Big Picture

215 E. Washington Street,
Appleton, WI 54911

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Awesome theater! Largest movie screen in Northeast Wisconsin (six stories tall, 80 feet wide!). Best sound system I have ever heard in a theater!

They showed IMAX-style movies during the day and second run and classic films at night and on weekends.

The theater, which had opened in March 19, 2005, closed in October 2006.

Contributed by Jon Harris

Recent comments (view all 8 comments)

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on December 7, 2006 at 1:09 pm

I have an article from 1963 concerning the demolition of the Rio Theater in Appleton, built 1929. Any chance this is listed on the Wisconsin page under another name? If not, I will add it.

wimovies
wimovies on April 20, 2008 at 6:52 pm

I managed the Hollywood Cinema at the time this theatre was proposed/built. The people who were going to build it actually toured the Hollywood to take a look at our projector that we used for the ultrascreen. From the moment I talked to them, I knew their venture would fail. They knew nothing about operating a movie theatre. They were constructing a BRAND NEW facility, lots of $$$, it wasn’t in a good location-basically behind the downtown area, and they were going to show IMAX type movies only… Hmmm, even if you get every school in the area to bring a school group every month it could never possibly make enough money to pay off its debt. Patronage from the general public to see these type of films would not be great. In the end, unfortunately, I was right. The theatre couldn’t sustain itself for even a year. Its a shame, its a very nice facility. I can’t imagine what will ever come of it.

RainyDays
RainyDays on December 31, 2009 at 2:22 pm

Does anyone know if this building is still vacant?

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on December 31, 2009 at 2:35 pm

Must not of had a very good business plan if they only stayed open a little over a year.

wimovies
wimovies on January 3, 2010 at 4:36 pm

This building is currently being rented and used by a church group called “the core”.

rivest266
rivest266 on September 18, 2010 at 4:24 pm

Similar large format cinema flops (built by private owners)
IMAX Les Ailes in the Montreal,QC suburb of Brossard (now a restaurant)
Ultrascreen in Ontario,CA

rivest266
rivest266 on May 27, 2017 at 3:27 pm

This opened on March 19th, 2005. Grand opening ad in the photo section

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