Fireweed 7 Cinemas
661 E. Fireweed Lane,
Anchorage,
AK
99503
661 E. Fireweed Lane,
Anchorage,
AK
99503
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Opened June 24th, 1965 with “Mary Poppins”. Grand opening ad posted.
A chronology of Anchorage’s 70mm presentations history has recently been published. The Fireweed gets some mentions in the piece.
rewritten by Chat GPT with new info:
The Fireweed opened in 1964 with 1,526 seats and showed “Mary Poppins.” In 1968, Wometco took over and it became the largest Wometco theater ever. On February 12, 1971, the theater was divided into 2 screens by putting a wall down the middle to create two narrow screens. on November 2nd, 1979, it had expanded to 3 cinemas. Luxury Theatres took over in 1984 and expanded it to 8 cinemas in 1986. One screen was closed in 1987, untwinned, and reopened with 1,200 seats on November 25th. The big screen was certified for THX on June 20, 1988. ACT III took over in 1989 and it was later acquired by Regal Cinemas in 1998. The Fireweed cinema closed on June 6, 2010.
Saw Raiders of the Lost Ark on my parent’s wedding anniversary, Empire Strikes Back, and Ghostbusters twice (the next year on a double-bill with the premiere of Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure) here.
June 7 1990 these movies are playing at the FIREWEED CINEMAS.
“TOTAL RECALL” {no passes}
“SHORT TIME"
"TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE"
"SPACED INVADERS"
"CADILLAC MAN” {no passes]
“PRETTY WOMAN"
"HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER”
An ACT III theatre in 1990.
FIREWEED was also selling “DICK TRACY” Ticket T-Shirts to see the new “DICK TRACY” movie, Sold them at Fireweed and Totem Cinemas.
The Fireweed is now officially closed. It went out with a whimper, screening the Miley Cyrus film “The Last Song.”
View link
Mike thanks for the archives.enjoyed looking at those ads.
According to this news item the Fireweed will be closing as of June 6, 2010, in the wake of the opening a new Regal megaplex: http://community.adn.com/adn/node/151912
<<< 1971 taken over by Womecto >>>
From this point until 1984 it was promoted as “Wometco-Lathrop.”
<<< 1980 Three cinemas >>>
Conversion to triplex took place in 1979.
<<< 1986 expanded to seven cinemas >>>
Expansion was to eight screens, not seven.
Anchorage newspaper archive is at View link
I am going to find that paper and will list the movies playing for you.TLSLOEWS.
Munchie Theatre would be a good name.
Come to think about it,We did sell alot of popcorn and candy on certain late shows.
With a name like “Fireweed” I bet they sold a lot of popcorn.
BElieve it or not, I have an ad from this theatre,but i can’t find the lousy Anchorage newspaper!
Looks more like a firestone tire store.
Timeline for this cinema
1964 opened by Lathrop as a single screen cinema with Mary Poppins
1971 taken over by Womecto, which has theatres in Florida and the WHT Pay-TV channel in New York City and split into two cinemas
1980 Three cinemas
1984 taken over by Luxury Theatres
1986 expanded to seven cinemas
1989 taken over by ACT III
1998 taken over by Regal Cinemas.