Hilltop Family Cinema
1421 Bankhead Highway SW,
Mableton,
GA
30126
1421 Bankhead Highway SW,
Mableton,
GA
30126
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Jerry Lewis Cinemas, Septum Cinemas
Previous Names: Jerry Lewis Cinema, Mableton Twin Cinema 1 & 2, Septum Twin Cinemas, Mableton Triple Cinema I, II, III, Mableton Hill Top Cinema
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The Hilltop Family Cinema was a fairly non-descript theater in a suburb first heavily populated by the white flight of the late-1950’s/early-1960’s. Part of a strip shopping center built in the mid-1960’s it opened as part of the Jerry Lewis chain on December 17, 1971 with George Hamilton in “Evel Kneivel” & the animated feature “You’re a Good Boy Charlie Brown”. In May 1973 it was taken over by Star Cinemas renamed Mableton Twin Cinema 1 & 2. In 1974 it was renamed Septum Twin Cinemas. In 1978 it became the Mableton Triple Cinemas I, II, III. In 1982 it was renamed renamed Mableton Hilltop Cinema. From late-1984 it operated as the Hilltop Family Cinema. I believe that the theatre was redecorated in the 1970’s when Dolby was added, but that was the last time that the theater had any work done.
By the 1990’s it was mostly known for the fact that it had one of the best “Rocky Horror” casts in the Atlanta, and I think by the end “Rocky Horror” might have been all it showed. A Creative Loafing article indicates that it closed in 1999, but other sources have it listed as a working theater until 2002. I have the feeling that this was a nice little theater at some point, but by the time I went to watch Rocky Horror in the mid-1990’s it was a mess.
Contributed by
Tracie Alllison
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
Saw Woody Allen’s “Everything You Wanted To Know About Sex, But Were Afraid To Ask†at the Hilltop. The theatre was initially a twin when it opened as a Jerry Lewis Cinema and the third auditorium was added after the circuit folded. The Hilltop ran a rather eccentric fair and drew in folks from as far away as northeast Atlanta. The Hilltop was one of those quirky venues which attracted a fun and lively crowd.
In the early 1970’s, local bands played at the Jerry Lewis Cinema in Mableton. One band that played on a Friday night in 1972 was Lynyrd Skynyrd, 6 months before their first Album was released and they skyrocked to fame.
I worked at Mableton Hilltop Cinema in 1986, we were a second run theater that specialized in .50 movie night on Thursday nights. My manager told me that the theater was formally a Septum Theater. He told me that we had a complete colored plastic jewel curtain that was supposed to retract after the cloth curtain in order to make the theater sparkle at the beginning of the movie. The Theater is closed today and is now a Dollar Store. The sloping floors were poured to level with cement.
I grew up in Mableton and saw a lot of movies there as a kid and a teenager, such as the 1972 “Superstars of Shock” triple bill re-release of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Mark of the Vampire, & The Mask of Fu Manchu (one of my favorite childhood cinematic memories).
In 1978 they started showing X rated movies in one of the theaters and even though I was still under age, I saw my first X-rated movie there, ‘Barbara Broadcast’.
It seems like the theater has been closed at least 10 years now.
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Sorry about all the space at the end of my post. I wish that my co-workers wouldn’t start a conversation with me while I’m typing!
Listings started to appear from 1973 as a twin and 3 screens starting on February 9th, 1979 Owners were Star Cinemas, Septum Cinemas and Showman Cinemas. More to come for this cinema.
The December 17, 1971 Grand Opening ad of the Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema in Mableton with “Evel Knievel” in Mableton I Auditorium and “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” in Mableton II Auditorium is posted in photos. Star Cinemas took on this location and the Jerry Lewis Old Dixie, Buford Highway, Snellville, and Rosswell locations in May of 1973 with Lewis and Network Cinema out of business and under legal challenges. Other operators followed suite around the country. This location was renamed as the Mableton Twin Cinema I & II by Star Cinemas.
In 1974, the venues were then under the Septum Twin Cinemas / Septum Cinemas banner. In 1978, the venue became the Mableton Triple Cinema I, II & III. After Septum moved on form the location in 1982, new operators renamed it as the Mableton Hilltop Cinema through 1984. It then became the Hilltop Family Cinema late in 1984. Jack and Phyllis Hubbard operated it for many years. The venue has since closed.
I drove by there a few years after it closed and can remember seeing a poster for The Haunting. So I’m guessing it closed late 1999/early 2000.