Iselin Theatre
429 US Highway 1 S,
Iselin,
NJ
08830
429 US Highway 1 S,
Iselin,
NJ
08830
4 people
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It was renamed the Islein Theatre in June 1980, and closed on June 6, 1982 with “Chariots Of Fire”. Florin-Creative last operated the theater as a dollar house.
This opened on December 3rd, 1968. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
And now in August 2015, American Signature Furniture is being demolished, and Hobby Lobby is being built.
Almost 31 years to the day it closed, a new furniture store has opened in its place, American Signature Furniture.
I saw several films here, including Young Frankenstein, Hot Stuff and The Main Event. As a kid, the place seemed upscale to me compared to the Fords and Iselin Theaters I was used to going to.
Barry M,
When you get to be as old as I am, and worked in more theatres than you could imagine, sometimes dates become a blur. You were right. The theatre closed on Feb 2, 1980. I looked back in my numerous logs and realized my mistake. Sorry.
The December 9, 1968, issue of Boxoffice Magazine listed the Fox Woodbridge as one of three new houses, all called the Fox, opened in the U.S. by NGC that month. The Fox Woodbridge opened on Tuesday, December 3. The Boxoffice item gave the seating capacity as 1350.
Movie534,
I’m certain that the date of closing you posted cannot be accurate, as I remember seeing THE ONION FIELD at this theater in August of 1979; also I remember METEOR being released in the fall of that year.
BarryM
This theatre, a single screen its entire life seated 1700 people. In its final years, they showed XXX movies at midnight on Friday & Saturday and the money they made from that paid their expenses for the entire week. The sad thing was, those were the biggest crowds they had all week too.
Very true Warren, but also a sad testament to our society that no one except the good people here on CT care about old movies and classic movie palaces.
As of Feb 26, 2008 Levitz is out of business, only sad part of this is that the Fox Theatre only lasted ruffly 15 or so years, while Levitz lasted almost 30.
The Fox Theatre was a single screen right up to the day it closed, Feb 2, 1979. Last picture to show was “Meteor” with Sean Connery. It was a shame to see this one go. Huge Cinemascope curved screen. My dad, Joe Pusillo, a projectionist for many area theatres took me here to see exclusive engagements of MAS*H and Deliverance. As a side note, the Levitz is going out of business.
Yes Barry M. is right about it not being split. And all the important movies usually played at the Menlo Park Cinema. Although now that i think of it – I do remember seeing Butch Cassidy at Fox and a few of the early James Bond movies. ie: Dr. No. etc GREAT theatre though that’s for sure!
Just to comment on some comments:
To Carl: You are remembering the General Cinemas theatre in the former Korvette shopping center, because that is where LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR played. I believe LUNA was there as well.
To JackS124: I agree, the Fox Woodbridge was quite beautiful and, as you say, never seemed to be able to find an audience. That huge, gorgeous auditorium was often pretty empty. I don’t think it was ever twined, however. I’m pretty sure that when it closed (in the early 1980s, after only being open since the late 1960s) it was still a single theatre.
-I recall watching Damnation Alley, The Excorcist, Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob and Towering Inferno here. They had Sense-Surround equipment and used it once in a while. When I was a kid, I recall they were showing something called “No Sex Please, We’re British.” All of the adults talked about how horrible it was, but none of them ever went to see it. I think they also showed Deep Throat.
-One evening, I drove up to the marquee and saw that the letters compartment was open. I took the numbers “48”(my house number) and wanted to put them up on the side of my house. My Dad wanted no part of that plan. He thought we would all be arrested for theft. Maybe we would have been, but it would have been a unique way to tell everyone what our house number was.
Listed as part of Mann Theatres Corporation of California in the 1976 International Motion Picture Almanac.
The Fox Woodbridge (not to be confused with the Woodbridge Walter Reade/General Cinema which was up the road about a mile away on the northbound side of Rte. 1) was located on the southbound side of US Route 1 in Woodbridge. It was located between where the current Sheraton Woodbridge is located and the Garden State Parkway on-ramp in Woodbridge. The Levitz on Rte. 1 currently sits on the site of the old Fox.
Growing up as a kid in Woodbridge at the time, I recall when the Fox was contstructed. One of the things that I will always remember about the Fox was the huge interior it had. It also had giant floor to ceiling curtains that were closed at the end of each showing and very dramatically opened when the movie was about to begin.
Although the Fox was quite a beautiful theater, I seem to recall that it never struck me as a very successful theater, even after it was split into a twin in the mid-to-late 70’s. All of the really big, blockbuster pictures went either to the Menlo up the road or the Woodbrige Walter Reade/General Cinema.
Alright.
If these were the theatres on the same side as ‘Woodbridge Center’( not there I understand), then I saw Bertolucci’s ‘Luna’, ‘Looking For Mr. Goodbar’ ‘Lisztomania’, ‘Fingers’ (which has been redone and is exhibiting now with a title that includes another organ of the body) and others here.
I took some 35mm photos of the interior of the theater after the seats were removed. I also have shots of the theater being demolished. This theater was equipped with 2 Norelco 35/70 projectors.
The old Woodbridge Cinemas was south of Woodbridge Center, in a former Korvettes/Caldor Shopping Center. The Fox Woodbridge was taken over by Mann Theatres in the 70s, then demolished to make way for a Levitz Furniture Store.
Is this the old Woodbridge Cinemas, located on Rt. 1 across from the Woodbridge Center mall?