RKO National Twin
1500 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1500 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
14 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Cinema 5, Cineplex Odeon, Mann Theatres, National General Theatres, RKO Century
Architects: Drew Eberson
Previous Names: Mann's National Theatre, RKO Century National Twin
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Nov 25, 2003 — Southern California Cameos
The National Theatre opened on December 12, 1972 with the World Premiere of Gene Hackman in “The Poseidon Adventure”, presented in 70mm. It was the first theatre built in Times Square in over thirty years. The theatre originally housed 1,445 seats, with 932 on the main level and 513 seats in the loge and mezzanine. Its marquee was one of the largest in New York City. It was first operated by National General Theatres, followed by Mann Theatres, RKO Century Warner and then Cinema 5.
Operated by RKO Century Warner, the National Theatre was twinned on March 19, 1982 opening with Dan Monahan in “Porky’s” & Natja Brunckhorst in “Christiane F.”. Two distinct auditoriums seating 968 & 513 were created. Screen sizes were 20ft x 40ft & 17ft x 40ft. After several changes in operators, the RKO National Twin finally closed on January 22, 1998 with Tim Allen in “For Richer or Poorer” and Alex D. Linz in “Home Alone 3” as the final movies.
As part of the Disneyesque revitalization of 42nd Street and Times Square, the theatre was gutted and became the new street view studios of ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ program. ABC moved out of the building on June 13, 2025.
Contributed by
Jamal Savage
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Recent comments (view all 112 comments)
“Alice in Wonderland” (1976) was NOT a hardcore release. Hardcore scenes by the stars in other films were later inserted for subrun play in porn houses.
When it open as a twin in 1982, RKO Century Warner were the new owners, followed by Cineplex Odeon
Please add in previous chains, Cinema 5, they had control from 1979 to 1982 when it sold to RKO Century Theatres.
The first theater I visited after moving to NYC in 1980. FADE TO BLACK was the film.
Seating Capacity as a Twin:
Theatre 1 512
Theate 2 969
Today is last day of ABC TV show “Good Morning America” as they are moving “downtown.” What happens to this space now?
HowardBHass, make it a movie theatre again.
Are you sure? I don’t know if that is going to happen Mark.
It would be great to be a theater again.
It’ll be amazing if they had the chance to bring back the original RKO National Twin look, but it’s only if it comes back as a movie theater. But I’m afraid that’s not going to happen, because Midtown already has their own set of movie theaters such as the 25-screen AMC and the 13-screen Regal.