Landmark Jackson Square
2 King Street W,
Hamilton,
ON
L8P 1A1
2 King Street W,
Hamilton,
ON
L8P 1A1
2 people
favorited this theater
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The cinema’s opening films as a twin theatre were The Candidate and Mutiny on the Buses. Its expansion into a six-screen cinema on September 29, 1989, included films such as In Country, Johnny Handsome, Black Rain, Dead Poets Society, Batman, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Empire Theatres acquired the theatre on September 29, 2005, and later sold it to Landmark Cinemas on October 30, 2013.
Expanded to six on September 29, 1989. The expansion caused the closure of the downtown Tivoli Theatre.
The Jackson Square Cinemas are no longer owned and/or managed by Empire. Landmark is now running them. There was an article in the newspaper late last year about the takeover. I will report further details later, including an official name.
Originally, the Jackson Square Cinemas was only two theaters (1 & 2). They are still great places to see a movie…large auditoriums and great screens. The added theaters are a lot smaller, like a typical multplex. I saw a lot of movies there, during the late 1970’s and 1980’s. And two-for-one movies: it was easy to sneak into the other movie. Just go to the bathroom and walk right in to the other show. They didn’t stagger the start times (but if the movie ran over two hours, then forget it). Kirk Douglas appeared here, to promote “Scalawag” on the opening Friday (never saw Kirk in the can).
A correction to two posts ago: the Upper James Cineplex Odeon no longer exists. It was replaced by Silvercity Hamilton on the East Mountain at Heritage Green in December. The fate of the Upper James Cinema is still up in the air.
The Jackson Square 6 seems to do just fine. Every night that I take a stroll through the mall, theres always a giant line to purchase tickets. I’m sure it’s at least breaking even. It’s been a long time since I watched a movie there though. I guess I’m just too pampered with the stadium seating and such at Silvercity.
Lyric and Tivoli still sit as they always have…
@Chad, Empire Theatres is the second largest theatre chain after Cineplex which bought Famous Players. I won’t consider them an “independent”. Check empireco.ca for example. The owners of Sobey’s and Price Choppers also own Empire Theatres. Empire Theatres also own some former Silvercities and Cineplex Odeons across Canada.
Since the last post here on 02 July 06 the Tivoli has been torn down after it collapsed and Jackson is still the only theatre in Hamilton apart from Westdale, Movie Palace and that one on Upper James. Sorry but single screen theatres aren’t coming back to Hamilton. Jackson square can hardly fill an entire theatre even on opening night of most major films and I know since I live near by and go there to see the latest flicks.
With the economy in the toilet most people can’t afford to spend money on a movie not to mention parking, food and drinks. Then there is the fact that alot of people download bootleg copies off torrents or wait for the DVD which is usually out in 3 months on average.
Reading this site I’ve noticed how there were a lot of theatres up untill the 80’s such as the Avon, Century/Lyric, Tivoli and they were killed by VCR’s the same way that video stores are being killed by digital downloads.
PARTICLE MAN, “hi”. What 14 projects were announced for downtown Hamilton’s core. I have not heard about this. Thanks.
Thats the nature of business, Cineplex sold off high rent, low attendance and ageing theatres to Empire so they can make more money then them. I agree the Tivoli and the Century need to be brought back. If Jackson Square needs to be replaced, people will need to write letters and petitions to Empire or even Cineplex to build new theatres in downtown Hamilton. Large theatre companies such as Cineplex losing money due to low attendance and in my opinion, it is a worse time to build theatres right now.
Yes, its true. Famous Players sold it off. I was there two nights ago to watch Ultraviolet. I noticed the condition of the theater I was in (#2) was pretty bad. The plaster on the ceiling is starting to deteriorate.
Downtown Hamilton needs two things regarding theatres:
A rather large, “silvercity” type of theatre right in Jackson Square, replacing the existing one. This could only be achieved after the downtown is revitalized as it would require a very large amount of nightly visitors to make any profit. Much more than the current theatre is seeing.
Classic theatres (Tivoli and Century) need to be brought back. Tivoloi serving as a playhouse with the Century doing 2nd run movies.
We’re getting close. 14 new downtown projects were just announced to be funded, right in the core. If we can get the Lister Block back in the game, things are going to get a lot better downtown.
This theatre is bought by Empire Theatres.
This is a great movie theater, but I find its not as busy as it used to be back in the 80’s & 90’s. So if you like to see a movie in a somewhat quite movie theatre then this is the place for you. Is a shame that all of the other Downtown theaters in Hamilton have all closed up. The Jackson Square Cinemas is the one and only movie theatre left in Downtown Hamilton. I wish I could add a photo of this theatre but Cinema Treasures is not posting photos at this time. :–(
I worked at this theatre for a few years in the 90’s. Not a bad place for a mall theatre. I still remember the names of the auditoriums. They are: The Paradise, The Strand, The Avalon, The Century, The Alto and (the red one-can’t remember right now).