GCC Richland Plaza Cinema I & II
6331 Richland Plaza Drive,
North Richland Hills,
TX
76180
6331 Richland Plaza Drive,
North Richland Hills,
TX
76180
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: General Cinema Corp.
Architects: Maurice D. Sornik
Functions: Office Space
Nearby Theaters
This is the first cinema in Tarrant County for General Cinema opening on September 24, 1964 with Hayley Mills in “The Moonspinners”. The 950-seat theatre was split into two cinemas on April 9, 1977. It was closed on April 30, 1986 with Michael J. Fox in “Back to the Future” & Sally Field in “Murphy’s Romance”. In 1988 it was converted into a bingo hall. It is now an office building.
Contributed by
MIKE RIVEST
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
September 24th, 1964 grand opening ad with picture posted.
Opened on 24th September 1964 with Hayley Mills in “The Moonspinners”.
Saw “Return of the Jedi” there the first weekend it was out on May 28, 1983.
Richland Plaza Shopping Center was announced in 1960. General Drive-In (soon to be General Cinema) announced its 39th hardtop property adjoining Richland Plaza, a shopping center opened in 1962 anchored by a J.C. Penneys store and Buddies Grocery Store. During construction, Montgomery Ward’s joined the project along with the outparcel / freestanding cinema.
Plans were by General Cinema’s Maurice Sornik and had 950 seats at launch as built by Dallas contractor Ten-Eyck Shaw and local Dallas architect Don Speck as associate architect. Groundbreaking was on February 13, 1964. It opened on September 24th, 1964 with Hayley Mills in “The Moonspinners.” It was one of three venues for the circuit to open that same day and another 28 were in construction as General Cinema would dominate many markets in the suburban luxury era of movie exhibition.
The Richland Plaza contained 100 tons of plate glass as each storefront was decked out floor to ceiling in heavy glass. This was great until the Texas summer sun took an initial toll and, markedly worse, when a hail storm took out the front facing windows of the Cinema in 1968 which crashed down during the business day. (A modern photo shows that the building was retrofitted with a facing to protect the upper part of the building.)
The venue closed in March of 1977 for a refresh. It re-emerged on April 9, 1977 as a twin screen operation, the GCC Richland Plaza Cinema I & II, with “Raggedy Ann and Andy” and “Led Zeppelin’s “The Song Remains the Same.” But two malls would open within four miles of the Plaza in the 1970s altering the General Cinema and Richland Plaza’s futures. Penney’s bolted for the North East Mall at its opening with Montgomery Ward’s following in an expansion with Ward’s reducing its Richland Plaza anchor to a clearance outlet store. North Hills Mall opened theatre-lessly in 1979; but, in a refresh, GCC opened the seven-screen North Hills VII mall cinema there about 2.5 miles away.
This led to a downgraded GCC Richland Plaza positioned as a sub-run discount house as it tried to run out its leasing agreement. GCC ultimately closed the Richland Plaza I & II on April 30, 1986 with “Back to the Future” and “Murphy’s Romance.” It sat empty until a 1988 conversion to a Bingo Hall. The former cinema/bingo hall was later converted for office space. As for Richland Plaza, it held on with some independent stores and a thrift store becoming a mixed use property. But it was essentially rezoned as primarily non-retail and is considered closed with the cinema and many other structures looking fairly familiar.