Newmark Cinemas

Closed June 1st, 1997. Article posted.

This theater was operated by Cineplex Odeon. As Davidfox mentioned above, the theater never did much business for the reasxons he cited. When this theater closed, I was employed as an IA projectionist at another Cineplex theater just a few blocks away in Seattle. The Newmark closed in an interesting fashion. The mall management and Cineplex had been in disputes for years regarding the lack of patronage for the entire mall. Starting on a Saturday afternoon, the theater was plagued with “Projector Problems” resaulting with the cancellation of all shows in one auditorium. By Sunday evening the “Projector Problems” had spread to affect all 5 auditoriums. In reality, Cineplex (without notice to mall management) had decided to break the lease and strip the theater of anything useful. There was a freight elevator from the third floor theater to a loading dock located in the alley behind the building so no mall staff or other tenants were aware of what was happening. On Monday morning, mall management found an empty shell of a theater, all projection and concession equipment gone. Only the seats remained.

The Newmark was never successful. At the time it was in a high-crime area that no doubt kept people away. That and high downtown parking prices.