Cineplex Odeon River Oaks Plaza 12
1450 W. Gray Street,
Houston,
TX
77019
1450 W. Gray Street,
Houston,
TX
77019
2 people
favorited this theater
Operated by Cineplex Odeon, the River Oaks Plaza was opened on October 12, 1990 in a shopping center just down the road from Landmark’s River Oaks Theatre. It was basically two, 6-screen cinemas on two levels. There was a box office located on either side of the entrance, but the left one was only used during busy times. After entering and having you ticket torn, you either walked down a few stairs for the lower screens or took an escalator to the upper level. Each level had a large concession stand, but during slow times, only the lower one was open.
The two largest auditoriums (about 400-500 capacity) were located in each of the front corners of the building, while each of the rear corners of the building held two smaller auditoriums (about 150-175 seat capacity). There were no curtains in front of the screens, no stadium seating and all the auditoriums were equipped with Dolby Surround sound. Later, when “Jurassic Park” was released, the two larger auditoriums on each level were equipped with DTS and unlike its sister cinema, the Spectrum, no auditoriums were THX certified.
When built, this cinema was advertised as the first new cinema built inside ‘The (610) Loop’ in many years. The shopping center had a few restaurants a TJ Max and an Office Depot, who’s customers had to compete for parking when the cinema was busy. There was a multi-level parking deck behind the shopping center, but most people preferred to park in front. The reason why the cinema closed in 2001 is unclear, but it could have been due to the parking situation, the building of Edward’s Grand Palace 24 about three miles away, and of course the bankruptcy of Cineplex-Odeon.
Information provided by Kenny Cagle.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
Now this was a great theater! Someone needs to post some pictures of this theater.
I remember seeing Pokemon: The First Movie at the Cineplex Odeon River Oaks about a year before it closed. I believe I also saw an Alien film here a few years before, but I don’t remember.
Here are some movies I saw at this theater: Richie Rich, Independence Day, Star Wars: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Antz, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Mighty Joe Young (1998). The latter was also the last movie I ever saw at this theater.
@Disney_Fan: Alien Resurrection?
I may have seen other movies at this theatre besides the ones I mentioned, but they escape me at this time.
I also have reason to believe that I saw Batman Returns at this theater. In turn, Batman Returns was the first movie I ever saw in any theater.
More specifically, this theatre opened in October of 1990.
We still need more pictures of this theatre. Someone posted some of the Spectrum, so who knows what’s next.
The Cineplex Odeon River Oaks 12 opened on October 12th, 1990. Grand opening ad posted. No THX systems and only one 70MM projection system.
What’s odd is that I still remember seeing the THX Tex bumper at this theatre during screenings of Antz and Star Trek: Insurrection. Of course, that was several years after the theatre opened, but even so….