Gateway Film Center
1550 N. High Street,
Columbus,
OH
43202
1550 N. High Street,
Columbus,
OH
43202
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 28 of 28 comments
jbels, I very much LIKE the Gateway, as I really dislike the Arena Grand. I don’t like the extremely wide rooms and short auditoriums. There are fewer “prime” seats on the center line, and, if one has to sit close, one of the WORST screen views I’ve ever had. I sat through RETURN OF THE KING in the front row (no option…house full), and came out with severe neck pain from the almost 60 degree angle. I also find the sound there to be very dry and lifeless.
I like the Gateway, and I will go back. Jeff and Kathy Frank are ideal for this location as they understand the Columbus market and have long and successful experiences with the distributors. The fact that they landed the exclusive opening of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN over the AMC monster-plexes shows they know how to get the films.
Now, Drexel guys, if you see this, PLEASE check that projector in #2. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN looked like it was having an earthquake. Some of the worst vertical instabillity I’ve ever seen. This in not acceptable in a new location.
This theatre is located very close to an extremely busy AMC 24-plex that is available to Ohio State Students via free bus, so booking will be very tricky.
I have only been to the Gateway twice (and both times saw films in the same auditorium) so I kind of feel the need to be kind. I appreciate their programming but overall I am not too fond of the design. Compared with the Grand (or any of the other Drexel theatres for that matter) this is my least favorite. First of all, it is tucked into the South Campus Gateway area, behind a Mexican restaurant, and it took me several times driving by to figure out where it was. The lobby itself is fantastic, with a long escalator ride reminiscent of the Loew’s Lincoln Square in NY. But the halls leading to the theatres are very, very confusing and are designed like a lab rat’s maze. The one (I believe) men’s room in the whole place is very small, especially considering there are eight theatres. Once you get past the lobby, it basically looks like an apartment that is still under construction (and from what I can tell, the Gateway is finished with construction). The one auditorium I was in was steep, too steep as to make me nervous going down the stairs. I am surprised because the Drexel Arena Grand is so well designed. I will keep going to Gateway though, and hope to warm up to it. They are the only theatre in Columbus showing films like Looking For Comedy in the Muslim World.
I hope this place is doing well. It takes guts for a local company to open a brand-new urban multiplex these days.
The Gateway is run by the same good local folks who run the Drexel Theatre in Bexley, the Drexel Grandview, and downtown Columbus’s Arena Grand theatre (not currently listed here at CinemaTreasures). They also formerly ran the Drexel North.
Until the Gateway opened last year, the High Street strip opposite Ohio State University had been without a movie theatre for over a decade and a half. The last movie theatres on North High, the University Flick and the World (Roxy), closed in the 1980s.
The Gateway cinema is part of a large-scale redevelopment of the area around North High Street and 11th Avenue, now called the ‘South Campus Gateway’. As another part of this project, a new Barnes & Noble replaced Long’s Bookstore which was formerly located at 15th and High.