Empire Granville 7 Cinemas
855 Granville Street,
Vancouver,
BC
V6Z 1K7
855 Granville Street,
Vancouver,
BC
V6Z 1K7
6 people
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The opening films of the Granville 7 in 1987 include Roxanne (Dolby Stereo THX), Predator (Dolby Stereo), The Believers (Dolby Stereo THX), Swimming to Cambodia, Hollywood Shuffle, and The River’s Edge (Dolby Stereo). Its final day was on November 4, 2012, and its final films include Here Comes the Boom, The Bourne Legacy, Ted, and The Dark Knight Rises.
2019 plan for the building.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/855-granville-street-cineplex-rec-room-exterior?fbclid=IwAR2rEUWuKxJI2Yn2IPKBMcwyhyAcsbTsXufnMk8zSTc4m6wHE3Za8_FTShY
ad:
Granville Cinemas opening Fri, Jun 19, 1987 – 39 · The Vancouver Sun (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) · Newspapers.com
Opened on June 19th, 1987. Grand opening ad posted.
Here is the Global link to the water damage story:
http://globalnews.ca/video/1195937/granville-theatres-flooded-by-metal-thieves
The Granville 7 just suffered extensive water damage caused from metal thieves who stripped out the wiring and broke a water pipe in the process.
Here is a link for a terrific website showing the dismantling of the Granville Seven.
WARNING: The following pictures contain graphic images that will offend anyone who loved this theatre.
http://adventuresinmikeslife.blogspot.ca/2012/11/granville-7-theater-interior-demolition.html
Status should read closed. The theatre closed is doors on November 4.
Granville 7 cinema closure threatens Vancouver International Film Festival
Sad to hear about the Granville 7, the only one left on the once thriving “theatre row” on Granville st. Of all the theatres I’ve been to in Vancouver, I never did get to this one. Now downtown Vancouver will be just like downtown Chicago and Boston which only has 2 multiplex locations in each city. End of an era I guess.
Empire Granville 7 will be closing on Sunday, November 4th, 2012 after a South Asian film festival rental. This leaves downtown Vancouver with only TWO cinemas (Scotiabank 9 and International Village 12, both Cineplex) as of November.
I visited Vancouver in 1996 and saw The Cable Guy at the Granville. A nice memory.
2404 seats, with the breakdown – from auditorium #1 through #7 – as follows: 294/338/329/324/225/230/664.
The only equipment I’m aware of that is missing is the Magnetic penthouses from the Vic 8s. Why they were removed? I don’t know. The projectors do not have turrets installed on them, which is a common modification to do to these projectors, in which the magnetic heads have to be removed for real estate reasons.
Die Hard and The Big Blue were released a month apart, they might not have been at Granville at the same time.
Michael is still right, two screens were equiped for 70mm presentation. The projectors for auditoriums 2 and 7 are the original Victoria 8’s by Cinemeccanica from the building’s opening and still have sprockets and rollers that can accomodate both 70mm and 35mm film, but not enough equipment to play 70mm today.
Cineplex built Granville over three properties: the Palms Hotel as the south end, the Coronet Theatre as the north end, and miscellaneous store x that was in between.
The Palms Hotel is interesting in its own right as it was originally built in the early 20th century, then called ‘Almond Block’. The facade is currently protected as heritage. The relief on the north facade (dubbed “The Dancer”, from the days of the Paradise Theatre) is considered heritage, but has no protection and can be demolished.
According to Bill Kretzel’s Cinerama and Large-Frame Motion Picture Exhibition in Canada, the 70mm bookings at GRANVILLE were:
DIE HARD (1988)
THE BIG BLUE (1988)
THE ABYSS (1989)
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1990)
BACKDRAFT (1991, moveover booking)
APOCALYPSE NOW (1992 re-issue)
FAR AND AWAY (1992)
HOFFA (1992)
HOWARDS END (1993 moveover booking)
GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND (1993)
Note that DIE HARD and THE BIG BLUE were in release at the same time, confirming that two separate screens in the complex were equipped to handle 70mm presentation.
2 certainly did have 70mm capability at one point and might have acted as a move-over from, but most of the action was in #7 which still has the THX “wall” and all outstanding sound quality, just not actual certification anymore.
Also, Granville 7, while having apparently two 70MM screens ( #7 for sure and #2 apparently was equipped for 70 at some point { Both THX as well } ) only ran 10 or less 70MM engagements starting with Die Hard in 1988 and ending with Geronimo ( sp? ) in 1994.
Just to add to the details on the building itself, The Old Palms Motel made up for the rest of the space for the complex.
Cinemas 5 & 6 are from the old Coronet house. And yes, they were HEAVILY renovated as these two are the smallest in the complex. From what I have been told, the Coronet was a much larger theater, but during the Cineplex Odeon renovations they needed proper exiting from the top level #7 (the largest former THX house, at 664 seats) which cut drastically into the back of what is now the #5 cinema. If you look very closely in #6 you can still see some of the old Coronet details, even though they have been painted over.
This cinema is the main venue for the annual Vancouver International Film Festival and has far more seats than Scotiabank or Tinseltown. Every year I visit and photograph the heck out of this theater (many of the Cinematour photos Tim refers to are from my old digital camera!) and it is still a fun place to see a movie. Empire Theaters took over for Cineplex Odeon in 2005, yet you set foot in the building and NOTHING has changed. Same typical late 80’s Cineplex Odeon build. It’s a bit run-down, and many of the screens Dolby SR only. With that said, the Empire staff this year were incredible; very friendly and down to earth, but also hard workers.
It is also NOT a second run house. It charges $7.99 for a film and runs art house, smaller product along with mainstream product that the nearby Scotiabank and Tinseltown have stopped running, but it is still under first run policy.
The existing facade was part of a major remodel on the Paradise Theater reflecting an Art Deco design when the owners took over the Globe Theater. You will notice on the photo that the original design was much more simpler:
View link
If you look on the web site cinematour.com there are 63 photos of the Granville Cinemas, and it looks like Cinemas 6 and 7 are the original Coronet theatre.
First I need to make corrections to post submitted by Loralei and Felicity. Granville St, long known as Theater row boasted a total of 10 theaters. Prior to 1969, there was the Colonial, Strand, Capitol, Orpheum, Vogue, Odeon, Coronet, Lyric, Studio and Downtown Cinema with the latter five changing names several time.
When Odeon Theater Group decided to build a multiplex, they purchased a neighboring building next to the Coronet and retained the facade although the rest of the building was gutted. The Coronet, originally opened in 1929 as the Globe until 1935, renamed The Paradise in 1938 and then the Coronet in 1964. The Coronet was later twinned. The Coronet still exist where it was merged with the new construction on the left. The Coronet face remains but the interior auditoriums was heavily renovated.
Lost Memory, you submit such gorgeous pictures on site. As a member, you are one of the most valuable resources that CT has. So it pains me to disagree with the article that you submitted. But I must, unfortunately. That information is incorrect.
As Loralei says above, the Granville Theatre was a seven screen house that was built in the 800 block to replace the Coronet Twin & the Odeon Theatres. It didn’t open until 1987. My family has lived in Vancouver for generations & this definitely is an indisputable fact.
There is not one theatre in the city that was built in the late 20s that is in operation as a movie house today. The Hollywood dates from the 30s. But that’s the only one that I’m aware of.