Barton Creek Cinema 5
2901 Capitol of Texas Highway,
Austin,
TX
79746
2901 Capitol of Texas Highway,
Austin,
TX
79746
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The Barton Creek opened January 16, 1987 and was operated by General Cinema. It was located in the outer parking area of the Barton Creek Square Mall.
The theatre was soon encountering structural problems. It seems the foundation was poured over a land fill into the Barton Creek and there were no piers set for stabilization. Cracks started appearing in the building.
There was a disagreement with GCC about the safety of the building and the lease between GCC and Mall owner. The city stepped in an condemned the building. GCC was able to get out of the lease.
The Barton Creek was just the second theatre in the Austin area that was THX certified. The theatre was closed on March 24, 1993 and was demolished. GCC has since built a large megaplex on another location of the mall lot, now operated by AMC as the Barton Square 14.
Contributed by
Chuck Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
just to make a correction amc did not build the 14 screen complex after barton creek it was gcc who built it even after the problems with the old 5 screen then after the courts ordered gcc to close and sell off the assets to amc. Amc then converted the theatre to their chain
From Boxoffice June 1992.The Barton Creek Cinema was closed because the land it was built on is unstable.Bob Miller,Vice President of GCC in Los ANGELES said engineering studies indicated questionable soil conditions behind the movie house.It is uncertain when the theatre will reopen.It opened in 1986.
(Does the new Barton Creek have its own page yet? Because the following review belongs on that page.)
Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News is a real movie lover and movie theater lover, so I thought this recent review of Red Tails would be of interest here at Cinema Treasures. I am only excerpting the parts that pertain to the AMC Barton Creek.
“A few days ago, a regional rep at one of the PR companies that represents Fox in TEXAS contacted me to see if I would like to host and introduce their screening of RED TAILS. I’d received a press invite for the film – and had decided I wasn’t going to go, because it was going to be at AMC BARTON CREEK in Austin, Texas. I’ve had nothing but miserable film experiences at that theater. Sound bleed from other theaters, low light projection…
“And this time, the folks up in projection had left their 3D lens on, slightly askew, causing distant double images and focus issues that rendered most text illegible. But if you wound up on medium shots to closeups of characters – it seemed fine. Then… the worst part… The center channel speaker was completely out for the duration of the film. Meaning that the film sounded like crap… the score always being muted, the explosions missing their BOOM… the machine guns sounding flat. Yeah… George Lucas spends 20 years of his life working to get this story on the screen – and it gets put in one of the cheapest, low-rent, give a shit theaters in town. WAY TO GO!
“When I left the theater… still bracing from the headache that the AMC BARTON CREEK gave me… the rep asked me what I thought and I said… "It’s alright.” Then complained about the miserable exhibition of the lowrent shithole this all went down in.
“Even when people left to complain – the management did NOT A SINGLE THING to right the wrong that we suffered through. It’s experiences like the one I had at AMC BARTON CREEK that drives people into the welcoming arms of Home Video. When will the big chains understand that you have to HIRE people that give a shit, that are trained to know how to use the equipment and pay to have the best bulbs – the best sound and MAINTAIN IT daily.”
(I’d love for someone important at AMC to read this and take some action. Ah, one can dream on, I guess…)
I have to say after just recently going to see a movie there myself I noticed no foul smell the picture was fine the sound was great there was no sound bleeding from the other theaters my only complaint would be that my foot was sticking to the floor but that’s typical of any movie theater
This opened on January 16th, 1987. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
Closed March 23rd, 1993
General Cinema Barton Creek closed Wed, Mar 24, 1993 – 3 · Austin American-Statesman (Austin, Texas) · Newspapers.com