Lancaster Cinemas

1516 Sheridan Drive,
Lancaster, OH 43130

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Additional Info

Functions: Retail

Previous Names: Lancaster Cinema 1 & 2, Hollywood Extra-Saver Theatre

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Lancaster Cinemas

Located in the Town & Country Shopping Center. The first multi-auditorium movie house built in Lancaster. Originally opened to be a Jerry Lewis style cinema, the owners wanted to provide a new place for families to enjoy the movies.

The twin-screen theater opened in November 14, 1973. The movies playing were: Walt Disney’s "The Aristocats" & “Song of the South” in Cinema 1 and "Jesus Christ Superstar" based on Andrew Lloyd Weber’s hit musical in Cinema 2. A third screen was added November 14, 1984. In the early-1990’s it became a discount theatre.

In March 2001 it was renamed Hollywood Extra-Saver Theatre but this was short-lived and the theatre was closed on November 22, 2001 (Thanksgiving).

Contributed by Crew Cat

Recent comments (view all 9 comments)

MrDJDude
MrDJDude on September 12, 2009 at 3:04 pm

Based on the fact that this address now belongs to a Dollar General discount store, it’s probably safe to mark this one ‘Demolished’.

MrDJDude
MrDJDude on September 12, 2009 at 3:21 pm

Well, maybe not. Either it’s been torn down and the Dollar General is a new building, or Dollar General gutted the cinema building and repurposed it. I can’t really tell, so I guess the “closed” status stays. Anyone able to help here?

bprince
bprince on September 26, 2010 at 10:06 am

Closed but NOT demolished. Gutted to make way for Dollar General.

PNRNetworks
PNRNetworks on January 7, 2011 at 3:41 pm

They triplexed this cinema in 1983; I remember Purple Rain being one of the first shows in the new larger theatere that was built on the far left end. They halved what became the middle theater to make room for the larger one, and I always hated that middle one from then on, it was like watching a movie in a big hallway, as it no longer had a center aisle after that, just the two side aisles – very weird. Still, I spent a lot of time in 1984 and 1985 in this cinema – I lived just down the road at the Somerford Square apartment complex, and walked down to the theatre several times a week during the summer when I wasn’t working…

They ended up becoming a second run house sometime after Hoyts opened an 8 screen cinema at River Valley Mall in 1986; somehow though I always preferred Lancaster Cinema to Hoyts, though I saw plenty of shows at Hoyts as well…

canibfrankwithyou
canibfrankwithyou on September 15, 2011 at 6:57 pm

I was involved in the installation of the projection & sound equipment for the third screen addition in 1983. The theatre was indepently owned by Duerson Theatres

TheaterGeek17
TheaterGeek17 on June 29, 2015 at 12:06 am

The space, as of 2015, is a school for autistic children on the left, an optometrist in the center, and a Dollar General on the right.

rivest266
rivest266 on June 12, 2017 at 4:22 pm

This opened on November 14th, 1973. The full-page grand opening ad can be seen below at:

Found on Newspapers.com

as well as the photo section.

rivest266
rivest266 on June 12, 2017 at 4:54 pm

3 screens on November 14th, 1984. Grand opening ad in the photo section.

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on November 22, 2024 at 3:25 pm

The Lancaster Cinemas became a discount second-run house in the early-1990s shortly after Hoyts opened up their nearby River Valley Mall Cinemas in December 1989.

The Lancaster Cinemas was then briefly renamed “Hollywood Extra-Saver” in March 2001, and closed around Thanksgiving that same year.

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