Pantheon Theatre

50sSNIPES on October 30, 2024 at 5:55 pm

The Shibuya Pantheon Theatre opened its doors on December 1, 1956 with Walter Hampden in “The Vagabond King” (the same attraction as the Shinjuku Milano Theatre which opened that same exact day). It was a 1,119-seat single-screener, and was one of the very popular movie theaters in Tokyo. The Pantheon Theater also housed the Shibuya Tokyu Theater, a 1,579-seat triplex located on the basement, 5th, and 6th floors of the building, while the Pantheon is on the main 1st floor.

Some notable films the Pantheon ran over the years include “Sleeping Beauty”, “101 Dalmatians”, “Cleopatra”, “The Towering Inferno”, “Jaws”, “Airport 77”, the Superman series, “E.T.”, “Gremlins”, “The Goonies”, “Beverly Hills Cop”, the Lethal Weapon series, “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome”, “Major League”, the Batman series, “The Bodyguard”, “JFK”, “Pulp Fiction”, “Jumanji” and “Men In Black”, while some of the notable films that ran at the Shibuya Tokyu include “Footloose”, “The Exorcist”, “West Side Story”, the first three Rocky films, “Tootsie”, “Flashdance”, “Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade”, “Ghostbusters 2”, “Jurassic Park”, “Apollo 13”, “Toy Story”, “Pearl Harbor”, “Titanic”, “The Mask of Zorro”, “A Bug’s Life” and “Monsters, Inc.”

The films that were listed above were screened at the Pantheon and the Shibuya Tokyu. Out of all the movies that screened there, “E.T.” was the most attended in the Pantheon’s history since its first showing on December 4, 1982. It was so popular that one of the Shibuya Tokyu’s auditoriums also screened the movie so that way people won’t wait in line. In total, a grand total of 597,687 people attended to see “E.T.” throughout the whole six-month run at the Pantheon. “Flashdance” was in second place with 353,725 attendees and was the most popular movie at the Shibuya Tokyu. This was followed by “The Great Escape” with 309,948 attendees, “Sleeping Beauty” with 293,676 attendees, and “The Bodyguard” with 266,931 attendees.

The Shibuya Pantheon originally housed 70mm projection and was known for its stage curtain in the 1956 Japanese film “Bullfight No. 14”. It was notable for many of its events including the Tokyo International Film Festival. In its final years, it mainly screened films from the Marunouchi Louvre chain.

The Shibuya Tokyu, which had 1,579 seats in total, had several different names with its auditoriums. Screen 1 had 824 seats. Screen 2 had 381 seats and was originally named the Tokyi Meigaza until June 1986 when it was renamed the Shibuya Tokyi 2 and was converted into a roadshow theater affiliated with Shochiku. Towards the end of its operation, it mainly screened films from the Marunouchi Piccadilly 1 series. Screen 3 however has 374 seats and was originally a primary newsreel/secondary low-budget house under the name Tokyu Journal until July 5, 1969 when it was operated as Tokyu Rex, a roadshow theater affiliated with Shochiku Tokyu. The Rex name lasted until October 1990. Since then, it screened movies from various companies, but in its final period, it formed a chain with a small number of theaters, including Marunouchi Champs-Élysées (now Marunouchi Toei 2).

The Shibuya Pantheon Theatre on the main first floor closed for the final time on June 30, 2003 with a final 70mm presentation of the Julie Andrews smash “The Sound Of Music”.

The Shibuya Tokyu on the basement, 5th, and 6th floors closed that same day with the Japanese film “College Of Our Life” in Screen 1, “Two Weeks Notice” in Screen 2, and the French film “The Plunderer” in Screen 3.