Duck Creek Plaza Twin

dallasmovietheaters on January 9, 2021 at 8:26 am

The genesis of this project dates back to 1965 when John Broumas Theatre Circuit signed an agreement to lease what was to be a road show, 70mm and Cinerama capable theatre at Duck Creek Plaza to open May 1, 1965. It would be opposite Younker’s Department Store which had opened five years earlier when the Duck Creek Plaza launched August 18, 1960. The theater plans were put on hold and then Broumas declared bankruptcy before the theatre could be constructed.

In 1971, a $1 million addition to Duck Creek Plaza was announced rekindling the theatre concept now as a twin-screener. General Cinema Corp. signed on to operate a 1,450-seat twin screen operation there and was in the process of building another twin-screener in nearby Davenport’s new Northpark Mall. William Riseman Associates provided the architectural plans for the venue. Then theatre-less Bettendorf also was receiving a twin-screener at the Cumberland Square Shopping Center as automated theatres promised lower costs to potential operators.

The theatre launched with more spacious seating rows with a total count of 1,094 Griggs push-backed cushioned seats Cinema I had 606 seats and Cinema II had 488. Bathed in white formica with seat backs in white and seat cushions and carpeting in red, the General Cinema launched on December 27th, 1972 with “Up the Sand Box” and “Deliverance.” Kurt J. Noack, commenter above, was its original manager. Like many GCC Theatres, this one had an art gallery featuring local artists. The Duck Creek vanquished its in-town competitor, the Spruce Hills Cinema, that ended its run October 5, 1977 and the theatre was auctioned off April 5, 1978.

From October 1978 to 1985, the Duck Creek Cinema featured midnight showings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” almost all under manager Bill Curtis’s tenure of 12 years there. In 1983, National Cinema / Showcase Cinema attempted to buy the two GCC Quad City locations but was forbidden by the Justice Department. But Bettendorf couldn’t support its local theatre with GCC migrating away from the Duck Creek on July 31, 1987 about five years short of fulfilling its 20-year lease. The cinema shuttered with “The Untouchables,” and splitting with “Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs” and “Predator.”

GCC stressed that it couldn’t compete with National Cinema’s 11-screen theatre in nearby Milan, Illinois, and National’s plans for an additional Showcase multiplex in Davenport. It was a portent of things to come for General Cinema which wasn’t able to compete in the megaplex world that was to follow in the 1990s and early 2000s. The Duck Creek Cinema posted “The Last Picture Show” on its post-closure attractor while its spot was leased to Shoe Carnival and later became office space. The town never had another movie theater.

jwmovies on February 28, 2019 at 11:30 pm

I bet this opened as a GCC theater. The letter style is distinct and all their theaters had just Cinemas either above the box office or on the side of the building. The setup above looks exactly like the old Sunvalley Mall II in Concord CA. Concessions and all. It wouldn’t surprise me if each side of the concession stand had restrooms (most theaters back in the day had 1 set GCC almost always had 2)

kurt1 on September 20, 2013 at 7:32 pm

It was. I was the first Manager here when it opened.When the Northpark I & II opened in nearby Davenport, Iowa I then transferred there.