Britton Cinema 8
3938 S. Dale Mabry Highway,
Tampa,
FL
33611
3938 S. Dale Mabry Highway,
Tampa,
FL
33611
6 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 54 comments
General Cinema operated the Britton from April 15, 1959 until August 25, 1991. After temporarily closing for nearly two months, the Britton reopened as a Muvico theater in October 1991 before Regal took it over four years later in 1995.
“The Phantom” was presented at the Regal Britton Theatre beginning on Friday June 7, 1996 (the film’s US nationwide release date).
I went there once on vacation when Regal Cinemas had it, I remember being in a auditorium down the long hallway on the left. Unfortunately didn’t get the seating of each screen. That house I was in, the screen was OK, not bad to orher locations
When the Britton was triplexed it was bad enough although somewhat acceptable. The one large auditorium at the front held a capacity of about 900. At least the side walls and proscenium remained untouched from their original design with the exception of a smaller screen. The two small theaters from midpoint of the auditorium to the rear held about 400 apiece and each one had a balcony. A dividing wall down the center of the balcony gave the two smaller theaters some additional seating. At the time this was thought to be a first in multiplex design…mini theaters with a balcony.
The 8-plex renovation completely destroyed the interior. I shouldn’t have gone but I was curious to see the layout and yes, it was terrible. After checking out several tiny screening rooms I had enough and walked out.
The Britton was originally equipped with 70mm projection. Two big attractions that played in 70mm were Around the World in 80 Days and South Pacific.
The website of the church is https://weareradiant.com
When that theater was converted to a 8 plex it became history. When I originally moved to Tampa in 83 it was 3 theaters. The 92 remodel was horrible. They divided the balcony into tiny theaters that held maybe 15 people. It was a terrible experience
It’s official now. The Britton is history. A Google search now lists the theatre as permanently closed. Today I drove past Britton Plaza and the theatre signage facing Dale Mabry has been completely re-purposed from Britton Cinema to Radiant Church. Not sure when the change was made as it’s been at least a year since I was in the area.
A couple years ago they were still running movies occasionally but only on one screen and only in the evening. Titles were not advertised anywhere so you’d have to call and hope someone would answer. The Britton had a great memorable run as a large and beautiful single-screen house from 1956 through 1972. RIP Britton.
They are listing movies on fandango, BUT that can be ghost times, or times that were published before the theater decided to close.. it is bound to happen SOON..considering there are 4 movies playing in 3 auditoriums, and this has been practice for the last year…
Website is down. Phone disconnected. Current phone is 813-839-1600. You will get ahold of someone who works there and can tell you what movies are playing. They do have a Facebook page but no movie times on it. Best to use Fandango or Moviephone to find out what is playing.
This reopened as Britton 8 on November 25th, 1992. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
Article:
Found on Newspapers.com
Full page opening ad from the Tribuine
Found on Newspapers.com
I just checked today’s schedule. Four features are listed: Jungle Book, The Huntsman, Barbershop, and Batman vs. Superman. So only 4 auditoriums are active. There are 67 reviews on Google for the Britton. Surprisingly the good reviews far outweigh the bad. Maybe they’ve made some improvements. Regardless I still have no desire to visit.
Trollyguy i know that they were going to close the balcony theaters because of accesability, i know they have digital 3d for one screen but seriously it was so dirty and dingy. I walked thru the place with realitors before it reopened. The web page is not the same im wondering if it is new operators? My work doesnt take me that direction anymore so im not too sure whats going on.
cvolosin is the Carmike/AMC merger finalized? I like Nick went to this theater once after it became an 8 plex and never again. What a horrible experience it was just once. My living room was bigger than some of the theaters.
The same thing is happening where I live with the local second-run theatre. They only show movies in 3 of the 5 auditoriums because of the cost of converting to digital projection. At this time, they could only afford to buy 3 projectors.
Has anyone noticed this is running like a 4plex?.. i havent had time to go that way recently, but strikes me odd. Just like ybor 20 once taken over by Carmike (AMC now) only 10 of the 20 screens are functioning.
The Britton was probably the finest single screen theatre in Tampa when first opened in 1956 before being destroyed by GCC in 1973. Capacity of the single screen Britton was 2200 seats and included a balcony. It was huge and very modern for its day. Some films I remember seeing on the Britton’s 60-foot wide screen were WEST SIDE STORY, SPENCER’S MOUNTAIN, CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED, WHAT A WAY TO GO, PLAY MISTY FOR ME, and LET’S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH. The final film shown on the original big screen was THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK in 1972.
When the BOGGY CREEK run ended GCC closed it for several weeks reopening it as a triplex in 1973. All the character of the original Britton was destroyed—it was pretty bad. Evidently proud of the job they had done GCC then quickly twinned the Loew’s Theatre on Westshore effectively destroying another beautiful theatre. In 1992 Movieco took over ownership of the Britton and cut it into an 8-plex—it was horrendous. I only went once out of curiosity and never again.
After GCC pulled out the theater was divided from 3-8 theaters and it was one of the worst cut job I ever saw in a theater. How they have stayed open all these years is beyond me. AMC Twin Bays in the next plaza was much nicer.
The Logo you’re thinking of is GCC.
I remember the Britton Theater as it existed in the 1960s, when it was just one GIANT single theater. I believe it held roughly 1200-1300 seats. My memory is that there might have been a balcony at the back. The shopping center was not entirely finished, so there was a vacant lot on the right side of the theater with a wooden wall covering most of it up. A faded sign on the brick wall of the theater advertised Walt Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty,” which would’ve been from 1959, but my own memories only start from around 1962. I believe the first movie I saw there was “Taras Bulba,” which would’ve been from that year.
The theater was fairly upscale, kind of a competition to the downtown Tampa and Florida theaters, and they actually had ushers in uniforms and all that stuff. All the way through the late 1960s, they’d show a newsreel, a cartoon short, a couple of trailers, and then the feature. And they always had the memorable AMC logo with the annoying spinning projector logo and the harpsichord/bass song (variations of which still exist with AMC today).
The Britton Plaza theater kind of fell apart over time, and I know they divided it up and turned it into a multiplex. But it was a great theater for me, and I saw some memorable films there. I think the one that had the largest crowd in local history was “Thunderball,” where I swear, the ticket line stretched about a block all the way down the shopping center and to the left, towards the drug store that used to be there. Huge, crazy, massive crowds, easily two thousand people. I also had terrific memories of seeing “Our Man Flint,” “You Only Live Twice,” and a few bad Elvis movies. Palma Ceia was a great neighborhood to grow up in, and the Britton was a very well-run theater for its time.
I remember seeing Oklahoma in Todd-AO 70mm…..it was originally a single screen roadshow cinema.
Cvolosin, You’re probably right about the theatre closing soon because they don’t want to convert to Digital Projection. However I would rather watch a movie here than Bradenton mall. Thug city is what that theatre is set in. It’s 50 cents for a reason and I’m sure they will close too because of the area. At least the Britton sits in a plaza with a mix of upscale clientel and middle to low class so cops patrol constantly.
The projectors at the Britton are NOT the original Century projectors. They were replaced by Cinemacannica V5 in 1992 and most recently two auditoriums were replaced by Christie projectors and platters for their Bollywood crowd. No, the elevator is not fixed yet and the rumor mill has churned out that instead of keeping up with code, they will close cinema 7 and 8 upstairs thus making them a 6 plex. Doesn’t matter with only the Bollywood films packing them in every other month BUT then again it’s been said the tenant Venkat lost his right to exhibit Indian films at this location.
So everything is up in the air. Anyone’s guess is as good as mine on the actual fate. I will say that the tenant has signed a 5 year lease with the Gator cinema in Gainesville. That makes the Britton’s fate more apt to close since he was looking to pull out of this plaza. I wish his mama would have pulled out. Anyway the Britton Plaza owner has been taking pictures of the theatre lately from the outside so I think it may be soon in it’s closing.
Rofl Carlos as that is the death of the cinema… Britton will be a lost treasure soon!! Even the Ruskin Drive-in went Digital last year… The equipment at britton is ORIGINAL with the exceptions of the lamp houses. That elevator fixed yet? New owner in 2010 now 2013… Still broke.. I have seen several $1 theaters already convert to digital, they are very successful value locations that larger chains abandoned because of profit margin..
You can watch those same movies in the Bradenton mall 6 weeks later for .50 on Tuesdays in a multiplex built in the 80’s as a multi not a single screen split into 8 built in the 30’s .
I like this theater strictly for the old school feel of it. When I first saw a movie there last year, I felt like I went back to 1985. If there’s a first run movie that I might have missed, I can go to the Britton and watch it for $5. Everything about the theater is outdated, they don’t even accept credit or debit cards (ATM inside), and the sound system is terrible. Nevertheless, it’s a fun place to catch a flick when you have nothing better to do.
My name is Sam Roth and I was 1 of the managers at the Britton Plaza 8 in the Summer of 2006. At the time Zota were the owners and they didnt seem to care much about the Britton, especially after a major rainstorm hit Tampa the first week of June and one of the top theaters was flooded out and the rain water leaked into the Main theatre downstairs. There was 1 gentleman, John Petrey, who was responsible for maintaining the older model projectors-and he was very good at his job. No word on where he is now, but hopefully he is somewhere taking care of a movie theater. I am now in the St. Louis area after my late wife pasted while living in Valdosta, GA. Good Luck and Godspeed to the New Britton Cinema 8. I wish you well. Sam Roth. .