Going back 31 years… the Illinois was showing the following:
6/28/85: The Goonies and Return To Oz
7/3/85: Back to the Future and The Emerald Forest
7/24/85/: Back to the Future and The Black Cauldron
8/2/85: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and The Heavenly Kid
8/9/85: Pale Rider and My Science Project
8/16/85: Return of the Living Dead and My Science Project
8/23/85: Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird and National Lampoon’s European Vacation
8/30/85: Summer Rental and Teen Wolf
Actually, this theatre opened for business, as the Kerasotes Illinois Centre 8 on December 10, 1993.
The other theater in Marion, previously the only operating one prior to the opening of the Illinois Centre 8, the Town and Country 4, was re-opened as a dollar house that same day.
AMC is once again on the warpath towards their older theatres, they also closed the Toler 2 in Benton and the Lory in Highland the same day, July 28,2011.
A fairly recent Murphysboro American article on the Liberty. There are some exterior and interior pictures from 1950. Notice the interior looks completely different than it currently appears. The reason is the theater suffered a major fire in 1954 and reopened the following year, hence the remodel.
Longtime patrons of AMC Toler 2 bid goodbye to the big screens as the last movie theater in Franklin County closed at the end of business Thursday.
Toler Cinema was a draw for movie lovers since its opening by Charles Toler in the early 1970s, but AMC Theatres, which bought the cinema from Kerasotes Theatres in May 2010, targeted the two-screen theater for closure this summer.
“AMC continually upgrades the quality of our theatre circuit by adding new screens and by disposing of older screens through closures and sales,” AMC spokesman Ryan Noonan said in an e-mail. “We do, however, look at our theatres on an individual basis. AMC Toler 2 has been identified as a theatre that no longer competes effectively in the marketplace and will close at the end of business on July 28.”
The decision left many movie-goers upset and the county without a theater for the first time in decades.
“I just hate it,” said Maranda Rush of Benton. “I’ve called AMC, the real estate agency, the historic society, and tried to raise awareness on Facebook. I even tried to get them (AMC) to let me run it on a lease program but they’re just not interested. It’s the last theater in the county but they’re about the bottom line – money.”
Rush said she worked for the theater in the past and was a frequent patron.
“I loved every minute of it. It was the most family-oriented place you could think of. There was a great rapport with customers and they were treated with kindness and respect,” she said. “It’s the most convenient and cost-effective place to see a movie for a lot of us.”
Rebecca Harkins of West City attended one of the final showings of the latest Harry Potter movie at the theater. She said she doesn’t want to travel to Marion or Mount Vernon to watch a movie.
“I’m going to miss it,” she said. “I don’t go to the show that often but when I do, I don’t want to have to go out of town.”
While some patrons started a call-in campaign to complain to AMC about the closure, Noonan said the theater will not reopen under AMC.
By word of Facebook, the Toler 2 is scheduled to close July 28th.
“Tommy Hammond
I wanted to let everyone know that The Movie Theater in Benton is closing it’s doors July 28th. It is the last Movie Theater in Franklin County, and is being closed by AMC Theaters even though is turns a profit! The employees are not even being guaranteed work at other area AMC Theaters. the customer service hotline for AMC is: 877-262-4450 Let’s make a real effort to call and try to keep our Movie Theater!!!”
View link
HARRISBURG — The AMC Harrisburg 4 has been a fixture on Main Street in downtown Harrisburg since 1971. Despite all that history, on Sunday the movie theater will close for good. Employees were notified by the AMC corporate office about a month ago.
AMC took over the theater in April. Twelve employees will be laid off. And although the company offered them the option to transfer to another theater, most aren’t taking them up on it. They say it’s just not worth the trip.
“The closest theater for me would be Marion or Benton. And for the same amount of pay, I just decided to look for another job,” said theater employee Garrett Smith.
With the Harrisburg theater closed, moviegoers will now have to drive about a half an hour to catch the latest release on the big screen. Many people were buying tickets Wednesday night, but employees told News 3 the week nights are typically pretty slow. Still— AMC told employees there was a long-term plan.
“In June they said that in five years if our profits have gone up we were going to get a brand new theater,” said Smith, “And if not, they were going to shut us down. And it kind of came as a shock, here it is six months later.”
The community is sad to see the theater shut its doors. Many said they were surprised by the announcement.
“I have a lot of memories here and it’s always fun to come here. You know, and bring your nephews and nieces and cousins and you just have so many memories. I can remember every movie I’ve ever seen here,” Doug Jones told us.
“I’m not real happy about it because this is the only place kids have locally to come and hang out with their friends,” said Ashton Lee.
The AMC corporate office wasn’t available for comment Wednesday on why its shutting down the theater.
The Harrisburg theater will cash in on the traditionally busy Thanksgiving weekend. Box office revenues hit an all time high in 2009 and they’re predicted to top that this year. So more people are going to the movies—but they won’t be doing it in Harrisburg anymore.
Now that Kerasotes has been taken over by AMC, can they show movies on film yet again? Would need a fundraiser drive or use proceeds from donations to buy a projector, lamphouse, platter and other necessary equipment.
Became an AMC theater yet again in June 2010. Only theater to my knowledge that was owned by one chain, given to another, and reclaimed by the first chain.
Bakers plan to open Grand Theater once more
By Stephen Rickerl, The Southern thesouthern.com | Posted: Thursday, November 4, 2010 4:00 am
DU QUOIN – Owners of the historic Grand Theater in Du Quoin have decided to make another go at keeping the theater open.
Scherry Baker, co-owner of the Grand Theater, said she, her husband and son all co-own the theater and discussed ways they might be able to keep it open over the weekend. She said they decided Monday to try to make it work.
The owners decided to close theater doors Oct. 18 because of attendance problems, which they said had been an issue since they bought the theater in 2006.
Baker said it took a lot to keep the theater open, but it is worth it for the family. She said she and her husband cleaned out their retirement account and her son emptied his savings account to keep the theater in business. Baker said she didn’t want to see the theater shut down because of the personal meaning the theater held for the family of owners.
“We had to scrape together enough money to keep it going,” she said. “I don’t want to see it shut down; it’s personal.”
Baker said working hard to keep the theater open is worth it for her. Being retired, she said the couple enjoys operating the theater and it gives the children in Du Quoin something to do. She said when word got out about the theater closing she received several phone calls from the public and from schools which would go to the theater for screenings.
She said she appreciates the outpouring of support and it was a factor when deciding whether or not to try to reopen the theater.
Fred Huff, president of the Du Quoin Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber would do everything it could to help the theater because it’s an integral part of the community.
618-351-5823
Copyright 2010 thesouthern.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Posted in Local, News on Thursday, November 4, 2010 4:00 am Updated: 11:29 pm. | Tags: Du Quoin, Grand Theater, Scherry Baker, Movies
DU QUOIN- Attendance problems at Grand Theater in Du Quoin forced owners to close the historic theater Monday, but owners aren’t ruling out a re-opening if they can find help with funding.
Rich Baker, co-owner of the theater, said the reason for closing is simple, “We just went broke.”
He said the theater simply couldn’t sell enough tickets to make the business viable. Baker said the theater screened two new releases Friday night, but only around 20 people came to the theater. He said attendance Saturday and Sunday wasn’t much better.
He said he’s tried to keep the theater open. It employed one full-time employee and about 10 part-time employees.
“Attendance has been so bad,” Baker said. “We thought maybe if we had a good weekend we could keep it going.”
Baker said attendance has been an issue since he bought the theater in 2006. He said summer attendance is always better but it drops sharply when students return to school.
Baker said he’s looking into possible grant opportunities and potential help from the city to keep the nearly 100-year-old theater operating.
As a small, independent theater, Baker said it is more difficult to get films; many times the theater has to put forward an advance to get first-run films, with no guarantee of recouping the cost.
“If we could just break even we’d be happy,” he said. “We invested our entire life savings into that theater. We’ve had some good times, just not enough of them.”
Du Quoin Mayor John Rednour Sr., who was out of town on business, said he first heard of the theater closing Tuesday and, upon his return, was going to see what, if anything, the city could do to help.
Fred Huff, president of Du Quoin Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber will do everything possible to keep the historic theater in operation.
“It’s part of Du Quoin’s history,” Huff said. “There’s just something about a movie theater – it’s the heart of the community. One way or the other, I feel it would reopen as a theater.”
618-351-5823
Copyright 2010 thesouthern.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Posted in Local on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 2:00 am
This afternoon a out of control Saluki Express bus crashed into the east wall of the theater. Tore up the wall pretty good. Bricks from pretty much roof height to the ground (about 25 feet) fell, and a pretty good sized hole in the wall. According to WSIL a structural engineer has been called in to observe the building.
Simplex XL projector, Christie CH-10 1000 watt xenon lamphouse, and either a Potts or Strong platter, behind Henry.
Added 5 new pics taken today, of the former Town Plaza in its current state.
I only saw the two original auditoriums, I guess the three added on in ‘83 were off to the east side?
I see what looked like a doorway off of the east wall, that was “expanded” during the demolition…
Going back 31 years… the Illinois was showing the following:
6/28/85: The Goonies and Return To Oz 7/3/85: Back to the Future and The Emerald Forest 7/24/85/: Back to the Future and The Black Cauldron 8/2/85: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and The Heavenly Kid 8/9/85: Pale Rider and My Science Project 8/16/85: Return of the Living Dead and My Science Project 8/23/85: Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird and National Lampoon’s European Vacation 8/30/85: Summer Rental and Teen Wolf
Actually, this theatre opened for business, as the Kerasotes Illinois Centre 8 on December 10, 1993.
The other theater in Marion, previously the only operating one prior to the opening of the Illinois Centre 8, the Town and Country 4, was re-opened as a dollar house that same day.
The Liberty was sold to the Kerasotes chain in August 1969.
1954 interior.
The pre-1954 interior.
What kind of lamps and projectors are those? Lamps are Carbon arc, most definitely.
The Town Plaza 5 is scheduled to close December 1st: http://www.kfvs12.com/story/16078389/capes-amc-town-plaza-5-to-close-dec-1
AMC is once again on the warpath towards their older theatres, they also closed the Toler 2 in Benton and the Lory in Highland the same day, July 28,2011.
A fairly recent Murphysboro American article on the Liberty. There are some exterior and interior pictures from 1950. Notice the interior looks completely different than it currently appears. The reason is the theater suffered a major fire in 1954 and reopened the following year, hence the remodel.
http://www.murphysboroamerican.com/entertainment/x1797084383/James-Marlow-The-Impresario-of-Murphysboro
Franklin County left without a cinema after the Toler 2 shuts its doors
Read more: http://thesouthern.com/news/local/article_183fcf02-b99a-11e0-b89d-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1TXC9QRjB
Longtime patrons of AMC Toler 2 bid goodbye to the big screens as the last movie theater in Franklin County closed at the end of business Thursday.
Toler Cinema was a draw for movie lovers since its opening by Charles Toler in the early 1970s, but AMC Theatres, which bought the cinema from Kerasotes Theatres in May 2010, targeted the two-screen theater for closure this summer.
“AMC continually upgrades the quality of our theatre circuit by adding new screens and by disposing of older screens through closures and sales,” AMC spokesman Ryan Noonan said in an e-mail. “We do, however, look at our theatres on an individual basis. AMC Toler 2 has been identified as a theatre that no longer competes effectively in the marketplace and will close at the end of business on July 28.”
The decision left many movie-goers upset and the county without a theater for the first time in decades.
“I just hate it,” said Maranda Rush of Benton. “I’ve called AMC, the real estate agency, the historic society, and tried to raise awareness on Facebook. I even tried to get them (AMC) to let me run it on a lease program but they’re just not interested. It’s the last theater in the county but they’re about the bottom line – money.”
Rush said she worked for the theater in the past and was a frequent patron.
“I loved every minute of it. It was the most family-oriented place you could think of. There was a great rapport with customers and they were treated with kindness and respect,” she said. “It’s the most convenient and cost-effective place to see a movie for a lot of us.”
Rebecca Harkins of West City attended one of the final showings of the latest Harry Potter movie at the theater. She said she doesn’t want to travel to Marion or Mount Vernon to watch a movie.
“I’m going to miss it,” she said. “I don’t go to the show that often but when I do, I don’t want to have to go out of town.”
While some patrons started a call-in campaign to complain to AMC about the closure, Noonan said the theater will not reopen under AMC.
“We do not intend to change our plans,” he said.
618-927-5633
On Twitter: @beckymalkovich
Read more: http://thesouthern.com/news/local/article_183fcf02-b99a-11e0-b89d-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1TXC4nfR9
By word of Facebook, the Toler 2 is scheduled to close July 28th.
“Tommy Hammond I wanted to let everyone know that The Movie Theater in Benton is closing it’s doors July 28th. It is the last Movie Theater in Franklin County, and is being closed by AMC Theaters even though is turns a profit! The employees are not even being guaranteed work at other area AMC Theaters. the customer service hotline for AMC is: 877-262-4450 Let’s make a real effort to call and try to keep our Movie Theater!!!”
Site with some shots of the upstairs/downstairs projection booths:
View link
View link
Here’s a recent picture of the interior, taken during the Big Muddy Film Festival in 2010:
View link
You need to update the status to “Open” as it reopened in November 2010.
Closing for good November 28,2010.
View link
HARRISBURG — The AMC Harrisburg 4 has been a fixture on Main Street in downtown Harrisburg since 1971. Despite all that history, on Sunday the movie theater will close for good. Employees were notified by the AMC corporate office about a month ago.
AMC took over the theater in April. Twelve employees will be laid off. And although the company offered them the option to transfer to another theater, most aren’t taking them up on it. They say it’s just not worth the trip.
“The closest theater for me would be Marion or Benton. And for the same amount of pay, I just decided to look for another job,” said theater employee Garrett Smith.
With the Harrisburg theater closed, moviegoers will now have to drive about a half an hour to catch the latest release on the big screen. Many people were buying tickets Wednesday night, but employees told News 3 the week nights are typically pretty slow. Still— AMC told employees there was a long-term plan.
“In June they said that in five years if our profits have gone up we were going to get a brand new theater,” said Smith, “And if not, they were going to shut us down. And it kind of came as a shock, here it is six months later.”
The community is sad to see the theater shut its doors. Many said they were surprised by the announcement.
“I have a lot of memories here and it’s always fun to come here. You know, and bring your nephews and nieces and cousins and you just have so many memories. I can remember every movie I’ve ever seen here,” Doug Jones told us.
“I’m not real happy about it because this is the only place kids have locally to come and hang out with their friends,” said Ashton Lee.
The AMC corporate office wasn’t available for comment Wednesday on why its shutting down the theater.
The Harrisburg theater will cash in on the traditionally busy Thanksgiving weekend. Box office revenues hit an all time high in 2009 and they’re predicted to top that this year. So more people are going to the movies—but they won’t be doing it in Harrisburg anymore.
By: Emily Finnegan
Now that Kerasotes has been taken over by AMC, can they show movies on film yet again? Would need a fundraiser drive or use proceeds from donations to buy a projector, lamphouse, platter and other necessary equipment.
Became an AMC theater yet again in June 2010. Only theater to my knowledge that was owned by one chain, given to another, and reclaimed by the first chain.
The theater reopened again today.
Bakers plan to open Grand Theater once more
By Stephen Rickerl, The Southern thesouthern.com | Posted: Thursday, November 4, 2010 4:00 am
DU QUOIN – Owners of the historic Grand Theater in Du Quoin have decided to make another go at keeping the theater open.
Scherry Baker, co-owner of the Grand Theater, said she, her husband and son all co-own the theater and discussed ways they might be able to keep it open over the weekend. She said they decided Monday to try to make it work.
The owners decided to close theater doors Oct. 18 because of attendance problems, which they said had been an issue since they bought the theater in 2006.
Baker said it took a lot to keep the theater open, but it is worth it for the family. She said she and her husband cleaned out their retirement account and her son emptied his savings account to keep the theater in business. Baker said she didn’t want to see the theater shut down because of the personal meaning the theater held for the family of owners.
“We had to scrape together enough money to keep it going,” she said. “I don’t want to see it shut down; it’s personal.”
Baker said working hard to keep the theater open is worth it for her. Being retired, she said the couple enjoys operating the theater and it gives the children in Du Quoin something to do. She said when word got out about the theater closing she received several phone calls from the public and from schools which would go to the theater for screenings.
She said she appreciates the outpouring of support and it was a factor when deciding whether or not to try to reopen the theater.
Fred Huff, president of the Du Quoin Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber would do everything it could to help the theater because it’s an integral part of the community.
618-351-5823
Copyright 2010 thesouthern.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Posted in Local, News on Thursday, November 4, 2010 4:00 am Updated: 11:29 pm. | Tags: Du Quoin, Grand Theater, Scherry Baker, Movies
They could always reopen running sub/second run features.
The Grand closed again October 18, 2010.
View link
DU QUOIN- Attendance problems at Grand Theater in Du Quoin forced owners to close the historic theater Monday, but owners aren’t ruling out a re-opening if they can find help with funding.
Rich Baker, co-owner of the theater, said the reason for closing is simple, “We just went broke.”
He said the theater simply couldn’t sell enough tickets to make the business viable. Baker said the theater screened two new releases Friday night, but only around 20 people came to the theater. He said attendance Saturday and Sunday wasn’t much better.
He said he’s tried to keep the theater open. It employed one full-time employee and about 10 part-time employees.
“Attendance has been so bad,” Baker said. “We thought maybe if we had a good weekend we could keep it going.”
Baker said attendance has been an issue since he bought the theater in 2006. He said summer attendance is always better but it drops sharply when students return to school.
Baker said he’s looking into possible grant opportunities and potential help from the city to keep the nearly 100-year-old theater operating.
As a small, independent theater, Baker said it is more difficult to get films; many times the theater has to put forward an advance to get first-run films, with no guarantee of recouping the cost.
“If we could just break even we’d be happy,” he said. “We invested our entire life savings into that theater. We’ve had some good times, just not enough of them.”
Du Quoin Mayor John Rednour Sr., who was out of town on business, said he first heard of the theater closing Tuesday and, upon his return, was going to see what, if anything, the city could do to help.
Fred Huff, president of Du Quoin Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber will do everything possible to keep the historic theater in operation.
“It’s part of Du Quoin’s history,” Huff said. “There’s just something about a movie theater – it’s the heart of the community. One way or the other, I feel it would reopen as a theater.”
618-351-5823
Copyright 2010 thesouthern.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Posted in Local on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 2:00 am
As of right now, according to the Kerasotes site, the University Place 8 is temporarily closed.
Story, with picture on thesouthern.com:
View link
This afternoon a out of control Saluki Express bus crashed into the east wall of the theater. Tore up the wall pretty good. Bricks from pretty much roof height to the ground (about 25 feet) fell, and a pretty good sized hole in the wall. According to WSIL a structural engineer has been called in to observe the building.