Creve Coeur Cine'
10570 Olive Street Road,
Creve Coeur,
MO
63141
10570 Olive Street Road,
Creve Coeur,
MO
63141
6 people
favorited this theater
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Saw quite a few classics there when I was a kid in the mid to late 70s. Jaws, Airport ‘77, Star Wars, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Alien, and The Empire Strikes Back. What a beautiful, grand theater it was. I miss the days of a big house with such a huge screen.
Only went there twice. Once for Star Wars, once for Empire. Since I was, at the oldest, 6 or 7, I don’t remember much abou it. Other than it being the first time I exited by the screen, and saw the credits in reverse from the other side.
New Showcase Presentations in St. Louis article includes a chronology of the 70mm engagements here at the Creve Coeur (and other St. Louis area cinemas).
Grand opening ads in the photo section.
The Creve Coeur was an awesome place to see the biggest films in the late ‘70s and early '80s.
There’s a flashback scene on an episode of “The Simpsons” where Homer walks out of “The Empire Strikes Back” and spoils the ending for the line of people waiting for the next show. That actually happened as some friends and I were coming out of the Creve Coeur on opening weekend. (I swear it wasn’t us!) We were walking to our car when we heard some jerk behind us deliberately yell at the line of waiting people, “Hey everybody! Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s dad!” We then heard someone in the line yell, “You son of a b——!!” We got to our car and got out as quick as we could before a riot could start.
I also have a vivid memory of going with two girlfriends together to the Creve Coeur to see “Alien.” It had just opened, we’d only seen the vague TV commercial and knew nothing about the movie. I was so freaked out by the movie, the two girls had to help me walk out of the theater. We got to the car, got in, then sat there without speaking for a moment. Then I dazedly suggested going somewhere for a bite to eat, and the girl in the back seat said, “Someplace well lit.”
My all-time favorite cinema! Its original one-auditorium configuration was so sweet! Favorite memory was in 1977. We went to see “Star Wars.” Creve Coeur was one of the 43 original cinemas to show it. We went for the 7 p.m. or so showing. It was sold out. So, we got tickets for the next showing, went across to Schnuck’s for some ice cream. We came back, sat on the floor with everyone else and had some popcorn while waiting for our showing to start. We had a blast, and spent the rest of the summer telling everyone about the movie!
Tons of other great memories here, too many to mention! Beautiful auditorium with pitch-perfect 70mm projection and 6-track Dolby Stereo sound!
One regret that I have is that I never made it to the Creve Coeur. Really wish I had
Oh my…in that Boxoffice article is the pre-split auditorium where I first saw Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Fantasia. My my my!!!
The AMC 12 now stands about 100 yards NE from the old CC3 site.
Just out of curiosity, what is now on the site of where the Creve Coeur Cine used to be?
The Alien preview happened on April 6th, 1979. Then-Fox head Alan Ladd Jr. and many Fox representatives were in attendance along with the heads of the circuits run in the state.
AWESOME!!! I’ll email you shortly!
In response to Chris Utley please e-mail me at with an e-mail address and I can send you some pics of Creve Coeur interior. Most of the shots will have former staff but I have a ton of pics from the 3 years that I worked there. I do have one shot from the final night showing the screen in House 1 will all of the staff standing on the wall infront of it.
The reconfiguration of the single screen theatre into a tri-plex opened on December 21, 1984. In the re-do, the original auditorium, seating 916, turned into the “main” house seating 511 and the two others seating 194 each…for a total of 899. The original screen had dimensions of 60x38; it was cut down to 52x34 in the re-do.
Does anyone have any interior photos of this theatre – specifically ones with the auditorium/screen?
I used to work at this theater from 1990 to 1992 when I was in High School. I do recall the decor being different than any other theater in St. Louis. In reference to the 70mm comment above, during the summer of 1991 the theater ran a series of 70mm films. These films included “Meet Me in St. Louis”, “Spartacus”, and many other films. It was only 1 of 2 theaters in St. Louis at the time that had a projector that was still capable of playing the 70mm of these films. During my time there the Creve Coeur Cine' also premiered the movie “White Palace” which starred Susan Sarandon and James Spader. This movie was also filmed in St. Louis. To go even further back one of my first movie memeories as a kid was standing in line with my father to see the “Empire Strikes Back” at the Creve Coeur Cine' back in 1980!
“Alien” did play at CreveCoeur. That engagement is mentioned in this fascinating article about how the movie got released. The piece also mentioned, to my surprise, that St. Louis was selected as the city in which they ran “Alien” for a test audience to gauge reaction to influence any final adjustments made to the movie.
Opening attraction was an exclusive, reserved seat run of “Oliver!” The film ran 27 weeks.
This cinema also premiered “Alien” in STL, if memory serves..
The orignal theatre was a 1 screen that sat over 900 people. Later it was remodeled and cut into to three auditoriums. The end as Chuck puts it was not when AMC built next door. It was when AMC built a 16 plex a few miles down the road. The doors closed for the final show on September 13, 1999. The AMC 12 opened a few weeks later.
Very 1960s design, beautiful interior. I loved this house from the moment I entered it in 1970 to see the 70mm roadshow of “Goodbye Mr. Chips”. What a shame it’s gone…
The Creve Coeur Cine will also hold a place in St. Louis movie history due to the fact that it showed “Star Wars” during it’s original 1977 premiere engagement. Ditto for “The Empire Strikes Back”.