I was the owner at the time we showed Showgirls, Pink Flamingo, Priest, Crash and several other controversial movies. When we showed Showgirls, it hit all of the north Alabama newspapers (Gadsden, Huntsville, and Birmingham). I was at a conference in Dalton, GA that weekend and ended up leaving early to get to Gadsden for the Sunday night showings (was running 9PM shows only). Fri night sold out, Sat night turned away 400 people. I got there Sunday and ran that one print through all four cinemas and we still sold out.
When we ran Pink Flamingos, we partnered with the local gay bar, Nitro, to have a drag queen contest in the theatre between the 7 and 9 PM showings on Sunday night.
When showing the Priest, which was highly controversial, we a pre-show conversation with a catholic priest about the movie.
The 1996 film Crash with James Spader and Holly Hunter was almost not released in the USA. The film was made by New Line Cinemas and owned by Ted Turner. Ted refused to allow it to be released in the USA because it got an NC-17 rating and “just sick”. The movie was released in Canada and received many awards. So, I got an advance VHS copy and watched it with a Gadsden Times reporter. It was so disturbing that the both of us separated for lunch before we would talk about it. Made the front page of The Gadsden Times for running “cutting edge” movies.
The radio show Rick & Bubba originated in Gadsden during the 90s. They had a business reader board contest. If you mentioned Rick & Bubba, they entered the business into a contest to win $1000 in free radio advertising. Went in whole hog: Rick & Bubba Fat Boy Tuesday all concessions 50% off. Rick & Bubba size popcorn (XL). Rick & Bubba Cinema 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. We showed up during the morning show at the station to bribe them. I paid Ryan’s steakhouse to open their kitchen at 6AM to cook steak meals for the entire morning show crew and my employees delivered to them while on the air. The next week we showed up with 25 gallon drum full of popcorn, gallons of soda, nachos, hot dogs, candy, etc. We got lots of airtime and won their contest. They kept saying on the air they could be bribed, and we did.
I had a lot of fun with that theatre, but alas, in the 1990s, it was on the wrong side of town. The Agricola Shopping Center had a bad reputation and folks would rather stay in the Rainbow Drive area. Also, I had other theatres and had spent so much time promoting the Gadsden Cinema 4, that it was hurting my profitable locations. So, we ended up closing the location. Another operator opened it again two or three years later and ran first run for three years. Again, that location could not compete with Rainbow Drive.
I was the owner at the time we showed Showgirls, Pink Flamingo, Priest, Crash and several other controversial movies. When we showed Showgirls, it hit all of the north Alabama newspapers (Gadsden, Huntsville, and Birmingham). I was at a conference in Dalton, GA that weekend and ended up leaving early to get to Gadsden for the Sunday night showings (was running 9PM shows only). Fri night sold out, Sat night turned away 400 people. I got there Sunday and ran that one print through all four cinemas and we still sold out.
When we ran Pink Flamingos, we partnered with the local gay bar, Nitro, to have a drag queen contest in the theatre between the 7 and 9 PM showings on Sunday night.
When showing the Priest, which was highly controversial, we a pre-show conversation with a catholic priest about the movie.
The 1996 film Crash with James Spader and Holly Hunter was almost not released in the USA. The film was made by New Line Cinemas and owned by Ted Turner. Ted refused to allow it to be released in the USA because it got an NC-17 rating and “just sick”. The movie was released in Canada and received many awards. So, I got an advance VHS copy and watched it with a Gadsden Times reporter. It was so disturbing that the both of us separated for lunch before we would talk about it. Made the front page of The Gadsden Times for running “cutting edge” movies.
The radio show Rick & Bubba originated in Gadsden during the 90s. They had a business reader board contest. If you mentioned Rick & Bubba, they entered the business into a contest to win $1000 in free radio advertising. Went in whole hog: Rick & Bubba Fat Boy Tuesday all concessions 50% off. Rick & Bubba size popcorn (XL). Rick & Bubba Cinema 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. We showed up during the morning show at the station to bribe them. I paid Ryan’s steakhouse to open their kitchen at 6AM to cook steak meals for the entire morning show crew and my employees delivered to them while on the air. The next week we showed up with 25 gallon drum full of popcorn, gallons of soda, nachos, hot dogs, candy, etc. We got lots of airtime and won their contest. They kept saying on the air they could be bribed, and we did.
I had a lot of fun with that theatre, but alas, in the 1990s, it was on the wrong side of town. The Agricola Shopping Center had a bad reputation and folks would rather stay in the Rainbow Drive area. Also, I had other theatres and had spent so much time promoting the Gadsden Cinema 4, that it was hurting my profitable locations. So, we ended up closing the location. Another operator opened it again two or three years later and ran first run for three years. Again, that location could not compete with Rainbow Drive.