Woodbridge General Cinemas II
US Route 1 and St. George's Avenue,
Woodbridge,
NJ
07095
US Route 1 and St. George's Avenue,
Woodbridge,
NJ
07095
8 people
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Showing 26 - 43 of 43 comments
On this date, Sept 3rd, 1977, this theatre would once again close after being open for 3 months, to be split in half by General Cinema. All of its beauty would forever be lost by the senseless twinning of this theatre. Of course today, one couldn’t even tell it ever was a theatre, with the Irish Pub and other small retail spaces that are now there. 1977 was a rough year for this building. First Walter Reade closed it, forgot to have the water shut off, it flooded, General Cinema opened it, closed it, twinned it, and re-opened it in Nov of that year.
Drove by today, and I can now offically say, that this no longer looks anything like a movie theatre. A classy building when it opened in 1964, that stayed that way, even after twinning, is now a mish-mosh of plaster, stone, windows, all jammed together. Its going to be a bunch of little resturants and shops. All I can say is it looks like crap.
The building is being carved up into several shops and an Irish pub and resturant.
Went by the building tonight on my way home from work. The drop ceiling from office max is gone, and to my surprise, the front wall of the old projection booth was torn out, exposing the empty booth. The blue color wall paint looks just like it did in 1992 when the place closed.
As of today, Dec 11, 2008, there is a lot of heavy machinery around the building. The entire west side of the building has been demolished, showing the exposed steel beams.
Rest in peace Woodbridge.
Walter Reade must be turning over in his grave.
Another treasure gone, even though the building hasnt housed a cinema since 1992, it was always my hope it could be returned to its former glory.
Now it will forever be a memory, like so many before it.
Goodbye.
I also worked here as a projectionist in the 80’s. General Cinema re-opened the place on June 10, 1977. Last 3 movies to play on the BIG screen, before closing in Sept 1977 for twinning were, “Rollercoaster”, in Sensuround, “Smokey and the Bandit”, and “The Last Remake of Beau Geste”.
Was this theatre not around in the 60’s – i could have sworn it was?
This building is vacant again. The Office Max facade remains in the front, but the inside has been gutted, and the building still looks very much like a movie theater. Certainly would be cool if it became one again (not that I’m getting my hopes up or anything).
I worked there as a “relief” projectionist in the late 70’s to mid 80’s. The theater had two Norelco 70/35mm projectors (originally equiped with carbon arc) and a 5 tier platter system which served both houses. Before the place was twinned, I shot numerous photos of the lobby and the auditorium, with the huge screen curtain closed and opened. “Rollercoaster”, in Sensuround, was one of the last big movies shown before the theater was ruined by twinning.
I worked there as a “relief” projectionist in the late 70’s to mid 80’s. The theater had two Norelco 70/35mm projectors (originally equiped with carbon arc) and a 5 tier platter system which served both houses. Before the place was twinned, I shot numerous photos of the lobby and the auditorium, with the huge screen curtain closed and opened. “Rollercoaster”, in Sensuround, was one of the last big movies shown before the theater was ruined by twinning.
I remember seeing a special showing here at Christmastime of 1976 of NICKOLODEON (with Ryan O'Neal and Burt Reynolds)that cost only a nickel! Surprisingly, despite the lost admission fee, the auditorium wasn’t quite filled to capacity, as you’d think. By the following summer the theatre had been twinned. This left two good-sized auditoriums but it still seemed a shame they couldn’t have left it the way it was. It was also one of the few remaining cinemas of the 1980s that put star’s names on the marquee along with the titles! I’m pretty sure it closed in 1992.
In “The History of Woodbridge, New Jersey by Ruth Wolk (1970), on page 177 she states that the NEW Walter Reade Woodbridge Theatre on Route 35 was an attractive tax ratable.
1969 ad (center – War and Peace) courtesy of Bill Huelbig:
View link
Listed as part of The Walter Reade Organization, Inc. in the 1970 FDY & 1976 International Motion Picture Almanac.
Listed as open in the 1991 International Motion Picture Almanac. If memory serves me correctly this stayed open until at least 1993.
..sounds identical to the old GC on Route 46 in West Patterson, now also an Office Max. Thanks for clearing that up I was wondering about it since the Movie City seemed very un-GC like, but I hadn’t noticed any listings for it in newspapers (the Movie City theater) so I had just assumed that it that was what they referred to. GC was at one time the largest chain in the country, and this proves it, they must had a nice market hold with theaters in Woodbridge, Menlo Park, and at Brunswick Square.
I think you are confusing the Movie City in back of Toys R Us with the old General Cinema Woodbridge on St. Georges Ave. and Rte. 1 where the old E.J. Korvettes/Caldor’s was located. The Movie City theaters occupied part of the building that originally was an S. Klein’s on the Square in the 60’s.
The old Woodbridge GC theater building (facing Rte. 35) still exists on the site and was converted to an Office Max. If you drive by, you can clearly see by the outline of the building that it was an old theater.
Actually, this one was behind (I think) Toys R Us and lasted a bit longer than the early 90’s, opperating as Movie City (before Howard Grant sold a chunk of the chain to Clearview and others to focus on Mega Movies at Brunswick Square) then a discount house for Clearview Cinemas.