The Wayne Theatre was known as the Center in the 1970s, closed in the early 1980s and reopened as the Variety Theatre around 1985, closing for good by 1989.
Looking at the photos at the top of both the Variety (Center) Theatre and Wayne Theatre pages, I agree with vbridgers that the Wayne, Center and Variety theaters are all the same building. This page should be combined with the Variety’s page and a separate page be created for the Acme Theatre when information on that venue is found.
According to today’s (April 18, 2013) episode of WUNC-TV’s “North Carolina Weekend” the name of the Old Theater in its movie-theater days was the Mart Theatre; it was named for the owner’s wife (“Mart” was a contraction of “Margaret”).
Correction to above post: Cinema 6 replaced the Iwo Jima Theatre (downtown) and the Cinema Drive-In, not the Iwo Jima Drive-In (no drive-in in Jacksonville to my knowledge was called Iwo Jima).
White’s Theatre was built by Samuel Tilden White, who owned the theater from 1914 until 1926,at which point he sold the theater and eventually opened White’s Department Store on Dickinson Avenue. Publix-Saenger took over White’s Theatre in 1930, remodeling it and renaming it the State Theatre. Wilby-Kincey/North Carolina Theatres took over around 1933 as part of Paramount’s bankruptcy reorganization. The State Theatre closed in 1956 (due to television and drive-ins). Stewart & Everett reopened the State in 1960; in 1971 S&E remodeled it and renamed it the Park. About 1982 the Park became a $1.50 second-run theater and continued as such after Carmike took over in 1986. Carmike raised weekend prices (Fri-Sat-Sun) to $2.00 in 1996; this policy lasted until closing in 1998.
My dad lived in Douglas from 1974 to 1977 when he took a job there that paid better than his previous job in New Bern, NC did. Whenever my brothers and I visited him (usually during summer) we would pass the Skyview Drive-In on the way to his house west of Douglas. The Skyview was a Martin Theatre, co-owned with the downtown Martin. Unfortunately for my brothers and I, he never took us to either theater; he thought that one television station (WALB-10 Albany) was enough entertainment for us. But every time we went into town we passed the Skyview. My dad retired in 1977 and went back to New Bern; at that point both the Skyview and Martin were still operational.
Thank you for finding the correct name for this drive-in. Nobody in this area remembered the name of the drive-in theater, only the restaurant that took its place. It is odd that this drive-in had the same name as the downtown theater, as both theaters operated simultaneously for several years beginning in 1952.
Is the seat count listed for the Park from the 1971 S&E remodeling or the early 1990s seat replacement by Carmike? There must have been more seats when it was the White’s and the State, as the seat count given for the Colony Theatre around the corner on Evans Street is 800. The Colony was much smaller than the State and Pitt theaters; the State’s seat count was probably closer to the 999 seat count of the Pitt (that theater’s seat count was reduced in a late-60s or early-70s modernization which closed its balcony).
The false front installed by Brody’s Department Store has been removed; the former Colony Theatre is shown in the street view above (the building with the square second-story windows). It is still combined internally with the building to its right (with the arched windows).
Stadium seating was installed in the original two auditoriums around 1999 (probably influenced by Greenville’s Carmike 12, which opened in 1998). The ticket stub above was from the last time I went to the Southgate; none of the four added screens had stadium seating at that time.
The #2 actually indicates that this was the secondary auditorium showing Spider-Man. The actual number of the auditorium was 3. Almost invisible on this stub is the name of the theater used internally by Regal – Wilson Cinema 6. All newspaper ads run during Regal’s ownership used the Regal Cinema 6 name.
According to WRAL-TV 5 News the Wilson Mall is closing Monday, January 7, 2013; the mall will be demolished and redeveloped as a strip mall (as Parkwood was originally built in the 1960s). Carmike 10 Cinemas, JCPenney, Dollar Tree and Rose’s (as well as the outparcels) will be the only remnants of the current mall; Penneys will be the only remnant of the original (pre-mall) Parkwood Shopping Center. Hull Storey Gibson is betting that Carmike, Dollar Tree and Penneys will stay put as anchors for the new development; Rose’s in its current incarnation as a large-format dollar store prefers low-rent, moribund shopping centers and may move out. Carmike could still bolt for Heritage Crossing and effectively abort the redevelopment of Parkwood (Wilson) Mall.
Edwards is part of Regal Entertainment Group (REG). If REG acquires the Southpoint it would operate under the Regal name, not Edwards; Edwards is used by REG mostly on the West Coast. All REG theatres in North Carolina have operated under the Regal nameplate since the UA Garner Towne Square 10 was sold off to Carolina Cinemas. Oddly, the Southpoint 16 was one of several theatres Regal was forced to sell off as part of the Consolidated takeover (Raleigh Grande 16 and UA Garner Towne Square 10 were among the others).
The former Cardinal 3 Theatres are still standing; they have not been demolished. I do not know if the bingo parlor that was in this building is still operating, but the building is still there.
If AMC does get the Southpoint 16 and builds a theater at Triangle Town Center, it may be the straw that breaks Carmike’s back in the Triangle. After AMC built North Carolina’s first stadium-style multiplexes in Charlotte, Carmike got out of the Charlotte area soon after. It seems to me that AMC and Carmike cannot co-exist in the same market, at least in North Carolina (AMC sold the Carolina Circle 6 to Carmike and left Greensboro). Ironically, when Triangle Town Center was under construction the developers announced that Carmike would build a multiplex at their mall (nothing came out of that proposal)
I can’t blame Carmike for wanting out of this mall. Sears has left, Penneys may be next, that leaves Rose’s as the only other anchor – and a weak one at that. Rose’s did the same flip-flop at this mall that Carmike did, only they left the mall first – also in bankruptcy – and came back after Carmike did. Carmike 10 has no direct mall access; patrons must exit the mall to access the theater. If Penneys goes under, Carmike will most likely leave for Heritage Crossing or maybe Westwood (the WalMart shopping center); another possibility could be the old Kmart/Home Depot site near WalMart. I doubt Carmike would stay in a dead mall (like Tarboro’s independent Parkhill Cinema 3); they would break the lease and pay the penalty.
At the time of the Parkwood Cinema’s opening in 1967 Parkwood Shopping Center was an open-air shopping center anchored by J. C. Penney, Rose’s and a Winn-Dixie supermarket. The Parkwood Cinema went to three screens in 1978 simultaneously with the conversion of Parkwood Shopping Center into Parkwood Mall. Parkwood Cinema 3 outlasted all of the original anchors except Penneys; the current Rose’s in the mall (now Wilson Mall) was built in 1978 as Belk(-Tyler) Department Store, which left Parkwood Mall not long after Parkwood Cinema 3 closed.
From ABC11 Eyewitness News (10PM broadcast on WLFL CW22): As of the close of business on November 10, 2012, the Galaxy Cinema will close permanently. It will be demolished and replaced with a Harris-Teeeter grocery store. The Galaxy’s owners may attempt reopening at a different location, but that option has not been finalized yet. For now, art films can be seen at the Triangle’s other arthouses(Carolina-Durham, Chelsea in Chapel Hill, Rialto and Colony in Raleigh); the fate of Bollywood films in the Triangle is uncertain.
The Wayne Theatre was known as the Center in the 1970s, closed in the early 1980s and reopened as the Variety Theatre around 1985, closing for good by 1989.
Looking at the photos at the top of both the Variety (Center) Theatre and Wayne Theatre pages, I agree with vbridgers that the Wayne, Center and Variety theaters are all the same building. This page should be combined with the Variety’s page and a separate page be created for the Acme Theatre when information on that venue is found.
According to today’s (April 18, 2013) episode of WUNC-TV’s “North Carolina Weekend” the name of the Old Theater in its movie-theater days was the Mart Theatre; it was named for the owner’s wife (“Mart” was a contraction of “Margaret”).
Correction to above post: Cinema 6 replaced the Iwo Jima Theatre (downtown) and the Cinema Drive-In, not the Iwo Jima Drive-In (no drive-in in Jacksonville to my knowledge was called Iwo Jima).
This theater was actually called Studio 1 rather than Studio; the later theater one block west at the Electric Company Mall was the Studio I & II.
White’s Theatre was built by Samuel Tilden White, who owned the theater from 1914 until 1926,at which point he sold the theater and eventually opened White’s Department Store on Dickinson Avenue. Publix-Saenger took over White’s Theatre in 1930, remodeling it and renaming it the State Theatre. Wilby-Kincey/North Carolina Theatres took over around 1933 as part of Paramount’s bankruptcy reorganization. The State Theatre closed in 1956 (due to television and drive-ins). Stewart & Everett reopened the State in 1960; in 1971 S&E remodeled it and renamed it the Park. About 1982 the Park became a $1.50 second-run theater and continued as such after Carmike took over in 1986. Carmike raised weekend prices (Fri-Sat-Sun) to $2.00 in 1996; this policy lasted until closing in 1998.
My dad lived in Douglas from 1974 to 1977 when he took a job there that paid better than his previous job in New Bern, NC did. Whenever my brothers and I visited him (usually during summer) we would pass the Skyview Drive-In on the way to his house west of Douglas. The Skyview was a Martin Theatre, co-owned with the downtown Martin. Unfortunately for my brothers and I, he never took us to either theater; he thought that one television station (WALB-10 Albany) was enough entertainment for us. But every time we went into town we passed the Skyview. My dad retired in 1977 and went back to New Bern; at that point both the Skyview and Martin were still operational.
The old Pembroke Mall Ultravision theater is listed in the Virginia Beach theater section of CT as “Cineplex Odeon Theaters”.
Thank you for finding the correct name for this drive-in. Nobody in this area remembered the name of the drive-in theater, only the restaurant that took its place. It is odd that this drive-in had the same name as the downtown theater, as both theaters operated simultaneously for several years beginning in 1952.
The seat count given above was for the Pitt Theatre prior to its modernization circa 1970, when the balcony was closed and concealed.
Is the seat count listed for the Park from the 1971 S&E remodeling or the early 1990s seat replacement by Carmike? There must have been more seats when it was the White’s and the State, as the seat count given for the Colony Theatre around the corner on Evans Street is 800. The Colony was much smaller than the State and Pitt theaters; the State’s seat count was probably closer to the 999 seat count of the Pitt (that theater’s seat count was reduced in a late-60s or early-70s modernization which closed its balcony).
The false front installed by Brody’s Department Store has been removed; the former Colony Theatre is shown in the street view above (the building with the square second-story windows). It is still combined internally with the building to its right (with the arched windows).
Stadium seating was installed in the original two auditoriums around 1999 (probably influenced by Greenville’s Carmike 12, which opened in 1998). The ticket stub above was from the last time I went to the Southgate; none of the four added screens had stadium seating at that time.
The #2 actually indicates that this was the secondary auditorium showing Spider-Man. The actual number of the auditorium was 3. Almost invisible on this stub is the name of the theater used internally by Regal – Wilson Cinema 6. All newspaper ads run during Regal’s ownership used the Regal Cinema 6 name.
I was wondering for years if this theater would actually get built. Similar proposals for Knightdale have yet to get off the ground.
This theater has been demolished.
According to WRAL-TV 5 News the Wilson Mall is closing Monday, January 7, 2013; the mall will be demolished and redeveloped as a strip mall (as Parkwood was originally built in the 1960s). Carmike 10 Cinemas, JCPenney, Dollar Tree and Rose’s (as well as the outparcels) will be the only remnants of the current mall; Penneys will be the only remnant of the original (pre-mall) Parkwood Shopping Center. Hull Storey Gibson is betting that Carmike, Dollar Tree and Penneys will stay put as anchors for the new development; Rose’s in its current incarnation as a large-format dollar store prefers low-rent, moribund shopping centers and may move out. Carmike could still bolt for Heritage Crossing and effectively abort the redevelopment of Parkwood (Wilson) Mall.
Edwards is part of Regal Entertainment Group (REG). If REG acquires the Southpoint it would operate under the Regal name, not Edwards; Edwards is used by REG mostly on the West Coast. All REG theatres in North Carolina have operated under the Regal nameplate since the UA Garner Towne Square 10 was sold off to Carolina Cinemas. Oddly, the Southpoint 16 was one of several theatres Regal was forced to sell off as part of the Consolidated takeover (Raleigh Grande 16 and UA Garner Towne Square 10 were among the others).
The former Cardinal 3 Theatres are still standing; they have not been demolished. I do not know if the bingo parlor that was in this building is still operating, but the building is still there.
If AMC does get the Southpoint 16 and builds a theater at Triangle Town Center, it may be the straw that breaks Carmike’s back in the Triangle. After AMC built North Carolina’s first stadium-style multiplexes in Charlotte, Carmike got out of the Charlotte area soon after. It seems to me that AMC and Carmike cannot co-exist in the same market, at least in North Carolina (AMC sold the Carolina Circle 6 to Carmike and left Greensboro). Ironically, when Triangle Town Center was under construction the developers announced that Carmike would build a multiplex at their mall (nothing came out of that proposal)
This drive-in closed just before the Martin chain was rebranded Carmike Cinemas (which bought Martin in 1982).
Rave Cinemas is now selling off all of its theaters; Southpoint Cinemas may find itself with yet another owner within the same year.
I can’t blame Carmike for wanting out of this mall. Sears has left, Penneys may be next, that leaves Rose’s as the only other anchor – and a weak one at that. Rose’s did the same flip-flop at this mall that Carmike did, only they left the mall first – also in bankruptcy – and came back after Carmike did. Carmike 10 has no direct mall access; patrons must exit the mall to access the theater. If Penneys goes under, Carmike will most likely leave for Heritage Crossing or maybe Westwood (the WalMart shopping center); another possibility could be the old Kmart/Home Depot site near WalMart. I doubt Carmike would stay in a dead mall (like Tarboro’s independent Parkhill Cinema 3); they would break the lease and pay the penalty.
At the time of the Parkwood Cinema’s opening in 1967 Parkwood Shopping Center was an open-air shopping center anchored by J. C. Penney, Rose’s and a Winn-Dixie supermarket. The Parkwood Cinema went to three screens in 1978 simultaneously with the conversion of Parkwood Shopping Center into Parkwood Mall. Parkwood Cinema 3 outlasted all of the original anchors except Penneys; the current Rose’s in the mall (now Wilson Mall) was built in 1978 as Belk(-Tyler) Department Store, which left Parkwood Mall not long after Parkwood Cinema 3 closed.
From ABC11 Eyewitness News (10PM broadcast on WLFL CW22): As of the close of business on November 10, 2012, the Galaxy Cinema will close permanently. It will be demolished and replaced with a Harris-Teeeter grocery store. The Galaxy’s owners may attempt reopening at a different location, but that option has not been finalized yet. For now, art films can be seen at the Triangle’s other arthouses(Carolina-Durham, Chelsea in Chapel Hill, Rialto and Colony in Raleigh); the fate of Bollywood films in the Triangle is uncertain.