Abercorn Cinema
12056 Abercorn Street,
Savannah,
GA
31419
12056 Abercorn Street,
Savannah,
GA
31419
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The Theater was open in 1980 as a four screen theater. Later the theater added two additional screens making it a six screen theater.
What a great read, SPOK. What actually caused Abercorn Cinemas and their sister theater Tara Cinemas to close was the opening of Carmike Cinemas' Wynnsong 11 and Regal Entertainment Group’s Savannah 10 behind Savannah Mall in August of 1998. Once they opened, the writing was on the wall for Abercorn & Tara Cinemas, unfortunately. Tara changed from a first-run theater into a dollar theater shortly before they wound up closing, to no avail.
If I ever won the lottery, I’d find the blueprints for Tara Cinemas (what a well-designed theater that was) somewhere, rebuild it elsewhere, and screen indie and arthouse/foreign films. Ah, to dream.
It was a shame to read that the theater building was gutted for some other purpose. I have fond memories of the Abercorn Cinema and movies I saw there. At the time we lived in Hinesville, GA. Nearby Fort Stewart offered two AAFES theaters, but the movies were often dated and the young soldiers in attendence often talked back to the screen. Just outside of town there was a dual screen movie theater, but it was run down. In fact in the rear of the indoor theater there was the remains of a dual screen outdoor drive in that was being used as a weekend flea market.
For us the Abercorn Cinema was the closest modern facility on the way to Savannah. You barely crossed the Route 204 bridge across the river into Savannah and the movie theater was on the right hand side. The cinema was a stand-alone cinema with six auditoriums. It was a modern facility with entrances at both the north and south sides of the building.
The UA Abercorn 6 shared a parking lot with a small trip mall. While waiting for a movie you could duck into Wal-Mart and shop or have an ice cream at a store just across from the theater.
My wife and I often stopped at the Abercorn 6 during our travels in and out of Savannah. There was no need to consult the newspaper as there were always first run movies playing there. Those were the Army days, before we had children, when we would sometimes catch two movies a weekend. Movies were a particular necessity as cable television did not reach our apartment building until 1987. The television stations we did receive in Hinesville were on the television’s wobbly rabbit ear antennas. No HBO, no cable movie channels.
In remembering the Abercorn Cinema I harken to remember all the films we saw there. Those I recall are too numerous and would serve no purpose to laundry list here, but some highlights of that decade were: THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, CROCODILE DUNDEE (I & II), DIE HARD, YOUNG GUNS, Rodney Dangerfield in BACK TO SCHOOL, THE THREE AMIGOS, STAR TREK IV and dozens of others.
When the military moved us to a new assignment in mid 1989 the Savannah Mall was still a couple months from completion. I am sure that once the mall was completed and open for business that balance of power, so to speak, changed and eventually forced the cinema to close.