The Cineplex Beverly Center
07/16/22 • 73 min
4 Listeners
On this episode, we take a look back not at the career of an actor or director, nor about a specific movie or a distributor, but at a movie theatre that opened forty years ago today, that would change the course of the theatrical exhibition industry forever: The Cineplex Beverly Center.
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The Beverly Center and its flagship movie theatre, the first theatre in America to have a double-digit number of screens under one roof, opened on July 16th, 1982, and the theatre would quickly become one of the busiest movie theatres in the country, and whose success would help drive an astounding wave of new builds and acquisitions that would take Cineplex from a single theatre complex in Toronto to the biggest exhibitor in North America in less than ten years.
In addition to the host's personal recollections of working at the theatre in the 1990s, the 2000s and the 2010s, we also talk to film historian, author and UCSB professor Ross Melnick about the impact the theatre had on the entire film industry.
On this episode, we take a look back not at the career of an actor or director, nor about a specific movie or a distributor, but at a movie theatre that opened forty years ago today, that would change the course of the theatrical exhibition industry forever: The Cineplex Beverly Center.
----more----
The Beverly Center and its flagship movie theatre, the first theatre in America to have a double-digit number of screens under one roof, opened on July 16th, 1982, and the theatre would quickly become one of the busiest movie theatres in the country, and whose success would help drive an astounding wave of new builds and acquisitions that would take Cineplex from a single theatre complex in Toronto to the biggest exhibitor in North America in less than ten years.
In addition to the host's personal recollections of working at the theatre in the 1990s, the 2000s and the 2010s, we also talk to film historian, author and UCSB professor Ross Melnick about the impact the theatre had on the entire film industry.
Previous Episode
Ross Melnick
1 RecommendationsOn this episode, we speak with film historian, author and UCSB professor Ross Melnick about his new book, his 80s cinema class, and five films from the decade he thinks you should watch again.
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Ross Melnick was also named as a 2017 Academy Film Scholar, one of only two film scholars who were bestowed this honor by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. His new book, Hollywood Embassies: How Movie Theatres Projected American Power Around the World, has just been released by Columbia University Press, and it has been a great honor to have him guest on the show.
The movies we discussed on this episode include:
A Better Tomorrow (1986, John Woo)
Cruising (1980, William Freidkin)
El Norte (1983, Gregory Nava)
Escape from Liberty Cinema (1990, Wojciech Marczewski)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986, John Hughes)
Moscow on the Hudson (1984, Paul Mazursky)
Radio Days (1987, Woody Allen)
Reds (1981, Warren Beatty)
Soul Man (1986, Steve Miner)*
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985, William Freidkin)
*Although discussed during the episode, neither Mr. Havens nor Mr. Melnick condones the viewing of Soul Man.
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On this episode, we reflect on the recent unfortunate late summer release of an Easter-themed movie by looking back to the 1987 unfortunate late spring release of a Christmas-themed horror movie, Silent Night, Deadly Night: Part 2.
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