Mid Rivers 14 Cine'
1220 Mid Rivers Mall Drive,
St. Peters,
MO
63376
1220 Mid Rivers Mall Drive,
St. Peters,
MO
63376
6 people
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Mid Rivers Mall opened on October 14, 1987 by May Co’s May Centers, the parent company of legendary St. Louis retailer Famous-Barr who anchored there at launch. The project was about six years behind its original, targeted opening date. And General Cinema’s interest in opening a multiplex there dated back to 1982.
The 1,400 seat General Cinema Mid Rivers was announced as a neighbor to the Paddlewheel Express Food Court with two larger, 400-seat auditoria for the major releases. They finally launched in the mall on December 9, 1988. At that point, GCC had St. Louis-area multiplexes in Mid Rivers, the venerable Lindbergh and the Northwest Plazas, and the outlying Jamestown Mall, Chesterfield Mall, and Sunset Hills Plaza. St. Louis would turn out not to be GCC’s Gateway City. Less than a year after its launch in Mid Rivers, Wehrenberg Theatres bought out all 32 GCC screens effective November 1, 1989. This venue was renamed to the Wehrenberg-preferred label of “ciné” becoming the Mid Rivers 6 Ciné.
Th megaplex era took hold in the mid-1990s and dated mutliplexes all over the country were on the bubble. The chain decided to go big closing the Mid Rivers 6 Ciné March 21, 1999 and announcing a revamped 14-screen facility that would launch at year’s end on December 10, 1999 - as the Mid Rivers 14 Ciné.
In November of 2016, Marcus Corp. bought the Wehrenberg locations and it would eventually change the name of this venue to the Mid Rivers Cinema. A major post-COVID pandemic refresh included a bar and one of the Marcus' SuperScreen DLX large premium format auditoriums at its May 7, 2021 reboot after a three-month closure. Marcus' Mid Rivers Cinema was still operating in the 2020s.
The theater closed in Feb 2021 for renovations, which were completed in May 2021: St. Peters, MO: Newly Renovated Marcus Mid Rivers Cinema Now Open [May 10, 2021]
Since the Marcus takeover, they seem to be showing more Bollywood films here. According to the listings for this coming Friday, there will be five movies in either Telugu or Tamil. I don’t know if St Charles County has that big an Indian population, and even so, a mall multiplex doesn’t seem like the obvious place for them. The average teenage mall moviegoer would want more mainstream movies,
December 10th, 1999 grand opening ad in photo section.
December 9th, 1988 grand opening ad in photo section.
Are they wanting to put some reserved seating in? I saw Interstellar there last week, and in that particular auditorium (Screen 9), there were two seats surrounded by velvet ropes, which eliminated one of the two spaces for wheelchair seating.
Aside from the split-level configuration of the lobby, which depended upon the lift elevator to give access for our disabled guests, the space had an ongoing problem with odor and moisture. Both GCC and Wehrenberg probably spent a lot of time and money trying to correct those issues.
Just out of curiosity, DAL, what kind of problems where they? Were they structure-related, location-related, or customer-related?
I can assure you that no part of the 14-plex is the same as the old 6. I worked for Wehrenberg when the new construction happened. We didn’t want the old building due to numerous problems with that space. Since the new build was separate, the old theatre was able to operate until the landlord and tenant wanted it to close.
No, it’s still part of the original 6-plex. They may have moved the entrance, but the positions are still pretty much the same. Otherwise, it would have taken longer than it did to transition from 6 to 14. It was closed less than a year. Not to mention, a waste of still useable theater space.
Sorry, but there is no part of the original GCC 6-plex that was incorporated into the new Wehrenberg-designed 14. The two theatres are in different sections of the mall.
Some of the original 6 screens were incorporated into the new build. There was additional work done, aside from making the screens all stadium seating. The screen entrances used to be lower than the rest of the mall, as referenced in my earlier comment. They may have added, or moved, a screen of two. I haven’t had many movies on that side of the Cineplex, and have not gone there as frequently since the Galaxy 14 in Chesterfield set their lower prices.
Is the original GCC 6-plex part of the new 14-plex or is the 14-plex an entirely new build?
This has been my theater of choice since the early 90s. Never went to it when GCG ran it.
Having to use a wheelchair since the late 90s, I remember the old entrance, before they expanded it. They had a wheelchair lift to get down to the auditoriums. Sometimes, you had to wait for someone to operate it after the showings.
The best time to go here is before noon, when the shows are cheap. ($6 currently.)
@littlelamzie: Actually, it’s not much different from when I went there on Friday nights in 1990!! That was when the theater only had 6 screens and the kids were loud and disrespectful then…maybe not foul-mouthed, but they still ruined the movie experience because they just wouldn’t shut up!! I’ve found the St. Charles 18 to be far better…
I loathe going to this theater, especially on a Friday or Saturday night. Yikes! Nothing but young kids being disrespectful and foul-mouthed. It has definitely gone down hill in the last 10 years.
Since the Mid Rivers 6 opened in December of 1988, would that make it the last General Cinema theater that opened in St. Louis?
There is a small picture pf the theater’s mall entrance here: View link
I’ll take ya back further…I remember when I-70 (the highway, not the drive in) wasn’t there.
I know the family who owned the property the mall sits on.
Funny-I’ve never been in that theater, yet I live within walking distance.
If GCC opened the 6 screener in Dec 1988, this means it was in GCC’s hands for less than a year, since Wehrenberg bought out the remaining GCCs in 1989. Do I have that right?
This will take you back…I remember playing soccer on a field that was near the site for Mid Rivers Mall. This was in the late 70-early 80s and, at that time, there was no Mid Rivers Mall. It was just a big empty field. Still can’t believe it used to be that way not so long ago.
The Mid Rivers 6 was closed in March 1999.
The new Mid Rivers 14 opened December 10, 1999.
General Cinema opened as a 6-screen in December 1988.
Wehrenberg’s web site (http://www.wehrenberg.com/theaterDetail.asp?theatre=18) says: • All Stadium Seating Auditoriums with “Snuggle Seats®†and cupholder armrests
• Digital Surround Sound
• Full Service Concession Stand
• Family Entertainment Center with video and redemption games & exciting prizes
• Available for group events
• Assistive Listening Devices
• Handicap accessible
• Free Jumbo Corn Refills
The Architect was Rataj Krueger Architects Inc. Please see web site at www.RKAI.net for other theater projects.
This theater was one of the first full stadium seating ADA compliant projects in the Midwest area.
The Interior Designer was Larry Raphael.