Church Street Cinemas
1807 South Church Street,
Burlington,
NC
27215
1807 South Church Street,
Burlington,
NC
27215
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Brandt Theaters, Janus Theatres, Trans-Lux Movies Corp.
Architects: John J. McNamara
Functions: Church
Previous Names: Trans-Lux Inflight Cinema, Janus Theatre, Janus Theatres 1 & 2, Cinema Blue, Joy Art Theatre, Vanderbilt Cinemas
Nearby Theaters
Located in the Spoon Plaza Shopping Center, aka Zayre Plaza Shopping Center, this theatre opened on March 23, 1970 as the Trans-Lux Inflight Cinema with the premiere attraction showing of “The Ballad of Cable Hogue” starring Jason Robards with a seating capacity of 700. It was renamed the Janus Theatre by 1973. By 1976, this theatre was twinned by splitting down the original auditorium into two sections, creating shoebox auditoriums with smaller screens. It was renamed the Janus Theatres 1 & 2 and it remained that way before it closed in the early-to-mid 1980’s.
It was renamed Cinema Blue that specialized in showing XXX-rated films, and the theatre was purchased by Janus Theatres(now Carousel Cinemas). Later on, the theatre was again purchased by a High Point, NC-based company and was used as a second-run theatre for the next 10 years when it was renamed the Church Street Cinemas. By the mid-1990’s, it was later sold to a Durham, NC-based company who operated it as a Spanish language theatre for two months before closing it’s doors in late-1999. On November28, 2002 it reopened as the Vanderbilt Cinemas and closed in 2003. It is now converted into a church.
Contributed by
raysson
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
The Church Street Twin Cinemas was never demolished. The theatre closed in the 1990’s as a discount theatre. The building is still there but it has been converted into a mega-church that basically took up that section where it was a shopping center that was anchored by a Zayre Department Store and a Winn-Dixie grocer.
This theatre was once the Trans-Lux In Flight Cinema that opened on March 23,1970. It was renamed the Janus Theatre by 1973 and was twinned by 1976 renamed the Janus 1 & 2. By 1983,it became the Blue Moon Adult Theatre that specialized in showing hardcore XXX-rated films until the late-1980’s or early-to-mid 1990’s. By the 1990’s it became a discount movie house under Janus Theatres and was renamed the Church Street Twin Cinemas until it closed in the late-1990’s. It reopened as a Spanish Language cinema that specialized in showing Spanish films for the huge Latino crowd. By either 2000 or 2001 it closed for good. It was converted into a church by either 2003 or 2004 that is still in business.
A few corrections:
The theater was the Blue Moon from the late 70’s until some time before 1985. I know this because this was the theater I saw Police Academy 3 in, and that movie came out in 1985 (and I was 12 years old at the time), and given my mother’s fear of even entering the same building that an evil theater had been, I’d say it had been at least a year or two.
The theater was closed when the Terrace expanded in the early 1990’s, when it was purchased by Daniel Kleeberg of High Point (he owned a small string of second-run theaters in High Point, Burlington, North Wilksboro, and, I think, somewhere in Virginia. I know this because I worked for Kleeberg and the longest-running movie the theater had under his management was Cool Runnings (1993).
The name of the theater during the 90’s wasn’t Church Street Twin Cinemas – it was Church Street Cinema Twin. Minor point, I know. It stayed open until late 99, when he had to close it due to lack of people to manage it (I’d left by this point, as had the long-term manager).
There was only one “shoebox” screen. The large auditorium could hold about 450 people, while the smaller screen could hold around 180.
The grocery store in the shopping center was never a Winn-Dixie. The oldest store I remember was a Krogers (where the infamous Blanche Taylor Moore worked) that was later replaced by a Byrd’s, which was eventually bought by Lowes Foods and then closed. Today, it’s a Aldi.
Correction: Police Academy 3 came out in 1986, but I still stand by my original statement. I may hop down to the library at some point to check old newspapers to see when the changeover happened.
Did a quick look at the newspaper archives and learned that the Blue Moon had closed sometime in 1979 or 1980. On or just before January 1, 1981, the theater opened as the Janus with one screen. The first movie was “Seems Like Old Times” with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase.
Facts & confirmations:
I saw an animated Disney film at this theater in the early-to-mid-1970s.
I remember the Times-News Burlington newspaper ads from circa the late ‘70s being for the “Cinema Blue,” an X-rated theater featuring a weekly “Live Amateur Night."
I actually saw "Seems Like Old Times,”(US release date December 19, 1980) there and it was the Janus.
By the mid-'80s the two auditoriums were indeed different sizes, one being considerably smaller than the other. *The Janus continued showing first run films at this location at least as late as October 1988, as I saw Alien Nation first run there.
Note: I consider this comment a correction of any contradictory info on this page.
WLasley is correct: it was Cinema Blue, not the Blue Moon (they used a blue moon logo on their marquee).
Reopened as Joy Art with “The Story of O” on September 17th, 1976. Another ad posted.
Closed August 2nd, 1978 for failing to pay rent to Trans-Lux, which owned the building per
Found on Newspaperarchive.com
Reopened December 29th, 1978 as Cinema Blue. Another ad posted.
This became Janus on December 19th, 1980
Found on Newspaperarchive.com
Two screens on October 2nd, 1981 and closed in 1992 and reopened as Church Street Cinemas 2 on October 1st, 1993. Another ad posted. Reopened as Vanderbilt Cinemas on November 28th, 2002, and closed in 2003.
Found on Newspaperarchive.com