Collin Creek 6

The Collin Creek Mall-area had one of Interstate’s most remarkably unsuccessful theaters in the Cameo Theater opening 1971 and closing four times under the same circuit. But with Collin Creek Mall totally open and traffic heating up, General Cinema Corporation (GCC) felt the time was right to open a multiplex there. GCC leased a 22,702-square-foot retail building at the Collin Creek Village which across the street from the mall through Plano Parkway and down a curved road about a quarter mile curiously called Accent Drive. The theater was obscured from the highway southbound by a large Venture Department Store and northbound by highway elements. And even as you drove cautiously down Accent Drive, the theater was hidden by the nature of the curved road. The tidy six-screener was modeled after its prototype, the remodeled General Cinema Town East V that had a grand re-re-opening in December 1984.

Even despite the visibility issues and lack of close proximity to the mall’s name it carried, the theater did well enough though not fulfilling its 15-year lease. An attraction sign at the corner of Plano and Accent Dr. was the only indication that a theatre was a quarter of mile away. It opened with the Roger Corman film “Munchies,” the previous year’s “Hoosiers,” low budgeted “Opposing Force,” the exploitation “Stepfather,” “The Chipmunk Adventure,” and “Ernest Goes to Camp.” Despite the austere line-up, the theater did perform for the circuit but competition came along US-75 with the discount first-run Cinemark McKinney 14-plex in May of 1994 to the north and to the south from Loews Keystone 16 in 1997. Late in 1997, the writing was on the wall as Cinemark announced its new Legacy megaplex even closer to the North on 75. General Cinema’s multiplexes were getting demolished by new multiplexes all over the country.

In a period of just a few months, GCC would shutter its Prestonwood Village IV, Carrollton VI, Redbird V-X, Northpark III&IV, Town East VI, Town East V, White Settlement, and Collin Creek. Shortly thereafter, some people who transferred to GCC’s Northpark I&II were shut out almost immediately thereafter as the chain’s flagship for the area also shuttered. Much like the closures at Furneaux Creek, Richardson 6, Galleria, and Central Park, the Collin Creek did not get new product for the final month languishing with film bombs such as “54” and “The Avengers” and long-in-the-tooth product such as “The Parent Trap” and “Armegeddon.” The theater on the dead end road came in rather quietly and left without any patronage. A true dead end. The only way to tell that the theater was now closed was the lack of features on the attraction board which stayed for years until the property became home to two non-profit churches.

Its closing date is September 24, 1998.