Sendai Central Theater

The Hinode Central Theater located on the third floor of the Sakurai Pharmacy Building started life as a single-screener specializing in first-run films by United International Pictures, and opened its doors on December 15, 1979 with Jon Voight in “The Champ” and Anthony Hopkins in “International Velvet”. The Hinode name was later dropped and became just simply Central Theater.

The Central Theater’s biggest hit is the Spielberg film “Schinder’s List”, which attracted over 100,000 attendees that year in 1994.

The popularity of the MOVIX nearby (which opened on December 20, 2000) caused the Sendai Central Theater to close on June 8, 2002. This didn’t last long, and on July 6, 2002, the Central Theater reopened with new management led by Sendai Kyoeisha, but this immediately turned down following its management rights being transferred to a newly-established independent owner.

In August 2007, the Central Theater was renamed the Sakurai Pharmacy Central Hall due to a naming rights agreement with Sakurai Pharmacy, the owner of the building. At the end of December of that same year, the Far East Japan Division of United International Pictures was dissolved. The auditorium was completely downsized, downgrading its capacity to 154 seats and its screening format was changed to a mini-theater.

On February 1, 2018, the naming rights contract expired and the hall was shorten to just Sendai Central Hall. This didn’t last long, and on June 30, 2018, the Sendai Central Hall closed for the final time.

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