This isn’t a standalone theater, but a student-run organization of the University of Iowa that screens art films in a ballroom in the student union builiding.
It was twinned sometime in the 70s, I think (way before my time). It was a very successful first-run theater even in the ‘90s when I was growing up. I remember lines around the block to buy tickets for Independence Day and Titanic. After a big multiplex in the new Coral Ridge Mall opened in 1998 they didn’t get as many big blockbusters, but they were still fairly successful with such movies as Bowfinger and Being John Malchovich. But in 1999 it was sold to be turned into a bar (as if downtown Iowa City needed more of them). The proposed gutting of such a historic theater raised a big fuss, of course. The city and individual citizens both contributed to buy the theater and renovate it. Something in the contract said it couldn’t be used for showing movies (at least not for a period of time) so it had to be turned into a community theater.
This isn’t a standalone theater, but a student-run organization of the University of Iowa that screens art films in a ballroom in the student union builiding.
It was twinned sometime in the 70s, I think (way before my time). It was a very successful first-run theater even in the ‘90s when I was growing up. I remember lines around the block to buy tickets for Independence Day and Titanic. After a big multiplex in the new Coral Ridge Mall opened in 1998 they didn’t get as many big blockbusters, but they were still fairly successful with such movies as Bowfinger and Being John Malchovich. But in 1999 it was sold to be turned into a bar (as if downtown Iowa City needed more of them). The proposed gutting of such a historic theater raised a big fuss, of course. The city and individual citizens both contributed to buy the theater and renovate it. Something in the contract said it couldn’t be used for showing movies (at least not for a period of time) so it had to be turned into a community theater.