Lakeland Mall Twin

1010 E. Memorial Road,
Lakeland, FL 33805

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Jerry Lewis Cinemas

Firms: Mallia & Rondunone Associates

Functions: Church

Previous Names: Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema

Nearby Theaters

Lakeland Mall Twin

Located in the old Lakeland Mall, the Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema opened on April 14, 1972 with Gene Hackman in “The French Connection” & Jennifer O'Neill in “Summer of ‘42”. There were 388-seats in each auditorium. Later re-named Lakeland Mall Twin, it closed on November 8, 1990 and was purchased by new owners. The mall itself has closed since 1999 the First Baptist Church at the Mall operates from the building.

Contributed by Andy

Recent comments (view all 8 comments)

markp
markp on April 19, 2010 at 4:27 pm

I wonder if this JLC twin was laid out like the one I worked at back in the mid to late 70’s. One theatre was blue, the other red, with the concession stand in the middle of the lobby, prohibiting people from crossing over.

Drew C
Drew C on April 20, 2010 at 1:06 am

Movie534, this theater was designed the same way as the one you worked at. Blue on one side and the other red, with the concession stand in the middle. The mall was turned into the “First Baptist Church at the Mall”. The theater still exists but it is used only for church functions. The theater is located at the back entrance of the former mall.

This theater was originally called the Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema (1972-1974). The name of the theater was changed to Lakeland Mall Twin Cinema in 1975 and closed under the same banner in 1992. Locals sometimes called the theater “Lakeland Mall I & II” or “Lakeland Mall”. The names where also used in some advertising. As far as I know it was independently owned & operated.

Jerry Lewis Cinemas were part of a chain of franchised independent theater owners. The Chain was controlled by Network Cinema Corp. By 1980, the chain was completely defunct, with both Jerry Lewis and the National Cinema Corporation filing for bankruptcy.

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on August 14, 2010 at 9:04 pm

in Jerry Lewis'book,“DEAN and ME”,Jerry talks about his failed cinemas,one of the few times I recall him ever writing about them.

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on September 21, 2022 at 2:32 pm

Opened on April 14, 1972 with “The French Connection” at Screen 1 and “Summer of ‘42” at Screen 2, and closed on January 28, 1985 with “Protocol” at Screen 1 and Micki & Maude at Screen 2. During its last couple of years in operation, it was named “Lakeland Mall Twin”.

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on September 25, 2022 at 11:07 pm

If those dates work in the entry above by Andy, that’s probably close enough. If I were writing the entry based on my research, it might be a bit closer to the venue’s history to say that:

The Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema 1 & 2 opened March 1, 1972 with “Dollars” and “Song of Norway” in Lake Parker Mall (it was not called Lakeland Mall in 1972). The venue was supposed to have opened in December of 1971 and the three month delay was very likely due to the impending failure of Network Cinemas and Jerry Lewis Cinemas Circuit. Other operators were delayed similarly at the same time period when Network Cinemas was unable to provide all of the parts needed to make their one-button systems function.

Lake Parker Mall’s roots dated back to 1963 when the shopping center was announced and opened with a Montgomery Ward store as its first retailer in 1964. An expansion with a Woolco anchor store and an enclosed shopping mall, called the Lake Parker Mall, occurred in 1971 and included this Jerry Lewis Twin project.

The Lake Parker Mall’s grand opening was held on May 31, 1971. As noted, the Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema 1 & 2 opened about nine months later. The in-mall cinema got to watch the implosion in 1972 and bankruptcy of Network Cinemas and Jerry Lewis' departure from the project in 1973. But the venue kept the Jerry Lewis name until 1974. A Michigan-based firm acquired the Lake Parker Mall in 1974 and it was renamed as the Lakeland Mall on July 17, 1974. A month later, on August 23, 1974, the theater was renamed as the Lakeland Twin Cinema at Lakeland Mall which was quickly renamed as the simplified, Lakeland Mall Twin Cinema. It ran under multiple independent operators until its closure.

The Lakeland Mall Cinema’s greatest hit by far was 1982’s “E.T.” that played for some 25 weeks and moved a lot of concessions, as well. It was a true “popcorn film” hit for the theater. The viability of the entire mall teetered, however, when Lakeland Square / Lakeland Square Mall opened nearby in 1988. Within a year of that opening, the mall downtrended to “greyscale status” - a term akin to a dead mall with vacancies above 50 percent.

There was no correction for the Lakeland Mall’s death spiral. But like many mall cinemas - such as the Woodland Mall Fox in Toledo or the Festival / Forum Theatre in Arlington, Texas - the cinema just kept rolling out films for a cadre of patrons even as fewer people came to the dead / dying mall. 1990 was the Lakeland Mall Cinema’s low point as the mall was considered closed for the most part. And for many weeks of its operation in 1990, only one feature is listed and from November 2, 1990 to November 8, 1990, the feature listed is “Arachnophobia” with the explanation: “one screen only this week”.

There were no screens listed the next week or from that point further. And no ads or mentions are made of the theatre from that point forward. November 8, 1990 appears to be the date of permanent closure. The interior mall was was officially closed in 1994 and the exterior anchors had all gone by 1995 ending the Lake Parker Mall turned Lakeland Mall. In 1999, the First Baptist Church At The Mall was a project that converted a former retail anchor for its main facility and used the former Lakeland Mall Cinema Twin’s spot for youth gatherings and programming. That facility was still in use in the 2020s.

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on April 13, 2023 at 11:43 pm

Yep, it looks like it did close on November 8, 1990. And thanks to the Lakeland Ledger archives, I was able to find more Lakeland Mall Twin showings from later than 1985. In the late-1980s, the Lakeland Mall Twin went towards a sub-run dollar house.

The Tampa Tribune did not show every single Lakeland Mall Twin showing in portions of the mid-1980s (although it did made a short comeback in some 1988 Tampa Tribune issues for a time during its last days as a first-run theater before becoming sub-run dollar).

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