Bell Plaza Cinema 4
5807 W. 45th Avenue,
Amarillo,
TX
79109
5807 W. 45th Avenue,
Amarillo,
TX
79109
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This theater became a one-dollar cinema in 1983. It was well maintained and had four good size screens although the auditoriums weren’t very big. During the mid-eighties it was packed on Friday and Saturday nights. The presentations were always of good quality with excellent picture and sound. I saw a lot of midnight presentations including MAS*H, ALIEN, THE JERK, and ROCKY HORROR. The film I remember having the longest run was RETURN OF THE JEDI in 1985. Following the film’s general re-release that spring, it played here several months.
This theater was built as the Mann’s Fox 4. It opened with much ado, including some minor stars from Hollywood making an appearance, June 14, 1979. It was a first run theater showing new movies as a well as “independent” and foreign films (something new for Amarillo). The first movie I saw there was “HOMETOWN USA” at the grand opening 6-14-79. With the opening of the UA-6 and then Westgate UA-6 a few years later the Fox 4 dropped new movies and became a second run, dollar admission theater. Late in the theater’s history my friend, Tom Sharp, was the projectionist, ticket seller/taker, and he ran the concession all at the same time. Cinemark bought the theater about 1996 to gain a foothold in Amarillo, later becoming the operator of the Hollywood 16. The Fox 4 remained a dollar theater until it closed in mid 1998. New owners took over the shopping center in which it was located and demolished it but found no need to build a flat, ugly parking lot in its place.