They were The Wicked Lady (Faye Dunaway B-movie from Cannon Films), a double feature of Trading Places and 48 Hrs., Educating Rita, Going Berserk (forgotten John Candy film), Never Say Never Again, Richard Pryor: Here and Now, Possession (a horror film with Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill, recommended), Risky Business, Under Fire and The Dead Zone.
The theatre opened on May 24th, 1991 with Thelma and Louise (on 2 screens, one in THX), An Angel At My Table, a reissue of Citizen Kane, Madonna: Truth Or Dare, Drop Dead Fred and Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken.
Movie-Plex 42 opened on June 24th, 1994 with the films Wolf, Speed, City Slickers II, The Cowboy Way, The Flintstones and Getting Even With Dad.
Later in the year, business apparently was so bad that they started doing shows at 2:00 am to get the target crowd. And they also ran some kids movies there like The Pagemaster. Imagine watching something like that in the old Times Square.
This theatre had a rather strange opening. It opened on June 16th, 1989 with only three screens open, showing two prints of Ghostbusters II and Field Of Dreams.
The fourth auditorium opened on July 19th, 1989 with two auditoriums running When Harry Met Sally and the other two running Do The Right Thing (which had replaced Field Of Dreams on June 30th).
The fifth auditorium opened on August 2nd, 1989 with two auditoriums running Parenthood, two running When Harry Met Sally and one running Do The Right Thing.
Finally all six auditoriums opened on August 16th, 1989 with Uncle Buck opening with the same films mentioned two weeks earlier.
What was the reason behind this? Was the theatre rushed into opening for the summer season or did they not have much product due to Cineplex Odeon only running Universal and Columbia titles for most NYC locations then?
The theatre opened on November 13th, 1998 and the premiere engagements were Meet Joe Black (on four screens), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (on three screens), Dancing At Lughnasa (on two screens), Lolita (the remake), There’s Something About Mary, Saving Private Ryan, Welcome To Woop Woop and Citizen Kane (a special reissue for the theatre’s opening).
That must have been a hostile crowd for Che!. In the real Che’s native Argentina, audience members would throw motolov cocktails at the screen from their disgust of the film.
The theatre opened on November 27th, 1985 with Rocky IV, Santa Claus: The Movie, To Live and Die In L.A., One Magic Christmas, King Solomon’s Mines, Bad Medicine, Starchaser: The Legend Of Orin in 3-D, Rainbow Brite and The Star Stealer (matinees only), Jagged Edge (evenings only), A Nightmare On Elm Street 2, Back To The Future and Once Bitten. I know that’s only 11 of the 12 auditoriums possibly filled but Rocky IV may have been interlocked.
I just saw Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3-D here in Auditorium 5 (the REAL-D auditorium). I like that auditorium and the REAL-D presentation was great.
Michael, I was on your Fans of Showmanship website and I saw that you mentioned that Brainstorm once had the record for 70mm prints on one film. Do you know which St. Louis and Kansas City theatres played it in 70mm (the Tower played it in Springfield, who didn’t have 70mm equipment)? Thanks again.
And notice that no theatres in Springfield played Return Of The Jedi in 70mm. It had an exclusive at the Battlefield Mall 6 (on three screens, no less), who didn’t have 70mm either.
Thank you once again for the information. I appreciate it.
I also have these undated engagements:
St. Louis
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (Creve Coeur)
Kansas City
The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm (Empire Cinerama)
How The West Was Won (Empire Cinerama)
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Empire Cinerama)
Lawrence Of Arabia (1989 reissue) (Oak Park Plaza)
Wade Williams owns the rights (along with the rest of Ed Wood’s titles). He probably has prints that can be leased to arthouses and repertory theatres across the nation.
I’ve only seen Live Free Or Die Hard in a theatre. What a waste of time and money. A 35mm print of the original ran recently in THX near me but I didn’t go since it was only a midnight show and I don’t have a car.
And I’m surprised that this played in 70mm in St. Louis. Especially since nowadays it seems that St. Louis is a secondary market.
If you want Mr. Coate, you can e-mail me about more 70mm engagements in Missouri at
It’s pretty interesting that the theatre opened with mainly art films. Was that the original intent or were they just filler titles?
Meanwhile, the premiere titles:
The Tree Of Wooden Clogs (Italy, on four screens)
The Shout (UK, on three screens)
The Rubber Gun (Canada)
Tommy (UK)
Queen Of The Gypsies (Russia, previously USSR)
Rain and Shine (Hungary)
A Purple Taxi (France/Ireland, on three screens)
Newsfront (Australia, on four screens)
On the Philadelphia Weekly comment:
It’s like they say “once a UA, always a UA”.
I remember staying at the hotel near this theatre in June 2002 while visiting Six Flags. Never went inside though.
I remember however that Spider-Man and The Sum Of All Fears were two of the films playing there at the time.
It was shot in California and not Ontario.
I found the premiere engagements.
They were The Wicked Lady (Faye Dunaway B-movie from Cannon Films), a double feature of Trading Places and 48 Hrs., Educating Rita, Going Berserk (forgotten John Candy film), Never Say Never Again, Richard Pryor: Here and Now, Possession (a horror film with Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill, recommended), Risky Business, Under Fire and The Dead Zone.
The theatre opened on May 24th, 1991 with Thelma and Louise (on 2 screens, one in THX), An Angel At My Table, a reissue of Citizen Kane, Madonna: Truth Or Dare, Drop Dead Fred and Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken.
Movie-Plex 42 opened on June 24th, 1994 with the films Wolf, Speed, City Slickers II, The Cowboy Way, The Flintstones and Getting Even With Dad.
Later in the year, business apparently was so bad that they started doing shows at 2:00 am to get the target crowd. And they also ran some kids movies there like The Pagemaster. Imagine watching something like that in the old Times Square.
This theatre had a rather strange opening. It opened on June 16th, 1989 with only three screens open, showing two prints of Ghostbusters II and Field Of Dreams.
The fourth auditorium opened on July 19th, 1989 with two auditoriums running When Harry Met Sally and the other two running Do The Right Thing (which had replaced Field Of Dreams on June 30th).
The fifth auditorium opened on August 2nd, 1989 with two auditoriums running Parenthood, two running When Harry Met Sally and one running Do The Right Thing.
Finally all six auditoriums opened on August 16th, 1989 with Uncle Buck opening with the same films mentioned two weeks earlier.
What was the reason behind this? Was the theatre rushed into opening for the summer season or did they not have much product due to Cineplex Odeon only running Universal and Columbia titles for most NYC locations then?
The theatre opened on November 13th, 1998 and the premiere engagements were Meet Joe Black (on four screens), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (on three screens), Dancing At Lughnasa (on two screens), Lolita (the remake), There’s Something About Mary, Saving Private Ryan, Welcome To Woop Woop and Citizen Kane (a special reissue for the theatre’s opening).
That must have been a hostile crowd for Che!. In the real Che’s native Argentina, audience members would throw motolov cocktails at the screen from their disgust of the film.
The theatre opened on October 28th, 1983. I can’t seem to find opening engagements though.
The theatre opened on November 27th, 1985 with Rocky IV, Santa Claus: The Movie, To Live and Die In L.A., One Magic Christmas, King Solomon’s Mines, Bad Medicine, Starchaser: The Legend Of Orin in 3-D, Rainbow Brite and The Star Stealer (matinees only), Jagged Edge (evenings only), A Nightmare On Elm Street 2, Back To The Future and Once Bitten. I know that’s only 11 of the 12 auditoriums possibly filled but Rocky IV may have been interlocked.
FeverDog, you were looking for the New York/New Jersey release of Bedroom Eyes. It opened on September 12th, 1986 in your area.
I just saw Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3-D here in Auditorium 5 (the REAL-D auditorium). I like that auditorium and the REAL-D presentation was great.
I’ll read that e-mail as soon I get my Hotmail account working.
I’m sorry if I came out as a jerk or a beggar.
Sorry, I didn’t check my e-mails.
Thanks. Anymore from the saturation era?
Thanks again guys.
Michael, I was on your Fans of Showmanship website and I saw that you mentioned that Brainstorm once had the record for 70mm prints on one film. Do you know which St. Louis and Kansas City theatres played it in 70mm (the Tower played it in Springfield, who didn’t have 70mm equipment)? Thanks again.
And notice that no theatres in Springfield played Return Of The Jedi in 70mm. It had an exclusive at the Battlefield Mall 6 (on three screens, no less), who didn’t have 70mm either.
Thank you once again for the information. I appreciate it.
I also have these undated engagements:
St. Louis
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (Creve Coeur)
Kansas City
The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm (Empire Cinerama)
How The West Was Won (Empire Cinerama)
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Empire Cinerama)
Lawrence Of Arabia (1989 reissue) (Oak Park Plaza)
And a dated but unknown theatre engagement:
St. Louis
8/28/1987 Apocalypse Now (Reissue)
Thanks to anyone who finds the dates or venues.
The other studios are just jealous. For example, did Fox really think that Space Chimps would even beat Batman for a second?
Actually, only 800 theatres ran Journey To The Center Of The Earth in 3-D.
Wade Williams owns the rights (along with the rest of Ed Wood’s titles). He probably has prints that can be leased to arthouses and repertory theatres across the nation.
Go see Wall-E! Your life depends on it!
And The Dark Knight is indeed looking to have the greatest word-of-mouth of all-time (outside of Titanic and E.T.). I got my ticket for tomorrow.
I’ve only seen Live Free Or Die Hard in a theatre. What a waste of time and money. A 35mm print of the original ran recently in THX near me but I didn’t go since it was only a midnight show and I don’t have a car.
And I’m surprised that this played in 70mm in St. Louis. Especially since nowadays it seems that St. Louis is a secondary market.
If you want Mr. Coate, you can e-mail me about more 70mm engagements in Missouri at
Thanks for the explanation.
It’s pretty interesting that the theatre opened with mainly art films. Was that the original intent or were they just filler titles?
Meanwhile, the premiere titles:
The Tree Of Wooden Clogs (Italy, on four screens)
The Shout (UK, on three screens)
The Rubber Gun (Canada)
Tommy (UK)
Queen Of The Gypsies (Russia, previously USSR)
Rain and Shine (Hungary)
A Purple Taxi (France/Ireland, on three screens)
Newsfront (Australia, on four screens)