Center Theatre 4
2000 Chapel Hill Road,
Durham,
NC
27707
2000 Chapel Hill Road,
Durham,
NC
27707
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PATTON when it played at the CENTER II was presented as a roadshow enagement as was presented in 70MM-Six Track Stereophonic Sound during its release. However,it was re-released too. The CENTER also re-released other roadshow enagements like “My Fair Lady”,and “2001: A Space Odyssey”(presented in 70MM as a Durham-Chapel Hill Area Exclusive),“The Sound of Music”,“Doctor Zhivago”,and “Hello Dolly”.
It also presented other films that the CENTER show when it played as roadshow enagements as well. The World War II film “TORA! TORA! TORA!” was given the full roadshow treatment where it played for three weeks,both as an original and as a re-released. In the 1971 advertisement of the Durham Morning Herald,it was presented as a North Carolina exclusive in 70MM and Full 6-Track Stereophonic Sound with the advertisement stating..“70-MM Makes You Believe You Are There!” The roadshow treatment was given with reserved seating and three shows daily with special admission prices.
Also to point out as well….When DIRTY HARRY played at the CENTER II
during its original release on December 24, 1971, it was given also the roadshow enagement treatment and also as a exclusive enagement.
Wouldn’t you like to see"PATTON" on that large screen today. I hate these 20 plexs!
Also ended up as roadshow enagements at the Lakewood CENTER included
“Grand Prix”,“Far From The Madding Crowd”,and “Ice Station Zebra”,when it was a single screen theatre during the mid-1960’s.
HISTORY:
1966-1971 Wilby Kincey
1971-1976 ABC Southeastern Theatres
1976-1988 Plitt Southern Theatres
1988-1990 Cineplex Odeon Corporation
1990-2001 Carmike Cinemas
HISTORY:
The Lakewood Center Theatre opened on November 24,1966 as a single screen theatre with a seating capacity of 800. It remained a single screen theatre until 1970.
When it was a single screen theatre,the CENTER was the first to present exclusive roadshow enagements that included “My Fair Lady”,“The Sound of Music”,“Doctor Zhivago”,and “Battle of the Bulge”. Later would have other exclusive showings for “Camelot”,“Oliver!”,and
“Funny Girl”.
A second auditorium was constructed during the mid-1960’s and in 1970 the CENTER II opened with a seating capacity of 625 for the 12-25-1970 opening of “Patton"
starring George C. Scott and it was a Triangle roadshow enagement.
The Lakewood CENTER THEATRE also had re-released films that were shown as well during their exclusive enagements. Films re-released that played here were
“Gone With The Wind”,“The Ten Commandments”,“Gigi”,
“West Side Story”,“Ben-Hur”,and “Lawrence of Arabia”.
THE NEW LAKEWOOD CENTER THEATRE opens it doors to the public on Thursday November,24,1966 to two grand opening events.
The first one was a private exhibition that was to be shown to prestigious guests and members of the Durham City and County Council and to the Mayor of Durham and it was by invitation only on Sunday,November 20,1966.
The theatre was opened to the general public at 1:00pm on Thursday,November 24,1966 with the Tony Curtis feature “Not With My Wife You Don’t!”
Advertisement from the November 23, 1966 edition of the Durham Herald-Sun:
THE DOORS WILL OPEN TO THE BEAUTIFUL NEW LAKEWOOD CENTER THEATRE…MOVIEGOING WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!!!
The Center Theatre Will Bring Durham And The Triangle Area A Wonderful New World of Luxury And Comfort In Motion Picture Theatres.
-Luxurious Rocking Chairs
-Stereophonic Surround Sound
-Mammoth Cured(Ultravision) Distortion Free Screen
-A Sea of Front Door Parking!!!
-Startling Luxurious Surroundings
With a seating capacity of over 800 and convenient front door parking,the new Center Theatre will make movie going more convenient than ever. From the ultra-plush carpeting,the accoustically draped walls,roomy airflo rocking chairs,you will experience innovations that project you into a new world of moviegoing.
For the eye,the mammoth curved screen reproduces the sharpest distortion-free screen image yet known….
For the ear…full range stereophonic sound envelopes you in a feeling of participation. The latest in electronic air-conditioning insures consistent maximum comfort. From architecture to entertainment,the Center Theatre is an incomparable showplace.
When it opened in December of 1966,the Center was one of several movie theatres owned and operated under the Wilby-Kincey banner until the 1970’s when it was acquired by ABC Southeastern Theatres,and later on by Plitt Theatres Group and finally Cineplex Odeon Corporation. Carmike Cinemas was the last chain to operate the Center until its closing in 2001.
The Grant’s Department Store at Lakewood Shopping Center closed in the mid-1970’s. It was one of two Grant’s stores in the Durham area(the other was over at Wellons Village also closed in the mid-1970’s) It was transformed into Carolina Office Supply,which took over the W.T. Grant Building until it closed in early 1991.
A Food Lion Grocer sits where the former Grant’s Department Store used to be. Also Carolina Office Supply at Lakewood Shopping Center.
The Woolworth’s at Lakewood closed its doors forever in early 1997.
A Thrift Store has been located in the former Woolworth’s Dept.Store.
The Kroger Grocer(which was next door to the Center Theatre)closed its doors in 1986,when it moved to a 47,000 square foot new supermarket that was over on Shannon Road next to South Square Mall.
It was briefly had another grocer there(Byrd’s Food Center)which didn’t last long due to the vacancy of a once great shopping plaza.
A Community Center sits where it was once occupied by Kroger.
The Center Theatre closed in 2001 by Carmike Cinemas. It was converted into a surplus store run by Duke University. That closed in early 2006. The theatre sits stand and now it has been turned into a community center and a church.
See this website:
View link
Features a section of Chapel Hill Road and also the construction of the Lakewood Shopping Center which opened its doors to the public in early 1963. Notice the main anchoring stores: Winn-Dixie(Grocery);
W.T. Grants(Department Store), Woolworth’s(Department Store), Kerr Discount Drugs(Pharmacy and Restaurant),
and Kroger(Grocery).
Also the construction of the Center Theatre from mid-1966 when it was just a single screen theatre. The cinema opened in December of that year.
FYI: MISCORRECTION: Movies like “The Empire Strikes Back”,and “Return of the Jedi” were NEVER shown in 70MM when it played at the Center. However,the largest auditorium,which had the a capacity seating of over 800,did have a huge widescreen(that was ideal for showing 70MM films).
“The Empire Strikes Back”,and “The Return of the Jedi”,were shown on a super widescreen,but were shown in 35MM.
Was formerly the Duke University Surplus Store.
Has been recently converted into a Christian Church.
ALSO PLAYED AT THE CENTER THEATRE:
“Planet of the Apes"
"Beneath the Planet of the Apes"
"Conquest for the Planet of the Apes"
"Patton"
"Cabaret"
"Tarzan and the Jungle Boy"
"What’s Up Doc?"
"Shaft’s Big Score!"
"Shaft in Africa"
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind"
"Alien"
"Aliens"
"Twilight Zone the Movie"
"Camelot”-Shown in 70MM and was re-released
“My Fair Lady"
"Boss Nigger"
"Altered States"
"The Blues Brothers”
MOVIES THAT PLAYED AT THE CENTER THEATRE:
“The Sand Pebbbles"
"Fantastic Voyage"
"Marathon Man"
"Blazing Saddles"
"The Towering Inferno”-Shown in 70MM
“Dirty Harry"
"The French Connection"
"Harold and Maude"
"Bullitt"
"The Wild Bunch"
"Return of the Jedi”-Shown in 70MM
“The Empire Strikes Back”-Shown in 70MM
“Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"
"A Bridge Too Far"
"An Officer and a Gentlemen"
"Malcolm X"
"Boyz In The Hood"
"Do The Right Thing"
"Shaft"
"Super Fly"
"1941"
"Papillon"
"Slaughter"
"The Sound of Music"
"2001: A Space Odyssey”-Shown in 70MM
“A Clockwork Orange"
"The Ten Commandments”-Shown in 70MM
“Barry Lyndon”-Shown in 70MM
“Lethal Weapon"
"Ben-Hur”-Shown in 70MM
“Ice Station Zebra"
"Grand Prix"
"The Reivers"
"West Side Story"
"Fiddler on the Roof"
"Halloween"
"Friday The 13th"
"Jaws 2”
The Center became a single screen theatre from 1966 until 1970 when it added a second auditorium(also known as The Center 1 & 2)and it remained that way until the early 1980’s,when it split the original auditorium into making room for a third auditorium in 1983. A fourth auditorium was added in 1986,when the second auditorium also was split in two. It remained that way until the late 1990’s,when the Center showed discount movies until its closing in 2001.
Address for the Center Theatre is at 2000 Chapel Hill Road,Lakewood Shopping Center,Durham,NC 27707
The theatre sits in the middle of the shopping center opposite a grocery store. The Lakewood Shopping Center became one of the biggest in Durham when it opened in the early 1960’s. It had at the time two anchor grocery stores(Winn-Dixie and Kroger),two major discount department stores(Grant’s Department Store and Woolworth’s),speciality shops,restaurants and one major drug store(Kerr Discount Drugs)and the Post Office. The Shopping Center went through some major changes during the mid-to-late 1970’s and during the 1980’s when it lost two of its major grocery stores(the
Winn-Dixie closed in the mid-1980’s and moved to the suburbs of southwestern Durham;and the Kroger closed in 1986 when it moved to Regency Plaza near South Square Mall)and two of its department stores until the late 1980’s. The shopping center went through major changes in 2000 when it became The Shoppes at Lakewood.
The Center Theatre closed its doors in 2001.
The Center Theatre was basically operated at one time as a movie chain of ABC Southeastern Theatres before it became part of Plitt Theatres and later on Cineplex Odeon before it became part of the Carmike Cimemas chain.
Correction: The Center Theatre opened in 1966 as a single screen theatre and remained that way until the early-1970’s when it added on a second auditorium. The largest auditorium had that 70MM projection and the place was known for exclusive showing of first-run films mostly for movies shown in 70MM Cinerama. The theatre was split in two during the early-1980’s when the theatre added a third auditorium which hurt it badly(I remember seeing the construction on the larger auditorium while the second one was bringing huge crowds…I was there when the screened “The Return of the Jedi” in 1983 to huge crowds that snaked around the theatre on the opening day of release). And at the end of the 1980’s the theatre was added on a fourth auditorium,which killed it. During the 1990’s,the Center was still the place to go,even when it was bringing in big business…movies like “Boyz In The Hood”,“Malcolm X”,and “Do The Right Thing” were bringing in huge capacity crowds. It suffered when it converted into a second-run theatre during the mid-1990’s. The theatre closed its doors in 2001 and was converted into a surplus store for Duke University.
wow i didnt know the Duke surplus store used to be a theater,
THe dook surplus sucks…. it should be a theater agian
ALso Check out the Run down theather at Avondale Dr , It used to be a carmike theather , Right beside A Store named “compare Foods” wich used to be a win dixe beside it is a biglots the beside that is A Closed Down Gray Builing it used to be a K-mart
No, I don’t think General Cinema had any cinemas located in Durham. They did run Pleasant Valley in Raleigh, which was their only property in the area.