Cineplex Odeon closed Scott 72 in late December 1998, just as their Strawberry Hill Cinemas were opening.
It was taken over my “ A Theatre Near You ” group and become “ Bollywood Cinemas ” first, then about a year or two later, became a 2nd run venue for Hollywood films, hence the re-name to “ Hollywood Cinemas ”.
ATNY group dropped the lease around 2004, when the old Caprice location in Newton became available.
They uninstalled all the equipment from Scott 72 and was reinstalled into the old Caprice location.
Cap 6 was pretty much a cesspool right at the end with ads for the new Paramount ( later named Scotiabank ) all over the place.
The place did have an odd, musty smell to it. But I don’t think it was cigarette smoke.
The chairs left an odor on your clothes, and the stairway on the south side of the building, which oddly enough had a bathroom mid way between the 1st and 2nd floor, reeked of piss.
The place also had major water damage from leaks that were not repaired promptly. The Granville side entrance, which had skyline windows in the ceiling leaked for some time before it was fixed ( or was it? ) and caused brown stains all over the ceiling of the granville entrance roof.
I also recall at a sneak peek of the first “ Underworld ” , looking up at the booth and seeing what looked like black tarps or garbage bags taped to the ceiling of the booth.
But all in all, I still loved the place. The Main house ( #1 ) was something that cannot and will not be matched in terms of the size, uniqueness, and just pure awesomeness.
I fully blame FP for not taking care of it properly and letting it die a horrible death, leaving it’s last years' a dark spot on the memories of many movie-goers.
The Vogue was back running film again at VIFF 2011. I’m told they now have Dolby Digital. Still the same Victoria 10 projectors from way back when, running 6000 reels.
This drive-in was created when the owners, whom used to own the Hillcrest Drive-In in Langley sold to developers when Langley went though an insane development process.
The decision to close the Uptown was probably more related to Real Estate assets rather than anything to do with Wheelchair Access.
If the story of the Uptown is anything like the Capitol 6 was in Vancouver, FP owned the property. Even in 2005 dollars, the property was worth tens of millions of dollars. Guess what replaced it? “ The Capitol Residences ”. Sound familiar?
The overly bloated figure of $700,000 ( maybe they got quotes from government contractors ) seems to be totally unrealistic, and used the whole fiasco as a vehicle to unload some prime Toronto real estate.
Mr Sittig – Can you comment on the sound system at the dome? I visited the Dome on vacation last year and was blown away. Curious to know what you have behind that enormous screen :–)
Weekend Matinees start times show they have only two screens.
rl_83
commented about
Venueon
Oct 17, 2011 at 6:58 am
At some point under Cineplex’s ownership ( could have been 1984 ) They converted the Park to platter and moved the second Victoria 10 projector to the then Odeon, later Plaza.
This was done to allow a move over house from the other cinemas with 70MM product.
I remember the first six months well. They were cancelling new movies that were opening up that night ( it was a Friday and the film that was cancelled was Deep Rising ) to interlock Titanic on another screen.
The line ups were enormous and the ticket prices were very expensive for the time ( $9.75 ).
Very similar experience with the X-Files Movie later that year with the huge lineups. Everyone from the Suburbs got tired of watching films at theatres that hadn’t been updated in 15+ years and Stadium seating was a big deal!
I also experienced the 2002 1.3K DLP projection of Star Wars Episode II. It didn’t look like anything that is available today. Bright scenes looks like video and they were running a 35mm print in tandem with the DLP system because it was unreliable and the 35 would take over in the event of a breakdown.
The Ridge is set to close February 3rd, 2013.
A bit of a correction to the above information,
Cineplex Odeon closed Scott 72 in late December 1998, just as their Strawberry Hill Cinemas were opening.
It was taken over my “ A Theatre Near You ” group and become “ Bollywood Cinemas ” first, then about a year or two later, became a 2nd run venue for Hollywood films, hence the re-name to “ Hollywood Cinemas ”.
ATNY group dropped the lease around 2004, when the old Caprice location in Newton became available.
They uninstalled all the equipment from Scott 72 and was reinstalled into the old Caprice location.
The Park was the only location in Vancouver to be equipped for “ SENSURROUND ” in 1974 for EARTHQUAKE.
Was a 35mm 4track MAG presentation.
Actually Chuck, the smallest screen ( #1 ) has 88 seats.
The numbers out there are from when the place opened in 1996, but the seats were replaced in 2006.
The Big house ( #3 ) has around 320 now.
Cap 6 was pretty much a cesspool right at the end with ads for the new Paramount ( later named Scotiabank ) all over the place.
The place did have an odd, musty smell to it. But I don’t think it was cigarette smoke.
The chairs left an odor on your clothes, and the stairway on the south side of the building, which oddly enough had a bathroom mid way between the 1st and 2nd floor, reeked of piss.
The place also had major water damage from leaks that were not repaired promptly. The Granville side entrance, which had skyline windows in the ceiling leaked for some time before it was fixed ( or was it? ) and caused brown stains all over the ceiling of the granville entrance roof.
I also recall at a sneak peek of the first “ Underworld ” , looking up at the booth and seeing what looked like black tarps or garbage bags taped to the ceiling of the booth.
But all in all, I still loved the place. The Main house ( #1 ) was something that cannot and will not be matched in terms of the size, uniqueness, and just pure awesomeness.
I fully blame FP for not taking care of it properly and letting it die a horrible death, leaving it’s last years' a dark spot on the memories of many movie-goers.
The Vogue was back running film again at VIFF 2011. I’m told they now have Dolby Digital. Still the same Victoria 10 projectors from way back when, running 6000 reels.
CP200 as of 2010 did handle the audio.
The Varsity has the honor of running the last 70mm print in Vancouver. It was Hamlet in 1997.
This drive-in was created when the owners, whom used to own the Hillcrest Drive-In in Langley sold to developers when Langley went though an insane development process.
The decision to close the Uptown was probably more related to Real Estate assets rather than anything to do with Wheelchair Access.
If the story of the Uptown is anything like the Capitol 6 was in Vancouver, FP owned the property. Even in 2005 dollars, the property was worth tens of millions of dollars. Guess what replaced it? “ The Capitol Residences ”. Sound familiar?
The overly bloated figure of $700,000 ( maybe they got quotes from government contractors ) seems to be totally unrealistic, and used the whole fiasco as a vehicle to unload some prime Toronto real estate.
That’s my thoughts on the subject.
The expansions in 1977 and 1986 I believe turned the original screen ( now #7, used to be #1 ) into a twin and then a 4 plex.
The building in its current form has remained unchanged since it’s 1998/1999 expansion into the 12 screen.
There was no additional expansions in 96, or 2005 despite incorrect information out there.
Screens 3-10 were THX certified until Empire’s takeover in 2005. This complex features all digital projection now.
The Imax film projector remains installed along side the digital system.
Mr Sittig – Can you comment on the sound system at the dome? I visited the Dome on vacation last year and was blown away. Curious to know what you have behind that enormous screen :–)
Weekend Matinees start times show they have only two screens.
At some point under Cineplex’s ownership ( could have been 1984 ) They converted the Park to platter and moved the second Victoria 10 projector to the then Odeon, later Plaza.
This was done to allow a move over house from the other cinemas with 70MM product.
I remember the first six months well. They were cancelling new movies that were opening up that night ( it was a Friday and the film that was cancelled was Deep Rising ) to interlock Titanic on another screen.
The line ups were enormous and the ticket prices were very expensive for the time ( $9.75 ).
Very similar experience with the X-Files Movie later that year with the huge lineups. Everyone from the Suburbs got tired of watching films at theatres that hadn’t been updated in 15+ years and Stadium seating was a big deal!
I also experienced the 2002 1.3K DLP projection of Star Wars Episode II. It didn’t look like anything that is available today. Bright scenes looks like video and they were running a 35mm print in tandem with the DLP system because it was unreliable and the 35 would take over in the event of a breakdown.
It couldn’t have been The Marrying Man.
That film had a release date of April 1991, The Stanley closed in September 1991, after running “ The Rocketeer ” all summer in 70mm.
I am sure the last film they played on closing night was the 1990 version of “ Fantasia ” in 70mm.