Medallion 5 Theatre

dallasmovietheaters on November 24, 2013 at 9:08 am

Interstate Theatres built the Medallion in 1968 opening with Butch Cassidy on October 30th, 1969. Notable exclusives there were The Godfather, The Sting, MASH, American Graffiti, Deliverance, and Chinatown. Downtown theatres struggled as the Central Zone (NorthPark, UA 150 (later Cine) and Medallion) thrived. Medallion held sneak of Jaws and Steven Spielberg cited the Medallion as his “good luck theater” and one of his most memorable moments. He also sneaked Close Encounters and 1941 before moving his sneaks to the nearby NorthPark I & II.

In 1978, Plitt acquired many of Interstate theatres and the Medallion became a Plitt property. Competition became fierce in what was known as the Central Zone as multiplexes opened nearby in the 1980s.

The Medallion was sold to United Artists, in 1986. UA closed the Medallion for two months on March 20, 1986 converted it to three auditoriums. The original screen remained intact on the south side of the theatre and two smaller screens were located on the north side, adjacent to the newly remodeled and expanded concession stand. The two northern houses remained until its closure, holding 300 and 140 patrons. When the high tech UA Plaza opened in May of 1989, the Medallion became a second run bargain theatre and the nearby UA Cine became an art house.

The Central Zone was negatively impacted in the mid-1990s when the megaplex era began. UA gave up the Medallion in 1993. Dallas-based Trans-Texas Theatre Company took over the Medallion and two other failing movie houses, Cinemark’s NorthTown and Skillman 6. Trans-Texas turned the three-screen house Medallion into a five-screen house as the original silver-beaded screen was split three ways. The move proved somewhat successful prior to the theatre being sold to the Hollywood Theatre chain in 1997.

Under Hollywood Theatres management, the theatre experimented with second run art house movies and attracted the Vistas Hispanic-oriented film festival. The owners noting the down-turned discount movie environment deleted weekday matinees before abandoning the DFW area temporarily in early 2000.

Premiere Cinema Corporation became the next owner of the Medallion. Premiere brought back matinees, regularly showed classic films and experimented with midnight films aimed at the nearby SMU college audience. It continued its connection with the Vistas Film Festival before closing the theatre.

The seventh and final operator was an independent under the management of George Jones. It became an outlet for low-budget, locally produced films, promotional showmanship (including live hypnotists, clowns, and other gimmicks used to attract moviegoers in the 1930s and 1940s) along with second run features. The theater was given a minor updating in its concession area, including a party area and paintings of movie stars.

The Medallion’s last day was December 13th, 2001 ending a 32-year run. In a nice touch, one of the Medallion’s last films was the very first film shown there, Butch Cassady and the Sundance Kid. The theater sat deserted for three and a half years until being torn down in May of 2005 to make room for a Kohl’s Department Store.

CaptainRob on December 16, 2015 at 5:36 pm

The date of 1993 for UA giving up Medallion is incorrect. I was the GM of this theater for Trans Texas Amusements during March to May of 1992 before they moved me to Ft Worth Town Center Dollar Cinema 8. I had previously worked for UA and GCC. Medallion still had the UA Communications logos inlaid in tile in the lobby floor. They had pulled out the UA name though. One night a friend of mine that still worked for UA came by and saw the logo and just shook his head. “Ya’ll couldn’t afford to take out the entire logo?” That theater was a mess. The box office cashiers were somewhat silly. There was a button under the box office counter. My first week there I asked them about it. They didn’t know what it was for. The cashier even pushed it. “See, nothing happens.” They didn’t ever make the connection that five minutes later the Dallas Police would show up.

Coate on July 26, 2017 at 6:04 pm

Was the Medallion the Dallas venue in which the Spring 1989 Director’s Cut re-release of “Lawrence of Arabia” played?

MSC77 on November 28, 2021 at 6:08 pm

In what year did the Medallion go from three to five screens?

CaptainRob on November 29, 2021 at 1:58 am

Medallion went from three screens to five sometime in late 1991. I started as GM there in February 1992 and had been hired by Trans Texas president Bill Knight. Number Five auditorium had actually been the next door pizza bar. Trans Texas cut a doorway through the wall and installed a sloped concrete floor. Which looked brand new when I first inspected it. You could see where the pizza ovens had been down near the screen along with the outline of the bar. The original entrance had been walled off. I was working for UA when they bought it and converted it from one screen to three. They split the auditorium across the middle and installed a second projection booth. They twinned the back half. Leaving a almost cube shaped main auditorium. Which Trans Texas later twinned. Trans Texas also ripped out the downstairs office and moved it upstairs. And they ripped out the island style concession stand that UA had and built one along the wall. You could still see where the island had been because they patched it with the wrong color tile.