Coligny Theatre
1 N. Forest Beach Drive,
Hilton Head Island,
SC
29928
1 N. Forest Beach Drive,
Hilton Head Island,
SC
29928
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Regretfully the Caligny Theatre is once again closed. It looks like a pretty nice little venue for art film with a relatively large screen and intimate seating. Hopefully someone can make a go at it again.
The Island theatre opened on May 23rd, 1972. Grand opening ad:
Island Theatre opening 25 May 1972, Thu The Island Packet (Hilton Head Island, South Carolina) Newspapers.com
Our family has been vacationing on Hilton Head Island for about 30 years. In all those years, we’ve never been to the Coligny Theatre. Whenever we were on vacation, the movie that was playing was one of the art house types that our kids weren’t interested in seeing. So we would go to Northridge or the Park Plaza theaters for the mainstream movies. (superhero, animated, comedy, etc.) I always thought the Coligny Theatre would have been a good place to ‘drop the kids off’. They could have shown a kids film in the afternoon (perhaps an older Disney movie or another animated type film) while mom and dad went shopping at Coligny. One question, how many seats are there? Please post some interior pictures.
I used to manage this theater, albeit very briefly in the nineties, if I’m not mistaken. Back when it was owned by Wade Harn, along with Main Street Cinemas, a three-screen theater on the North End of HHI, which I managed much, much longer than that. It was old and run-down even then. (I sure hope they’ve fixed it up some since then!) It was an Island institution back in those days, the largest screen on the Island, and it held the most seats as well. We played “Jurassic Park” there to a full house, night after night after night. My earliest memory of the theater, though, was back in the late 70’s. My brother and I saw “Grizzly” there one night, and were scared to death walking home on the bike paths, because there were no street lights on HHI. Dark as heck, if you know what I mean. We knew there weren’t any bears on HHI, but there sure as heck were gators! Bryan Orr.
I used to go to this theatre when visiting my aunt and uncle on the island. I remember seeing ‘The Hindenburg’ there. I’m glad to see that it was saved.
Also from the theater’s website:
The following is a complete list of every movie Coligny Theatre has played since its opening:
2002
Waking Life
THE BUSINESS OF STRANGERS
LANTANA
THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE
Scotland, PA
The Endurance
DIAMOND MEN
NO MAN’S LAND
LAST ORDERS
TORTILLA SOUP
LANTANA
Kissing Jessica Stein
Enigma
Oscar Shorts
Festival in Cannes
Dogtown and Z-Boys
Triumph of Love
ICE AGE
Monty Python & the Holy Grail
Human Nature
CRUSH
Rain
Cherish
HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE
THE INDEPENDENT
DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS
13 Conversations About One Thing
SUNSHINE STATE
ATANAJUAT (THE FAST RUNNER)
CINEMA PARADISO
The Importance of Being Earnest
TADPOLE
Harvard Man
The Emperor’s New Clothes
Me Without You
The Chateau
Who Is Cletis Tout?
IGBY GOES DOWN (2 weeks)
The Man From Elysian Fields
NEVER AGAIN
Bloody Sunday
SPIRITED AWAY (2 weeks)
2003
Far From Heaven (2 weeks)
Heaven
SKINS
Roger Dodger
Metropolis
REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES
Moonlight Mile
TULLY
EVELYN
Morvern Callar
Nicholas Nickleby
Love Liza
Frida
All The Real Girls
Spider
ADAPTATION
CINEMA PARADISO
The Safety of Objects
Talk To Her
Laurel Canyon
THE QUIET AMERICAN
BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM (2 weeks)
Raising Victor Vargas
The Shape of Things
NOWHERE IN AFRICA
Owning Mahowny
Lawless Heart
WHALE RIDER (2 weeks)
Capturing The Friedmans
Creature From The Black Lagoon
WINGED MIGRATION (2 weeks)
The Secret Lives of Dentists
Northfork
AND NOW LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
Camp
SWIMMING POOL
DIRTY PRETTY THINGS
American Splendor
THE MAGDALENE SISTERS
Buffalo Soldiers
Once upon A Time In The Midlands
Casa de los Babys
Rivers and Tides
My Life Without Me
LUTHER (2 weeks)
THE STATION AGENT (2 weeks)
2004
Sylvia
THE HUMAN STAIN
THE COOLER (2 weeks)
HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG (2 weeks)
Bubba Ho-Tep
The Fog Of War
The Barbarian Invasions
The Company
TOUCHING THE VOID
The Triplets of Belleville
PIECES OF APRIL
21 Grams
THE TRACKER
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
OSAMA
Intermission
SPARTAN
Japanese Story
Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself
DOGVILLE
Ned Kelly
Close Your Eyes
Made Up!
Two Men Went To War
Super Size Me
Saved!
Young Adam
BEFORE SUNSET
DE-LOVELY
The Door In The Floor
A Home At The End Of The World
Maria Full Of Grace
The Clearing
What The “Bleep” Do We Know?
We Don’t Live Here Anymore
DANNY DECKCHAIR
I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
MEAN CREEK
BEING JULIA
Red Lights
Primer
Bright Young Things
THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
2005
THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES (SECOND WEEK)
KINSEY (TWO WEEKS)
ENDURING LOVE
BEYOND THE SEA (THREE WEEKS)
THERESE
VERA DRAKE
THE SEA INSIDE
HOTEL RWANDA
A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (TWO WEEKS)
IMAGINARY HEROES
SCHULTZE GETS THE BLUES
THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON
BORN INTO BROTHELS
HOUSE OF D
OFF THE MAP
WINTER SOLSTICE
NOBODY KNOWS
DEAR FRANKIE
LAYER CAKE
BALLAD OF JACK AND ROSE
WATERMARKS
ENRON – THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM
THE WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL
DOWNFALL
MAD HOT BALLROOM
MARCH OF THE PENQUINS (SIX WEEKS)
HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE
HAPPY ENDINGS
LADIES IN LAVENDAR (TWO WEEKS)
JUNEBUG
HEIGHTS
GRIZZLY MAN
PROOF
THE THING ABOUT MY FOLKS
NOVEMBER
CAPOTE
THE PRIZE WINNER OF DEFIANCE, OHIO
THE MEMORY OF A KILLER
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
2006
THE DYING GAUL
THE PASSENGER
NINE LIVES
PRIDE & PREJUDICE
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
THE WHITE COUNTESS
THE HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
The World’s Fastest Indian
MRS. PALFREY AT THE CLAREMONT
TRISTAM SHANDY – A COCK AND BULL STORY
THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIDADES ESTRADA
THE FALLEN
TSOTSI
DUMA
ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL
NEIL YOUNG – HEART OF GOLD
THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE
THE PROMISE
A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH (AL GORE)
KINKY BOOTS
LOST CITY
A SCANNER DARKLY
WATER
WORDPLAY
KEEPING UP WITH THE STEINS
PEACEFUL WARRIOR
BEEN RICH ALL MY LIFE
THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP
BOYNTON BEACH BEREAVEMENT CLUB
INFAMOUS
KEEPING MUM
THE QUEEN
RUNNING WITH SCISSORS
SHUT UP & SING
COPYING BEETHOVEN
2007
DRIVING LESSONS
SWEET LAND
THE PAINTED VEIL
PANS LABYRNTH
LITTLE CHILDREN
MISS POTTER
FACTORY GIRL
BREAKING AND ENTERING
BLACK BOOK
LA VIE EN ROSE
PARIS JE T'AIME
BECOMING JANE
GOLDEN DOOR
THE 11TH HOUR
MY BEST FRIEND
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
2 DAYS IN PARIS
NO END IN SIGHT
IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON
SHARKWATER
MOLIERE
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
LUST CAUTION
BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD
I ask because i thought i read that somewere and cant remember were.
I would like to lease /buy the theater and was looking for that story for a name.
Why do you ask that?
History from theater’s website:
Coligny Theatre, originally named The Island Theater, first opened its doors in 1972, and was Hilton Head Island’s only theater for many years.
With the advent and explosive growth in popularity of the VCR and cable TV, movie theaters all across the country fell on hard times, and thousands were forced to close their doors. Single-screen theaters like this one were usually among the first to go. The operators of The Island Theater held on as long as possible, but declining revenue took its toll. The theater and its equipment had deteriorated badly, and the theatre ended a 25-year run, finally closing its doors in late 1997.
In 2001, the owners of Coligny Plaza decided that the plaza needed a movie theater, and that if no one else wanted to operate one, they would. The theater was renovated, renamed Coligny Theatre, and opened for business on March 1, 2002 as an “art house,” mostly showing films by independent producers, and aimed at an upscale adult audience. The art work both inside and outside the theater, some of which is also on these pages, was done by local artist Ralph Sutton.
Is this theater for sale?
ANY INFO ON THE OWNERS??
This neat little theatre has been opened and closed rather frequently during the past few years. Hopefully it has found a niche with enough of the permanent residences of the island to sustain it.