Clyde Walgren took on the venue changing its name to the Star Theatre beginning on August 13, 1920 with the Wm. S. Hart film, “Sand.” It had 219 seats at opening. H. Esmond Hardin took on the venue on November 1, 1947 and renamed it as the Civic Theatre. The theatre closed on May 31, 1966 and was reopened by Mrs. Dick Burback on September 8, 1966. She appears to have closed early in 1967.
Dave T. Gourley not only built the city’s first performance venue, the Gourley Opera House, but also its first electrical plant. On August 21, 1914, the Star Theatre opened in downtown Rushville apparently in the Opera House. By 1915, movies had taken over the the Gourley Opera House and shown every night of the week.
July 1, 1919 was a momentous day in Rushville, Nebraska, as it was the first day of Prohibition in the United States and it was the day that new operators, the Shipleys, took over the Star Theatre and changed it to the EssAnEss Theatre or Essaness Theatre playing upon their surnames “S and S.” The theatre converted to sound films in 1929 to remain viable.
Two owners later, on May 9, 1938, the theatre became the Plains Theatre showing Warner Baxter in “Vogues of 1938” supported by the comedy short, “Ask Uncle Sol” with Eddie Lambert. 100 years later the venue was still operating.
The Chisholm West 5 launched on June 19, 1981 on a 30-year lease with Superman II, Cannonball Run, Clash of the Titans, The Nights the Lights Went Out in Georgia, and Last Flight of Noah’s Ark. It was operated by the same circuit that operated the South Shields 2, the Park Terrace 2, the Westpark Twin, the MacArthur Park 4, and the South Park 4. Its aging portfolio of theaters seemed to drop off one by one during the multiplex era likely reaching end of leasing agreements. MI Theatres ran it under the moniker of Dollar Movies 5 as a sub-run discount house in the 1990s and early 2000s.
In March of 2004, Landmark’s discount subsidiary Silver Cinemas took on the venue under the name of Yukon Movies 5. Silver Cinemas updated the facility in 2007 becoming the Yukon 5 Cinema though continuing as a discount house. It closed under that name at the end of lease in July of 2014. As 2021, the theater was still standing but was threatened with potential demolition likely to remove the facility from the tax rosters.
Mid-America Theatres Circuit closed the Continental after showing “2001: A Space Odyssey” on September 30, 1982 ending its continuous theatrical life. It had a brief run as a church and did have its final film screening in 1983. A classified ad shortly thereafter offered all of the seats for sale.
Opened Feb. 27, 1928 with Laura LaPlante in “Silk Stockings.” It converted to widescreen to show CinemaScope films but that didn’t stem the tides as the theatre went down to three-day a week operation in 1956 and closed in 1957. It was used as a church and for sporadic events until being emptied out for a refresh and relaunch on November 15th, 1968 as Theatre A.
It was sold to Cinema Southwest in 1973 and converted to X-Rated fare in 1975 before closing. In 1977, it was refreshed as a twin-screener playing first-run fare. That failed within a year and it was converted to The Pub.
The 9-screen location closed March 16, 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic. Goodrich Quality Theatre Circuit subsequently ceased operations. After initially passing on the location, GQT Movies circuit took on the theatre reopening on November 19, 2021 as GQT Grand Haven 9. (Mason Asset Management and Namdar Realty Group purchased the bankrupt circuit with partner VIP Cinemas taking over operation of 22 additional former Goodrich Quality Theatre locations. GQT Movies' home office is located in Kentwood, Michigan.) The theatre’s website is:
https://www.gqtmovies.com/theaters/x04xt-gqt-grand-haven-9
This was the second of three Jewell Theatres in town. The Jewell (two Ls) was a group of Nebraska theaters under common ownership until the sound era appears to have wiped out the majority of them. The new-build Jewell replaced a previous location opening with the play, “God’s Country,” on December 18, 1916. It would convert to full-time motion pictures and convert to sound as noted above. At some point the second L was dropped.
Elmer E. Gailey opened the Gay Theatre on September 30, 1928 with Clara Bow in “The Fleet’s In” and live vaudeville acts. The theatre seated 545 people at opening and 1,700 were admitted to the three opening day events with 500 more turned away. The theatre sported a Spanish themed architectural style with a cry room for parents with babies who wanted to attend the show without disturbing others.
Gailey also owned the Crystal Theatre which he had purchased years earlier. On May 18, 1929, the Gay became the first theatre with talkies when Gailey installed Vitaphone to play the two-reel short, “The Bishop’s Candlesticks.” The Crystal would remain silent all the way to 1931 when Gailey installed sound there.
On April 7, 1932, Phillip March of March Theatre Circuit was one of three business persons who bought the Crystal and Gay Theatres. Wayne remained a two-theatre town for just over ten years until March shuttered the Crystal in 1939.
Prescott and Simon launched the Crystal Theatre on July 31, 1909 likely on a 30-year lease. Elmer E. Gailey took on the venue and created the Gay Theatre. Gailey added sound to the Crystal starting on February 20, 1931 with Buck Jones in the All-Talking, “Shadow Ranch.” Gailey closed the Crystal in 1939 leaving the local film business to his Gay Theatre.
The General Cinema I, II, III in the Joliet Mall appears to have opened October 13, 1979 about the time that the Bergner-Weise store opened just after the one-year anniversary of the Mall. Not liking what they saw, GCC bailed at the ten-year leasing point. Super Saver Cinema took on the location converting it to a sub-run discount house. It closed in 2007 just shy of completing a 30-year lease.
The mall developer updated the shopping center including carving out a new spot for a 14-screen Cinemark Louis Joliet Mall that encompassed the former spot once held by the General Cinema cinema.
Carolina-based Litchfield Theatres Circuit, formerly Fairlane Litchfield, decided that the time was right to move into the Oklahoma City market in the 1980s. And the move was a good one because the town was overbuilt with aging twin and four-plexes without a true, modern destination theatre. Litchfield began in Edmond with the $1.4 million, 1,548 seat Kickingbird Cinema 6. The Windsor Hills was built behind the, then, 28-year old Windsor Hills Center because who needs to actually see the theatre from the road?
Litchfield’s Windsor Hills Cinema 10 represented a more aggressive attempt to break into the next generation of multiplexes and was designed by Hiller & Hiller of South Carolina. The Windsor Hills Center had opened theatre-less in the 1960s and the 1988 expansion at the rear of the complex including two retailers and the cinema. The megaplex launched December 9, 1988 with first-run films. On February 2, 1994, Regal Cinemas Inc. purchased LItchfield’s 24 theatre portfolio adding the Windsor and the Kickingbird. Regal marketed the venue as the Regal Windsor Hills 10. Citing lack of patrons, Regal closed up shop there on January 16, 2005.
Hoping to squeeze out a few more dollars - one at a time - Western Pacific Theater Group headed by Charles Boenning took on the Windsor Hills Cinema 10 as a sub-run, discount house on June 10, 2005. It was Western Pacific’s third Oklahoma theatre with locations in Hawaii, California, Texas, and Nevada. The policy was ultra-discount with cheap concessions and prices ranging from $1.50 down to 50 cent Tuesdays. Patrons were skeptical and Western Pacific moved along.
B&B Theatres Circuit took on the venue in 2009 and gave it a facelift while elevating it back to first-run status beginning on November 20, 2009 as the B&B Windsor 10. It was closed on August 25, 2019.. This was kind of an interesting move as few theatre circuits invested so much money in the 21st Century on a multiplex that featured non-stadium seating. But it worked out and the theatre was a plucky survivor all the way to the end of a ten-year lease. Few seemed to notice that it was gone and in the 2020s it appeared ready for anyone to take it over.
This is now run by Apex Cinemas - one of its five locations (as of 2021) with a website of https://www.apexcinemas.movie/location/29969/Apex-Cinema-Roswell-Showtimes . Icon Cinemas expanded to ten screens before dropping the location.
The Penn Square Shopping Center opened theatre-less in 1960 with anchors John A. Brown and Montgomery Ward. The shopping center was enclosed in 1982 and given a major renovation doubling floor space in 1988 including a new second level, food court and a new General Cinema 8-screen interior theater. RTKL Associates was the architect for the project.
General Cinema had entered the Oklahoma City (OKC) market in 1982 with the Quail Springs 6. In 1988, it added three more 8-plexes in the Brixton Square, Penn Square Mall, and Crossroads not Square all launching in 1988. The Penn Square opened on May 19th, 1988.
Four OKC megaplexes were announced in 1997 that would decimate General Cinema’s multiplex business model. Regal announced the 16-screen Crossroads that would compromise its 8-screen Crossroads facility. Then AMC announced the 24-screen Quail Springs complex that would detroy its aging Quail Spring six-plex. A month later, Cinemark announced a 20-screen Tinseltown and another circuit planned a downtown 16-screen megaplex.
At the 15-year leasing option of the Quail Springs 6 in 1997, GCC not only bailed there but totally left the OKC market. General Cinema dropped the Penn Square Mall location along with its Brixton Square 8 Quail Springs, and Crossroads 8 locations on August 10, 1997. Hollywood Theaters picked them all up as of August 15, 1997. Hollywood added two screens to make it a 10-plex not long before dropping the location in September of 2001.
Dickinson spent $350,000 on the location reopening there on November 1, 2002. Dickinson closed at the end of a 10-year leasing arrangement in 2012 with AMC taking on the venue in November of 2012. AMC invested $1.6 million in adding recliners and a new look concession area with its new look completed in May of 2013. The theater closed for the COVID-19 pandemic along with the other AMC locations on March 16, 2020. It reopened August 20, 2020.
Quail Springs Mall opened theatre-less on March 1, 1980. An immediate hit, United Centers decided to expand to the West and to the East. General Cinema signed on for the 1981 expansion to include an outparcel six-screen theatre seating 2,000 patrons at launch. It would be General Cinema’s first Oklahoma City (OKC) venue and was part of complex addition known as “The Center.”
The theater launched July 23, 1982 and that date would prove to be significant. Five years later, General Cinema would expand in the Ok the Brixton Square 8, Penn Square Mall, and Crossroads 8. But times were changing quickly ten years later in 1997.
Four OKC megaplexes were announced in 1997 that would decimate General Cinema’s multiplex business model. Regal announced the 16-screen Crossroads that would compromise its 8-screen Crossroads facility. Then AMC announced the 24-screen Quail Springs complex that would detroy its aging Quail Spring six-plex. A month later, Cinemark announced a 20-screen Tinseltown and another circuit planned a downtown 16-screen megaplex. The writing couldn’t have been clearer on the GCC wall. At the 15-year leasing option of the Quail Springs 6, GCC not only bailed there but totally left the OKC market.
Hollywood Theaters picked up all of the discarded GCC locations as of August 15, 1997. It ran its expanded portfolio with the Quail Springs 6 staying first-run to 1999. But the launch of the AMC 24-plex forced Hollywood to reposition the aging six-plex to a dollar house along with the Almonte 6 location. With a marketplace oversaturated with aging discount houses - perhaps the greatest number of discount venues per capita in the nation - both the Almonte 6 and Quail Springs 6 were quick casualties closing in 2000. Hollywood would continue to shed locations including the Brixton 8 until it had just one theater in the market in January of 2008.
Brixton Square Shopping Center opened theatre-less in 1985. General Cinema announced this as one of several other local projects in March of 1987. The theatre was designed by The Architectural Group in Mobile, Alabama or TAG. It featured 8 theatres with 2,200 seats. The theatre launched December 11, 1987.
As the megaplex era was beginning, plans in 1997 called for a Regal 16-screen theatre that would dwarf its Crossroads venue, a 24-screen that would destroy its Quail Spring multiplex, a 20-screen Cinemark location and a 16-screen downtown multiplex that could potentially siphon additional business from its ten-yeaar old theaters. General Cinema decided to cut bait dropping the Brixton Square 8 along with its Quail Springs, Penn Square Mall, and Crossroads 8 locations on August 10, 1997.
All of the locations were resumed by Hollywood Theaters on August 15, 1997. In the megaplex world, the former General Cinemas multiplexes were plucky survivors and the Brixton Square 8, rumored to be closing in 2001 lasted with Hollywood Theaters - and a brief period with the Wallace Theatres nameplate in 2006 before returning to Wallace’s Hollywood Theaters moniker - until its January 2, 2008 closure.
Carolina-based Litchfield Theatres Circuit, formerly Fairlane Litchfield, decided that the time was right to move into the Oklahoma City market in the 1980s. And the move was a good one because the town was overbuilt with aging twin and four-plexes without a true, modern destination theatre. Litchfield began in Edmond with this venue, the $1.4 million, 1,548 seat Kickingbird Cinema 6. The Kickingbird Shopping Center was built in 1983/4 near the early 1970s' era Kickingbird Golf Course and Kickingbird Estates.
The Center expanded in 1988 bringing the cinema. The architects were Carolina-based Hiller & Hiller who Litchfield tended to use. Litchfield also built the Windsor Hills Cinema 10 in Oklahoma City behind the, then, 28-year old Windsor Hills Center also to the plans of Hiller & Hiller.
Even though Litchfield launched here as a six-plex, the original design allowed for two more additional auditoriums if business conditions warranted their construction. On February 2, 1994, Regal Cinemas bought out Litchfield and the theatre became part of Regal Cinemas chain. The next year, Regal was the company to add the two screens from the Hiller & Hiller drawing and making it the Regal Kickingbird 8.
In the fall of 1995, Regal added on two screens to make it an 8-plex. But that may have been too optimistic and Regal closed up shop on January 28, 2001. The theatre continued an independent run under Kickingbird Cinemas Ltd. which had originally conceptualized the theater. On August 10, 2011, the theater’s future was jeopardized by a major wind storm that toppled its roof. However, the theatre was repaired and continued operations that same year.
The Kickingbird closed after shows on March 17, 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic. During the year between the start of the pandemic and March 16, 2021, the theatre remained closed and new operators were sought. Icon VIP Circuit picked up the venue that summer with a November/December opening planned that year.
The Regal Crossroads 16 was announced on January 30, 1997 as a 16-screen outparcel megaplex at the 23-year old Crossroads Mall which had opened theatre-less in 1974. General Cinema had launched an eight-screen outparcel multiplex in August of 1988. The Regal plans were for the city’s first stadium-seating megaplex with wall-to-wall screens and digital sound systems in all auditoriums. Not to be outdone, just months later AMC announced a 24-screen facility with stadium seating in Quail Springs followed by Cinemark announcing a 20-screen venue a month after that followed soon after by an announced downtown 16-screen project. The megaplex race was on in OKC and all four projects came to fruition.
The 63,000 square foot Regal project broke ground in August of 1997 and General Cinemas – with its paltry multiplexes adjoining both the AMC and Regal projects simply bolted from the market on August 14, 1997 selling to Hollywood Theatres. Regal’s project lagged just a bit as further adjoining projects were sketched out. The Regal Crossroads 16 launched on February 26, 1998 with its Café del Moro plus regular snack bars with 16 new films. Hollywood Theatres, operating the older, Crossroads 8 saw business drop 70% in a repositioning as a sub-run discount house. Hollywood closed down the multiplex on June 7, 2001 – though it would be reopened in 2002 and pluckily continued to 2015. Cinemark would open its 20-screener in October of 1998, AMC’s 24-screen Quail Springs would sign on in December 1998 and the 16-screen Bricktown entertainment concept was delayed all the way to its opening in 2004.
On September 16, 2006, the Regal theatre became the AMC Crossroads 16. Following the Loews and AMC merger in January of 2006, AMC had to divest a number of properties due to competitional concerns within zones. As noted above, Regal swapped the Crossroads and another 16-screen facility in Fayetteville, Arkansas and cash for two 13-screen facilities (the New York City’s E-Walk in Times Square and Boston’s Fenway 13) and two 16-screeners (the Loews Keystone in North Dallas and Fiesta Square 16 in Fayetteville, Arkansas).
Not long after, the Crossroads Mall went into free-fall collapse reaching greyfield status- a term akin to a “dead mall” - as it struggled to find new retailers after original 30-year lease holders bolted from the aging property. Outparcel retailers also began to exit and the area looked haggard. In 2013, the mall was reconceptualized as Plaza Mayor at the Crossroads - a most appropriate name - as the Mall was at its own crossroad.
There was too much square footage inside to create the Hispanic destination vibe that had worked so well in Fort Worth’s conversion of moribund Seminary Square Mall to the festive La Gran Plaza. Safety began to be a question. Best Buy closed as an outparcel location, Starplex closed up the 8-screen discount moviehouse although it was taken on by an independent to its ulitimate 2015 closure.
Still, AMC gave the Crossroads 16 property a token refresh in 2017 for the 20th Anniversary of the facility – a nice surprise as many predicted the theater would move on at the end of a leasing cycle. That same playbook had been run inside the Plaza Mayor as businesses tanked and businesses broke leases leaving vacancies which would decimate the mall’s viability. In fact, the mall operators told everyone inside the mall to vamos just as the Christmas season was beginning in 2017 sadly ending the concept.
The then-closed Plaza Mayor (except a flea market and an events hall) was not the best calling card for the former destination Crossroads theater. AMC, not surprisingly, “downgraded” the location to the AMC “Classic” Crossroads 16 – the “Classic” was a designation short-hand for an inherited theatre which would not be receiving leather loungers or enhanced snack bar or even updated carpeting anytime (soon) while the months counted toward lease expiry. The former Crossroads Mall / Plaza Mayor was mercifully razed along with the AMC attractor signage in 2021 along with selected vacant and tagged outparcel buildings as the area transitioned from retail mecca to a less certain future.
Ferris Shanbour of Oklahoma Cinema Theatres Inc. opened the MacArthur Park Cinema 4 on December 29, 1971. It was Oklahoma’s first quad-plex and it seated 1,400 patrons in its 4 identical 350-seat auditoriums. The neighboring Dino’s Steakhouse offered free movie tickets with dinner purchases. Shanbour would launch the new-build North Park Cinema 4 Indoor Theatres on March 15, 1972.
In 1976, Heritage Theatres took on the MacArthur Park Cinema.
The MacArthur Park 4 Cinema closed with two first run films (“Joe v. the Volcano” and “Love at Large”) and two dollar films (“Look Who’s Talking” and “The Little Mermaid”) on April 22, 1990.
MI Theatres reopened the venue briefly as an ultra-discount house in April 1992 but found few patrons closing up five months later onSeptember 30, 1992. Two of the screens were combined into a dance club with the venue reopening May 21, 1993 as a $1.50 discount house under its final name as a movie theatre of the MacArthur Park Twin Cinema and Dance Club. That proved to be short-lived as the cinema part of the MacArthur Park Twin Cinema and Dance Club closed on June 10, 1993. It appears as if the other two theatres were made into a night club.
Clyde Walgren took on the venue changing its name to the Star Theatre beginning on August 13, 1920 with the Wm. S. Hart film, “Sand.” It had 219 seats at opening. H. Esmond Hardin took on the venue on November 1, 1947 and renamed it as the Civic Theatre. The theatre closed on May 31, 1966 and was reopened by Mrs. Dick Burback on September 8, 1966. She appears to have closed early in 1967.
Dave T. Gourley not only built the city’s first performance venue, the Gourley Opera House, but also its first electrical plant. On August 21, 1914, the Star Theatre opened in downtown Rushville apparently in the Opera House. By 1915, movies had taken over the the Gourley Opera House and shown every night of the week.
July 1, 1919 was a momentous day in Rushville, Nebraska, as it was the first day of Prohibition in the United States and it was the day that new operators, the Shipleys, took over the Star Theatre and changed it to the EssAnEss Theatre or Essaness Theatre playing upon their surnames “S and S.” The theatre converted to sound films in 1929 to remain viable.
Two owners later, on May 9, 1938, the theatre became the Plains Theatre showing Warner Baxter in “Vogues of 1938” supported by the comedy short, “Ask Uncle Sol” with Eddie Lambert. 100 years later the venue was still operating.
Harry Lawrie - architect (sorry misspelled above)
The trade press cites C. Howard Crane and Harry Lawrie as co-architects in 1921
The five arched windows on the second floor at right represent the opera house’s space with the entry behind the electrical pole.
This theatre reopened under new management as the Lion’s Den Cinema 3 on September28, 2021. It’s name is in honor the high school mascot there
The Chisholm West 5 launched on June 19, 1981 on a 30-year lease with Superman II, Cannonball Run, Clash of the Titans, The Nights the Lights Went Out in Georgia, and Last Flight of Noah’s Ark. It was operated by the same circuit that operated the South Shields 2, the Park Terrace 2, the Westpark Twin, the MacArthur Park 4, and the South Park 4. Its aging portfolio of theaters seemed to drop off one by one during the multiplex era likely reaching end of leasing agreements. MI Theatres ran it under the moniker of Dollar Movies 5 as a sub-run discount house in the 1990s and early 2000s.
In March of 2004, Landmark’s discount subsidiary Silver Cinemas took on the venue under the name of Yukon Movies 5. Silver Cinemas updated the facility in 2007 becoming the Yukon 5 Cinema though continuing as a discount house. It closed under that name at the end of lease in July of 2014. As 2021, the theater was still standing but was threatened with potential demolition likely to remove the facility from the tax rosters.
Mid-America Theatres Circuit closed the Continental after showing “2001: A Space Odyssey” on September 30, 1982 ending its continuous theatrical life. It had a brief run as a church and did have its final film screening in 1983. A classified ad shortly thereafter offered all of the seats for sale.
Opened August 24, 1940 with “Broadway Melody of 1940.”
Opened Feb. 27, 1928 with Laura LaPlante in “Silk Stockings.” It converted to widescreen to show CinemaScope films but that didn’t stem the tides as the theatre went down to three-day a week operation in 1956 and closed in 1957. It was used as a church and for sporadic events until being emptied out for a refresh and relaunch on November 15th, 1968 as Theatre A.
It was sold to Cinema Southwest in 1973 and converted to X-Rated fare in 1975 before closing. In 1977, it was refreshed as a twin-screener playing first-run fare. That failed within a year and it was converted to The Pub.
The 9-screen location closed March 16, 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic. Goodrich Quality Theatre Circuit subsequently ceased operations. After initially passing on the location, GQT Movies circuit took on the theatre reopening on November 19, 2021 as GQT Grand Haven 9. (Mason Asset Management and Namdar Realty Group purchased the bankrupt circuit with partner VIP Cinemas taking over operation of 22 additional former Goodrich Quality Theatre locations. GQT Movies' home office is located in Kentwood, Michigan.) The theatre’s website is: https://www.gqtmovies.com/theaters/x04xt-gqt-grand-haven-9
This was the second of three Jewell Theatres in town. The Jewell (two Ls) was a group of Nebraska theaters under common ownership until the sound era appears to have wiped out the majority of them. The new-build Jewell replaced a previous location opening with the play, “God’s Country,” on December 18, 1916. It would convert to full-time motion pictures and convert to sound as noted above. At some point the second L was dropped.
Elmer E. Gailey opened the Gay Theatre on September 30, 1928 with Clara Bow in “The Fleet’s In” and live vaudeville acts. The theatre seated 545 people at opening and 1,700 were admitted to the three opening day events with 500 more turned away. The theatre sported a Spanish themed architectural style with a cry room for parents with babies who wanted to attend the show without disturbing others.
Gailey also owned the Crystal Theatre which he had purchased years earlier. On May 18, 1929, the Gay became the first theatre with talkies when Gailey installed Vitaphone to play the two-reel short, “The Bishop’s Candlesticks.” The Crystal would remain silent all the way to 1931 when Gailey installed sound there.
On April 7, 1932, Phillip March of March Theatre Circuit was one of three business persons who bought the Crystal and Gay Theatres. Wayne remained a two-theatre town for just over ten years until March shuttered the Crystal in 1939.
In 1992, the March Brothers twinned the theatre and renamed it the March Twin Theatre. It closed not long after its 80th Anniversary in April of 2009. The theatre was refurbished and would open as a 501© (3) non-profit relaunching on December 10, 2010 as the Majestic Theatre. The theatre continued with a legion of volunteers and community spirit into the 2020s.
Prescott and Simon launched the Crystal Theatre on July 31, 1909 likely on a 30-year lease. Elmer E. Gailey took on the venue and created the Gay Theatre. Gailey added sound to the Crystal starting on February 20, 1931 with Buck Jones in the All-Talking, “Shadow Ranch.” Gailey closed the Crystal in 1939 leaving the local film business to his Gay Theatre.
The General Cinema I, II, III in the Joliet Mall appears to have opened October 13, 1979 about the time that the Bergner-Weise store opened just after the one-year anniversary of the Mall. Not liking what they saw, GCC bailed at the ten-year leasing point. Super Saver Cinema took on the location converting it to a sub-run discount house. It closed in 2007 just shy of completing a 30-year lease.
The mall developer updated the shopping center including carving out a new spot for a 14-screen Cinemark Louis Joliet Mall that encompassed the former spot once held by the General Cinema cinema.
Appears to have been, yes.
Carolina-based Litchfield Theatres Circuit, formerly Fairlane Litchfield, decided that the time was right to move into the Oklahoma City market in the 1980s. And the move was a good one because the town was overbuilt with aging twin and four-plexes without a true, modern destination theatre. Litchfield began in Edmond with the $1.4 million, 1,548 seat Kickingbird Cinema 6. The Windsor Hills was built behind the, then, 28-year old Windsor Hills Center because who needs to actually see the theatre from the road?
Litchfield’s Windsor Hills Cinema 10 represented a more aggressive attempt to break into the next generation of multiplexes and was designed by Hiller & Hiller of South Carolina. The Windsor Hills Center had opened theatre-less in the 1960s and the 1988 expansion at the rear of the complex including two retailers and the cinema. The megaplex launched December 9, 1988 with first-run films. On February 2, 1994, Regal Cinemas Inc. purchased LItchfield’s 24 theatre portfolio adding the Windsor and the Kickingbird. Regal marketed the venue as the Regal Windsor Hills 10. Citing lack of patrons, Regal closed up shop there on January 16, 2005.
Hoping to squeeze out a few more dollars - one at a time - Western Pacific Theater Group headed by Charles Boenning took on the Windsor Hills Cinema 10 as a sub-run, discount house on June 10, 2005. It was Western Pacific’s third Oklahoma theatre with locations in Hawaii, California, Texas, and Nevada. The policy was ultra-discount with cheap concessions and prices ranging from $1.50 down to 50 cent Tuesdays. Patrons were skeptical and Western Pacific moved along.
B&B Theatres Circuit took on the venue in 2009 and gave it a facelift while elevating it back to first-run status beginning on November 20, 2009 as the B&B Windsor 10. It was closed on August 25, 2019.. This was kind of an interesting move as few theatre circuits invested so much money in the 21st Century on a multiplex that featured non-stadium seating. But it worked out and the theatre was a plucky survivor all the way to the end of a ten-year lease. Few seemed to notice that it was gone and in the 2020s it appeared ready for anyone to take it over.
This is now run by Apex Cinemas - one of its five locations (as of 2021) with a website of https://www.apexcinemas.movie/location/29969/Apex-Cinema-Roswell-Showtimes . Icon Cinemas expanded to ten screens before dropping the location.
The Penn Square Shopping Center opened theatre-less in 1960 with anchors John A. Brown and Montgomery Ward. The shopping center was enclosed in 1982 and given a major renovation doubling floor space in 1988 including a new second level, food court and a new General Cinema 8-screen interior theater. RTKL Associates was the architect for the project.
General Cinema had entered the Oklahoma City (OKC) market in 1982 with the Quail Springs 6. In 1988, it added three more 8-plexes in the Brixton Square, Penn Square Mall, and Crossroads not Square all launching in 1988. The Penn Square opened on May 19th, 1988.
Four OKC megaplexes were announced in 1997 that would decimate General Cinema’s multiplex business model. Regal announced the 16-screen Crossroads that would compromise its 8-screen Crossroads facility. Then AMC announced the 24-screen Quail Springs complex that would detroy its aging Quail Spring six-plex. A month later, Cinemark announced a 20-screen Tinseltown and another circuit planned a downtown 16-screen megaplex.
At the 15-year leasing option of the Quail Springs 6 in 1997, GCC not only bailed there but totally left the OKC market. General Cinema dropped the Penn Square Mall location along with its Brixton Square 8 Quail Springs, and Crossroads 8 locations on August 10, 1997. Hollywood Theaters picked them all up as of August 15, 1997. Hollywood added two screens to make it a 10-plex not long before dropping the location in September of 2001.
Dickinson spent $350,000 on the location reopening there on November 1, 2002. Dickinson closed at the end of a 10-year leasing arrangement in 2012 with AMC taking on the venue in November of 2012. AMC invested $1.6 million in adding recliners and a new look concession area with its new look completed in May of 2013. The theater closed for the COVID-19 pandemic along with the other AMC locations on March 16, 2020. It reopened August 20, 2020.
Quail Springs Mall opened theatre-less on March 1, 1980. An immediate hit, United Centers decided to expand to the West and to the East. General Cinema signed on for the 1981 expansion to include an outparcel six-screen theatre seating 2,000 patrons at launch. It would be General Cinema’s first Oklahoma City (OKC) venue and was part of complex addition known as “The Center.”
The theater launched July 23, 1982 and that date would prove to be significant. Five years later, General Cinema would expand in the Ok the Brixton Square 8, Penn Square Mall, and Crossroads 8. But times were changing quickly ten years later in 1997.
Four OKC megaplexes were announced in 1997 that would decimate General Cinema’s multiplex business model. Regal announced the 16-screen Crossroads that would compromise its 8-screen Crossroads facility. Then AMC announced the 24-screen Quail Springs complex that would detroy its aging Quail Spring six-plex. A month later, Cinemark announced a 20-screen Tinseltown and another circuit planned a downtown 16-screen megaplex. The writing couldn’t have been clearer on the GCC wall. At the 15-year leasing option of the Quail Springs 6, GCC not only bailed there but totally left the OKC market.
Hollywood Theaters picked up all of the discarded GCC locations as of August 15, 1997. It ran its expanded portfolio with the Quail Springs 6 staying first-run to 1999. But the launch of the AMC 24-plex forced Hollywood to reposition the aging six-plex to a dollar house along with the Almonte 6 location. With a marketplace oversaturated with aging discount houses - perhaps the greatest number of discount venues per capita in the nation - both the Almonte 6 and Quail Springs 6 were quick casualties closing in 2000. Hollywood would continue to shed locations including the Brixton 8 until it had just one theater in the market in January of 2008.
Brixton Square Shopping Center opened theatre-less in 1985. General Cinema announced this as one of several other local projects in March of 1987. The theatre was designed by The Architectural Group in Mobile, Alabama or TAG. It featured 8 theatres with 2,200 seats. The theatre launched December 11, 1987.
As the megaplex era was beginning, plans in 1997 called for a Regal 16-screen theatre that would dwarf its Crossroads venue, a 24-screen that would destroy its Quail Spring multiplex, a 20-screen Cinemark location and a 16-screen downtown multiplex that could potentially siphon additional business from its ten-yeaar old theaters. General Cinema decided to cut bait dropping the Brixton Square 8 along with its Quail Springs, Penn Square Mall, and Crossroads 8 locations on August 10, 1997.
All of the locations were resumed by Hollywood Theaters on August 15, 1997. In the megaplex world, the former General Cinemas multiplexes were plucky survivors and the Brixton Square 8, rumored to be closing in 2001 lasted with Hollywood Theaters - and a brief period with the Wallace Theatres nameplate in 2006 before returning to Wallace’s Hollywood Theaters moniker - until its January 2, 2008 closure.
Carolina-based Litchfield Theatres Circuit, formerly Fairlane Litchfield, decided that the time was right to move into the Oklahoma City market in the 1980s. And the move was a good one because the town was overbuilt with aging twin and four-plexes without a true, modern destination theatre. Litchfield began in Edmond with this venue, the $1.4 million, 1,548 seat Kickingbird Cinema 6. The Kickingbird Shopping Center was built in 1983/4 near the early 1970s' era Kickingbird Golf Course and Kickingbird Estates.
The Center expanded in 1988 bringing the cinema. The architects were Carolina-based Hiller & Hiller who Litchfield tended to use. Litchfield also built the Windsor Hills Cinema 10 in Oklahoma City behind the, then, 28-year old Windsor Hills Center also to the plans of Hiller & Hiller.
Even though Litchfield launched here as a six-plex, the original design allowed for two more additional auditoriums if business conditions warranted their construction. On February 2, 1994, Regal Cinemas bought out Litchfield and the theatre became part of Regal Cinemas chain. The next year, Regal was the company to add the two screens from the Hiller & Hiller drawing and making it the Regal Kickingbird 8.
In the fall of 1995, Regal added on two screens to make it an 8-plex. But that may have been too optimistic and Regal closed up shop on January 28, 2001. The theatre continued an independent run under Kickingbird Cinemas Ltd. which had originally conceptualized the theater. On August 10, 2011, the theater’s future was jeopardized by a major wind storm that toppled its roof. However, the theatre was repaired and continued operations that same year.
The Kickingbird closed after shows on March 17, 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic. During the year between the start of the pandemic and March 16, 2021, the theatre remained closed and new operators were sought. Icon VIP Circuit picked up the venue that summer with a November/December opening planned that year.
The original architectural design was by South Carolina-based Hiller & Hiller.
The Regal Crossroads 16 was announced on January 30, 1997 as a 16-screen outparcel megaplex at the 23-year old Crossroads Mall which had opened theatre-less in 1974. General Cinema had launched an eight-screen outparcel multiplex in August of 1988. The Regal plans were for the city’s first stadium-seating megaplex with wall-to-wall screens and digital sound systems in all auditoriums. Not to be outdone, just months later AMC announced a 24-screen facility with stadium seating in Quail Springs followed by Cinemark announcing a 20-screen venue a month after that followed soon after by an announced downtown 16-screen project. The megaplex race was on in OKC and all four projects came to fruition.
The 63,000 square foot Regal project broke ground in August of 1997 and General Cinemas – with its paltry multiplexes adjoining both the AMC and Regal projects simply bolted from the market on August 14, 1997 selling to Hollywood Theatres. Regal’s project lagged just a bit as further adjoining projects were sketched out. The Regal Crossroads 16 launched on February 26, 1998 with its Café del Moro plus regular snack bars with 16 new films. Hollywood Theatres, operating the older, Crossroads 8 saw business drop 70% in a repositioning as a sub-run discount house. Hollywood closed down the multiplex on June 7, 2001 – though it would be reopened in 2002 and pluckily continued to 2015. Cinemark would open its 20-screener in October of 1998, AMC’s 24-screen Quail Springs would sign on in December 1998 and the 16-screen Bricktown entertainment concept was delayed all the way to its opening in 2004.
On September 16, 2006, the Regal theatre became the AMC Crossroads 16. Following the Loews and AMC merger in January of 2006, AMC had to divest a number of properties due to competitional concerns within zones. As noted above, Regal swapped the Crossroads and another 16-screen facility in Fayetteville, Arkansas and cash for two 13-screen facilities (the New York City’s E-Walk in Times Square and Boston’s Fenway 13) and two 16-screeners (the Loews Keystone in North Dallas and Fiesta Square 16 in Fayetteville, Arkansas).
Not long after, the Crossroads Mall went into free-fall collapse reaching greyfield status- a term akin to a “dead mall” - as it struggled to find new retailers after original 30-year lease holders bolted from the aging property. Outparcel retailers also began to exit and the area looked haggard. In 2013, the mall was reconceptualized as Plaza Mayor at the Crossroads - a most appropriate name - as the Mall was at its own crossroad.
There was too much square footage inside to create the Hispanic destination vibe that had worked so well in Fort Worth’s conversion of moribund Seminary Square Mall to the festive La Gran Plaza. Safety began to be a question. Best Buy closed as an outparcel location, Starplex closed up the 8-screen discount moviehouse although it was taken on by an independent to its ulitimate 2015 closure.
Still, AMC gave the Crossroads 16 property a token refresh in 2017 for the 20th Anniversary of the facility – a nice surprise as many predicted the theater would move on at the end of a leasing cycle. That same playbook had been run inside the Plaza Mayor as businesses tanked and businesses broke leases leaving vacancies which would decimate the mall’s viability. In fact, the mall operators told everyone inside the mall to vamos just as the Christmas season was beginning in 2017 sadly ending the concept.
The then-closed Plaza Mayor (except a flea market and an events hall) was not the best calling card for the former destination Crossroads theater. AMC, not surprisingly, “downgraded” the location to the AMC “Classic” Crossroads 16 – the “Classic” was a designation short-hand for an inherited theatre which would not be receiving leather loungers or enhanced snack bar or even updated carpeting anytime (soon) while the months counted toward lease expiry. The former Crossroads Mall / Plaza Mayor was mercifully razed along with the AMC attractor signage in 2021 along with selected vacant and tagged outparcel buildings as the area transitioned from retail mecca to a less certain future.
Ferris Shanbour of Oklahoma Cinema Theatres Inc. opened the MacArthur Park Cinema 4 on December 29, 1971. It was Oklahoma’s first quad-plex and it seated 1,400 patrons in its 4 identical 350-seat auditoriums. The neighboring Dino’s Steakhouse offered free movie tickets with dinner purchases. Shanbour would launch the new-build North Park Cinema 4 Indoor Theatres on March 15, 1972.
In 1976, Heritage Theatres took on the MacArthur Park Cinema. The MacArthur Park 4 Cinema closed with two first run films (“Joe v. the Volcano” and “Love at Large”) and two dollar films (“Look Who’s Talking” and “The Little Mermaid”) on April 22, 1990.
MI Theatres reopened the venue briefly as an ultra-discount house in April 1992 but found few patrons closing up five months later onSeptember 30, 1992. Two of the screens were combined into a dance club with the venue reopening May 21, 1993 as a $1.50 discount house under its final name as a movie theatre of the MacArthur Park Twin Cinema and Dance Club. That proved to be short-lived as the cinema part of the MacArthur Park Twin Cinema and Dance Club closed on June 10, 1993. It appears as if the other two theatres were made into a night club.