The three-screen Parkdale Cinema was opened December 16, 1977 by General Cinema Corp., which spent $2 million building it, and the first movies on the bill were “Pete’s Dragon,” “Joseph Andrews” and “Saturday Night Fever.”
General Cinema operated this theatre until October 6, 1994.
Rockport Movie Theater Will Not Reopen Post-Harvey (Feb.18, 2018)
Rockport’s movie theater, Cinema 4, will not reopen.
Jeff Dinger, who owns the theater, said on Monday he had no plans to rebuild Cinema 4 after it sustained heavy damage during Hurricane Harvey. Dinger said aside from the physical damage caused by Harvey’s more than 130 mph winds and heavy rains, he was also concerned about the “economic damage” done to Aransas County’s population.
Families have been displaced and a large number of Aransas County’s businesses remain closed six months after Harvey.
“The market has sustained such damage as to make a motion picture theater impractical,” he said.
Dinger has been showing movies in Rockport since 1977, and said the decision to not reopen the theater was a tough one to make. But the uncertainty facing Rockport and nearby Fulton as the towns recover from the damage wrought by the hurricane makes having a luxury like a movie theater hard to rebuild, especially since “the market damage is hard to comprehend,” he said.
As of Tuesday, the Cinema 4 website and Facebook pages still had messages displayed that state, “We are currently closed. Please stick with us as we recover from Harvey. Sincerely, Cinema 4.”
Dinger also owns the Northshore 8 theater in Portland, and is a partner with the Alamo Drafthouse in Corpus Christi. The Portland theater is now the closest one for Aransas County residents, now that Cinema 4 will remain shut.
MOVIE THEATER PLANNED TO OPEN IN ARANSAS PASS IN EARLY 2020
Aransas Pass hasn’t had a movie theater in decades.
The Farnsworth family is changing that. The Rockport natives plan to open a movie theater in early September, which will be 20,000 square feet, have six screens and sell beer and wine.
Construction started last week on the Movies Inc. location at 1277 SH 35, between Butter Churn restaurant and Allen Samuels auto dealership.
The locally owned theater will be the second Movies Inc. in the area. The Farnsworths opened a four-screen theater in Calallen in May 2014. Mark Farnsworth, 62; his wife, Mary Farnsworth, 66, and their son; Zach Farnsworth, 27, all own the theater and live in Rockport. Mark Farnsworth said his son proposed the idea to open a theater in Calallen because there wasn’t one for a good distance.
“I said to Zach, ‘What do you know about movie theaters?’ He said, ‘Nothing, but I like movies,’” Farnsworth said. “He did all the preliminary work. We got financing and here we are. It’s been a good idea, and it’s been well received in Calallen, and I know it will be the same or better in Aransas Pass.”
The new Movies Inc. will have stadium seating so none of the moviegoers will have the view of the back of someone’s head. The seats will be large and have brown leather, making them easier to clean, and the floors will be concrete.
"It’s going to be new state-of-the-art stuff — new stuff — new sound system, new projectors,” Farnsworth said. “We’re investing a substantial amount (into this theater.)”
WHY ARANSAS PASS?
The town of about 8,200 residents doesn’t currently have a movie theater. A movie theater in nearby Rockport previously closed following Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. The next nearest movie house is Northshore Cinema 8 in Portland.
“We still think there is a need,” Farnsworth said. “This location in Aransas Pass (will) be the center of the wheel — 10 miles to Portland, 10 miles to Port A, 10 miles to Port A, 10 miles to Rockport.”
The family chose Aransas Pass because it’s a good location to serve other surrounding communities that don’t have a movie theater either.
LOCAL IMPACT
Aransas Pass city manager Gary Edwards said the theater will serve about 50,000 residents in the area and millions of tourists who visit, which will have a positive economical impact on the city.
“We anticipate it will assist businesses in this immediate area,” he said. “It (also) will help the sales tax (revenue). We anticipate by a fair amount.”
FARNSWORTHS TO DEVELOP MORE
The Farnsworths' plans in Aransas Pass don’t stop with the movie theater. They also plan to build a 10,000-square-foot shopping center on the same property, which they are pre-leasing right now.
They don’t have a timeline yet for the shopping center. Exactly how it is built depends on what businesses lease the space. The tenants will be retail related, because the family doesn’t want the center’s businesses to compete with the neighboring restaurant or auto dealership.
The city manager said the Farnsworths care about the area.
“Mr. Farnsworth and his family are great to work with,” Edwards said. "They’re wonderful people and have a great interest in the community."
From the Corpus Christi Business News, Dec. 20, 2013: NEW MOVIE COMPLEX OPENING IN CALALLEN-ROBSTOWN AREA — A local entrepreneur is investing $1 million in a four-screen, 3D cinema complex on Wildcat Drive in Calallen. Some 6,500 high school students go to school within a 25-mile radius of the planned theater, named Movies Inc. The area is a good customer pool, says owner Mark Farnsworth of Rockport. The area includes Robstown, Sinton and Odem. The 12,000-square-foot complex will provide 580 movies fans with upholstered stadium seating for family friendly newly released movies. Movies Inc. will reflect the look of a World War II B-26 bomber that Farnsworth’s grandfather flew over Germany in World War II. The family owned enterprise will also be family operated. While Farnsworth and his wife take care of the accounting, son Zach will take care of operations. The theater opened on May 16, 2014.
From the Corpus Christi Business News, Dec. 20, 2013: NEW MOVIE COMPLEX OPENING IN CALALLEN-ROBSTOWN AREA — A local entrepreneur is investing $1 million in a four-screen, 3D cinema complex on Wildcat Drive in Calallen. Some 6,500 high school students go to school within a 25-mile radius of the planned theater, named Movies Inc. The area is a good customer pool, says owner Mark Farnsworth of Rockport. The area includes Robstown, Sinton and Odem.
The 12,000-square-foot complex will provide 580 movies fans with upholstered stadium seating for family friendly newly released movies. Movies Inc. will reflect the look of a World War II B-26 bomber that Farnsworth’s grandfather flew over Germany in World War II.
The family owned enterprise will also be family operated. While Farnsworth and his wife take care of the accounting, son Zach will take care of operations.
The theater opened on May 16, 2014.
From the Corpus Christi Business News, Dec. 20, 2013: NEW MOVIE COMPLEX OPENING IN CALALLEN-ROBSTOWN AREA — A local entrepreneur is investing $1 million in a four-screen, 3D cinema complex on Wildcat Drive in Calallen. Some 6,500 high school students go to school within a 25-mile radius of the planned theater, named Movies Inc. The area is a good customer pool, says owner Mark Farnsworth of Rockport. The area includes Robstown, Sinton and Odem.
The 12,000-square-foot complex will provide 580 movies fans with upholstered stadium seating for family friendly newly released movies. Movies Inc. will reflect the look of a World War II B-26 bomber that Farnsworth’s grandfather flew over Germany in World War II.
The family owned enterprise will also be family operated. While Farnsworth and his wife take care of the accounting, son Zach will take care of operations.
The theater opened on May 16, 2014.
Jasper Twin Cinema in Jasper, Texas. Closed February 26, 2013.
From newspaper account of closing:
The owners of Jasper’s only movie theatre have announced that the business is closed and not expected to re-open.
Suzanne White of Livingston said that she and her husband Terry, who also own and operate the Fain Theatre there, decided to close the theatre here in Jasper after loosing money for almost five years since they bought it. However, White said her husband’s medical condition also weighed in the decision.
White said that unlike Livingston, the Jasper Community simply did not support the theatre here and that turn out was generally small with less than 20 people in attendance at the final show on Sunday evening.
In addition, White said that it was hard to find people willing to work here in Jasper and that continued vandalism was also another problem the couple faced here.
What will happen to the theatre is unknown, White says the property is up for sale and will soon be listed.
While many small theatres across the nation are closing, due to the ongoing conversion to digital, White said that the transition from film to digital technology was not a factor in deciding to close the business. She said that even though the theatre was still using 35 millimeter film, that predictions were that they would be able to still utilize the existing projection equipment and utilize film for at least another two years.
White said that with the closure of the theatre here in Jasper that she would be able to totally focus on the operation of the theatre in Livingston where they will soon celebrate 65 years of operation.
The Jasper Twin Cinema was the fourth movie theatre to operate in the City of Jasper. The first theatre was the majestic located on West Houston Street, near the intersection of the Main Street. The second theatre was the Lone Star, which was located on Austin Street where a vacant lot now exists across from the Jasper County Courthouse. The third theatre was the Texas, which was located in the 100 block of North Main Street, where the Jasper County Appraisal District is now located.
The Jasper Twin Cinema Theatre was built in the late 70’s by Johnny and Hazel McGlown.
JUNE 2016 Real Estate Listing:
Jasper Twin Cinema with cinema projectors still in place. The building is 7,458 sq. ft. and the lot is on 0.518 acres. Plenty of parking and space inside to use as cinema or as office building. Needs TLC and at this price it is a wonderful buy for cinema or another business building!
From Livingston take US-190 E and travel 60 miles to Jasper. Turn right onto Pollard St. Turn left on S Fletcher St.
It looks like the feature may be “Parent Trap”.
The three-screen Parkdale Cinema was opened December 16, 1977 by General Cinema Corp., which spent $2 million building it, and the first movies on the bill were “Pete’s Dragon,” “Joseph Andrews” and “Saturday Night Fever.”
General Cinema operated this theatre until October 6, 1994.
Rockport Movie Theater Will Not Reopen Post-Harvey (Feb.18, 2018)
Rockport’s movie theater, Cinema 4, will not reopen. Jeff Dinger, who owns the theater, said on Monday he had no plans to rebuild Cinema 4 after it sustained heavy damage during Hurricane Harvey. Dinger said aside from the physical damage caused by Harvey’s more than 130 mph winds and heavy rains, he was also concerned about the “economic damage” done to Aransas County’s population. Families have been displaced and a large number of Aransas County’s businesses remain closed six months after Harvey. “The market has sustained such damage as to make a motion picture theater impractical,” he said. Dinger has been showing movies in Rockport since 1977, and said the decision to not reopen the theater was a tough one to make. But the uncertainty facing Rockport and nearby Fulton as the towns recover from the damage wrought by the hurricane makes having a luxury like a movie theater hard to rebuild, especially since “the market damage is hard to comprehend,” he said. As of Tuesday, the Cinema 4 website and Facebook pages still had messages displayed that state, “We are currently closed. Please stick with us as we recover from Harvey. Sincerely, Cinema 4.” Dinger also owns the Northshore 8 theater in Portland, and is a partner with the Alamo Drafthouse in Corpus Christi. The Portland theater is now the closest one for Aransas County residents, now that Cinema 4 will remain shut.
MOVIE THEATER PLANNED TO OPEN IN ARANSAS PASS IN EARLY 2020 Aransas Pass hasn’t had a movie theater in decades. The Farnsworth family is changing that. The Rockport natives plan to open a movie theater in early September, which will be 20,000 square feet, have six screens and sell beer and wine. Construction started last week on the Movies Inc. location at 1277 SH 35, between Butter Churn restaurant and Allen Samuels auto dealership. The locally owned theater will be the second Movies Inc. in the area. The Farnsworths opened a four-screen theater in Calallen in May 2014. Mark Farnsworth, 62; his wife, Mary Farnsworth, 66, and their son; Zach Farnsworth, 27, all own the theater and live in Rockport. Mark Farnsworth said his son proposed the idea to open a theater in Calallen because there wasn’t one for a good distance. “I said to Zach, ‘What do you know about movie theaters?’ He said, ‘Nothing, but I like movies,’” Farnsworth said. “He did all the preliminary work. We got financing and here we are. It’s been a good idea, and it’s been well received in Calallen, and I know it will be the same or better in Aransas Pass.” The new Movies Inc. will have stadium seating so none of the moviegoers will have the view of the back of someone’s head. The seats will be large and have brown leather, making them easier to clean, and the floors will be concrete. "It’s going to be new state-of-the-art stuff — new stuff — new sound system, new projectors,” Farnsworth said. “We’re investing a substantial amount (into this theater.)”
WHY ARANSAS PASS? The town of about 8,200 residents doesn’t currently have a movie theater. A movie theater in nearby Rockport previously closed following Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. The next nearest movie house is Northshore Cinema 8 in Portland. “We still think there is a need,” Farnsworth said. “This location in Aransas Pass (will) be the center of the wheel — 10 miles to Portland, 10 miles to Port A, 10 miles to Port A, 10 miles to Rockport.” The family chose Aransas Pass because it’s a good location to serve other surrounding communities that don’t have a movie theater either.
LOCAL IMPACT Aransas Pass city manager Gary Edwards said the theater will serve about 50,000 residents in the area and millions of tourists who visit, which will have a positive economical impact on the city. “We anticipate it will assist businesses in this immediate area,” he said. “It (also) will help the sales tax (revenue). We anticipate by a fair amount.”
FARNSWORTHS TO DEVELOP MORE The Farnsworths' plans in Aransas Pass don’t stop with the movie theater. They also plan to build a 10,000-square-foot shopping center on the same property, which they are pre-leasing right now. They don’t have a timeline yet for the shopping center. Exactly how it is built depends on what businesses lease the space. The tenants will be retail related, because the family doesn’t want the center’s businesses to compete with the neighboring restaurant or auto dealership. The city manager said the Farnsworths care about the area. “Mr. Farnsworth and his family are great to work with,” Edwards said. "They’re wonderful people and have a great interest in the community."
From the Corpus Christi Business News, Dec. 20, 2013: NEW MOVIE COMPLEX OPENING IN CALALLEN-ROBSTOWN AREA — A local entrepreneur is investing $1 million in a four-screen, 3D cinema complex on Wildcat Drive in Calallen. Some 6,500 high school students go to school within a 25-mile radius of the planned theater, named Movies Inc. The area is a good customer pool, says owner Mark Farnsworth of Rockport. The area includes Robstown, Sinton and Odem. The 12,000-square-foot complex will provide 580 movies fans with upholstered stadium seating for family friendly newly released movies. Movies Inc. will reflect the look of a World War II B-26 bomber that Farnsworth’s grandfather flew over Germany in World War II. The family owned enterprise will also be family operated. While Farnsworth and his wife take care of the accounting, son Zach will take care of operations. The theater opened on May 16, 2014.
From the Corpus Christi Business News, Dec. 20, 2013: NEW MOVIE COMPLEX OPENING IN CALALLEN-ROBSTOWN AREA — A local entrepreneur is investing $1 million in a four-screen, 3D cinema complex on Wildcat Drive in Calallen. Some 6,500 high school students go to school within a 25-mile radius of the planned theater, named Movies Inc. The area is a good customer pool, says owner Mark Farnsworth of Rockport. The area includes Robstown, Sinton and Odem. The 12,000-square-foot complex will provide 580 movies fans with upholstered stadium seating for family friendly newly released movies. Movies Inc. will reflect the look of a World War II B-26 bomber that Farnsworth’s grandfather flew over Germany in World War II. The family owned enterprise will also be family operated. While Farnsworth and his wife take care of the accounting, son Zach will take care of operations. The theater opened on May 16, 2014.
From the Corpus Christi Business News, Dec. 20, 2013: NEW MOVIE COMPLEX OPENING IN CALALLEN-ROBSTOWN AREA — A local entrepreneur is investing $1 million in a four-screen, 3D cinema complex on Wildcat Drive in Calallen. Some 6,500 high school students go to school within a 25-mile radius of the planned theater, named Movies Inc. The area is a good customer pool, says owner Mark Farnsworth of Rockport. The area includes Robstown, Sinton and Odem. The 12,000-square-foot complex will provide 580 movies fans with upholstered stadium seating for family friendly newly released movies. Movies Inc. will reflect the look of a World War II B-26 bomber that Farnsworth’s grandfather flew over Germany in World War II. The family owned enterprise will also be family operated. While Farnsworth and his wife take care of the accounting, son Zach will take care of operations. The theater opened on May 16, 2014.
Jasper Twin Cinema in Jasper, Texas. Closed February 26, 2013. From newspaper account of closing: The owners of Jasper’s only movie theatre have announced that the business is closed and not expected to re-open. Suzanne White of Livingston said that she and her husband Terry, who also own and operate the Fain Theatre there, decided to close the theatre here in Jasper after loosing money for almost five years since they bought it. However, White said her husband’s medical condition also weighed in the decision. White said that unlike Livingston, the Jasper Community simply did not support the theatre here and that turn out was generally small with less than 20 people in attendance at the final show on Sunday evening.
In addition, White said that it was hard to find people willing to work here in Jasper and that continued vandalism was also another problem the couple faced here. What will happen to the theatre is unknown, White says the property is up for sale and will soon be listed. While many small theatres across the nation are closing, due to the ongoing conversion to digital, White said that the transition from film to digital technology was not a factor in deciding to close the business. She said that even though the theatre was still using 35 millimeter film, that predictions were that they would be able to still utilize the existing projection equipment and utilize film for at least another two years.
White said that with the closure of the theatre here in Jasper that she would be able to totally focus on the operation of the theatre in Livingston where they will soon celebrate 65 years of operation. The Jasper Twin Cinema was the fourth movie theatre to operate in the City of Jasper. The first theatre was the majestic located on West Houston Street, near the intersection of the Main Street. The second theatre was the Lone Star, which was located on Austin Street where a vacant lot now exists across from the Jasper County Courthouse. The third theatre was the Texas, which was located in the 100 block of North Main Street, where the Jasper County Appraisal District is now located. The Jasper Twin Cinema Theatre was built in the late 70’s by Johnny and Hazel McGlown.
JUNE 2016 Real Estate Listing: Jasper Twin Cinema with cinema projectors still in place. The building is 7,458 sq. ft. and the lot is on 0.518 acres. Plenty of parking and space inside to use as cinema or as office building. Needs TLC and at this price it is a wonderful buy for cinema or another business building! From Livingston take US-190 E and travel 60 miles to Jasper. Turn right onto Pollard St. Turn left on S Fletcher St.