Cinema 8 Lansing
16621 Torrence Avenue,
Lansing,
IL
60438
16621 Torrence Avenue,
Lansing,
IL
60438
5 people
favorited this theater
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M&R Theatres launched the River Run Theatres 8 here July 29, 1988 with 70mm projection. Just two months later, M&R was sold to Loews and the venue became the M&R Loews River Run Theatres 8 briefly until the M&R logo was removed. The venue closed with Loews in financial trouble in May of 2001.
Lansing Theatre Management took on the venue with a major refresh to the plans of Edwin H. Lugowski and AIA Architects. It reopened on November 19, 2004. The building’s facade had the curiously redundant name of Cinema 8 Cinema although its official name was the Lansing Cinema 8. Digital Cinema Destinations Corp. managed the theatre for years. Carmike acquired the venue in its May 2014 purchase of Digital Cinema Destinations. When AMC bought Carmike in 2016, it had to divest itself of the Lansing Cinema for competitive reasons. New Visions came in to become the Lansing Cinema 8 Cinema’s final operator.
When New Visions' Cinema 8 Cinema closed on March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, operator New Visions went out of business months later. In September of 2020, AMC reclaimed 10 New Visions theaters - 6 divested from the Carmike Circuit to New Visions and 4 others… but not the Lansing which sat month after month and year after year waiting for new life. All 3,500 seats in the 8-screen venue went unused as the facility remained in a time vacuum for more than four years.
In Fall of 2024, new buyers came in with plans to gut the building and found that everything was shockingly still in place including four year old concessions, gaming equipment, soda machines full of syrup, exterior and interior posters all in place, and auditoriums labeled with the New Vision’s last showings of films including “The Way Back,” “I Still Believe” and “Onward.“ Had it not been for the mold and the film’s DCP playdate expiries, I still believe they could have started the venue up one more time to see if that was the way back. Sadly, they decided to move onward.
Website of new vision theaters
http://www.newvisiontheatres.com/index.html
Starting today 12 hours from now Cinema 8 will no longer Carmike’s ownership, as a new owner New Vision Theaters will take over. I will upload some photos I took yesterday at the cinema after I saw Kong, including a photo with a paper notice about ownership changes taped inside the theater for moviegoers to see.
Now called the Digiplex Lansing 8.
August 5th, 1988 grand opening ad in photo section
According to this theater’s website, effective September 26, 2014, it is now a Carmike Cinema.
Saw a lot of movies here in the 80’s and early 90’s.
I do not remember River run theatre being open in the 1980’s as the landings opened in 1985 and did not have a theatre as yet. i do remember River run opening in the early 90’s. I use to walk in the same field this theatre is in to get to Wards and Service Merchandise. I watched as they built this theatre.
Does Jenco still operate this theatre?
The website is now http://www.lansingcinema8.com/
It would be nice if the movies were listed online everyday, but the listings are not. I have to take a drive up there to see whats playing. If I call the box office I’m told that I can go to the www.riveroaks6.com web site (which is always under construction) to get movie info. Hmmmmm. I guess one day everything will be listed and the tickets will be availabe online again…..Still Waiting…..
Saw Miami Vice here last week. Word of advice, avoid theater #3 at all costs. The picture was all off to the side, the sound was low, the AC was turned up to high etc… It was a mess. My brother went to complain about the picture being off to the side, so the manager fixed it….a little bit. They still had this thing on top of the screen that made it look like you were watching a dvd. They never corrected the other stuff. If they keep managing this place like that, someone else should take it over. Sad part, this isn’t the only time this happened in #3. My Dad and I saw Doom in #3 back in December, and the AC was on too high. We would have gotten out money back and left, but that was the only place it was playing at.
Everything was pretty even until Loews Cineplex closed River Oaks 7-8. After that, the rest as they say, is history. Before RO 7-8 closed, River Run/Lansing 8 was showing a mix of first run and second run movies. They got first run every 2 weeks or something like that. I love the new cinema 8, but something’s missing from the way I remember it. I seem to reall the concession stand being V shaped, now it’s a straight lined stand. Theater 1 isn’t as big as it used to. In fact, theater 1 had 70mm projection. Also, I went to see 16 Blocks in theater 4 a few weeks ago, and that auditorium was just as small as theaters 15 and 18 at River East. And the way the auditorium walls are colored, that green and yellow doesn’t look good to me. I remember when those walls were blue. They should’ve keept that color. Despite all that, it’s a really nice place. I can’t wait to see what they do with River Oaks 1-6.
BTW, didn’t River Run have a seating capacity of over 3000 seats? I don’t think it’s near that today.
So there is a newly-renovated cinema complex right down the street from River Oaks. Now I understand why that complex closed down.
Jenco’s taking over River Oaks 1-6. Reopening’s set for this May.
Hopefully this place will benefit from the closure of the River Oaks. If big behemoths like AMC don’t want your money, then by all means give it to the little guys like Jenco!
Hello all! I am the GM at the new Lansing Cinema 8. If you liked this location before, you will love it now. The building was completely remolded and renovated. We have added high back rocking chairs to go with all stadium seating. All the projection equipment was replaced with the newest cutting edge technology. In the next couple of weeks we will be adding a digital projector to accompany our state of the art digital sound. In all of my years in the theatre industry I have never come across a theatre that invested so much in its presentation. There are plans to expand on this location, and possibly add an Imax. Stay tuned!
Lansing Cinema 8
Lansing Cinema 8 is now owned by Pittsburgh-based chain Jenco Cinemas.
River Run just re-opened tonight showing movies that came out this past summer like: I Robot, DodgeBall, The Village, Collateral, Spider-Man 2 and Alien vs. Predator for free. And I can tell ya, when I got to the front entrance of the theater, it was packed to the 25th power! And from what I saw, this place changed a lot. I can’t wait for them to show new movies because I’ll be there again.
Oh, it’s new name is indeed Lansing Cinema 8.
I read that the theaters are opening on November 19.
River Run Theatres will be call Lansing Cinema 8. Construction is underway.
The River Run opened at the same time as the Webster Place opened. It was one of the two theaters which was opened by M&R Theaters before Loews took over.
The River Run was a beautiful theater that happened to be in a not so beautiful area. It was located just a block South of River Oaks Mall and its theaters. When River Run opened in 1988 it definitely took a bite out of River Oaks' business. Unfortunately issues arose with gang problems and by the late 90’s security was an around the clock issue there. The theater actually closed in early 2001 which was a surprise to me because just two weeks before I was there for the last time to see “The Caveman’s Valentine” and the theater was nearly full. The building still sits off of Torrence Avenue all by itself and boarded up. Perhaps it won’t be demolished and can be used as a multiplex again.