I too had a highly enjoyable experience watching Empire Strikes Back at the Cooper. I was 13 at the time(seemed to be the perfect target age for the “Star Wars” series)and was invited by my cousins who could pull some strings. Coming from a place where an auditorium is no more than 300-400 seats and seeing a film on 70mm was unheard of. It was an unforgettable experience, even by todays standards. Experiencing a movie as great as Empire in the Cooper with the sound and visual effects and to pull them off on such a huge screen is something that is not soon forgotten.
Hearing later in my adult life that the Cooper had been torn down was no less than a travesty.
The fire didn’t force it to close. The fire burned the Queen City dance hall, but left the Kinema pretty much intact. The fact that the theater and a dance hall and a mortuary were all in the same building forced the building to be razed due to structural instability.
(I know this because I am the 4th generation owner of the business.)
Pictures of the theater and other buildings are forthcoming.
I too had a highly enjoyable experience watching Empire Strikes Back at the Cooper. I was 13 at the time(seemed to be the perfect target age for the “Star Wars” series)and was invited by my cousins who could pull some strings. Coming from a place where an auditorium is no more than 300-400 seats and seeing a film on 70mm was unheard of. It was an unforgettable experience, even by todays standards. Experiencing a movie as great as Empire in the Cooper with the sound and visual effects and to pull them off on such a huge screen is something that is not soon forgotten.
Hearing later in my adult life that the Cooper had been torn down was no less than a travesty.
The fire didn’t force it to close. The fire burned the Queen City dance hall, but left the Kinema pretty much intact. The fact that the theater and a dance hall and a mortuary were all in the same building forced the building to be razed due to structural instability.
(I know this because I am the 4th generation owner of the business.)
Pictures of the theater and other buildings are forthcoming.