Island Cinemas
1708 Montauk Highway,
Mastic,
NY
11950
1708 Montauk Highway,
Mastic,
NY
11950
2 people
favorited this theater
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Please update, theatre closed on March 14, 2020 when NYS ordered all theatres to closed, never reopened.
Seating Capacity:
Theatre 1, 2, 3, and 4 94
Theatre 5 62
Theatre 6 189
Theatre 7 210
Theatre 8 146
Theatre 9 don’t know was open seating
Source: Island Cinemas seat maps when it was opened in 2020
At the end of the run they had a dine in option.
x• Opening: November 14, 1997 (opening features included “Starship Troopers”, “The Jackal”, and “The Devil’s Advocate”, among others).
• Closure (First Run): Closed on October 14, 2007, when the lease expired.
• Reopening: Reopened in March 2008 as Island Cinemas (later expanded and rebranded as Mastic Island Cinemas).
• Final Closure: Shut down temporarily in March 2008 / March 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions and permanently closed later in 2020
That’s from the “Greater Long Island” FB page…
Please update, theatre opened as Movieland Cinema of Mastic on November 14, 1997 in description
The Island Cinemas opened in a strip shopping center once referred to as Bell Plaza and housing an A&P Grocery Store. A&P’s parent company, West German Tengelmann Group, closed a major wave of stores - over 1,500 - entering the 1980s and this was one of its locations - likely ending at a 10-year opt out. County Dump Liquidators operated here from August 27, 1986 to March 29, 1992 (closing as County Liquidators). This throws some doubt into the entry above stating a late 1980s or early 1990s opening but can certainly stand as written by the contributor.
Ronald Lesser of Lesser Theatre Service Circuit - operator of the Bedford Playhouse Twin and Mt. Kisco Multi-Cinema, took on the property. Lesser opened it as Movieland Cinema of Mastic on November 14, 1997 with “Starship Troopers,” “I Know… Summer,” “Jackal,” “Devil’s Advocate,” “The Rainmaker,” “Little Mermaid,” “Red Corner,” and “The Man Who Knew Too Little.” Lesser closed here at the end or opt-out of the venue’s 10-year leasing agreement on October 14, 2007.
The center had been renamed as the Mastic Shopping Center. After a refresh, the venue reopened on March 14, 2008 as Island 7 Cinemas. That name was refined to Mastic Island Cinemas when the venue reached its final fighting weight of 9 screens.
Mastic Island Cinemas made it easily to its 12-year anniversary on March 14, 2020. Celebrate! But after showtimes the next day, it closed for the COVID-19 pandemic with “The Hunt,” “Onward,” “The Invisible Man,” “The Call of the Wild,” “Impratical Jokers,” “Fantasy Island,” “Sonic: The Hedgehog,” “Bad Boys For Life,” “Moondance,” and “Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey.” The Island Cinemas then were just frozen in place year after year after year as the conversion of the property was a bit more of an undertaking than was necessary in the retail landscape of the 2020s. It was a popular destination of urbexers and vandals with its forever posters and attractor features still on display in the mid-2020s.
Remains of movies past still on the pylon.
At one time the owners were a group of lawyers. They added a couple of illegal screens. Go figure.
10 screens on October 31st, 1997 the cheap stake owners bought no grand opening ad in Newsday.
Probably just phased out because of Covid as is the case with other theatres.
It would of been nice they would of said something on their website.
Theater is now closed and a For Lease sign on the door as well as on the pylon.
It most definitely was an A&P Supermarket. I remember going there as a kid.
It was definitely a supermarket (as was the current Hampton Bays). I believe both had been A & Ps.
I think its fadcade when it was a Movieworld look like the A & P supermarket.
What kind of store was the building before it became Island Cinemas?
The photo is quite a few years old. The owners illegally added three screens to the venue (interestingly they were lawyers). They were then forced back to the original 7. I got the figure of 9 from a current advertisement appearing in the newspaper. Have no idea when the new two were added.
The marquee in the above photo says 10 screens.
Island Cinemas is back to 9 screens (hopefully legal this time). They also now serve lunch and dinner from noon to 10 PM each day via the newly opened Castaway Cafe. Very upscale sounding operation in a questionable area.
Good to hear, Victor. I’ve avoided the place because the shopping center is so sleezy. The only time I ventured onto the premises was to get the seating capacities of the seven auditoriums.
The new owners have really come through with this place. As far as I can tell, they are continuing to upgrade. I heard that they were going to all digital soon, and that they were considering doing special features soon (sports, genre nights, midnight showings). I just love it because I hardly have to wait to get in, it’s clean, and safe now. OH! (my wife says) they keep the bathrooms clean, too.
The seating capacity of the 7 auditoriums is as follows:
1 105
2&4 91
3 111
5 107
6&7 110
AWF, do you remember the name of that original movie theatre?
I wonder if this is the church group that used to rent one of the theaters in the old Patchogue Multiplex. They also had a “CHurch at the Movies” group that rented one of the auditoriums on Sundays for church service.
It’s a good way to take in some extra money when they really don’t need the auditorium for movies anyway on Sunday mornings.
They’ve got something new – “Church at the Movies”. They even have a van to transport people. I went past last Sunday and they really had a crowd. I wonder if films do as well.
I think the screen count has to change to 7 above. It’s more than the 5 listed.