The closing of this location is part of a renovation of the shopping mall. The mall is being refactored as a town center that has retail, office and residential space. Haven’t heard if there will be a new theatre here.
I worked at this location for 10 years, and just for posterity, the actual history is:
1970: Opened as a twin (“Cinemas I II”) with one 700 seat auditorium (later reduced to 640 seats) and one 500 seat house (later 404 seats).
1973: Opened a separate 4-plex (“Cinemas III IV V VI”) on the other side of the mall. This unit had smaller theatres and was run as a separate business unit.
1987: A new 4-plex was opened underneath the original twin (resulting in “General Cinema 1-6”). This ill-fated construction project went insanely over budget and caused the mall to shut down on several occasions due to accidents. The end result were 4 small theatres (ranging from 180 to 280 seats) with mono sound, that nobody liked to watch a movie in because they felt like you were in a hole in the ground (which you were.)
1988: When Macy’s came in the mall, they wanted the original 4-plex moved away from them, and they even helped finance a new 4-plex above the new food court (“General Cinemas 7-10”). Because they were using other people’s money, General Cinema splurged and made a whopping 2000+ seat count for just 4 theatres. Remember, this was a time when the average new house had less than 300 seats. The center theatres also were built to THX specification (but in another typical GCC fashion, they cheaped out on paying the licensing fees at the last second.)
2008: Closed on Valentine’s day. Many will say good riddance, and may be right for the state it’s been in lately, but there was a long stretch of time when this was the best spot to catch a flick in northern Virginia.
The closing of this location is part of a renovation of the shopping mall. The mall is being refactored as a town center that has retail, office and residential space. Haven’t heard if there will be a new theatre here.
I worked at this location for 10 years, and just for posterity, the actual history is:
1970: Opened as a twin (“Cinemas I II”) with one 700 seat auditorium (later reduced to 640 seats) and one 500 seat house (later 404 seats).
1973: Opened a separate 4-plex (“Cinemas III IV V VI”) on the other side of the mall. This unit had smaller theatres and was run as a separate business unit.
1987: A new 4-plex was opened underneath the original twin (resulting in “General Cinema 1-6”). This ill-fated construction project went insanely over budget and caused the mall to shut down on several occasions due to accidents. The end result were 4 small theatres (ranging from 180 to 280 seats) with mono sound, that nobody liked to watch a movie in because they felt like you were in a hole in the ground (which you were.)
1988: When Macy’s came in the mall, they wanted the original 4-plex moved away from them, and they even helped finance a new 4-plex above the new food court (“General Cinemas 7-10”). Because they were using other people’s money, General Cinema splurged and made a whopping 2000+ seat count for just 4 theatres. Remember, this was a time when the average new house had less than 300 seats. The center theatres also were built to THX specification (but in another typical GCC fashion, they cheaped out on paying the licensing fees at the last second.)
2008: Closed on Valentine’s day. Many will say good riddance, and may be right for the state it’s been in lately, but there was a long stretch of time when this was the best spot to catch a flick in northern Virginia.