LOOK Dine-In Cinemas Northwest Highway

Showtimes are now posted for LOOK Dine-in Cinema Northwest Highway reopening June 11, 2021.

Closed along with the rest of the chain on March 15, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened August 28, 2020 but was closed permanently January 18, 2021 not long after Studio Movie Grill declared bankruptcy.

That is the 3rd time this theater closed well there is always the AMC Northpark 15 and Cinemark 17 since I have to say are better theatres since I don’t see the point of The Grand being opened again since Northpark and Cinemark 17 both have IMAX (Northpark has IMAX Laser) and Northpark has Dolby Cinema.

Opened 25 years ago today.

Wow thanks rivest266

I am also on a lookout for this very important ad. Somebody in Dallas, head to that microfilm reader and snap a photo!

AMC Theatres should buy back this theatre and call it AMC Dine in Northwest Highway 14 maybe one day it will

The $18 million AMC Grand was built by Entertainment Properties Trust (EPT) in a warehouse district of Dallas not far from what was once considered restaurant row. The 24-screen megaplex revolutionized theater business and inspired 24+ screen movie theater in urban markets around the nation. Expecting 1.5 million customers its first year, the Grand doubled its clientele. So successful was the concept that four “Gourmet Cinema” auditoriums playing independent and foreign films and one screen playing interactive Interfilm Technology releases such as “Ride For Your Life” were quickly repurposed as additional screens for blockbuster, multi-screen releases within just three weeks of the complex’s opening. AMC knew it had a blockbuster, itself, in the Grand concept.

The 85,000 square foot theater bucked the DFW trend by General Cinema to simply add a multiplex near the footprint of another successful multiplex as they had at Redbird Mall, Town East Mall, Richardson, Irving Mall, Carollton, and others in the area. The Grand’s stadium seating in all 24 houses, multichannel audio in all houses, and 13-acres of exclusive parking with valet was a destination finding people driving as much as an hour to come to that theater. With showings in the early morning and shows into the late hours, patrons likely showed up without paying close attention to the showtimes for the opening weekend of a smash hit. AMC replicated the success in DFW with the 30-screen Mesquite, 30-screen Grapevine Mills, and 24-screen Stonebriar. Meanwhile, 10-16 screen plexes opened all over the metro area by operators including AMC, United Artists, and Cinemark which along with the 24+ screen theaters would blunt the destination status of the Grand.

The uniqueness of the Grand was gone and the momentum of restaurants hopping across to the area and having success was on the downward slope as the first decade of the 2000s was closing. Restaurants and nightspots near the Grand were closing and restaurant row was in retreat, as well. The Grand’s parking lot was often virtually empty on weekdays and the writing was on the wall for the property. EPT had built 95 other megaplexes built during the ‘plex boom period but suffered its first non-renewal when AMC decided to walk away from the Grand as its 15-year lease lapsed. Almost unthinkable ten years earlier that this significant theater could have fallen so far so fast, but it was true. On Halloween 2010, AMC said “trick” and no treat closing up shop hastily. Its lease officially lapsed at the end of November as it carted its possessions away.

EPT found a new operator in Southern Cinemas who shockingly decided to spend millions of dollars to re-tool a portion of the space as the downsized 14-screen AmStar Grand Theatre 14. And almost equally shocking was that another person thought that a Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill would thrive in the other section of the complex. Southern Cinemas found Grand Opening festivities ominous as employees in tuxedos and security guards well outnumbered patrons with many of the advertised shows simply not playing on the second day of the Grand grand re-opening celebration. Things didn’t ever improve as the theater – despite high technology and dependable presentation – was a quick casualty limping badly to a two-year ending. A challenging environment for the once-king of the Dallas box office. Further, the theater housed the area’s only motion-controlled seating with its D-Box installation so Dallas/Fort Worth was motion-seat-less, to boot. Toby Keith’s Bar was also a casualty closing at the end of 2013 despite signs indicating that a re-opening was possible.

Surprisingly, Studio Movie Grill decided to take a stab at rekindling the magic quickly retrofitting the EPT Grand property as a dining-experience theater and opening just months later on December 16, 2013. The Studio Movie Grill Northwest Highway was hoping to somehow buck the trend of a faded cinema treasure location.

Last day of performances: August 30th, 2013.

Per the book “George Lucas’s Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success” this theater has some historical significance as it was the very first theater designed with stadium seating with each row on a different level as opposed to the old style slope seating. It was so successful that AMC stopped some theaters in mid build to redesign them with the new type seating. An example is given of the UA theater chain who decided slope theaters were fine even for new buildings and were out of business within a few years.

The theatre reopened as AmStar 14 on October 14, 2011. More information available at http://bit.ly/fji1211amstar14 .

Southern Theatres is taking over this location. It’s finally on their website. It’s going to be under the Amstar name instead of The Grand, and will be a 14 screen theater.