Movies 1 & 2
700 City Avenue,
Moore,
OK
73160
700 City Avenue,
Moore,
OK
73160
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The Movies opened on November 19, 1971. It was closed on January 31, 1985.
Contributed by
Lauren Grubb
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
The Movies Franchise opened their first theatre in 1969 in Altus, OK. Altus Movies 1 & 2 were built inside existing retail space at an established shopping center. Each auditorium held 200 seats, auditorium 1 had been an H & S Green Stamp Redemption Store, and auditorium 2 was a former billiard supply store and pool hall.
As written above, this twin cinema was designed to look like an old fashioned nickelodeon with a decor as described above.
It looks like a new multiplex is being built in Moore. Opening date is unknown:
http://tinyurl.com/33f3te
Salina, KS, Sunset Cinemas (nee- The Movies 1&2) used the exact same blueprints as the Moore, OK, The Moive 1 & 2;
http://www.cinematour.com/tour/us/915.html
This site shows the shopping center in which the now long gone Movies 1 & 2 once resided,
http://www.roadsideoklahoma.com/node/453
Nice liitle twin,Too bad we can’t go back to this type of moviegoing.
The Movies 1 and 2 sat in the middle of this now vacant shopping strip. The manager’s name was Mr. Williams, whose father once owned controlling interest in Frontier City Amusement Park, including the Frontier City Cinema.
View link
The building that housed the theater is still there and in use, now as One Church. Before that, it was a laser tag venue. The former occupants had knocked out the wall between the two theaters, making one large room. This made it perfect when the church moved in, as the floor was sloped, and a stage was constructed. The church auditorium uses theater type seating, so save for the fact that it is now one large room versus two, it probably looks very much like it did in the theater days. The lobby has been restored as a foyer for the church, but the information counter sits where the old snack bar would have been. Behind the counter is a door leading to the old projection room, where the openings for the projectors can still be seen.
I’ve been told that the old theater sign is on the room still, only lying flat so as to not be visible. I haven’t had a chance to go up there and verify, but hope to in the future.
Thanks ryan,guess you need to join the church to see it, great update.
Great site and even greater feedback from all you guys!..I actually was born/raised in Moore and frequented this theater throughout the 70’s until it’s close in the mid 80’s I believe. I would like to clear up some things as I remember them about this property. The movies was most of this part of the building as a Humpty’s supermarket was on the south end. Also north of the building was Moore Book Stall (comic books and such) and then there was the fenced BMX bike racing track adjacent to it and this is in this one strip with the movies. My friend Kevin was the one to renovate it a bit and made it his Laser Tag Of Moore for a few years before that craze went out. As of now the theater and church part are vacant and has been for a couple of years. I actually have a call in the property mngmt to see about renting/buying it and doing something nostalgic and opening it as a movie theater for indie movies, etc..anyone interested can contact me at ..I would love some pics of the theater from the open to the close as well as any other pics or stories.
The City of Moore Shopping Center was a retail plaza that opened theatre-less in 1963. Joseph Cooper Burks of American Automated Theatres Inc. (AATI) announced the Moore The Movies! in 1971 as the fledgling circuit’s fourth location. Like the Jerry Lewis Circuit and National General Circuit, AATI would show family films in theaters that were placed in or often behind strip shopping centers. They were also pitched as “one button” operations that had a nickelodeon vibe. It opened on November 19, 1971 with free films, “A Man Called Horse” and “Tarzan’s Jungle Rebellion.”
AATI would go out of business not finishing its proposed Reding IV - which would have been the circuit’s first non-twin or single screen venture. Additionally, Burks would end up in other problems soon thereafter. But new operators took on the Moore The Movies! venue in March of 1975. The Movies! turned to discount, sub-run films in 1980 under manager Kerry Rogers. There was no more Moore’s The Movies! which closed on January 31, 1985 with “Pinocchio.”
And, by the way, the name of the theater was The Movies!