Villa Theatre

3080 Highland Drive,
Salt Lake City, UT 84115

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1949 CONSTRUCTION

The Villa Theater is best known for its elegant neon-laden façade and sign, as well as its 93-foot curved screen, the largest in the state of Utah.

Opened on December 23, 1949 with Tyrone Power in “Prince of Foxes”. The Villa Theatre was later used as the home of Cinemiracle and from July 2, 1961 Cinerama in Salt Lake City, with its three Cinerama booths still remaining in place. In fact, the theatres' original proscenium, stage, and screen are still intact, and hidden behind the large, curved screen.

The Villa Theatre was last operated by Carmike Cinemas, which renovated the old movie house in 1996. Due to Carmike’s bankruptcy reorganization, the Villa Theatre was closed on February 11, 2003 with Elija Wood in “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”.

It has been converted since then into a rug showroom.

Contributed by Cinema Treasures, Mark Gulbrandsen

Recent comments (view all 29 comments)

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 25, 2009 at 10:07 pm

Here is an undated photo of the marquee:
http://tinyurl.com/n4zqdz

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 26, 2009 at 8:37 am

No, it was on a site called pinballrebel.com. I guess they posted the photo from your source.

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on December 28, 2010 at 12:22 pm

70mm Roadshow Engagement “THE BIG FISHERMAN” Bibical movie.this on Oct 2 1959.

wpzephyr
wpzephyr on June 17, 2011 at 11:36 pm

What a piece of irony that the above photo shows a hearse headed toward our deceased theatre. Makes the demise of the Villa that much sadder.

In3rdmillennium
In3rdmillennium on December 7, 2015 at 8:03 am

I saw Superman with Christopher Reeve for the 1st time here. It was a family movie night. It’s a super memory I have. Also my wife and I saw L.A. Confidential here.

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on April 8, 2017 at 8:29 am

I think this might be the cinema and it’s marquee seen briefly in the movie “Drive me crazy”.

rivest266
rivest266 on April 4, 2022 at 11:34 am

Grand opening ad 1 Villa Theatre opening 1Villa Theatre opening 1 23 Dec 1949, Fri The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, Utah) Newspapers.com Grand opening ad 2 Villa Theatre opening 2Villa Theatre opening 2 23 Dec 1949, Fri The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, Utah) Newspapers.com

rivest266
rivest266 on April 4, 2022 at 11:38 am

Grand opening ad posted.

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on August 30, 2025 at 6:20 pm

This was once known as Villa Cinerama when the Villa Theatre became the first ever Cinerama theater in Utah on July 2, 1961. Some of its longest engagements the Villa ran during its Cinerama years include “How The West Was Won” which had its Intermountain Premiere at the Villa and ran there for 37½ weeks. Another Cinerama presentation, “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”, ran there for 36½ weeks afterward.

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on August 31, 2025 at 8:42 am

Closed on February 11, 2003 with “Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers”.

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