Looked up some more back issues of the Gainesville Sun, and it would appear that this theater shut down on April 3rd of 1997 with Shine as the last movie it ever showed.
Drove by this place as of late and saw that there was a for lease sign right out front. I’m hoping this’ll lead to someone taking this place over and making it as good as it once was.
So, it has been three years now and aside from a brief soft reopening in 2017 that sadly went nowhere, Gator Cinemas is still closed. And really, this theater just feels like it’s cursed at this point. It reopened and then got reclosed just days later, it’s unclear whether or not it received needed repairs, it along with the rest of the plaza it’s in is apparently now in foreclosure, all of their social media pages are still deathly silent…basically, those are just a few of the things that Gator Cinemas unfortunately still has going against it. And call me crazy if you must, but me along with a small handful of people still hope that this theater can somehow manage a little comeback for itself. Here’s hoping that it happens much sooner than soon.
Actually, an article on Gainesville.com says that this was a Sam’s Club from 1990 to 2016 when they decided to move to Butler Plaza. And apparently, there’s now a store called Rural King where this drive-in once stood.
There’s a couple of things I should’ve added sometime ago. One, when I said that this theater got shut down, I should’ve also mentioned that it was in December of 2015. And two, someone on Reddit said that according to this theater’s landlord, another theater would most likely move in if this one doesn’t get its act together. Do whatever you will with that info.
By the way, that same newspaper also said that this place was originally set to open on November 19th of 1999. But, of course, said opening didn’t happen until about a month later.
So according to Gainesville.com, sometime in the near future, this will become more of a “luxury theater” by taking out about half of the seats. Not totally sure how that’s going to work, but alright.
The Gainesville Sun says that this theater’s final day of operation was August 16th of 1998. And apparently, Halloween: H20 was the last movie they ever showed.
Chris, I can only tell you the following…they’re still closed, their GoFundMe page recently went offline, and they now have a little under two months to get things fixed. Definitely not looking good for these guys, sadly.
Should’ve posted this earlier, but the general manager of Gator Cinemas made a GoFundMe page to raise money for necessary repairs and whatnot, it can be found here…https://www.gofundme.com/wpg5qrv2
Don’t know if anyone here already knew, but because of some badly needed repairs, this theater is currently shut down. They apparently have until late March to get things back in shape.
By the by, I was looking at some more old issues of The Gainesville Sun and found out that this theater’s last day under the Litchfield banner was June 23rd of 1994. In addition, Renaissance Man was the last movie they showed before making the changeover to Regal.
Not sure if anyone will find this interesting, but the two trash receptacles near this theater’s box office still have the old school Regal Cinemas logo. Almost makes me wonder if it can also be found elsewhere at this location.
According to an old issue of The Gainesville Sun, this theater’s last day as the AMC Oaks 4 was September 4th of 2000 with The Cell as its final movie. Also, there are still some AMC logos that can be found at this location, mainly on some of the theater seats and on the outside listings.
Here’s some additional info from an old Gainesville Sun…this theater opened sometime in 1978 with Coma being the first movie shown, and it closed on January 7th of 2001 with their very last movie ever being Dracula 2000.
Looked up some more back issues of the Gainesville Sun, and it would appear that this theater shut down on April 3rd of 1997 with Shine as the last movie it ever showed.
Drove by this place as of late and saw that there was a for lease sign right out front. I’m hoping this’ll lead to someone taking this place over and making it as good as it once was.
So, it has been three years now and aside from a brief soft reopening in 2017 that sadly went nowhere, Gator Cinemas is still closed. And really, this theater just feels like it’s cursed at this point. It reopened and then got reclosed just days later, it’s unclear whether or not it received needed repairs, it along with the rest of the plaza it’s in is apparently now in foreclosure, all of their social media pages are still deathly silent…basically, those are just a few of the things that Gator Cinemas unfortunately still has going against it. And call me crazy if you must, but me along with a small handful of people still hope that this theater can somehow manage a little comeback for itself. Here’s hoping that it happens much sooner than soon.
Actually, an article on Gainesville.com says that this was a Sam’s Club from 1990 to 2016 when they decided to move to Butler Plaza. And apparently, there’s now a store called Rural King where this drive-in once stood.
There’s a couple of things I should’ve added sometime ago. One, when I said that this theater got shut down, I should’ve also mentioned that it was in December of 2015. And two, someone on Reddit said that according to this theater’s landlord, another theater would most likely move in if this one doesn’t get its act together. Do whatever you will with that info.
By the way, that same newspaper also said that this place was originally set to open on November 19th of 1999. But, of course, said opening didn’t happen until about a month later.
So according to Gainesville.com, sometime in the near future, this will become more of a “luxury theater” by taking out about half of the seats. Not totally sure how that’s going to work, but alright.
The Gainesville Sun says that this theater’s final day of operation was August 16th of 1998. And apparently, Halloween: H20 was the last movie they ever showed.
And according to a back issue of The Gainesville Sun, this theater’s very first movie was American Beauty.
Chris, I can only tell you the following…they’re still closed, their GoFundMe page recently went offline, and they now have a little under two months to get things fixed. Definitely not looking good for these guys, sadly.
Should’ve posted this earlier, but the general manager of Gator Cinemas made a GoFundMe page to raise money for necessary repairs and whatnot, it can be found here…https://www.gofundme.com/wpg5qrv2
Don’t know if anyone here already knew, but because of some badly needed repairs, this theater is currently shut down. They apparently have until late March to get things back in shape.
By the by, I was looking at some more old issues of The Gainesville Sun and found out that this theater’s last day under the Litchfield banner was June 23rd of 1994. In addition, Renaissance Man was the last movie they showed before making the changeover to Regal.
Not sure if anyone will find this interesting, but the two trash receptacles near this theater’s box office still have the old school Regal Cinemas logo. Almost makes me wonder if it can also be found elsewhere at this location.
According to an old issue of The Gainesville Sun, this theater’s last day as the AMC Oaks 4 was September 4th of 2000 with The Cell as its final movie. Also, there are still some AMC logos that can be found at this location, mainly on some of the theater seats and on the outside listings.
Here’s some additional info from an old Gainesville Sun…this theater opened sometime in 1978 with Coma being the first movie shown, and it closed on January 7th of 2001 with their very last movie ever being Dracula 2000.