Cinema 46
1 US Highway 46,
Totowa,
NJ
07512
1 US Highway 46,
Totowa,
NJ
07512
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Announcing the opening of Cinema 46 in July 1964:
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Michael – it is a CompUSA store, but a lot of the building was changed so it’s not really recognizable as a theatre any longer.
The Totowa Cinema – ¼ mile up the road – is now an Office Max store and is similarly unrecognizable.
Looks like it was planned to be a CompUSA.
The Record (Bergen County, NJ), April 30, 1997 pB1
THE END FOR SMALL CINEMA; TOTOWA THEATER SUCCUMBS TO TREND. (BUSINESS) Kevin G. Demarrais.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 1997 Bergen Record Corp.
By KEVIN G. DeMARRAIS, Staff Writer
At one time, it was known for its big screens and excellent sound quality, but the United Artists Cinema 46 in Totowa had been struggling of late, unable to compete with a bigger, brighter competitor down the road.
And so, with no fanfare, the three-screen movie theater passed into history this week, shutting its doors after Sunday’s final showing of “The Empire Strikes Back” to make way for a computer store.
By Tuesday, the large sign along Route 46, which last week was promoting a $1.99 admission, was blank.
About all that remained to identify the white building as a movie theater were three small decal signs on the doors and eight hexagon-shaped film canisters in the deserted lobby, awaiting their return to the distributor.
“Once Sony came in with 14 screens, they were dead,” said a clerk at the Holiday Inn next door.
The clerk was referring to the Sony theater a couple of miles west on Route 46, across from the Willowbrook Mall and Wayne Towne Center, which went through a makeover and expanded from eight to 14 screens last year.
At the same time Cinema 46 was losing business, its land was increasing in value as a Who’s Who of national and regional retailers converted a four-mile stretch on Route 46 west in West Paterson and Totowa into a major retail center.
The 11-acre plot on which the theater and Holiday Inn are built, between the Passaic River and Union Boulevard, is the only underdeveloped property in that four-mile stretch.
As a result, the land, which is owned by a partnership, S&T Associates of Totowa, is valued in the “tens of millions of dollars,” said Larry Liebowitz, president of Landmark Real Estate in Westwood. Liebowitz is the exclusive broker for the property.
The property has already undergone change, with part of a tennis club converted into a Pet Nosh (now Petco) superstore, and the movie site will become a 30,000-square foot CompUSA store, the Dallas-based chain’s fifth New Jersey outlet.
Most of the current building will be razed, and CompUSA is seeking to have the new store open by the fourth quarter of the year, in time for the holiday shopping season.
This is the second Totowa movie theater to have its site converted to retail use in the past four years. The Totowa Cinema, a two-screen theater about a half-mile west of Cinema 46, shut its doors in 1993 to make way for an office supply store.
Both theaters drew praise for the quality of their pictures and sound when The Record reviewed North Jersey theaters in 1988. But neither could compete with the multiscreen competitors that offered a wide choice of first-run films, even when Cinema 46 discounted its prices.
“The days of three-screen theaters are over,” Liebowitz said. “They did some business on the weekends, but they couldn’t compete with the Sony theater. It’s too expensive to operate.”
Closing small theaters is part of an industry trend. United Artists Theatre Circuit Inc., which operated Cinema 46, opened 15 new multiplex complexes with a total of 130 screens last year, and closed or sold 54 buildings with 245 screens.
Each of the new theaters had an average of 8.7 screens. The facilities that were cut averaged 4.5 screens.
Closing facilities such as Cinema 46 fits with United Artists' corporate strategy, as stated this month by Kurt C. Hall, the acting chief operating officer, to increase “efforts to dispose of older, less productive, or non-strategic theaters.”
The Denver-based company lost $46.6 million last year, which was nearly a third less than its $68.9 million loss in 1995.
Article CJ70689395
I stayed at that Holiday Inn for a couple of nights during a visit last summer!
The theater details at the top of the page indicate the place has been demolished but someone mentioned to me that they thought the building is now a Staples or Office Depot, and I remember one of those types of places next to the hotel. Can anyone clarify?
Yes, that’s where it was – I worked there as an assistant manager in 1982, the summer of Poltergeist in 70mm!
Is this the theater that was located near the Holiday Inn on Route 46?
I rememeber in 1978 that the film version of A Little Night Music with Elizabeth Taylor was so bad that Manhattan didn’t play it at all. This theater had the exclusive NY/NJ engagement.
WOW…..Poltergeist and Prince/City….those were in the early 80’s…a long time ago. I remember seeing “Animal House” at a midnight show…it was packed..and I was on line for “Superman II” in ‘81 and got the next to last ticket sold for that night…it was awesome…70MM 6 track…..so many good memories and great presentations, which make it’s later years so much more sad…at least I saw the first 2 Star Wars there in 97, back to back as my last films. I only wish they stayed open 1 more week and played “Return of the Jedi” so I could have seen all 3 on the big screen there…
The last film I saw in the actual Cinema 46 was “Star Trek First Contact”, but it was in one of the smaller side theaters. When I think of Cinema 46 I always think of the main auditorium with the art gallery in the corridor, and that big screen. I think the last movie I saw in there was either “Poltergeist” or “Prince of the City”.
The last movie I saw was “Hook”, and it was in those nice auditoriums. It was a decent movie.
The last film my parents went to see was “True Lies”, and for good reason. During the film, the projector broke, causing many people to leave the theatre. When the movie came out on video, they saw the full film.
Great ads Bill…I have alot that I copied also…it brings back great memories…I always liked walking down that long corridor where the artwork was displayed before entering the auditorium….That theater I believe was one of the last of the greats that was torn down….what was the last film you saw there??
I had lots of great times at the Cinema 46. It was such a classy theater. I have no proof that they showed the 70mm versions of “Patton” and “Hello, Dolly”, but they both sure looked and sounded like it. I believe they had the exclusive North Jersey showing of “Earthquake” in Sensurround. I even saw “Eraserhead” here at a midnight show. Here are two local newspaper ads from back in the theater’s glory days, including the ad for “Tommy” which Rhett describes above:
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I too would love to see pictures of the actual theater. It was really a special place.
Many memories of the Cinema 46. I saw the last film there in April 97…“Empire Strikes Back” and right before that, “Star Wars”..it was fitting since I saw “Empire” there in a re-release in 70MM in 81. When they went to $1.99 all shows I know it was doomed. It was once a premiere theater, curtain, 70MM 6-track stereo and all. I remember seeing “Tommy” in ‘75…what an experience. First film I saw there, “Live and Let Die” in '73. “Earthquake” in Sensurround, awesome. I used to walk there.
It was a shame that as the years went by the theater seemed to be run by highschoolers who didn’t know what Panavision was, and non-union projectionists. You could always hear the projector in the booth. The quality of the picture and sound faded rapidly as the 90’s hit. I remember walking out of a screeneing of “Goodfellas” after 10 minutes and telling the employee, “The projectionist needs to wake up” and got my money back. I was bummed when it was torn down, it was another great theater gone. At least when they went triplex they didn’t touch the main theater. Instead they made 2 all-new smaller theaters on the side of the building. Both these theaters were OK for a time but they pretty much were like watching films in a basement. No Dolby stereo, climate control was horrible, the projection was awful.
Does anyone have pics from the Cinema 46??? I really miss driving on route 46 and seeing the marquees of the Cinema 46 and the Totowa Cinema to see what was playing/