Camera 12 Cinemas
201 S. 2nd Street,
San Jose,
CA
95113
201 S. 2nd Street,
San Jose,
CA
95113
5 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: CineLux Theatres, United Artists Theater Circuit Inc.
Firms: Kenneth Rodrigues & Partners
Functions: Office Space, Retail
Previous Names: UA Pavilion Theatre
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News About This Theater
- Mar 10, 2011 — San Jose tries throw ailing Camera 12 Theater a lifeline
The Pavilion Theatre 8 was intended to boost revenue in downtown San Jose. It was built using funds from the redevelopment agency and opened February 16, 1996 by United Artists. Seating was provided for 3,700, The theatre was not as successful as anticipated. After six months of operation, the United Artists chain announced they wanted to vacate the property. Three years later, with no warning, UA packed up all the equipment (in the middle of the night) and closed the theatre on January 15, 2000.
A May 2002 article in the San Jose Mercury news indicated that San Jose based Cinelux Theatres was interested in re-opening the theatre.
It was reopened as Camera 12 Cinemas on June 18, 2004 with a reduced seating capacity of 2,100. It was closed September 9, 2016 and converted into office & retail use with a miniature golf course.
Contributed by
Mike Croaro
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Recent comments (view all 23 comments)
Did some more research on the theater. Looks like at one point, an “indoor amusement center” was planned for a section of the theater, but either never came to fruition, or opened, with information lost to the past.
UA actually said that they wanted to vacate the premises a handful of times, with September 1999 being an original date they planned to leave, but never did, due to unknown reasons.
However, in mid-January (15th or 17th) 2000, movie patrons arrived to the theater, only to be told that the theater was “experiencing technical difficulties, and was planned for a remodel”, as police vehicles surrounded the cinema, while movers ripped film projectors and seats out of the theater and shoved them into trailers.
After closing as the Camera 12 in September 2016, Urban Catalyst is currently gutting and restructuring the theater for office and retail, and a recent post from earlier this month suggests that a handful of equipment left behind by Camera Cinemas has been given to the nearby 3Below, which replaced the Camera 3 in 2018.
The last mention of the theater in the San Francisco Examiner seems to be on January 16, 2000.
Opened on February 16th, 1996. Grand opening ad posted.
Closed January 15th, 2000, after UA lost $10 million on the theatre. Newspaper articles posted.
I’ve always wondered on how the original floor layout was before Camera bought out the theater, mainly since I can’t find anything online about it at all.
What I do remember off my personal memories was that as the Camera 12, Floor 1 had 6 theaters with the top 2 floors having 3 screens each, with my personal guesses being either floor 1 had 2 screens split to oblivion to make 6, or that Floor 1 originally had 3 screens with the top levels having 2 each
Found some rough floor plans for this scourging online, turns out Floor 1 indeed had 2 giant screens later turned into 6 with each screen becoming 3, with the only addition to the top 2 floors being stadium seating from what I remember.
It was a poorly designed and generally crappy theatre. I saw Cronenberg’s Crash there, and I never went back again.
You sure it wasn’t the content that turned you off? (Kidding)
If I recall, San Jose wanted Century to build it much earlier than 1996. Century didn’t want to since they had a lock on most of the South Bay with the Winchester domes and Mountain View 16. The city finally convinced UA to operate the theatre but even then Century maintained a clearance for most of its life which ultimately led to the theatre playing mostly bombs with very little attendance.
Also – why did I think this was a 9-plex at some point under UA? Am I crazy?
Now to be fair it kinda is weird knowing the bottom floor only had 2 screens instead of 3
Additionally yeah everything I’ve seen this theater advertise as the UA Pavillon were mostly disappointments or films forgotten to time; only exceptions I’ve seen really have been My Best Friend’s Wedding and Primal Fear, or Fight Club even if a Facebook reply is of use; combined with the underwhelming attendance of the outdoor parallel to this, I’m not too surprised why this theater died too soon as the UA despite its intriguing design