RKO National Twin
1500 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1500 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
14 people
favorited this theater
Showing 101 - 111 of 111 comments
When Mann’s left New York in the late-70s, their theatres including the National were taken over by Cinema 5 Ltd. who twinned it. Shortly after, it was transferred over to RKO (Cinema 5 and RKO were both owned by Pacific Theatres at that time) since Cinema 5 was primarily an art-house operation, and in those days a Times Square crowd was definately not in keeping with Cinema 5’s operation.
With the National’s last renovation, by Cineplex in about 1987, they divided the lower theatre in half making it a triplex. The finishing touches were being put in place, pink neon lit, ersatz marble floors polished, bookings finalized, and two days before opening day the landlord showed up. Cineplex had neglected to get his permission to divide the lower theatre, and the landlord got a court order to make them rip the place apart and put it back to 2 theatres, delaying the reopening by a few weeks.
I remember (from the advertisements) Poseidon Adventure premiered there and in 74, so dod Towering Inferno, advertised in 70MM 6-track. Some discrepancies on the twinning dates though. The only film I ever saw there was Al Pacino’s flop “Revolution” in 1985. I believe (not 100% sure) that it was in the bottom theater, it was shown in 70MM 6 track, and I guess because of all that as well as the hype about how awful it was, my expectations being low…I really enjoyed it..Believe it or not…must’ve been the 70MM.
I would have loved to frequent the theater more but I’m in NJ. I always remember coming upon Times Square and I always loved the marquee. It was a shame that it went to hell, with lousy flicks and bad upkeep.
Is it true that the finale of “Last Action Hero” was filmed in the national?
The final two films to be screened at the National Twin – ‘Home Alone 3’ and the Tim Allen-Kirstie Alley-starrer, ‘For Better or Worse’ – reflected in a nutshell the mostly 20th Century Fox and Universal product the National showed during its run as a Cineplex Odeon house.
it was a huge cinema even as a twin.
I remember seeing “Suspiria” there in 1977. It was Mann’s National at the time, and as I recall, it was the only, or one of very few Mann Theaters in New York. The marquee was distinctive, fashioned from black metal with black, candle-like light fixtures extended up off the top in a wavy pattern like a roller-coaster silhouette. I think I saw “The Black Hole” there, too, and “Alien.” I believe “Snuff” opened there as well, a fake snuff film. The distributor paid women actors to picket the movie under the marquee when it opened, to try and build some contraversy. It was a good, big, dark theater. “The Poseidon Adventure” had its world premiere there in 1972.
Yeah William, just like the National that’s how the closings begin with films and presentaions that are just of fair then all of a sudden the immediate closing no warning. I loved the National just as I do the Astor which the countdown to it’s demise has already begun.
I was in the National a few times to see films and the presentations were just of fair. Like what the Astor Theatre is doing now.
Cineplex Odeon twinned/renovated the National in 1987. I believe one of the opening attractions was “Predator” with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Cineplex Odeon also renovated the old Rialto, located diagonally across Broadway from the National, and renamed it the Warner. The National and Warner “re-opened” on the same date, and both theatres opened with “Predator”. According to Variety, the larger downstairs National screen had 1000 seats, and the upstairs (balcony) had 600 seats. I saw Broadcast News in the larger auditorium at a sold-out performance. In the late 1980’s, Cineplex Odeon did a great job of renovating and managing theatres that were either closed or in need of repairs.
I remember this as both Mann’s National
I was in this theater the day after it opened for The Poseidon Adventure…a great escalator ride up from the lobby with great window views over Broadway…It opened as a National General theater which became Mann Theaters then RKO Century and finally Cineplex Odeon…The twinning was better than most with the balcony screen being a pretty good theater…As a twin I remember Rocky III, The Missionary and The Dead Pool there
this theatre opened as Mann’s National. it later became part the cineplex chain, before it closed.