RKO National Twin
1500 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1500 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
14 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Cinema 5, Cineplex Odeon, Mann Theatres, National General Theatres, RKO Century
Architects: Drew Eberson
Functions: Television Studio
Previous Names: Mann's National Theatre, RKO Century National Twin
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Nov 25, 2003 — Southern California Cameos
The National Theatre opened on December 12, 1972 with the World Premiere of Gene Hackman in “The Poseidon Adventure”, presented in 70mm. It was the first theatre built in Times Square in over thirty years. The theatre originally housed 1,445 seats, with 932 on the main level and 513 seats in the loge and mezzanine. Its marquee was one of the largest in New York City. It was first operated by National General Theatres, followed by Mann Theatres, RKO Century Warner and then Cinema 5.
Operated by RKO Century Warner, the National Theatre was twinned on March 19, 1982 opening with Dan Monahan in “Porky’s” & Natja Brunckhorst in “Christiane F.”. Two distinct auditoriums seating 968 & 513 were created. Screen sizes were 20ft x 40ft & 17ft x 40ft. After several changes in operators, the RKO National Twin finally closed on January 22, 1998 with Tim Allen in “For Richer or Poorer” and Alex D. Linz in “Home Alone 3” as the final movies.
As part of the Disneyesque revitalization of 42nd Street and Times Square, the theatre was gutted and became the new street view studios of ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ program.
Contributed by
Jamal Savage
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Recent comments (view all 106 comments)
Hello-
I’m sure at one time or another all the 1st run theaters in the Times Square area showed what were known as exploitation films. but I never remembered this theater showing actual porn. in the photo section is an ad for Alice in Wonderland which was am actual porn film. or though it had an X rating was it a cleaned up version?
bigjoe59 AIW was a soft core X.
Hello-
to markp- thanks for your reply. I could swear AIW was an actual porn film. I might be confusing it with a similar fairy tale based porn film.
It was actually a soft core musical with excellent production values even though Alice kept sitting on mushrooms. There was also a similar “CINDERELLA” production.
“Alice In Wonderland” was shot as a hardcore feature but was released softcore. When the DVD was released the theatrical and restored hardcore version were featured. Here is a history of the production.
https://www.therialtoreport.com/2015/03/22/alice-in-wonderland-1976-what-really-happened/
Hello-
to Al A.- thanks again for your font of knowledge. is it possible AIW was shot as an actual porn film and then edited to get an official X rating so it could play regular movie theaters? in the late 70s I distinctly remember there was a fairy tale based film that was shot as an actual porn
film but edited to get the official X rating. since you said AIW was shot as a soft-core film what film might I being thinking about?
“Alice in Wonderland” (1976) was NOT a hardcore release. Hardcore scenes by the stars in other films were later inserted for subrun play in porn houses.
When it open as a twin in 1982, RKO Century Warner were the new owners, followed by Cineplex Odeon
Please add in previous chains, Cinema 5, they had control from 1979 to 1982 when it sold to RKO Century Theatres.
The first theater I visited after moving to NYC in 1980. FADE TO BLACK was the film.