I used to drive by it on trips to/from Jax and Gainesville. I can’t remember if it was ever operating during that period (starting 1985), but it stood, deteriorating, for years before demolition.
There was an AMC theater inside the mall, but this theater was a separate berm, nestled in with a few other shops (and a Toys R Us) next door to the mall.
Our UF Sci-Fi club did a lobby display for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade there.
Yes, the other two were smaller because they split the original second theater into two.
I loved this theater. While going to UF in the late 80s, our science fiction club did promotions for them for several films, including Star Treks IV and V, making lobby displays. Our work area was behind the screen of the big theater, and our early weekend morning work sessions allowed me the opportunity to explore. If I remember correctly that was an 80-foot screen. Just a great house.
Saw Star Wars there in 1977. At that time there was no entry via the mall interior, entrance was outside. For many years there was an old locomotive on display nearby at the mall entrance, with easy access for curious/playful kiddies like me.
By the early 90s it was a Radio Shack, then years later a rock climbing place, the rock wall where the screen used to be. YMCA bought it and kept the rock wall. Around 2010 YMCA closed, and last I checked it was a climbing place again.
Roughly around 2000 the mall was converted to an open-air arrangement and switched from retail to business office space.
It has been used as a venue during the Jacksonville Film Festival, so movies have been shown there, but a day here and there probably does not a movie theater make.
As RichardinTN says, it was not inside the mall, but in the northeast corner of the parking lot. (The top right corner of the shaded area in the Google map shown. Certainly not in the middle of the intersection as pictured!)
It is not to be confused with the AMC 6 that was built inside the mall in the 80s, and certainly not the multi-screen (currently 24) AMC that was built in the NorthWEST corner of the parking lot in the 90s (and subsequently renovated and expanded).
I fondly remember the rocking chairs, and, in one theater (the left one, I think), a playing card inexplicably stuck in a ceiling tile. It was clubs or spades. Preshow images were simple but mesmerizing, light shown through overlapping rotating clear discs filled with colored gels.
Among the films I remember seeing there: The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Trek III, Return of the Jedi and The Goonies.
After demolition, a Picadilly’s Cafeteria was constructed on the site (and the location inside the mall closed).
This was the first theater in Jacksonville to have stadium seating. It was therefore my go-to for years.
This should be reclassified as demolished.
Super 8 footage of the closed drive-in, days before demolition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOQp7QUPiRg
same footage also posted here: https://vimeo.com/80376622
I took a picture today: http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j54/Treadwell_Jay/plaza_zpsg4jrjcns.jpg
The Google streetview is looking across the street from the theater. “Turn around” to look across the parking lot at the theater building.
Our club, the University Science Fiction Society, did a lobby display here for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989.
A very belated thanks for the corrections!
I used to drive by it on trips to/from Jax and Gainesville. I can’t remember if it was ever operating during that period (starting 1985), but it stood, deteriorating, for years before demolition.
If I remember correctly, the Office Depot used the existing building and did not demolish it.
This was another venue our UF Sci-Fi club did a lobby display for: 1989’s Batman. I was disappointed that the house had mono sound!
There was an AMC theater inside the mall, but this theater was a separate berm, nestled in with a few other shops (and a Toys R Us) next door to the mall.
Our UF Sci-Fi club did a lobby display for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade there.
Yes, the other two were smaller because they split the original second theater into two.
I loved this theater. While going to UF in the late 80s, our science fiction club did promotions for them for several films, including Star Treks IV and V, making lobby displays. Our work area was behind the screen of the big theater, and our early weekend morning work sessions allowed me the opportunity to explore. If I remember correctly that was an 80-foot screen. Just a great house.
A K-Mart was built on the site. Now the building is used as a library.
Saw Star Wars there in 1977. At that time there was no entry via the mall interior, entrance was outside. For many years there was an old locomotive on display nearby at the mall entrance, with easy access for curious/playful kiddies like me.
By the early 90s it was a Radio Shack, then years later a rock climbing place, the rock wall where the screen used to be. YMCA bought it and kept the rock wall. Around 2010 YMCA closed, and last I checked it was a climbing place again.
Roughly around 2000 the mall was converted to an open-air arrangement and switched from retail to business office space.
It has been used as a venue during the Jacksonville Film Festival, so movies have been shown there, but a day here and there probably does not a movie theater make.
It opened much earlier than that. Early 80s at the latest. Drafthouse style.
New ownership has renamed it Sun-Ray Cinema.
It was an AMC by 1984 at the latest.
As RichardinTN says, it was not inside the mall, but in the northeast corner of the parking lot. (The top right corner of the shaded area in the Google map shown. Certainly not in the middle of the intersection as pictured!)
It is not to be confused with the AMC 6 that was built inside the mall in the 80s, and certainly not the multi-screen (currently 24) AMC that was built in the NorthWEST corner of the parking lot in the 90s (and subsequently renovated and expanded).
I fondly remember the rocking chairs, and, in one theater (the left one, I think), a playing card inexplicably stuck in a ceiling tile. It was clubs or spades. Preshow images were simple but mesmerizing, light shown through overlapping rotating clear discs filled with colored gels.
Among the films I remember seeing there: The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Trek III, Return of the Jedi and The Goonies.
After demolition, a Picadilly’s Cafeteria was constructed on the site (and the location inside the mall closed).