI) announced the Moore The Movies! in 1971 as the fledgling circuit’s fourth location. Like the Jerry Lewis Circuit and National General Circuit, AATI would show family films in theaters that were placed in or often behind strip shopping centers. They were also pitched as “one button” operations that had a nickelodeon vibe. It opened on November 19, 1971 with free films, “A Man Called Horse” and “Tarzan’s Jungle Rebellion.”
AATI would go out of business not finishing its proposed Reding IV - which would have been the circuit’s first non-twin or single screen venture. Additionally, Burks would end up in other problems soon thereafter. But new operators took on the Moore The Movies! venue in March of 1975. The Movies! turned to discount, sub-run films in 1980 under manager Kerry Rogers. There was no more Moore’s The Movies! which closed on January 31, 1985 with “Pinocchio.”
And, by the way, the name of the theater was The Movies!
The land of George T. Shepherd became home to Oklahoma City’s first enclosed shopping center announced in 1963 as Shepherd’s Plaza. The “L”-shaped mall had 725,000 square feet and attracted downtown stalwart J.C. Penney’s and Kerr’s leading to retailers leaving downtown and moving to suburban plazas. It opened theatre-less in September 1964. Announced on January 9 1966, the theater was operated by Earl Snyder and John Ashley. The Shepherd Twin opened on May 25, 1966 with Jason Robards in “A Thousand Clowns” & James Garner in “A Man Could Get Killed”. The theatres each seated 550 patrons for a total seat count of 1,100.
Marge Snyder owned the theatre after Earl’s death until selling it to Bill Warren’s American Entertainment (AE) in 1979. In 1982 Commonwealth acquired AE from Warren taking over the Shepherd Twin on June 5, 1981. United Artists acquired the theatre in 1989 from Commonwealth Theatres. UA closed the theatre on September 3, 1989 with a double feature of “Indiana Jones” and “Star Trek 5” and “Wired.” It also shuttered its Quail Plazam2, Reding 4, and French Market aging locations as it wanted to concentrate on 6- and 8-screen multiplexes instead of twins and aging quads.
Cooper Burks of American Automated Theatres Inc. (AATI) announced the Reding Movies IV as its first theater that didn’t have a single or twin screen set-up. The circuit had just 20 theaters in 1973 but announced that it would have 100 more in 1974, alone. But none of that really worked out and AATI stumbled failing to launch the four-screener.
Commonwealth Theatres picked up the project as the Reding 4 Theatre launching April 23, 1975 with 45 cent admission for films “Paper Moon,” “Neptune Factor,” “True Grit” and “When Legends Die.” The theatre had 4 identical 400-seat auditoriums for 1,600 total seats. United Artists acquired the theatre in 1989 from Commonwealth. UA closed the theatre on September 3, 1989 along with the Shepherd Twin, Quail Plaza, and French Market aging locations as it wanted to concentrate on 6- and 8-screen multiplexes instead of twins and aging quads.
The venue got one more shot as a sub-run discount house known as Dollar Movies 4 on January 4, 1990. It appears to have closed December 29, 1990 as many of the area’s discount theaters struggled in the video store age.
Heritage Theaters dropped the twin-screen Park Terrace on January 14, 1990 after showings of “Tango & Cash” and “Transylvania Twist” splitting with “All Dogs Go To Heaven.”
The former adult theatre turned to Hispanic films in 1985 known as the Chieftain Twin Theatre. It closed January 3, 1985. When the South Shields Mall was converted to an all outdoor plaza, the South Shields Twin was booted out of the mall. The operators found their new home here at the former at the former Chieftain Twin. The New Airline Twin launched on April 11, 1986, with “Rocky IV” and “Back to the Future (ad in photos) The theater’s last advertisement was on August 16, 1987 - perhaps its closing date. But it’s very likely that it returned to Hispanic screenings that were likely held there up to 1990 unadvertised in the local newspaper.
The theatre was converted for other uses which included a cabinet factory. And in the 2020s, the venue was used as a place of worship for the La Roca Community Church.