Pleasant Valley Promenade 7

FYI: The Valley Theatres 1 & 2 at Crabtree Valley Mall closed in 1988. But the Valley and the Terrace along with the Village Twin Theatres at Cameron Village were separate movie houses since the Terrace became a discount movie house by 1989 and remained that way for five years until it became the Colony as an arthouse cinema in 1994.

Nighthawk1: I have the original ads from the theatre’s grand opening. The Pleasant Valley Cinemas opened on October 27,1989,one week before the Carmike Cinema 7(that opened on November 3,1989). It was General Cinema’s first and only movie theatre in the Raleigh-Durham area. A lot of great movies played here that brought in the crowds too “Batman Returns”, “Dick Tracy”, “Terminator 2”, “New Jack City”, “Eyes Wide Shut”,“Private Parts”, “Speed 1 and Speed 2”, “Die Hards 2 and 3”, “Batman Forver”, not to mention huge crowds for “Toy Storys 1 and 2”, “Unforgiven”, and it was the only movie theatre in Raleigh that also did reissue of Hollywood classics too. I saw “A Few Good Men” here as well as “Batman and Robin”,and James Cameron’s “Titanic” that played here before capacity crowds. Pleasant Valley was a well run and very well kept multiplex during it’s heyday between the late-1980’s all the way into the 1990’s. By the late 1990’s it wasn’t elaborate enough to compete with either Carmike’s marble lobbied multiplexes or the stadium seating of two other movie theatres that were being built along that stretch of Glenwood Avenue that were the Raleigh Grande 16,that opened in 1998 and the other stadium seating megaplex,The Brier Creek Commons that opened in 2001 that put this theatre out of business. By 2000,it re-opened as a discount movie theatre under Entertainment Film Works(EFW) that really closed it’s doors by early 2001.

Correction:I will post this information on this site. I have the original ads for this theatre. FYI: The Pleasant Valley Cinemas opened in October of 1989,a week before the Carmike 7 opened in North Raleigh on November 3,1989.

This theater opened in 1987, one week before the Carmike 7 (now Carmike 15) opened. I saw Howard Stern’s “Private Parts” here in 1997, choosing this theater instead of Carmike’s Park Place, Six Forks Station or Tower Merchants 6 cinemas – Carmike got my money on this movie at Greenville’s Carolina East 4. Pleasant Valley was a well-run and well-kept multiplex; it just wasn’t elaborate enough to compete with either Carmike’s marble-lobbied multiplexes or the stadium seating of the Raleigh Grande, which opened later in 1997. The Pleasant Valley 7 was probably left in better shape when General Cinema abandoned it than any theater abandoned by Carmike; it’s a shame the discount incarnation of the Pleasant Valley failed. Under GC the admission prices were too high to compete with the Carmike and UA theaters in town; GC never ran another theater in the Triangle.

I had forgotten about that. I was working at another theater and had a friend who worked there at the time and supposedly he had killed his “partner” at an apartment complex nearby then headed over to the theater and killed himself at the part in A few good men where JT walsh commits suicide. Creepy.

The company that re-opened Pleasant Valley as a discount house was called Entertainment Film Works (EFW). They signed leases and opened up a handful of closed theaters around the same time as Pleasant Valley. They didn’t pay their rent or bills at most of their locations. Some of landlords threw them out, and in some locations (like Pleasant Valley) they just suddenly closed and very quickly moved out, in some cases owing thousands. They closed Pleasant Valley with almost no notice. They actually opened the theater for the day that day. After the first set of films was started, the staff was informed that they were closing effective immediately. They actually did OK there, and it seemed to be getting better all the time. I am convinced that if it was run properly it could have thrived as a discount house. For some more info on EFW, search “EFW” on the website film-tech.com in the “film-yak” forum.

Once was reinstated as a discount theatre at one time to give competition to Blue Ridge Cinemas which was over on the other side of Raleigh near the state fairgrounds. The discount part of Pleasant Valley 7 didn’t work,and it closed for good after that. The area where the cinema used to be is now a Gold’s Gym.

When it closed in 2001,it fell prey to the megaplexes that were being built on that strip of Glenwood Avenue
which fell to the opening of the Raleigh Grande Cinema at the intersection of Glenwood Ave. and Lynn Road and further up the street on Glenwood Avenue the Brier Creek Cinemas 14 near RDU Airport.

It’s a Golds Gym now :–(
I would have given anything to be able to go inside it one more time before they gutted it…it was brutal to watch.

This theater was anything but typical for general Cinema oh sure the color scheme was there and the oak pannels hung on the wall but the floor was unlike any other GCC theater that I have currenly visited in that it is basicly in the shape of a seven. In that you enter into the very spacious lbby and go to your right there are 5 houses on the right hand side of the and two at the end of the hall on the left. The equipment has been sold for the site there were origanlly 3 stereo houses all of which were digital 1 dts 1 sdds and 1 dolby digital. The last I heard it was to become a gym. It’ll make a great one it has an exclusive three story parking garage dedicated to it’s use.

I worked there for years, so sad when it closed down. I met my husband there in 1994. I cant believe that it wouldnt be a very successful discount theatre. I know that it opened as one a few eyars ago, but only lasted a few weeks.