Austintown Cinema (as it was again known after Cleveland Cinemas relinquished operations) has now closed its doors. Sad but not unexpected as the new company was booking second-run Hollywood films instead of the independent films that brought the theater so much attention and support.
Just to fill in a little history on the place, I used to be the manager of Austintown Movies from 2001-2004. Before 2001, it was known as The Austintown Cinema. Cleveland Cinemas took over operations of the theater from the owners of the Austintown Plaza, in which it is located. The theater reopened in November, 2001 as a second-run house but, after a few incredibly successful showings of some independent features, it became primarily an art-house. (The occasional Hollywood movie would show there in second-run as recently as the summer of 2005.) The theater was usually busiest right after the Oscar nominations as we’d usually be the only place in town to catch some of the more obscure films.
The downstairs of the Centrum is now a Johnny Malloy’s sports bar that uses one of the screens as a big-screen TV.
Austintown Cinema (as it was again known after Cleveland Cinemas relinquished operations) has now closed its doors. Sad but not unexpected as the new company was booking second-run Hollywood films instead of the independent films that brought the theater so much attention and support.
Just to fill in a little history on the place, I used to be the manager of Austintown Movies from 2001-2004. Before 2001, it was known as The Austintown Cinema. Cleveland Cinemas took over operations of the theater from the owners of the Austintown Plaza, in which it is located. The theater reopened in November, 2001 as a second-run house but, after a few incredibly successful showings of some independent features, it became primarily an art-house. (The occasional Hollywood movie would show there in second-run as recently as the summer of 2005.) The theater was usually busiest right after the Oscar nominations as we’d usually be the only place in town to catch some of the more obscure films.