General Cinema Galleria Cinema I & II

5085 Westheimer Road,
Houston, TX 77056

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: General Cinema Corp.

Architects: Gyo Obata

Firms: Hellmuth, Obata & Kassebaum

Nearby Theaters

Gerald D. Hines' audacious concept for the Galleria was announced in 1967 with plans by Gyo Obata of the firm Hellmuth, Obata & Kassebaum set as the main architects for project. The mall was part of a $20 million concept that was a focal point for retailer Neiman Marcus. Obata would carve an ice rink and originally, a twin-screen cinema for fast-growing General Cinema in its underground making the theater one of the first elements created following the Neiman Marcus' anchor spot.

Neiman would open January 28, 1969 with the rest of the Galleria Mall following on its November 16, 1970 grand opening. The General Cinema I & II was ready to go with an open house that day as well as the next before launching officially on November 18, 1970 with Albert Finney as “Scrooge” and Jack Nicholson in “Five Easy Pieces”. Obata had altered the design at GCC’s request to become a 1,200 seat theater with Cinema I seating 550 patrons and Cinema II slightly larger at 650.

The theater featured the traditional General Cinema elements including push back seating and art gallery with Lantern Lane Gallery of Houston making the art picks. The two-screener was the fourth for GCC in the market with twins already operating at Gulfgate, Meyerland, and Northline.

The Galleria was a retail landscape changing project for Houston that led to big bucks for General Cinema. So much so that GCC had to find space for a second Galleria twin screen venue. It was the Galleria III & IV at street level which opened June 17, 1977 - choosing well with “Star Wars” as one of its opening films. Business was crazy. (it has its own page on Cinema Treasures)

General Cinema did well in the transition to multiplexes as aging single-screen and twin theaters began to be pressured in the 1980’s. GCC changed with the times in Houston with many new multiplexes. So in Dallas - where a very similar Galleria project opened in December of 1982 - GCC was also there in the lower level next to an ice skating rink, but launching with five screens.

The Houston Galleria I & II were not ‘plexed simply closing October 16, 1994 with “Troll in Central Park” and “Terminal Velocity”. It was a quiet ending for a major venue and its space was reimagined for other purposes. The street level Galleria (formerly III & IV) also closed quietly on January 19, 1995. This ended a nearly 25-year run for GCC in the Galleria.

The Dallas Galleria five-plex would run to October 17, 2000 as General Cinema was in bankruptcy after being decimated all across Texas by Cinemark, AMC, and - to a lesser extent - United Artists/Regal in the megaplex world.

General Cinema would be extinct by 2001 with AMC taking on its remaining locations. But the good news for the Houston Galleria was that, in 2025, it was named the second best mall in the United States behind only King of Prussia Mall. One could only dream that had General Cinema remained functional in the Galleria, perhaps it would have been named #1 mall in the land.

Contributed by dallasmovietheaters

Recent comments (view all 4 comments)

rivest266
rivest266 on June 18, 2025 at 11:13 am

Grand opening ad posted.

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on June 18, 2025 at 3:59 pm

My error: A bit of redundant repeatery the entry’s title should have been the General Cinema Galleria I & II (please delete the second “Cinema”)

JackCoursey
JackCoursey on June 21, 2025 at 5:49 am

Were any of the four auditoriums equipped with 70 mm projection? I recall the screens were quite large in each.

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on June 22, 2025 at 6:58 pm

Indeed, Galleria I&II screened 70mm titles including the 31st week forward of “Star Wars,” “The Rose,” “Quest for Fire,” “E.T.,” “Superman III,” “Brainstorm,” “Amadeus,” “Out of Africa,” “Top Gun,” “Spacecamp,” “Aliens,” “Empire of the Sun,” “Batman,” “Gorillas in the Mist,” “Die Hard 2,” “Dick Tracy, "Far and Away,” “Dune,” “Return of the Jedi,” and “Ghandi.” Some ads posted.

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