If you have gift cards, you might consider using them in the next few days… no Asian films and no showtimes past Wednesday, March 26, 2025 combined with the deep financial issues of the parent company and the removal of the Facebook page doesn’t bode well. Buena Park location already listed as “temporarily closed” after the end of February 2025.
The CGV Buena Vista is listed as “temporarily closed.” I’m guessing that will turn out to be permanent with the parent company’s financial issues and because they’ve taken down their Facebook page.
Formerly operated by Nova Cinemas, the fledgling circuit’s second to last theater before its departure. Final operator, Newstar LLC closed here September 3, 2015. Two years later, the venue became a dine-in theater called Touchstar Cinemas Sabal Palms Luxury 6 opening August 11, 2017. Seating was reduced from 1,000 to 450. The venue is still operating in 2025.
The regional Jamestown Mall opened theatre-lessly October 10, 1973. General Cinema announced its Jamestown Cinema I & II not long thereafter. The twin-screen venue had two 350-seat auditoriums for a 700 patron capacity. Gene F. Thoebes was in charge on opening day, July 12, 1974 likely on a 20-year leasing agreement. It was General Cinema’s eighth area theater but the first St. Louis area mall theater with its own entrance easily allowing the mall to be closed with the theater open and parking just outside the venue.
By the 1980s, GCC was dropping 6- and 8-screen theaters in the multiplex theater era of film exhibition. With the Jamestown theatre facility landlocked preventing expansion, GCC took an opt-out in the 15th year of leasing closing permanently with “The Fabulous Baker Boys” and the Cannon film, “River of Death” on October 29, 1989. After being vacant for a little over a year, Wehrenberg took on the venue beginning on December 14, 1990 undoubtedly with very favorable leasing terms.
Under the name of the Jamestown Mall Ciné 2 - the proper name for this entry - it opened with “Marked for Death” and “Sibling Rivalry” All shows were served up on a discount, sub-run policy for $1.50. Wehrenberg was a quick read of the Jamestown clientele and quickly lowered pricing to $1 for all shows. Wehrenberg completed the leasing period closing on January 2, 1994 with “The Three Musketeers” and “We’re Back.” The latter film title proved prescient as Wehrenberg exited the Mall only to be enticed back.
The original cinema space became part of the Jamestown Mall Food Court in October of 1994 following a remodel. In 1996, during the megaplex-era of movie exhibition, an ambitious mall expansion was announced that would provide space at the opposite end of Jamestown Mall for a 14-screen movie theater. Trade publication, Variety, warned exhibition companies to avoid second-rate aging malls as they would be mired in financial servitude after being locked into long-term leases in malls with questionable upside. Jamestown Mall fit that bill and, yet, Wehernberg signed a long-term agreement for its Jamestown 14 Ciné opening in in late Fall 1998. It didn’t go Jamestown Mall’s way or Wehrenberg as they fled well before their lease expiry. That theater has its own entry.
Status: formerly 700 seats and now demolished; fun fact: the six line, two-feature announcer that served as the attractor for the original twin just outside of the mall theater’s original location was used as the 14-screen announcer, despite being on the wrong end of the Mall - and well short of the pre-requisite 14 lines needed to display all of the playing films - until the cinema’s closure in 2013. The sign was removed in 2020 and the former Food Court/Theater in 2024.
The Regal UA Circle Centre was a destination location for the circuit amazingly able to serve out its 30-year lease in a dying downtown mall. The theatre was built as the futuristic United Artists Circle Centre Theatre 9 with Starport: A Virtual Theme Park. It debuted during the megaplex era of cinema exhibition blasting off September 8, 1995 in its intragalaxy mission whose operation never left Marion County. The venue was a prototype for the United Artists Theatre Circuit and served as a precursor of Family Destination Entertainment Centers (FEC) that would take root 20 years later in the exhibition industry. The circuit’s existing trademarked welcome of “Experience the Magic” greeted movie customers.
But this project was too costly and a bit before its time as that era’s VR gaming and motion simulator rides proved to be of fleeting interest in the 1990s. After a handful of UA Starport projects on the books were launched, UATC downgraded other planned locations to more traditional theaters with smaller non-branded Starport arcades. Some of those venues that were built had cavernous lobbies and other underused floor space with the footprints of the VR facilities removed abruptly from the final buildouts. UATC and ACT III Theatres were bought out just three years later by Regal Cinemas. They, in turn would declare bankruptcy in 2001 ensuring the Starport concept was permanently docked and the branding discontinued.
As it was reaching its 25th Anniversary, the venue - which had renamed as the Regal UA Circle Centre 9 in October 2008 - was closed on March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Circle Centre Mall had already plummeted to greyfield status, a term associated with a “dead mall.” The venue reopened on August 21, 2020 with UA/Regal parent Cineworld in its own bankruptcy, only to close again on October 8, 2020. The RUACC shockingly reopened on April 2, 2021, but the magic had faded. The theatre closed in film exhibition’s final stage within the streaming era on October 31, 2024 at the expiry of its lease. The entire mall was purchased with a dream of recreating it as on open-air courtyard operation that might open by the 2030s. The former Regal UA (née Starport) Circle Centre’s next destination was a hyperspace transportation to be ignited by explosives or with a more traditional wrecking ball.
The entry should be the Regal UA Circle Centre. Its history should obviously mention the pandemic - as should all of the theaters in this database IMHO - as that’s what forever altered the path of so many movie theaters of that era including the many that never reopened at all.
It looks like Wehrenberg dropped the venue on January 7, 2010 likely able to escape its lease through a performance clause as the Jamestown Mall had reached greyfield status, a term akin to a “dead mall” with less than 50 percent occupancy. The cinema carried on as an independent beginning on January 19, 2010 and under Nova Cinemas while the interior Mall itself was sold for a mere $1.5 million, a fraction of its value just ten years prior. Absolutely no need to change the entry title but - according to interior signage - it closed as the New Jamestown Mall 14 Family Theatre to match the final operator of the mall, New Jamestown Holding, LLC, a New York-based entity which purchased the interior of the Mall for a fire sale price of just $660,000 in December of 2012. The latter hoped that a flea market and essentially giving folks month-to-month leasing terms for little to no cost would attract customers as the “New” Jamestown Mall, a name that it didn’t have the wherewithal to market or the chutzpah to even seriously say aloud.
The plan failed quickly as only a few businesses operated in the Mall’s interior along with a cobbled-together flea market and two anchors. As was the case in dying St. Louis area malls, the cinemas carried on in almost impossible environments. Nova Cinemas closed the New Jamestown Mall Family Theatre on June 23, 2013 with its final, two post 10p showings of “The Purge” and “This is the End.” Prophetic - and, yet wondering who would want to be in the “New” Jamestown Mall circa 2013 at the film’s midnight end times?
In sum, the Jamestown Mall narrowly missed its 40th anniversary of movie magic. Normally, with a 1998 open and 2013 closure that might have been the sign of the 15-year leasing opt out, which was indeed coming due. But it was the film exhibition industry’s transformation that more likely ended the Jamestown location. With film distributors switching to digital DCP files, the theater was unable to even consider making a digital transformation making programming for 14 auditoriums hard to find in the Summer of 2013. Aging mall cinemas nationwide dwindled in the 2013/4 period and Jamestown was one such example.
The old analog, New Jamestown Mall 14 Family Theatre didn’t miss much through its Summer 2013 exit. The entire interior Mall was first closed on Thanksgiving Eve of 2013 due to lack of heat with its two remaining anchors allowed to continue operations with going out of business sales. Heading into what would be the Mall’s final holiday shopping season, it was not cool for Jamestown’s handful of operators, other than the actual temperature of their operations. The interior mall managed to reopen as the final leaseholders and the remaining lessee retails were allowed to continue operations to the anchor-less Mall’s official closing date of June 30, 2014.
What happened next was a fiasco as - like many malls - there were five mall property holders - all of whom fled the area. Four of those owners - the main anchor tenants -were long gone while the out of state interior mall operator couldn’t be found ending any hope for a comeback. It also ended mall security and uprooted the local police department which had a Jamestown Mall storefront. A combination of well-intentioned urban explorers documented the interior of the mall to show what was transpiring inside the moribund space. And the transgressions within would have been seen as shocking to previous generations as scores of folks, likely with chemically-clouded mental functionality, entered the mall facility. They crashed glass, tagged everywhere with spray paint, set fires, broke functioning water pipes and worse - likely not caring what their actions would bring about.
Fast, or better yet, slow forward to 2023 when the demolition finally began… only to stop temporarily due to a labor issue. When the last of four (!) fires was set in the complex injuring two firefighters in 2023, the local fire team made the smartest move on the last fire set: let it burn. After all, the water lines, interior fire suppression and hydrants had all run dry. The Mall Cinema was the very first demolished part of the venue followed by the rest of the facility. A mercy razing if ever there were such a thing.
M&R Theatres launched the River Run Theatres 8 here July 29, 1988 with 70mm projection. Just two months later, M&R was sold to Loews and the venue became the M&R Loews River Run Theatres 8 briefly until the M&R logo was removed. The venue closed with Loews in financial trouble in May of 2001.
Lansing Theatre Management took on the venue with a major refresh to the plans of Edwin H. Lugowski and AIA Architects. It reopened on November 19, 2004. The building’s facade had the curiously redundant name of Cinema 8 Cinema although its official name was the Lansing Cinema 8. Digital Cinema Destinations Corp. managed the theatre for years. Carmike acquired the venue in its May 2014 purchase of Digital Cinema Destinations. When AMC bought Carmike in 2016, it had to divest itself of the Lansing Cinema for competitive reasons. New Visions came in to become the Lansing Cinema 8 Cinema’s final operator.
When New Visions' Cinema 8 Cinema closed on March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, operator New Visions went out of business months later. In September of 2020, AMC reclaimed 10 New Visions theaters - 6 divested from the Carmike Circuit to New Visions and 4 others… but not the Lansing which sat month after month and year after year waiting for new life. All 3,500 seats in the 8-screen venue went unused as the facility remained in a time vacuum for more than four years.
In Fall of 2024, new buyers came in with plans to gut the building and found that everything was shockingly still in place including four year old concessions, gaming equipment, soda machines full of syrup, exterior and interior posters all in place, and auditoriums labeled with the New Vision’s last showings of films including “The Way Back,” “I Still Believe” and “Onward.“ Had it not been for the mold and the film’s DCP playdate expiries, I still believe they could have started the venue up one more time to see if that was the way back. Sadly, they decided to move onward.
As reflected in the opening ads, the Holiday Cinema was built by Bob Word’s Word Theatre & Vending Corporation. Because Word Theatres wasn’t bought out by United Amusement Corp. until June 5, 1981, the entry is inaccurate regarding the theater’s origin.
The General Cinema Columbia Mall Cinema I-II-III-IV opened July 14, 1978. It closed on February 4, 1990 for a major renovation. It opened as the General Cinema Columbia Mall Cinemas 8 on June 22, 1990. General Cinema left its Columbia Mall 8 behind on October 18, 2000 in free fall collapse in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closing all but 72 theaters nationwide.
Phoenix Theatres took on the venue November 16, 2001 as the Columbia Mall Cinema 8 to match the Mall’s rebranding, the venue became the Columbia Place Cinema 8 in early September of 2002. The theatre had a phenomenal run comparatively speaking remaining under Phoenix until closure on January 7, 2007.
Brian Cline and Columbia Entertainment Group took on the venue with the Mall scuffling reopening with stadium seating as the Columbia Place Stadium Cinemas 8 on November 9, 2007. It closed on October 20, 2011. A final operator took on the venue - likely with little to no leasing expenses - on June 29, 2012. That arrangement lasted over two months ending on September 16, 2012. The theatre stood vacant for 13 years awaiting demolition as the interior Mall went from greyfield status to ghost town - though still unlocked for mall walkers and a few stores in 2025.
Though perhaps unnecessary, the proper names here were the General Cinema Columbia Mall Cinema I-II-III-IV, General Cinema Columbia Mall Cinemas 8, (Phoenix) Columbia Mall Cinema 8, (Phoenix) Columbia Place Cinema 8, and the Columbia Place Stadium Cinemas 8 (technically, this entry’s proper name). BTW: Regal was never an operator here.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gingerich and Ennis Ray opened the rustic Westerner on July 28, 1950 with “The Sundowners” & “Red Stallion in the Rockies.” Mrs. Gingerich and Ray sold the venue to Reno Amusement Circuit in 1958 which staged a grand reopening on April 16th with a wider, 50x100' screen.
For 1963, the venue was under California United Theatres. It remained there though March 30, 1967 when that circuit name was retired in favor of United Artists Theatre Corp. The final countdown to the expiry of the UA Westerner Drive-In’s 30-year leasing agreement took place on September 1, 1980. The films were “Dressed to Kill” and “The Final Countdown.”
Opened by Colonel Butterfield and his Circuit on August 30, 1917, the Palace cost $200,000 to build. It ceased operations on January 25, 1976 with Pam Grier in “Foxy Brown” and Richard Pryor in “The Mack.”
Begie “Moose” Breeding operated here from 1980 to 2000. For seasons from 1980-1989 it was known as the Cinema 7 Drive-In Theatre It launched with Clint Eastwood in “Bronco Billy” and Clint Eastwood in “Every Which Way But Loose” on August 26, 1980. The venue sported a 32' by 36' screen and space for 200 cars.
In 1990, it was briefly renamed Moose’s Movies Drive-In Theatre. During that season, it became the Jeremiah Drive-In Theatre. The last advertised shows were Clint Eastwood in “Space Cowboys” and Not Clint Eastwood in “The Replacements” on Sept. 16, 2000 likely completing his 20-year leasing period
Any site claiming to be serious about film and theatrical history would never suggest that there were “XXX rated” films. There is - and was - no such rating. Period. To provide some info that you won’t find in the entry above, feel free to read on or not as the case may be. (This data is provided only by me and not the contributor listed above; please don’t cream skim from here unless attributed as this theater’s story is an interesting one in its entirety but not when factoids are separated from the bigger picture.)
Steve Paluch started the Hi-Vue Drive-In without controversy on April 5, 1956. Two years later, Paluch would take over the town’s hardtop venue, the Durand Theatre, as well. The Durand Theatre ceases operation on June 27, 1965 with the Hi-Vue departing likely - although not known - following the 1962 season following a wind storm that had damaged the property. This should have been the end of the story as small town cinemas such as these - Durand’s population not fluctuating much between 3k and 3,500 folks - were dying - or had died a decade earlier - nationwide. But things were only getting started in Durand Cinema History.
The Hi-Vue was taken over by Durand resident Harry V. Mohney, he - the most prolific figure in the history of adult drive-in theaters. (Oddly, this a fact that is overlooked in the entry above by the contributor.) Of course, Mohney is better known for his Déjà Vu company which operated some 132 strip clubs in 41 U.S. States. He’s also known for fighting off a specious charge by the Michigan Department of Revenue as they tried everything to take away his business and money. And he’s also known for fighting First Amendment cases brought by various agencies. But where did this all begin? Look no further than the once sleepy Hi-Vue Drive-In here in Durand.
Mohney’s first job was as a projectionist job at Battle Creek’s Eastown Theatre - an aging hardtop theater that was transformed by Floyd G. Bloss to a porno chic theater. Eastown projectionist O.E. Anderson died and Mohney would be hired as the projectionist. Bloss sued the Battle Creek Enquirer for not agreeing to run advertisements for the Eastown. Bloss and Mohney became partners in 1966 but lost their case. New operators rebranded the Eastown as the Eastown Cinema showing more respectable art films beginning in January of 1967. This also could have been the end of the story, but Mohney returned home to Durand buying the moribund Hi-Vue ozoner while taken on the Michigan Theatre in Saginaw.
Relabeling the venue as the Sceen Auto Theatre, Mohney showed porno chic era films for mature audiences beginning on July 28, 1967 with Libertad Leblanc in “Love Hunger” and Nélida Lobato in “Scream of The Butterfly.” The theater was a major hit in just one season of operation - tens of thousands of dollars poured in between Mohney’s ozoner and his Michigan Theatre. Not surprisingly, legal charges began to pile up agains Mohney’s newly-formed American Amusement Co., the predecessor of Deja Vu. In Saginaw, alone, three different attempts were made hoping to dissuade Mohney from showing films at the Michigan Theatre: one, challenging his license to operate; another, on whether the films were obscene; and, a third, on whether city taxes should have been reported and paid on coin-operated machine revenues. Instead of dissuading Mohney, he started taking his profits and picking up theaters around the state of Michigan.
In Lapeer, Michigan, Mohney took on the Sunset Drive-In Theatre. He set something of a record for being arrested twice in the first week of that venue’s operation and being jailed both times. He then was arrested for failing to have a fence around the theater to protect stray eyeballs from catching a glimpse of the film. He built a fence around the ozoner and was sued because the fence was then deemed to be a safety violation. Then, a Citizens for Decency Committee picketed the theater with the police arresting the projectionist so that films couldn’t be shown. When Judge John Norman A. Baguley ruled that no unrated, no X, and no R rated films could be played in Lapeer, the films were seized making their return to the distributor impossible. To say that the first six months at the venue were litigious is an understatement. Then a felony case was brought in Corunna, Michigan so it was a lot of lawyering up for American Amusement.
Cases bounded. Mohney would be found guilty of obscenity by a jury in 1973 on selling obscene materials. Most defendants would pay a fine or seek a settlement; Mohney appealed even with the Miller v. California interpretation firmly in hand. Years later, that “smut” case was overturned. A 1977 interstate transportation charge associated with “Deep Throat” and “Swing High” was lost at a jury trial and overturned later. 45 indictments of transporting obscene material in 1980 was lost at a jury trial in Florida and all 45 indictments were thrown out on reversal later. Oh, and the Justice Baguley ruling that the Sunset couldn’t even show “R” rated films - also overturned - especially when a “safer” fence was built.
Meanwhile, the uber-successful Sceen Auto Theatre which was renamed as the Sceen Drive-In Theatre in 1969 - began really toying with their ad copy. For “Diary of a Bed,” the Sceen advertised the film as a “XXXXX” film with the disclaimer, “If you would be disturbed by very explicit scenes of full disclosure of the private side of married life, please do not see this film.” The “XXXXX” label was in retaliation for competing venues that used “XX,” “XXX,” and had upped to “XXXX” in order to provide self-labeled “strength” to films not rated by the MPAA classification system. (The MPAA only reached a strength level of “X” which later became NC-17.) Every other designation of adult film was simply a non-rated MPAA film. When Gerard Damiano’s “Deep Throat” played at the Sceen beginning in 1973, traffic jams abounded and farmers - or the farmers' kids - climbed grain elevators and got on rooftops for free looks. It played ten weeks from May 2, 1973 to August 21, 1973.
In the home video era, the Sceen added adult videotapes to its mix. Private Drive-In booths, a mini-movie arcade and other elements were on the property. The most important element on the property, however, was the Modern Bookkeeping Co. that kept the adult entrepreneur’s books. That’s what the Michigan Department of Revenue attacked trying once and for all to end the Sceen and its progeny. Oddly, the Michigan Revenue squad did not charge any wrong doing other than the taxes on coins collected from coin-op machines. Not surprisingly, a jury found him guilty. Again, most would pay the fine or seek a settlement; not Mohney who likely felt this was simply a bullying tactic. After multiple appeals and citing that the coin-op revenue required a cut with a coin collector - and citing that skimming of coins led to reduced taxes going to the state and that the state had failed to provide the defense with due diligence -Mohney would win that case on appeal some 11 years later.
However, in that period, the Sceen left the scene on September 30, 1989. It was referred to as the “Durand Dirties” by radio station WOAP, a desultory nickname that stuck but was - obviously - never, ever the operating name of this theater. Meanwhile, American Amusement Co. had morphed into the notorious Deja Vu operation with locations in over 40 states. Durand was on the map as a major hub of adult entertainment and its founder, Harry V. Mohney, graced the front page of the local newspaper as “The Smut King.” It had started right on the grounds of the Sceen Auto Theatre in Durand. BTW: the Sceen became a golfing range which in the 2020s was known as The Tee Box Driving Range. Somehow, you just couldn’t ask for a much better name.
August 29, 1935 opening ad as the new, streamlined Rialto posted in photos with “West Point of the Air.” Also added is the Charles H. Agree architectural sketch of same. And, technically, this entry should be the Royal Art Theatre, its closing name on April 20, 1973 with Candy Samples in “Mrs. Harris Cavity” and Lloyd Kaufman’s “The New Comers” ending the ride for a few hours.
The Royal Art Theatre picked up the projectors and moved less than a block away to 224. S. Saginaw opening up the very next day also as the Royal Art Theatre with “3 Came Running” and “Initiation Night”. It lasted until August 19,1979 going out in porno chic style with Linda Lovelace in “Deep Throat” and John Holmes in “The Jade Pussycat.” As John might have said, it doesn’t get any bigger than that. The second Royal was demolished in 1979 for the Hyatt Hotel project.
Perhaps this is a technicality but the local paper states that Jennie I. Cleveland created the Bijou Theatre space opening in March 1905. Col. Butterfield soon acquired the venue likely doubling it in size by taking over the neighboring storefront. He then sold it to Waterman & Bryce of Michigan Vaudeville late in 1908 who refreshed it for summer of 1909. Butterfield and Michigan V. feuded briefly over vaudeville bookings with Butterfield taking over as the head of Michigan Vaudeville and reacquiring the Bijou for good.
In March of 1915, Butterfield announced a larger vaudeville house and said that the Bijou would be transitioned to the top end movie house of “the garden type” with live acts interspersed. It was renamed the Garden at its September 18, 1915 reboot.
In 1937, a new streamlined Garden Theater is announced by Butterfield Circuit with plans originally by Perara & Perara of Chicago. Those plans are rejected and the Garden hangs on all the way to 1939. New plans - cheaper and faster ones - are accepted from Charles H. Crane - that allow the theater’s side walls to be retained in a sub-$100k New Garden Theater. The Garden’s closure occurred on April 16, 1939 with “King of Chinatown.” Dismantling work started the next day and was completed within six months.
Previously operated by Nova Cinemas and was the circuit’s final operating theatre before the exited the industry
If you have gift cards, you might consider using them in the next few days… no Asian films and no showtimes past Wednesday, March 26, 2025 combined with the deep financial issues of the parent company and the removal of the Facebook page doesn’t bode well. Buena Park location already listed as “temporarily closed” after the end of February 2025.
The CGV Buena Vista is listed as “temporarily closed.” I’m guessing that will turn out to be permanent with the parent company’s financial issues and because they’ve taken down their Facebook page.
Nothing yet…. But there’s room for a 450-plex if anyone’s wanting to draw up some plans.
Going to have to put her as “down for the count” with demolition completed for the theater in March of 2025.
Formerly operated by Nova Cinemas, the fledgling circuit’s second to last theater before its departure. Final operator, Newstar LLC closed here September 3, 2015. Two years later, the venue became a dine-in theater called Touchstar Cinemas Sabal Palms Luxury 6 opening August 11, 2017. Seating was reduced from 1,000 to 450. The venue is still operating in 2025.
The regional Jamestown Mall opened theatre-lessly October 10, 1973. General Cinema announced its Jamestown Cinema I & II not long thereafter. The twin-screen venue had two 350-seat auditoriums for a 700 patron capacity. Gene F. Thoebes was in charge on opening day, July 12, 1974 likely on a 20-year leasing agreement. It was General Cinema’s eighth area theater but the first St. Louis area mall theater with its own entrance easily allowing the mall to be closed with the theater open and parking just outside the venue.
By the 1980s, GCC was dropping 6- and 8-screen theaters in the multiplex theater era of film exhibition. With the Jamestown theatre facility landlocked preventing expansion, GCC took an opt-out in the 15th year of leasing closing permanently with “The Fabulous Baker Boys” and the Cannon film, “River of Death” on October 29, 1989. After being vacant for a little over a year, Wehrenberg took on the venue beginning on December 14, 1990 undoubtedly with very favorable leasing terms.
Under the name of the Jamestown Mall Ciné 2 - the proper name for this entry - it opened with “Marked for Death” and “Sibling Rivalry” All shows were served up on a discount, sub-run policy for $1.50. Wehrenberg was a quick read of the Jamestown clientele and quickly lowered pricing to $1 for all shows. Wehrenberg completed the leasing period closing on January 2, 1994 with “The Three Musketeers” and “We’re Back.” The latter film title proved prescient as Wehrenberg exited the Mall only to be enticed back.
The original cinema space became part of the Jamestown Mall Food Court in October of 1994 following a remodel. In 1996, during the megaplex-era of movie exhibition, an ambitious mall expansion was announced that would provide space at the opposite end of Jamestown Mall for a 14-screen movie theater. Trade publication, Variety, warned exhibition companies to avoid second-rate aging malls as they would be mired in financial servitude after being locked into long-term leases in malls with questionable upside. Jamestown Mall fit that bill and, yet, Wehernberg signed a long-term agreement for its Jamestown 14 Ciné opening in in late Fall 1998. It didn’t go Jamestown Mall’s way or Wehrenberg as they fled well before their lease expiry. That theater has its own entry.
Status: formerly 700 seats and now demolished; fun fact: the six line, two-feature announcer that served as the attractor for the original twin just outside of the mall theater’s original location was used as the 14-screen announcer, despite being on the wrong end of the Mall - and well short of the pre-requisite 14 lines needed to display all of the playing films - until the cinema’s closure in 2013. The sign was removed in 2020 and the former Food Court/Theater in 2024.
The Regal UA Circle Centre was a destination location for the circuit amazingly able to serve out its 30-year lease in a dying downtown mall. The theatre was built as the futuristic United Artists Circle Centre Theatre 9 with Starport: A Virtual Theme Park. It debuted during the megaplex era of cinema exhibition blasting off September 8, 1995 in its intragalaxy mission whose operation never left Marion County. The venue was a prototype for the United Artists Theatre Circuit and served as a precursor of Family Destination Entertainment Centers (FEC) that would take root 20 years later in the exhibition industry. The circuit’s existing trademarked welcome of “Experience the Magic” greeted movie customers.
But this project was too costly and a bit before its time as that era’s VR gaming and motion simulator rides proved to be of fleeting interest in the 1990s. After a handful of UA Starport projects on the books were launched, UATC downgraded other planned locations to more traditional theaters with smaller non-branded Starport arcades. Some of those venues that were built had cavernous lobbies and other underused floor space with the footprints of the VR facilities removed abruptly from the final buildouts. UATC and ACT III Theatres were bought out just three years later by Regal Cinemas. They, in turn would declare bankruptcy in 2001 ensuring the Starport concept was permanently docked and the branding discontinued.
As it was reaching its 25th Anniversary, the venue - which had renamed as the Regal UA Circle Centre 9 in October 2008 - was closed on March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Circle Centre Mall had already plummeted to greyfield status, a term associated with a “dead mall.” The venue reopened on August 21, 2020 with UA/Regal parent Cineworld in its own bankruptcy, only to close again on October 8, 2020. The RUACC shockingly reopened on April 2, 2021, but the magic had faded. The theatre closed in film exhibition’s final stage within the streaming era on October 31, 2024 at the expiry of its lease. The entire mall was purchased with a dream of recreating it as on open-air courtyard operation that might open by the 2030s. The former Regal UA (née Starport) Circle Centre’s next destination was a hyperspace transportation to be ignited by explosives or with a more traditional wrecking ball.
The entry should be the Regal UA Circle Centre. Its history should obviously mention the pandemic - as should all of the theaters in this database IMHO - as that’s what forever altered the path of so many movie theaters of that era including the many that never reopened at all.
Last shows were on Sep. 23, 1984 with Bolero and Last American Virgin. Demolition came in 1986 with the retail shopping area replacing the ozoner
It looks like Wehrenberg dropped the venue on January 7, 2010 likely able to escape its lease through a performance clause as the Jamestown Mall had reached greyfield status, a term akin to a “dead mall” with less than 50 percent occupancy. The cinema carried on as an independent beginning on January 19, 2010 and under Nova Cinemas while the interior Mall itself was sold for a mere $1.5 million, a fraction of its value just ten years prior. Absolutely no need to change the entry title but - according to interior signage - it closed as the New Jamestown Mall 14 Family Theatre to match the final operator of the mall, New Jamestown Holding, LLC, a New York-based entity which purchased the interior of the Mall for a fire sale price of just $660,000 in December of 2012. The latter hoped that a flea market and essentially giving folks month-to-month leasing terms for little to no cost would attract customers as the “New” Jamestown Mall, a name that it didn’t have the wherewithal to market or the chutzpah to even seriously say aloud.
The plan failed quickly as only a few businesses operated in the Mall’s interior along with a cobbled-together flea market and two anchors. As was the case in dying St. Louis area malls, the cinemas carried on in almost impossible environments. Nova Cinemas closed the New Jamestown Mall Family Theatre on June 23, 2013 with its final, two post 10p showings of “The Purge” and “This is the End.” Prophetic - and, yet wondering who would want to be in the “New” Jamestown Mall circa 2013 at the film’s midnight end times?
In sum, the Jamestown Mall narrowly missed its 40th anniversary of movie magic. Normally, with a 1998 open and 2013 closure that might have been the sign of the 15-year leasing opt out, which was indeed coming due. But it was the film exhibition industry’s transformation that more likely ended the Jamestown location. With film distributors switching to digital DCP files, the theater was unable to even consider making a digital transformation making programming for 14 auditoriums hard to find in the Summer of 2013. Aging mall cinemas nationwide dwindled in the 2013/4 period and Jamestown was one such example.
The old analog, New Jamestown Mall 14 Family Theatre didn’t miss much through its Summer 2013 exit. The entire interior Mall was first closed on Thanksgiving Eve of 2013 due to lack of heat with its two remaining anchors allowed to continue operations with going out of business sales. Heading into what would be the Mall’s final holiday shopping season, it was not cool for Jamestown’s handful of operators, other than the actual temperature of their operations. The interior mall managed to reopen as the final leaseholders and the remaining lessee retails were allowed to continue operations to the anchor-less Mall’s official closing date of June 30, 2014.
What happened next was a fiasco as - like many malls - there were five mall property holders - all of whom fled the area. Four of those owners - the main anchor tenants -were long gone while the out of state interior mall operator couldn’t be found ending any hope for a comeback. It also ended mall security and uprooted the local police department which had a Jamestown Mall storefront. A combination of well-intentioned urban explorers documented the interior of the mall to show what was transpiring inside the moribund space. And the transgressions within would have been seen as shocking to previous generations as scores of folks, likely with chemically-clouded mental functionality, entered the mall facility. They crashed glass, tagged everywhere with spray paint, set fires, broke functioning water pipes and worse - likely not caring what their actions would bring about.
Fast, or better yet, slow forward to 2023 when the demolition finally began… only to stop temporarily due to a labor issue. When the last of four (!) fires was set in the complex injuring two firefighters in 2023, the local fire team made the smartest move on the last fire set: let it burn. After all, the water lines, interior fire suppression and hydrants had all run dry. The Mall Cinema was the very first demolished part of the venue followed by the rest of the facility. A mercy razing if ever there were such a thing.
M&R Theatres launched the River Run Theatres 8 here July 29, 1988 with 70mm projection. Just two months later, M&R was sold to Loews and the venue became the M&R Loews River Run Theatres 8 briefly until the M&R logo was removed. The venue closed with Loews in financial trouble in May of 2001.
Lansing Theatre Management took on the venue with a major refresh to the plans of Edwin H. Lugowski and AIA Architects. It reopened on November 19, 2004. The building’s facade had the curiously redundant name of Cinema 8 Cinema although its official name was the Lansing Cinema 8. Digital Cinema Destinations Corp. managed the theatre for years. Carmike acquired the venue in its May 2014 purchase of Digital Cinema Destinations. When AMC bought Carmike in 2016, it had to divest itself of the Lansing Cinema for competitive reasons. New Visions came in to become the Lansing Cinema 8 Cinema’s final operator.
When New Visions' Cinema 8 Cinema closed on March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, operator New Visions went out of business months later. In September of 2020, AMC reclaimed 10 New Visions theaters - 6 divested from the Carmike Circuit to New Visions and 4 others… but not the Lansing which sat month after month and year after year waiting for new life. All 3,500 seats in the 8-screen venue went unused as the facility remained in a time vacuum for more than four years.
In Fall of 2024, new buyers came in with plans to gut the building and found that everything was shockingly still in place including four year old concessions, gaming equipment, soda machines full of syrup, exterior and interior posters all in place, and auditoriums labeled with the New Vision’s last showings of films including “The Way Back,” “I Still Believe” and “Onward.“ Had it not been for the mold and the film’s DCP playdate expiries, I still believe they could have started the venue up one more time to see if that was the way back. Sadly, they decided to move onward.
As reflected in the opening ads, the Holiday Cinema was built by Bob Word’s Word Theatre & Vending Corporation. Because Word Theatres wasn’t bought out by United Amusement Corp. until June 5, 1981, the entry is inaccurate regarding the theater’s origin.
The General Cinema Columbia Mall Cinema I-II-III-IV opened July 14, 1978. It closed on February 4, 1990 for a major renovation. It opened as the General Cinema Columbia Mall Cinemas 8 on June 22, 1990. General Cinema left its Columbia Mall 8 behind on October 18, 2000 in free fall collapse in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closing all but 72 theaters nationwide.
Phoenix Theatres took on the venue November 16, 2001 as the Columbia Mall Cinema 8 to match the Mall’s rebranding, the venue became the Columbia Place Cinema 8 in early September of 2002. The theatre had a phenomenal run comparatively speaking remaining under Phoenix until closure on January 7, 2007.
Brian Cline and Columbia Entertainment Group took on the venue with the Mall scuffling reopening with stadium seating as the Columbia Place Stadium Cinemas 8 on November 9, 2007. It closed on October 20, 2011. A final operator took on the venue - likely with little to no leasing expenses - on June 29, 2012. That arrangement lasted over two months ending on September 16, 2012. The theatre stood vacant for 13 years awaiting demolition as the interior Mall went from greyfield status to ghost town - though still unlocked for mall walkers and a few stores in 2025.
Though perhaps unnecessary, the proper names here were the General Cinema Columbia Mall Cinema I-II-III-IV, General Cinema Columbia Mall Cinemas 8, (Phoenix) Columbia Mall Cinema 8, (Phoenix) Columbia Place Cinema 8, and the Columbia Place Stadium Cinemas 8 (technically, this entry’s proper name). BTW: Regal was never an operator here.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gingerich and Ennis Ray opened the rustic Westerner on July 28, 1950 with “The Sundowners” & “Red Stallion in the Rockies.” Mrs. Gingerich and Ray sold the venue to Reno Amusement Circuit in 1958 which staged a grand reopening on April 16th with a wider, 50x100' screen.
For 1963, the venue was under California United Theatres. It remained there though March 30, 1967 when that circuit name was retired in favor of United Artists Theatre Corp. The final countdown to the expiry of the UA Westerner Drive-In’s 30-year leasing agreement took place on September 1, 1980. The films were “Dressed to Kill” and “The Final Countdown.”
November 10, 1950 opening ad in photos
Opening ad with “Singapore” and “North of the Divide"playing April, 15 1951 in photos
Remains closed by Regal following showtimes on March 9, 2025.
Opened by Colonel Butterfield and his Circuit on August 30, 1917, the Palace cost $200,000 to build. It ceased operations on January 25, 1976 with Pam Grier in “Foxy Brown” and Richard Pryor in “The Mack.”
Closing April 1, 2025
Begie “Moose” Breeding operated here from 1980 to 2000. For seasons from 1980-1989 it was known as the Cinema 7 Drive-In Theatre It launched with Clint Eastwood in “Bronco Billy” and Clint Eastwood in “Every Which Way But Loose” on August 26, 1980. The venue sported a 32' by 36' screen and space for 200 cars.
In 1990, it was briefly renamed Moose’s Movies Drive-In Theatre. During that season, it became the Jeremiah Drive-In Theatre. The last advertised shows were Clint Eastwood in “Space Cowboys” and Not Clint Eastwood in “The Replacements” on Sept. 16, 2000 likely completing his 20-year leasing period
Any site claiming to be serious about film and theatrical history would never suggest that there were “XXX rated” films. There is - and was - no such rating. Period. To provide some info that you won’t find in the entry above, feel free to read on or not as the case may be. (This data is provided only by me and not the contributor listed above; please don’t cream skim from here unless attributed as this theater’s story is an interesting one in its entirety but not when factoids are separated from the bigger picture.)
Steve Paluch started the Hi-Vue Drive-In without controversy on April 5, 1956. Two years later, Paluch would take over the town’s hardtop venue, the Durand Theatre, as well. The Durand Theatre ceases operation on June 27, 1965 with the Hi-Vue departing likely - although not known - following the 1962 season following a wind storm that had damaged the property. This should have been the end of the story as small town cinemas such as these - Durand’s population not fluctuating much between 3k and 3,500 folks - were dying - or had died a decade earlier - nationwide. But things were only getting started in Durand Cinema History.
The Hi-Vue was taken over by Durand resident Harry V. Mohney, he - the most prolific figure in the history of adult drive-in theaters. (Oddly, this a fact that is overlooked in the entry above by the contributor.) Of course, Mohney is better known for his Déjà Vu company which operated some 132 strip clubs in 41 U.S. States. He’s also known for fighting off a specious charge by the Michigan Department of Revenue as they tried everything to take away his business and money. And he’s also known for fighting First Amendment cases brought by various agencies. But where did this all begin? Look no further than the once sleepy Hi-Vue Drive-In here in Durand.
Mohney’s first job was as a projectionist job at Battle Creek’s Eastown Theatre - an aging hardtop theater that was transformed by Floyd G. Bloss to a porno chic theater. Eastown projectionist O.E. Anderson died and Mohney would be hired as the projectionist. Bloss sued the Battle Creek Enquirer for not agreeing to run advertisements for the Eastown. Bloss and Mohney became partners in 1966 but lost their case. New operators rebranded the Eastown as the Eastown Cinema showing more respectable art films beginning in January of 1967. This also could have been the end of the story, but Mohney returned home to Durand buying the moribund Hi-Vue ozoner while taken on the Michigan Theatre in Saginaw.
Relabeling the venue as the Sceen Auto Theatre, Mohney showed porno chic era films for mature audiences beginning on July 28, 1967 with Libertad Leblanc in “Love Hunger” and Nélida Lobato in “Scream of The Butterfly.” The theater was a major hit in just one season of operation - tens of thousands of dollars poured in between Mohney’s ozoner and his Michigan Theatre. Not surprisingly, legal charges began to pile up agains Mohney’s newly-formed American Amusement Co., the predecessor of Deja Vu. In Saginaw, alone, three different attempts were made hoping to dissuade Mohney from showing films at the Michigan Theatre: one, challenging his license to operate; another, on whether the films were obscene; and, a third, on whether city taxes should have been reported and paid on coin-operated machine revenues. Instead of dissuading Mohney, he started taking his profits and picking up theaters around the state of Michigan.
In Lapeer, Michigan, Mohney took on the Sunset Drive-In Theatre. He set something of a record for being arrested twice in the first week of that venue’s operation and being jailed both times. He then was arrested for failing to have a fence around the theater to protect stray eyeballs from catching a glimpse of the film. He built a fence around the ozoner and was sued because the fence was then deemed to be a safety violation. Then, a Citizens for Decency Committee picketed the theater with the police arresting the projectionist so that films couldn’t be shown. When Judge John Norman A. Baguley ruled that no unrated, no X, and no R rated films could be played in Lapeer, the films were seized making their return to the distributor impossible. To say that the first six months at the venue were litigious is an understatement. Then a felony case was brought in Corunna, Michigan so it was a lot of lawyering up for American Amusement.
Cases bounded. Mohney would be found guilty of obscenity by a jury in 1973 on selling obscene materials. Most defendants would pay a fine or seek a settlement; Mohney appealed even with the Miller v. California interpretation firmly in hand. Years later, that “smut” case was overturned. A 1977 interstate transportation charge associated with “Deep Throat” and “Swing High” was lost at a jury trial and overturned later. 45 indictments of transporting obscene material in 1980 was lost at a jury trial in Florida and all 45 indictments were thrown out on reversal later. Oh, and the Justice Baguley ruling that the Sunset couldn’t even show “R” rated films - also overturned - especially when a “safer” fence was built.
Meanwhile, the uber-successful Sceen Auto Theatre which was renamed as the Sceen Drive-In Theatre in 1969 - began really toying with their ad copy. For “Diary of a Bed,” the Sceen advertised the film as a “XXXXX” film with the disclaimer, “If you would be disturbed by very explicit scenes of full disclosure of the private side of married life, please do not see this film.” The “XXXXX” label was in retaliation for competing venues that used “XX,” “XXX,” and had upped to “XXXX” in order to provide self-labeled “strength” to films not rated by the MPAA classification system. (The MPAA only reached a strength level of “X” which later became NC-17.) Every other designation of adult film was simply a non-rated MPAA film. When Gerard Damiano’s “Deep Throat” played at the Sceen beginning in 1973, traffic jams abounded and farmers - or the farmers' kids - climbed grain elevators and got on rooftops for free looks. It played ten weeks from May 2, 1973 to August 21, 1973.
In the home video era, the Sceen added adult videotapes to its mix. Private Drive-In booths, a mini-movie arcade and other elements were on the property. The most important element on the property, however, was the Modern Bookkeeping Co. that kept the adult entrepreneur’s books. That’s what the Michigan Department of Revenue attacked trying once and for all to end the Sceen and its progeny. Oddly, the Michigan Revenue squad did not charge any wrong doing other than the taxes on coins collected from coin-op machines. Not surprisingly, a jury found him guilty. Again, most would pay the fine or seek a settlement; not Mohney who likely felt this was simply a bullying tactic. After multiple appeals and citing that the coin-op revenue required a cut with a coin collector - and citing that skimming of coins led to reduced taxes going to the state and that the state had failed to provide the defense with due diligence -Mohney would win that case on appeal some 11 years later.
However, in that period, the Sceen left the scene on September 30, 1989. It was referred to as the “Durand Dirties” by radio station WOAP, a desultory nickname that stuck but was - obviously - never, ever the operating name of this theater. Meanwhile, American Amusement Co. had morphed into the notorious Deja Vu operation with locations in over 40 states. Durand was on the map as a major hub of adult entertainment and its founder, Harry V. Mohney, graced the front page of the local newspaper as “The Smut King.” It had started right on the grounds of the Sceen Auto Theatre in Durand. BTW: the Sceen became a golfing range which in the 2020s was known as The Tee Box Driving Range. Somehow, you just couldn’t ask for a much better name.
The Durand Theatre ceased operations on June 27, 1965 with “The Crooked Road” and “Why Bother to Knock?”
August 29, 1935 opening ad as the new, streamlined Rialto posted in photos with “West Point of the Air.” Also added is the Charles H. Agree architectural sketch of same. And, technically, this entry should be the Royal Art Theatre, its closing name on April 20, 1973 with Candy Samples in “Mrs. Harris Cavity” and Lloyd Kaufman’s “The New Comers” ending the ride for a few hours.
The Royal Art Theatre picked up the projectors and moved less than a block away to 224. S. Saginaw opening up the very next day also as the Royal Art Theatre with “3 Came Running” and “Initiation Night”. It lasted until August 19,1979 going out in porno chic style with Linda Lovelace in “Deep Throat” and John Holmes in “The Jade Pussycat.” As John might have said, it doesn’t get any bigger than that. The second Royal was demolished in 1979 for the Hyatt Hotel project.
Perhaps this is a technicality but the local paper states that Jennie I. Cleveland created the Bijou Theatre space opening in March 1905. Col. Butterfield soon acquired the venue likely doubling it in size by taking over the neighboring storefront. He then sold it to Waterman & Bryce of Michigan Vaudeville late in 1908 who refreshed it for summer of 1909. Butterfield and Michigan V. feuded briefly over vaudeville bookings with Butterfield taking over as the head of Michigan Vaudeville and reacquiring the Bijou for good.
In March of 1915, Butterfield announced a larger vaudeville house and said that the Bijou would be transitioned to the top end movie house of “the garden type” with live acts interspersed. It was renamed the Garden at its September 18, 1915 reboot.
In 1937, a new streamlined Garden Theater is announced by Butterfield Circuit with plans originally by Perara & Perara of Chicago. Those plans are rejected and the Garden hangs on all the way to 1939. New plans - cheaper and faster ones - are accepted from Charles H. Crane - that allow the theater’s side walls to be retained in a sub-$100k New Garden Theater. The Garden’s closure occurred on April 16, 1939 with “King of Chinatown.” Dismantling work started the next day and was completed within six months.
Opened February 12, 1937 with “Mine with the Iron Door” and “Song of the Saddle”