Cinemart
4302 Governor Printz Boulevard,
Wilmington,
DE
19810
4302 Governor Printz Boulevard,
Wilmington,
DE
19810
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 55 comments
Appears as though a homeless family was living in the upstairs stock room a few years back, then they boarded it up really good.. kinda sad.
Hey, PSMITH1983, yeah, lot of history here,, appeared to be some homeless family living in there last year or so. I quess they got tired of people going in and out so they closed every possible way in or out. It’s funny the owners of the property just leave this up as some kinda historic relic.But closed since late sept 1980!
While on our honeymoon, I decided to take an adventure with my wife and track down the Cinemart hoping to get inside and see the remnants of the once great theater.
Sadly, we discovered that the theater now has its doors completely painted over and boarded with nails along with boards over the windows. No more access sadly.
Luckily the sign still remains up on the front.
Actually both theater s “Cinemart and Edge moor” closed in fall 1980. and Midway was summer of 1976…
Would have loved the seen “Dawn of the Dead ” with “Halloween” on this big screen which played here in May of 79. then dawn , lasted another week on a double bill with the Exorcist..
Yes john, the cinemart is still standing. Look at the pics above.. Its amazing that its in the shape its in for being closed 32 years. But it looks a wreck inside where the lobby use to be.. The screen room looks really clean inside..
Is the Cinemart building still standing?
CINEBOB? hey bob, did you see the pics i posted here of the screen? what do you think????
Just discovered ‘'TOMMY’‘ played here for 5 weeks in 1976., and The devil in miss jones played here Sept 20th 1973…
Apocalypse Now shown here for at least 4 months. from October 79 through January 1980.
Hey cinebob, could you post some more ads of movies that played here in 1980? thanks if you can..
Hey, thanks jwheckert, Wheres the Wilmington public library? thanks i hope i find some good ones…
Ronnie21,
If you really want to see what films played at CineMart the archives at the Wilmington Public Library and the UD library in Newark will have Microfilm copies of News Journal for 1980. You can get into the UD library for free even if your not a student. Copies can be printed for a nominal fee.
Wow, thanks cinebob..you saw the car and orca there uh, must have been 1977. I would love to find some old newspapers from 1980 that showed what movies were playing there , like i wonder if Friday the 13th played there. or halloween.. I hope one day someone can give some info on what movies showed there in 1980.. specially the months leading up to its closing..
@ronnie21 – sorry i’ve been out of town and just remembered this site when looking up old “merchandise mart” photos for a facebook page. Yes I remember seeing THE FOG very clearly. It may have been opening weekend because it was packed with people and I remember jumping out of my seat the very first minute when the watch snaps shut – very good dolby that was LOUD and scared me to death. I loved that theater because it was wide instead of long – meaning the screen was super wide and the seats went along the width of it with about 4-6 walk paths between seating blocks – instead of 1 or 2 walk paths with long walk from back to front. Concession was in the front when you walk in – long glass counter that held the candy and employees behind, also a big glass window in front that gave it alot of natural light. I remember it being pretty minimal/modern in design. Not fancy, but not tacky either. Can’t remember the restrooms at all. I didn’t realize it played soft core porn in the mid 70’s. Probably since I still was going to the movies with my parents back then – glad Budco gave it back some respectability even for a little while. I also clearly remember seeing THE CAR and ORCA there in ‘77. Fun times.
Just think, on this day in august 16th 1980, the cinemart was open for business, and alive and kickin. Wish i knew what movie was playing!!!!!!
I always wondered if they aren’t knocking down cinemart to leave it up for historic purposes?
cinebob, what was it like inside in 1980? what was it like seeing THE FOG on the big screen??
I showed this theater to my friend and he was shocked that for sitting there all these years, the outside didnt look too bad.. I wonder what it looked like in 83, probably not too bad, seems that it really started to get attacked within the last 10 yrs. Broken windows ect. The box office window was broken but was boarded up yet, till after 2006.
jweckert, wow, thanks. I kinda figured at looking at those photos that’s where the bathrooms were..Its kinda eerie that the toilet paper is actually from 1980, and it looks so white still. I really would love to know where i can get some old newspaper clips to see what kinda films showed there in it’s last year .. so far. i know only of the Exterminator and now THE FOG.. I wonder if the first Halloween ever showed there. that would have been so cool to see on the big screen. Did it smell in there or what was it like seeing the screen, I noticed the lighting was hard to see in your shots.. But it was probably such a big room to light.. It was cool to see the managers office all 70’s looking.
I find it really surprising that no one ever made a go at reopening this theater. While today it is a wreck, the building had to be in better shape 25 years ago. Although not in the best location it is very close to the 75,000 residents in Wilmington who had no theater for over 20 years!
Ronnie, The bathrooms where downstairs off the lobby. The lobby has been used as storage and I think the bathrooms have only been wrecked in the past ten years. Copper thieves I suspect. So the paper is only as old as the last time the bathrooms where used.
wow, the fog played there !!! i really would wanna know what other B horror movies showed there, specially in 79 and 1980, can anyone remember what other movies showed here.. I wonder if the original Halloween showed here? I would love to see some old newspaper clippings of what kinda movies showed here in 1980, can anyone help? thanks alot…
Cinebob, The theater had a brief run of X-rated films in the mid-70’s when Hallmark theaters ran it. When Budco took over they showed mainly B horror films with the few big releases now that Cinemart was the Absolute largest screen in Delaware.
I saw many movies at the Cinemart when I was a kid. The above article makes it seem like it was a porn theater after ‘77 but it was actually still quite popular – mostly because it didn’t suffer the multiplex syndrome of the late '70’s like most theaters in north Wilmington (Branmar and Concord Mall went twin, Tr-State went Quad – thereby creating much smaller boxlike view experiences). Cinemart was big, wide and comfortable. I remember seeing “The Fog” there in 1980 when I was 14 and the theater was PACKED. Cinemart was actually the first to close before the rest of Merchandise Mart. Strawbridge & Clothier dept. store was torn down a few years ago and I was afraid Cinemart would soon follow. But it still remains. Now I commute by train everyday from Wilmington to New York and pass it’s big wide backside and think of all those great movie experiences i had there …and hope one day someone will remember how great it was and open it back up. Thanks for the great photos.