Austintown Movies

Opened on May 25, 1976 with “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” in Screen 1, Disney’s “Follow Me Boys” and “Ben And Me” in Screen 2, and “Echoes Of A Summer” in Screen 3.

A Dollar General store now occupies the former Austintown Movies site in the Austintown Plaza.

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.

I remember reading about an attempt by a local arts group to keep the Austintown Movies opened, and Cleveland Cinemas did book movies for at least one additional week there (I get their “Sprockets” emails)…whether this group was successful I don’t know. Art and independent films are a hard sell in a market like Youngstown, and I’m surprised that the Austintown Movies held on as long as it did with that format. (I think it was a discount theatre for a while after the Regal megaplex opened up next door to Austintown Plaza, before the theatre became an art house.)

The Austintown Movies will be closing on December 31st.