UA Ellis Isle Cinema 4

Kenneth Johnson on October 5, 2013 at 9:08 pm

Ellis Isle Cinema opened in 1974 behind the Ellis Isle Shopping Center which was anchored by Food Center Warehouse (later Sack & Save), Super D Drug Store, Woolco Dept Store (later Wal*Mart). Ellis Isle Cinema was originally a Twin cinema operated by Baton Rouge/New Orleans based Ogden-Perry Theaters. The cinema is free standing and faces Interstate 20. It has a auditoriums on both sides of the building with a concessions/lobby in the center of the building. In 1978, both auditoriums was divided forming 4 auditoriums and became known as Ellis Isle 4. In 1984, Gulf States Theatres acquired the Ogden-Perry chain. In 1986, United Artists Theatres acquired the local Gulf States Theatres assets. In 1989, one of the larger auditoriums was divided again forming 5 auditoriums. In 1995, Cobb Theatres acquired Ellis Isle 5, Metrocenter 4 and Meadowbrook 6. In 1997, Regal Cinemas acquired Ellis Isle 5, Metrocenter 4, Meadowbrook 6. In 1998, Regal Cinemas ceased operations of Ellis Isle 5 but was reverted back to United Artists (who held the lease). In 2000, the Ellis Isle Cinemas was closed due to UA bankruptcy restructuring. In 2013, after renovations, Jackson based Magic Cinemas reopened the cinema renamed Renaissance Centre 5 (in light of the shopping center renaming).

edinman on June 14, 2014 at 1:35 pm

Not evidently open as of June, 2014. I just drove by there. No Sign. The front doors are boarded up. You have to drive through two imposing barbed wire gates to even get there. There was a construction permit notice attached out front, so hopefully something is being planned. It was my understanding that when the former McCarty Holman supermarket chain bought the theater three of the four auditoriums were reconfigured as office space. I was told the fourth auditorium was saved as a large meeting/conference room. Not sure how accurate any of that is.

rivest266 on June 15, 2016 at 2:19 pm

March 14th, 1980 grand opening ad as a 4-plex in photo section.

50sSNIPES on November 30, 2025 at 9:01 am

Neff is right. It appears that UA operated the Ellis Isle Cinema until June 24, 1993.

dallasmovietheaters on June 16, 2026 at 12:08 pm

Just to fill in some of the comments above, this entry should be the UA Ellis Isle Cinema 4. It was part of the Ellis Isle Shopping Center, a discount strip plaza for southwestsiders in Jackson. The center was announced in 1972 anchored by a Woolco and a Warehouse Grocery Center, purportedly the second largest grocery store in the U.S.A. with the Ogden-Perry twin cinema an original feature. It would get a less than ideal position behind the Center and almost unseeable from the highway that it was parallel to. But that wouldn’t matter as the theatre would ride “Jaws” in 1975 to become the highest attended film in Jackson history (to that point). The architect was Harold Brumfield, Sr. of Brumfield & Associates.

Ground was broken for the plaza in October 11, 1972. The theatre was an original tenant and built during the luxury suburban era of cinema exhibition as the Ellis Isle Twin Cinema. It had twin, 500-seat auditoriums at launch March 29, 1974. The $300,000 venue was under pressure by multiple chains with more screens in the early multiplex era so Ogden-Perry split the twins and had four, 225-seat auditoriums for a total count at 900 seats. That was celebrated on March 14, 1980 as the Ellis Isle Cinema Four. Woolco left the center in bankruptcy in January of 1983. Ogden-Perry would follow suit leaving the theatre following the September 5, 1985 showtimes and their own filing for bankruptcy four days later. The venue reopened at month’s end by an independent, local operator that lasted just three weeks until closure on October 17, 1985.

Gulf States relit the theatre as a first-run house on June 6, 1986 as the Ellis Isle Cinema 4. Gulf was a quick study and just three months later demoted the venue to a $1 sub-run discount house on September 19, 1986. That returned patrons to the theatre. Three months later, UA bought out Gulf States. The venue became the UA Ellis Isle 4 on June 26, 1987 repositioned with first-run titles. On September 11, 1987, it reverted to a sub-run dollar house. In the 1990s, the megaplex era had arrived and UA now had two 10-screen houses in the Parkway Place 10 and the Northpark 10… and the Ellis Isle 4 which it was trying to milk to the end of its lease. That date came on a Sunday night, June 27, 1993, with the UA Ellis Isle Cinema 4 closing permanently with “Sidekicks,” “CB4,” “Cop and a Half,” “Excessive Force” and “Boiling Point.”

The Ellis Isle Shopping Center and its immediate surroundings fell into a deep greyfield status with high vacancy rates and crime rates to match - including cocaine sales in the parking lot. Not good optics as the surrounding businesses also left the area. The Center made it to its 30th birthday but there was little to celebrate. In 2005, New Horizon Church took on the shopping plaza for $2 million taking the former Warehouse turned Sack and Save grocery location for its house of worship. The facility was renamed as The Renaissance (Center) - but the weather gods clearly disagreed and blew that overlay sign away in 2014 revealing the legacy Ellis Isle name. And because conditions didn’t improve, the gods spoke once more and the Ellis Isle signage atop the 70' sign then blew away in the 2020s along with a chunk of the former Woolco anchor store leaving it as the benign (INO) “r"enaissance until New Horizon left in 2024.

The theatre is listed at 1770 Bobby Rush Boulevard when Ellis Avenue’s name was changed in 2022. The former Renaissance / Ellis Isle / derelict plaza could be purchased for $5.25 million - an opportunity for anyone wishing to operate the cinema and a former Woolco.