Brookgate Movies
5837 Smith Road,
Brook Park,
OH
44142
5837 Smith Road,
Brook Park,
OH
44142
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing 11 comments
Last day of business was October 27, 2002 and the last films shown were Spy Kids 2, Halloween: Resurrection, Barbershop, One Hour Photo, Austin Powers in Goldmember, and Star Wars Episode 2: The Phantom Menace.
dave-bronx…. The original “Star Wars” played at Brookgate second run, so it’s almost certainly not the answer to the question of which big movie played interlocked on all five of the Brookgate’s screens.
Coate: Upon further research I stand corrected. The projectionist at the Mayland told me of some BIG film they played at the Brookgate interlocked on all 5 screens, I thought I recalled Jaws, but that wasn’t it. Whatever it was the volume of business was unexpected so they ran interlocked, probably unofficially, because if they were supposed to be on five screens they would have had 5 prints. Maybe Star Wars?
July 16th, 1976 grand opening ad uploaded in the photo section.
I think the first “Jaws” might have been reissued in 1977 or early 1978…this was an era where the VCR was first introduced, and was not that common in homes yet (they cost about $1200 in 1977 dollars.) The studios used to reissue their hit films the next year or two to theaters in order to make a little more money off of them…the first movie videotapes came out about 1978 or 1979, at about $100 or so each. Video stores started opening around that same time, renting these tapes for $3 or so a night.
Yes, I think they are talking about “JAWS 2”,I never heard of Interlock when “JAWS” hit the screen first run.
Nice Grand Opening Ad. Mike Rivest,Loved the way the ad looked like film.Interlocked film the must have had platter machines,sounds like a nightmare to me.
<<< “When ‘Jaws’ was originally released it played here – 1 print – interlocked – on all five screens.” —– posted by dave-bronx on Apr 21, 2005 at 12:25am >>>
This theater did not exist in 1975 when “Jaws” was first released. Perhaps you’re thinking of “Jaws 2” in 1978?
July 16th, 1976 ad is at View link
And now the Tops stands vacant for 3 years.
That’s amusing that it was demolished for a supermarket – before the theatre was there the space had been occupied by an A&P.
When “Jaws” was originally released it played here – 1 print – interlocked – on all five screens – with frequent problems – I remember that I was glad I wasn’t working there.
National Theatre Corp. was part of the Blair Mooney’s mini-empire – he had his chain of theatres, maybe about 10 houses. He also had Co-Operative Theatres of Ohio, Inc., a booking agency that at one time booked every theatre in N.E.Ohio including General Cinema and Loews. And he also owned Academy Advertising, and they did the ad campaigns for all the theatres and studios. Up until about the mid-70s, anybody in the film or theatre business wanting to play ball in Cleveland had to play ball with him, or you didn’t play…