Knollwood 4 Theatres
8332 Highway 7 #12,
St. Louis Park,
MN
55416
8332 Highway 7 #12,
St. Louis Park,
MN
55416
2 people
favorited this theater
Small four-plex located in the basement of the Knollwood shopping center. It opened December 4, 1981. It was closed on February 3, 2000.
Contributed by
Kirk J. Besse
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
I was the GM at this theatre in the mid 90’s.
Theatre was closed because the lease was bought out by a chain, who filed for bankruptcy, right before they were going to put a 16 plex in there.
To the best of my knowledge, the theatre is still intact, but boarded up and partially gutted out, 10 years after its close!
The mall has never been the same since its demise.
The Plitt Knollwood theater was not kept up very well when I went there in the mid 1990’s. I recall seeing stained ceiling tiles and faded red drapes that adorned the side walls. It was very 1970’s esque. The only theater I can think of that still had a rotary phone. As I recall there were two theaters on the main level and then two within the lower level… The mall itself has struggled to survive for the past 20 years. Back in the 1980’s people actually shopped at Knollwood, but since that time the mall has been at about half occupancy. I do miss the theaters. I think they are probably still hiding behind the walled off area within the center of the mall. Hopefully a theater will return to the mall at some point.
I really miss this old-school theater, especially the rich smell of the butter popcorn. First memory of it was being taken to Empire Strikes Back and buying a program at the concessions for it. Last film seen there was Talented Mr. Ripley which unfortunately melted half-way through. Great standees and posters as well.
The four theaters (two main level, two lower level) are still there, pretty much intact. Contrary to a previous post, none are “gutted,” although much of the currently unused 42,000 sq. ft. of lower level mall space was damaged by a flood at some point and subsequently cleaned up. Regarding the theaters, only one of the screens remains undamaged. Overall, they appear to be in surprisingly good condition (seating, carpeting, walls, projection rooms, concessions, bathrooms), and look like they’d require minimal expense and refurbishing to bring them back into usable shape. Unfortunately, there are no reported plans at this point to resurrect the theater. To add to Lord Lione’s post, at one point the entire Knollwood Mall complex was scheduled to be remodeled, with the addition of underground parking and multiple theaters to create the planned 16-plex. A schematic was posted prominently in the mall showing the proposed changes. I also came across some old “auditorium check logs” that indicate some of the movies shown there including House Party III, Warlock II, Scent of a Woman, Life With Mikey, Hook, and Jurassic Park. It seems a shame that nobody would make the investment to bring the mall and its theaters back to their former glory. Who knows? Perhaps it could still happen.
A good friend of mine worked there for quite some time and we got to see several movies there because of that. I agree, the mall hasnt been the same since the theater closed. Heck, the wing that used to head down towards what is now cub foods as well as the wing that went towards the arcade (gold mine then became Tilt) is now gone too. Its just not the same mall is was back then.
does anyone know if its possible to buy an theater seat from the old knollwood theater
Unfortunately, this theater should be listed as demolished after the Knollwood redesign in 2014. Here are the last photos taken of the theater: http://www.slphistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/knollwoodtheatre.gif
This opened on December 4th, 1981. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
Closed on February 3, 2000.