Cardinal Theatres I & II
4421 Six Forks Road,
Raleigh,
NC
27609
4421 Six Forks Road,
Raleigh,
NC
27609
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A chronology of Raleigh’s 70mm presentation history has recently been published. The Cardinal is mentioned numerous times.
June 29, 1967 photo in below Facebook link.
https://www.facebook.com/olderaleigh/photos/pb.100063629260284.-2207520000../2355801737845431/?type=3
Grand opening ads
Today, June 8th, 2017 is the day the time capsule will be opened.
ALIEN played here on May 25,1979 first-run showing in DOLBY STEREO.
Also played here first-run at the Cardinal at North Hills “GHOSTBUSTERS”
“CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND”
“THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST”
“WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT”
“SCARFACE”-Al Pacino in DOLBY STEREO
As well as the 70mm-6 Track DOLBY STEREO presentations “THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK”
“INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM”
The Reserved Seat Engagements of GONE WITH THE WIND played here in 70MM-6 Track Stereophonic Sound on December 22,1967.
The Bonefish restaurant is indeed in the former Cardinal I building. The restaurant’s front patio space was originally the outer edge of the lobby.
Closed in 1990 under Cineplex Odeon.
Built and operated by Wilby-Kincey Paramount Theatre operating partner, then ABC theatres, then Plitt, then Cineplex Odeon after purchasing Plitt, then closed!!
Blockbuster is long gone from this location. Bonefish Grill is now located on the site of the original Cardinal Theatre, I’m not sure if the restaurant is in the old theater building or if the old Cardinal Theatre/Blockbuster was demolished.
There is an great article that was mentioned from the Raleigh News and Observer’s Saturday July 1,1967 ad about the Cardinal Theatre grand opening. Beverly Hall was the manager of the theatre. The grand opening feature was the Doris Day and Richard Harris espionage comedy CAPRICE.
The original Cardinal Theatre upon its opening in 1967 had a huge auditorium with a seating capacity of 750 that had a round “Ultravision” screen that had a 180 degree angle for showing bigger presentations that were capable of films that were in either 70MM and 35MM formats. By 1977 when this theatre was twinned,they kept the original “Ultravision” screen and basically equipped it with a Dobly Stereo Sound System in December of 1977 for its showing of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. This theatre was one of five theatres in the state in 1980 to get the full 70MM-6 Track Dobly Stereo engagement showing of “The Empire Strikes Back”,and in 1984 for “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” that was also in 70MM. This theatre closed in 1990 under Cineplex Odeon.
Tinseltoes…..thanks for the Boxoffice link. I had forgotten about it. I am the Beverly Hall who managed the Cardinal at opening. I was only there less than 6 months and then transferred to the Richland Mall in Columbia, SC. Cardinal was a fabulous theatre.
Anyone interested [REMEMBERING Plitt Theatres] is on Facebook.
I do remember seeing JAWS 3-D not to mention the pathetic GREASE 2 that played here at the Cardinal.
The last movie I saw here before it close in 1990 was the Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith flick WORKING GIRL.
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
THE 70MM-6 TRACK DOBLY STEREO EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENTS:
Raleigh: Cardinal 1 & 2
Fayetteville: Bordeaux Triple
Greensboro: Terrace
Charlotte: Park Terrace
Winston-Salem: Thruway 1 & 2
www.in70mm.com/news/2003/empire/index.htm
Nice updates in the comments. Brings back memories of riding my bike to North Hills. Any pics available? My mom has a bunch when her and her friends got dressed up and went to see Grease. I will try to find them and post them.
HISTORY:
Located in the midtown section of Raleigh,North Hills opened in 1965 as a strip shopping center,but was expanded into a indoor mall by 1966. When North Hills opened in 1966,it became one of the largest malls in the Triangle,not to mention the state’s second indoor shopping center(following Charlottetowne Mall which opened in 1959).
North Hills had a retangular design with two floors. The upper level opening onto Six Forks Road with was the main entrance,and the lower level facing a parking deck onto Lassiter Mill Road. When it opened in 1966,North Hills Mall had three main anchor department stores: One was Penney’s,aka JC Penney that was located on the other side facing Lassiter Mill Road.
The others were Ivey’s Department Store(later Dillard’s),and a F.W. Woolworth’s that was in the middle of the mall on its upper level that was really huge with full scale pharmacy and restaurant. The speciality stores were a World Bazaar, Ronson’s,
Montaldo’s, Nowell’s Men Shop, Kerr Discount Drugs, and on the side next to Ivey’s was K&W Cafeteria.
The “plaza” strip was across the street from the mall.
It was anchored by a Winn Dixie grocer,and specialty shops and services along the intersection of Lassiter Mill and Six Forks Roads. The Cardinal Theatre was on the opposite end of the “plaza” facing Six Forks Road at the intersection of Lassiter Mill.
Thanks raysson,Did you ever work for ABC or Plitt?You might have said so somewhere on CT.
HISTORY: Cardinal Theatre of North Hills in Raleigh
1967-1971 Wilby Kincey Corporation
1971-1978 ABC Southeastern Theatres
1978-1986 Plitt Southern Theatres
1986-1990 Cineplex Odeon Corporation
It was also known as the Cardinal Theatre of North Hills when it opened on Saturday July 1, 1967 as a 750 seat single screen theatre owned and operated by Wilby-Kincey Corporation. The main attraction and the premiere opening of the Cardinal Theatre was the Doris Day-Richard Harris flick “Caprice”. Other coming attractions to the Cardinal were Otto Preminger’s “Hurry Sundown”,“A Guide for the Married Man”,and the roadshow enagement of “Camelot”.
By 1977,a second auditorium with 625 seats was built that was adjacent to the huge original auditorium that seated 750,bringing the total of seats to 1,375. The grand opening attractions for the newly restored Cardinal I & II were in screen I:“For The Love Of Benji”,and in Screen II: “A Bridge Too Far” premiere on June 24, 1977. The original auditorium was equipped with full Dobly Stereo for its enagement of “The Empire Strikes Back”,which was one of five theatres in North Carolina that showed it in 70MM-6 Track Dobly Stereo on May 21, 1980.
It remained the Cardinal I & II until its closing in 1990.
The opening attraction for the June 24, 1977 opening of the Cardinal I & II was the WWII action flick
“A Bridge Too Far” with Sean Connery, Robert Redford and Hardy Kruger(Screen 2).
Screen 1,the original auditorium had the general release of “For The Love of Benji” on June 24, 1977.
You hope someone at CT catches it I guess. I had the same problem and someone spotted my post and the change was made.
It also really bothers me that the description of the theater for this page lists that the original auditorium was split, when in fact it was left perfectly intact when the 2nd auditorium was added. Also, the Cardinal was never equipped for Cinerama projection. Cardinal 1 was equipped with standard 5/70mm projection equipment. How do you get this changed?
Seth, The building that Bonefish is in IS the actual building that the original, large auditorium of Cardinal was in! They have torn down the lobby as well as the smaller screen (Cardinal 2), though the smaller screen was there and used by Blockbuster before the big shopping center uplift a few years ago.