East Providence Cinemas
60 Newport Avenue,
East Providence,
RI
02916
60 Newport Avenue,
East Providence,
RI
02916
6 people
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Showing 26 - 38 of 38 comments
This was an Entertainment and then Hoyts for a while…and it looks like the name was lazily changed from Hoyts to Patriot on the exterior…didn’t realize that it was Showcase before that?
Also, that remodeling and spiffing up of the theatre interior was done in 1993 by National Amusements (Showcase Cinemas), I am almost certain, when they took over the place for a time. The first movie I saw there after it was revamped was Dave with Kevin Kline. They wanted to create a comfy second run venue at reduced admission prices. They did the same when they acquired and re-opened the long-dormant Apple Valley Cinemas in Smithfield: new seats, low prices, second run. Showcase/National Amusements still runs Apple Valley Cinemas, but it was turned into first run by the end of the 1990s. On that re-opening day at Apple Valley under the second-run, low-prices policy, the admission was 50 cents! I went.
Yes, when they completely re-did the interior about 10-15 years ago (by “luxurious ambience,” I meant new seats, carpeting, etc.), it looked quite spiffy and still is OK from that point of view, even if the shoe-box auditoriums were and are cramped. All the early auditoriums were chopped into two or more. My complaints lie with the presentation, not with comfort of seats, general cleanliness, bathroom facilities, or the like. It has more comfortable surroundings now than, say, the Park in Cranston ever had after it was triplexed…to cite another bargain theatre.
In the mid-1960s, when the place was built as the Four Seasons, with two screens, I believe, perhaps more, one of the auditoriums was nice and large and wide and is where they occasonally did 70mm shows. I remember seeing films like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Great Race The Sand Pebbles, the 70mm Gone With the Wind. I remember the top-notch projection and sound. People from Providence would go out of their way to drive the half-hour it took to get here for the first run films, many of which weren’t playing elsewhere. I believe this was one of the suburban theatres, with lots of free parking, that sounded the death-knell for downtown Providence movie palaces, still in place at the time the Four Seasons opened. Now, whenever I go there (which isn’t real often), I think of its days of better presentation. I do think that has gone down.
And, while I’m at it, I also think of the characterful old single-screener, just up Newport Avenue in Pawtucket’s Darlington section, the Darlton. When that went, it broke my heart.
And yet you called it “a fairly luxurious ambience” in your description above…
I agree, Ron. It’s hideous. I didn’t post the pic for adulation, just as a document. I remember it as looking better in the 1960s-1970s when it was the Four Seasons, although I can’t imagine exactly how. Most of the auditoriums are cramped, have bad sound, exit-lights that shine onto the screen, imperfect projection at times (bad focus for the entire duration of The Interpreter which I saw there last week.) That’s the minus side. On the plus side: admission is $1.99 at all times, and they do give you the penny change.
Is that the front door?
If so, it is absolutely the ugliest cinema building façade that I have ever seen. I’m glad this blight is not in my neighborhood.
Here is a rainy day photo of the Patriot Cinema 10.
For a time in 1983, after the Cinerama I & II on Hope Street in Providence had closed, this theatre planned to run some of the foreign films that people were accustomed to seeing at the Cinerama. In an article in the Providence Journal of March 16, 1983, Michael Janusonis wrote:
“[George] Mansour, who operates his Cinema Selections in Boston’s Park Square Building, said one of the Four Seasons' six screens will show foreign and specialized films on a trial basis. Films include Lianna, a highly praised American film about a lesbian relationship.”
This policy did not last a very long time.
For a time in the 1990s it was known as the Entertainment Cinemas. I have a friend who won’t go anywhere else to see Hollywood movies, because of the extremely low admission prices. He’ll wait until it gets to the Patriot.
I remember this as the Four Seasons. Last time I went there, around ‘02, it was in its current second-run phase and they canceled the screening I want to attend. I think it was “The Castle” with Redford, Gandolfini & Ruffalo. I missed it on its first run.
I also went here for the first time back in 1994 to see an independent film called WHERE THE RIVER RUNS NORTH. Rip Torn was in this and an Indian actress I believe named Tantoo Cardinal or something like that. I remember I was surprised a film live WTRRN would even play in a ‘plex like this.
Patriot Cinemas is a small New England chain, and this theatre should properly be listed with that affiliation.
This is the largest of their theatres, but isn’t really typical of their operation.
Yes, this place is indeed a bargain! Sometimes it happens that a film is still playing here and does good business AFTER coming out on DVD. It’s cheaper to see it here on a sizable screen than rent it on DVD. Even the admission price for two people makes it comparative deal. And so many movie choices!
Some history: during the 1960s when it opened as the Four Seasons, with only two screens, I believe, they had 70mm capability and you could see some major first-run releases here. I remember “The Great Race,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and a revival of the 70mm widescreen adaptation of “Gone With the Wind” here…and many many others. At least one of their screens was used for art-house fare for a considerable time, premiering such movies as Fellini’s “Juliet of the Spirits” and Cassavetes' “Faces.” They tried that again after the Cinerama closed in the early 1980s but it didn’t last long.
This is the only place in RI where you can see a movie for $1.99. The films run at this theatre for much longer than they do at the Showcase Cinemas throughout the state. And, as an added bonus, the concession stand is more affordable here.