Randall Park Cinema I-II-III

You can send those to me at I appreciate it.
Im interested in seeing them just because I collect photos of older movie theaters becasue I find them to be interesting and to compare them to todays theaters.

Thanks Mark

Mark, Anyway you can e-mail me those pics?

General Cinema turned this theater into a second-run discount theater in 1991. Randall Park Mall Cinemas closed its doors on November 18,1993. The last movies shown were “Sleepless in Seattle”,“Striking Distance”, and “In The Line Of Fire”.

At the time Randall Mall was built, it was the largest indoor shopping center in the country, and was commanding a very high price per square foot. General Cinema Corporation in those days was known for being, well, er.., let’s say “frugal”, and was looking for the most bang for their buck, which resulted in this theatre being very “compact”. Their main intention in going into this property however was to protect the Southgate Cinema I & II, (in my opinion a much nicer theatre) a few blocks south on Northfield Road, from a competing theatre of Loews or National Theatre Corp. going in there. At a managers meeting while the Randall Park Cinema was under construction, we were told that any theatre there will hurt the Southgate Cinema, and as long as it was us and not Loews, the money was ‘going into a different pocket on the same coat’. The Randall 3 and Southgate 2 Cinemas were originally booked together as a five-plex.

This most unique property, if such a term can be ascribed to shopping-mall cinemas, is tucked into the upper level of the mall behind all retail in the area above the lower main entrance to the mall. From the outside on the Northfield Road side of the mall, the boxes that are the auditoria are visible, and on the inside, the service corridors encircle the rear of the property, with the emercency exits and behind-screen area access doors visible and marked (and replacement seat cushions stacked on top of the screen areas). The cinema is still intact, houses, concessions, restrooms and all (including some old take-up reels), and it has been used as storage by units in the mall in better times. Contractually, it can not re-open as a cinema, since the twelve-screen Lowe’s that opened in 1999 forbids that, but who knows how much longer the mall will last anyway.

Decor-wise, it’s typical mid-70s mall cinema…lots of red carpet and dim lighting, and due to the spatial constraints, lots of levels, long corridors, and stairs. Some thought was involved in the construction of this property; it was not just a typical box as GCC usually constructed at the time. The cinema was also one of the first theaters in the area where once a ticket was purchased, one could spend the entire day watching all screens, lest one be caught, which never happened. First shows when opening were Murder by Death and Wholly Moses. Also used to do midnight movies from late 70s to mid 80s, notably Dawn of the Dead, which was quite apropo, considering this cinema was in a huge, 70s shopping mall.

I was at Randall Park Mall yesterday, and as I walked by Diamond’s Mens Shop, I noticed that a door was opened that showed those infamous steps that took you to the cinema, which makes me question whether or not the theater has been gutted or if it is still there, but used as a storage room.