AMC Loews Paramus Route 4 Tenplex

The name “Primus” should be removed from the theater name as it makes no sense. It should be called Route 4 Tenplex.

I would love to see a timeline of this theater … as far as when it changed from one screen to two, from two to a triplex, from a triplex to a sevenplex, and so on …

*It was the lower theatre that was split into two by 1977. My mistake. *

No, you almost had it right the first time. The downstairs was intact, and the balcony was walled up to make a single, far too wide for it’s depth, theatre. The balcony was several years later cut into 2 theatres, long before the downstairs. If you remember, they built “The Route 4 Cinema” too the right of the original building, with a separate entrance, boxoffice, etc, rather than divide the downstairs of the original theatre. The last week Star Wars played at the RKO Stanely Warner, they moved it over to the smaller route 4 Cinema, and the marquee read Darth Vader in Star Wars.

AwfulAgent, the upstairs balcony was already divided into two theatres by 1977, when the original “Star Wars” came to rKO stanley Warner’s Route 4 Threeplex. It was already a sevenplex when Return Of The Jedi played at the RKO Century’s Route 4 Sevenplex in 1983.

The Tenplex was the role model for what a multiplex should be in North Jersey. AMC really drove the place right into the ground when it closed the Tenplex and build up an expensive new theater right next to the busy Garden State Plaza mall. This is also the same thing with the new Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, two new stadiums for old teams that don’t look as memorable as the original but are technologically advanced.

Most times when a chain closes a theatre and has a new one nearby then can put that in their leases with the property owners. That the location can not be used as a movie theatre even if it had been showing first run and the new people want to show 2nd or 3rd run films.
As you said the agent said the leasing rate was huge. Well they want a retail type company to lease it, which makes more money.

Well, I just talked to Vornado. The good news is the property is available for lease. The BAD news is they have something in their contract with the actual property owner that will not allow any type of movie theater to be located on that property. :( I still don’t understand why that would be the case, as AMC never owned the property and would be the only one who wouldn’t want another theater located at that location, since they have the “factory” one at the mall, but that’s just the way it is. The person I spoke to said there was no chance that policy would be changed. She also told me that the entire interior of the theater had been completely cleaned out, not just the projecters and chairs, but EVERYTHING, leaving only the exterior shell and the facade behind. Just thinking about that makes me want to start balling, but I know everyone doesn’t have emotional connections to that theater like I do. She actually mentioned that she thought the theater looked horrible and couldn’t understand why anyone would want to save it in the first place. I guess she never saw it in its glory days or understood that a lifespan of almost 50 years showing movies has an effect on a lot of people who frequented it during that time. It IS available for lease though and it could be used as a theatrical theater, like Bergen PAC or NJPAC, just not anything movie related, so if you know anyone who wants to open a community theater that would stage musicals, plays, etc…. give Vornado a call. The leasing rate she mentioned is pretty huge, so I honestly don’t know who could afford it. She did mention that the health club idea is still a possibility. Oh well, my hopes have been dashed again. :(

Hmm, Vornado is overseeing that whole makeover of the Bergen Mall as well as a few other buildings in that area.

Just for the record, after the theatre became a 4-plex, it became a 7-plex with the extension added on the front of the building with 3 screens that kind of ruined the lobby. I believe this may have opened in 1984 because I think that area was still new when I saw Passage to India on one of those screens. And then I am pretty sure it became an 8-plex with the twinning of the upstairs balcony theatre, and the breaking up of the main screen by building 2 small auditoriums in one end of it was the final and most tragic act that turned it into a 10-plex but also reduced the size of the wonderful main downstairs screen. But definitely screens #5/6/7 in the new building pre-dated the additional subdividing of the original.

I was fortunate enough to have worked as an usher during its days when it was known as “The RKO Route 4 Tenplex.” This was in the mid 1980s , and it was a real treat. It had not yet gone downhill as it had started to after it became Cineplex Odeon, although that horrid game room was always a problem. It was a real hang out on the weekends for kids, and there was ALWAYS a problem, fights, etc. However, on the upside, the theatre saw its best days at this time and was known as the east coasts premier theatre. I remember on many occasions the sneak previews or directors previews they would screen there. I was a teenager and never quite understood why they held these mega events there, I assume because it was one of the nicer theaters, and it’s proximity to New York City, being only a 15 minute drive to the George Washington Bridge. The main theatre (theatre 1.) was the biggest, and they showed al the important films in that one. What I remember most is how many famous people came and went out of that theater., some for the premiere events, some because they simply lived in the area. The regulars, as we as the staff called them were, Eddie Murphy (always with an entourage of friends, and tried to get in for free all the time), Brooke Shields, Danny Aiello, Lawrence Taylor, Charlie Callas (he was a favorite, would pull my on my nose or do a funny dance in the lobby), Patrick Ewing, “Captain Haggerty” (he came every weekend for a matinee), Dick Shawn, Alan Alda, and many others. I recall, popping in on one time events or premieres were, Ron Howard, Julie Andrews and Leonard Nimoy. One summer Saturday night, Tom Cruise AND Paul Newman both came together came for The Color of Money premiere, Joanne Woodward came too with her and Newman’s daughters. Even Michael Jackson couldn’t resist a visit to The Tenplex. He came in, once, on a weekday matinee. So as you can imagine, that place was really poppin during its heyday years. Yes, it was a great big theatre, yet it kept its intimacy and had style, a giant marble escalator, and hundreds of black and white movie star pictures in gold frames on the many walls in the giant lobby. These horrible current day multiplex’s now will never capture what real movie going used to be like. As a kid, the RKO Tenplex (I’ll selfishly never know it as anything else), will hold many, many great memories.

those photo’s are from me. The link is closed because there wasnt any hits.

Just saw The new Punisher movie at the Menlo 12 this weekend aand after reviewing the photos of the tenplex someone took I can confirm the theatre style is an near exact match right down to the carpet. The tenplex may have not originally been a Cineplex Odeon but it looks like they did most of the latter work there. Here’s one the pics of the tenplex that was posted. If you miss the 10 plex as I do and have yet to visit the Menlo park 12 you should. Your immediate reaction will probably be the same as mine, “I’m home.”

I’ll have to check out the Menlo Park 12 one too. There’s just nothing around here that has the same feel of the Tenplex, or the screen size of theater 1 there. I find myself going into NYC much more often these days to see movies, due to there still being a few classic theaters left there. I completely agree with Justin’s comment above that the Tenplex will be remembered long after it’s gone. It breaks my heart every time I pass by and see it all shuttered up with wood where the doors and front windows used to be. If only the town of Paramus would have stepped in to prevent it from becoming more retail space, or another gym as many have said it will become. I’m still furious that it was a done deal before anyone even knew it was officially closing. I had two separate independent theater owners who wanted to lease the property, but unfortunately, the same people who own the property the Tenplex resides on also own the former Bergen Mall site. They had already made their decision about what was going to replace the Tenplex and they didn’t have any interest in keeping it a movie theater. If it was a little older, I could have gotten it designated as a historical location, but it just misses the 50 year old cut-off. Why they couldn’t at least turn it into a local theater for plays and musicals, I don’t know. There are so many better uses for the property than a gym or another retail store. Well, I guess it’s just typical of the modern day NJ, where everything is replaceable, as long as it gets some local politician a kickback from a developer. Remember, the mayor of Paramus was dead set against a new theater at the mall, and the closing of the Tenplex. All of a sudden he flipflopped on the whole issue. I wonder what could have caused that?lol