O Cinema Miami Beach
500 71st Street,
Miami Beach,
FL
33140
500 71st Street,
Miami Beach,
FL
33140
6 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Cobb Theatres, Regal Cinemas, Wometco Theatres
Architects: A. Herbert Mathes
Previous Names: Byron-Carlyle Twin Theatre, Byron-Carlyle Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Byron-Carlyle Twin Theatre opened December 18, 1968, with 590 seats in the Byron auditorium and 993 seats in the Carlyle auditorium. The opening film was the World Premiere presentation of “Skidoo”, attended by Jackie Gleason, Tiny Tim and Otto Preminger. It was tripled on October 19, 1979. On December 25, 1986 it became a 7-screen theatre. In the early-1990’s it was taken over by Cobb Theatres and later in the 1990’s it was taken over by Regal. It was closed in 2002 and acquired by the City of Miami Beach.
Today, the renovated theatre functions as a playhouse. It is using a single auditorium which seats a total of 304 (152 in the orchestra and 138 in the mezzanine) obviously using just one of the former screens. From 2001 when it was purchased by the City of Miami Beach and until 2011 it became a live theatre. It then became a playhouse for the Broward Theatre Company.
It was taken over by O Cinema in 2014. It closed in late-2019.
Contributed by
kitty
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Recent comments (view all 44 comments)
Three screens on October 19th, 1979. Grand opening ad posted.
7 screens opening on Christmas day, 1986. no grand opening ad found.
Last developer effort/bid has been rejected by the city commission. Based on the article below and Al’s earlier comment, the main summary above should reflect that it closed in 2000 and was purchased by CMB in 2001.
https://www.remiamibeach.com/north-beach/miami-beach-commission-slams-door-on-byron-carlyle-redevelopment/
PS Just a minor footnote, from 2001 to 2011, the theater was sometimes used for live productions though infrequently. From 2011 to 2014, it was used by the Broward theater company as a playhouse and O Cinema completed its full 5 year term lease from 2014 until its closure in late 2019.
Al, it was until the early 1990’s when Cobb took over. See the clipping below with the Cobb Byron Carlyle clearly listed in 1994. At some later point in the 90’s Regal took over. (See the Loew’s Bay Harbor page for more) Wometco pretty much jettisoned a lot of their beach theaters in the late 1980’s (The Surf and Normandy were closed by then)
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49433024/the-miami-herald/
The city is again talking about converting it into a mixed use location but similar plans were floated before. Not sure if anything will come to pass this time around but the surrounding area is experiencing many changes.
On May 8, 1988, a man was shot several times while people were waiting to enter the Byron-Carlyle VII before the suspect drove away. It was most likely that the shooting was connected to the movie “Colors”, which there was a series of real-life incidents at movie theaters that were connected to the movie itself, and was showing that exact movie at the time of the shooting. According to an employee who worked for the tickets, he looked up and saw six or seven people dash past the theater followed by a man waving a gun before shots were fired around five-to-ten minutes later.
AI “There is no record of a fatal shooting or major gun violence incident linked to the 1988 movie Colors at the Byron Carlyle Theater in Miami Beach, Florida. While the controversial gang film did spark isolated real-world violence and fatal theater-line scuffles in cities like Stockton, California and a Detroit suburb during its spring 1988 release.”
Really, 50sSNIPES? Name your sources. This Miami Beach cinema was mostly attended by Jewish Senior Citizens and there is no history of gang violence.
yup, does alot of that, just randomly leaving things with no source material. Glad to see someone else calling it out.