
RKO National Twin
1500 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1500 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
14 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 111 comments
If this is still a television studio, the “Function” should be changed to reflect that.
no, the lease was up and ABC wanted the space.
I think the National was the first of the Times Square cinemas to close with the advent of the AMC & Sony E-Walk ‘plexes. It closed even before the E-Walk and AMC 'plexes opened. The owners no doubt saw the hand-writing on the wall. Last time I can remember being at the National was '96 to see the sole film Tom Hanks directed, the bland “That Thing You Do.”
thanks Don Rosen for the photo I enjoyed the memories.
I have a photo of the National Twin exterior. If some wants to post it, I’ll e-mail it to you.
My e-mail adress Don is savsavage1970@aol.com
Dan
Would you also e mail me the pic. oaklandparkmike@aol.com
Savage:
I have a number of exterior shots of the National Twin. Titles on the marquee: Buffy: the Vampire Slayer; Unlawful Entry; Twins; Home Alone. What is your e-mail address?
DOn can you e-mail me some photos of the national primarily if you got an interior photo of theattre 2
I have quite a few photos of the National. If I can figure how to post ‘em, I will.
The exterior of the NATIONAL is in many movies ,will post the names as i find them..
I dont have any pics of this theater (never took pics stupid now that i think about it)
same here
longislandmovies….might you have any pictures from the National that show the theaters interior or exterior?? would love to see them?
i have so many fond memories of this theater as i managed and was district manager for this house.Standing out on the marquee at new years eve watching the ball drop and the thanksgiving day parade perfect hight for the balloons.
I remember AMC publicly announcing the new theatre years before it opened, but I am not sure about Loews. It all seemed so strange the way the state opened and was doomed from the start.
Thanks dave-bronx,
I remember rignt after it closed being shocked, I wonder if theatre chains also knew about the forthcoming Ewalk-Empire duo of 38 movie screens a few blocks away. The Criterion closed rignt after the Empire opened, pretty soon so will the State.
theatrefan:
No, I think this was in the works before the merger, because ABC started construction in there fairly quickly after the National closed. For the amount of work that was done there, it would have been a long planning process with the architects and engineers, and another long process with the Dept. of Buildings for permits and approvals.
Thanks dave-bronx,
Still have the old pacer-cats type ticket stub with the RKO Century Warner Logo on it. To finish this story, Cineplex Odeon wound up buying them in 1986 along with the Walter Reade Chain for their entry into the NYC market, they merged with Loews Theatres in 1998 and had to sell off a bunch of the theatres to Cablevision’s Cleaview Cinemas in NYC, almost all of the theatres they sold off were the old former RKO & Walter Reade locations. Could the National also have been closed prior to the merger to comply with the DOJ anti-trust guidelines?
It was the other way around – Almi/Century bought RKO-SW from Pacific in 1981, and called it RKO Century Warner. The National had been transferred to RKO from Cinema 5 under Pacific’s ownership of both. Later, in about 1985 RKO-CW bought Cinema 5 from Pacific, except for Cinema I & II (they had a management agreement on that one) and it eventually became the nucleus of City Cinemas.
DennisZ,
Do you by any chance know what year RKO Stanley Warner took over the Century Theatres Chain? I know it was sometime in the early 70’s but I’m trying to get an exact year, thanks!
The National Theatre was opened in Dec. 1972 by Mann Theatres. In 1978 Cinema 5 Theatres took over. In 1981, Cinema 5 theatres were taken over by RKO/Century/Almi Theatres. Cineplex Odeon took over RKO theatres in 1986. The theatre originally had 1,445 seats. It was closed for twinning on Jan. 4, 1982. Reopened as the RKO National Twin on 3/19/82. National closed again on 4/19/87 for remodeling. This is the time they triplexed it without landlords permission. Reopened as the Cineplex Odeon National Twin on June 12, 1987. Closed as a theatre the end of 1997 or Jan. 1998, if my theatre notes are correct.
The theater was origianlly twined in the late 70’s not 1989 as it says above. I think the twin happened when RKO took over the theater.
I think the National closed shortly before the merger, though I could be wrong, I don’t recall us being involved with the National.
Rhett. they used the exterior theatre and the interior was filmed in a studio. In the response to Dave’s comment thanks for the info. I didn’t know when they were renovating that they were going to triplex it thank god they didn’t it would have been terrible although who knows it might have stayed open a little longer. When It reopenend in 1987 it opeon with “Predator” in both cinemas as well as across the street at the former Rialto theatre renamed the warner theatre in tribute to the Warner twin up the street which was demolished ealier or later that year. to me having them play in so many theatres in the same area was overkill but the National and the Warner at the time were both operated by Cineplex Odeon. One week later the horror thriller “the Believers” with Martin Sheen went upstairs to thetre 2 and “predator remained downstairs and across the street at the Warner. When Loew’s merged with Cineplex Odeon they did it again by showing the 1997 sci-fi film "Event Horizon” there and at the Astor Plaza at either the same time or as a move over. to each. I saw it at the National it was good the sound and every thing but I really wished I saw it at the Astor plz.