Rotunda Cinemas

711 West 40th Street,
Baltimore, MD 21211

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Showing 18 comments

rivest266
rivest266 on February 7, 2017 at 4:13 pm

September 13th, 1974 grand opening ad in the photo section.

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on August 4, 2015 at 4:59 am

Permanently closed July 8, 2015. A new theater by Cobb Circuit will take its place adjacent to the former Rotunda.

twien6
twien6 on December 11, 2012 at 10:40 pm

The Rotunda Cinemas now has 4 screens, all with digital projection and sound. There is also a coffee shop named “Reel Coffee” as part of the complex.

bdlyles
bdlyles on August 5, 2012 at 11:15 am

I stand corrected about the Rotunda opening as a single theater, and thanks for the proof… I was young at the time, so maybe the theater just seemed like it was bigger. But could The Empire Strikes Back have been shown there? I swear I saw it there.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on March 4, 2012 at 7:50 pm

The website for the Rotunda Cinemas is now http://www.therotundacinemas.com/

twien6
twien6 on March 4, 2012 at 6:55 pm

The Rotunda Cinemas will be adding a 4th screen and coffee shop to be open this summer.

corvette66
corvette66 on January 19, 2012 at 1:13 am

This is a great neighborhood theater that was re-opened a couple years back by my good friend Ira Miller and his partners. The three theaters are small when compared to the giant mega-complexes seen today. Very reminiscent of how going to the movies used to be. Clean, friendly, comfortable with great prices. Plans are in the works to possibly expand further. Try this place and enjoy the show. I am sure you will like it and return again and again. The lady in the photo is Patty Duke. A big movie and TV star of the 50’s and 60’s. Remember her with Anne Bancroft in “The Miracle Worker” where she portrayed Helen Keller. That was some brilliant acting in that script

randytheicon
randytheicon on July 2, 2010 at 9:35 pm

BD, you most definitely did NOT see “Empire” at the Rotunda, and it was DEFINITELY a twin. I saw “Apocalypse Now” there in December 1979, and “Mary Poppins” in summer 1980.

You might be thinking of the Hillendale on Taylor Ave., where “Empire” played in imperfectly-framed 70MM.

AS for the Rotunda, during “Poppins” there was a loud buzz in the speaker every time an idle projector was started for a reel change! (Yes, there were still twin reel-to-reel machines there.)

The current operator of the Rotunda (whose name I can’t remember) was a booker for J-F Theatres in the 1970s. He plans to add a third screen.

bdlyles
bdlyles on July 24, 2009 at 1:35 am

The Rotunda did open in the 1970s, but it was not always a twin house. I remember seeing Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back there in 1980, and I’m pretty sure it was a full screen. Not sure if it was “Cinerama” but it was a full screen.

randytheicon
randytheicon on June 13, 2009 at 12:54 pm

The Rotunda Twin, originally opened in the 1970s by J-F Theatres, has always been a small twin house (it’s on the ground floor of a tiny mall). It would’ve been impossible to install Cinerama there.

JodarMovieFan
JodarMovieFan on May 19, 2009 at 6:53 pm

If it was, its hard to tell. When I saw a movie there it was just an ordinary theater, albeit small with a decent sized screen, say 30 feet maybe?

Coate
Coate on May 19, 2009 at 12:20 pm
***Is this still a cinerama theater?***


When was this ever a Cinerama theater?

JodarMovieFan
JodarMovieFan on May 15, 2009 at 8:21 am

Oops. It should be senator.com. Sorry.

fred1
fred1 on May 15, 2009 at 6:02 am

jodar check your links the Senator you hyper link to is a restaurant in Toranto

JodarMovieFan
JodarMovieFan on May 15, 2009 at 12:52 am

This venue has resumed operations as of 5/15/09. The status should be changed to open. Showtimes and info are at www.thesenator.com

BeltwayBrian
BeltwayBrian on May 25, 2005 at 10:14 am

Is this still a cinerama theater? With seating for less than 300 I can’t envision it as being a terribly huge screen. But one I’ll be checking out anyway.

JodarMovieFan
JodarMovieFan on March 8, 2004 at 1:10 pm

For some reason, I had envisioned this theater to be an art deco-type moviehouse like the Senator. I saw “Osama” (2003) here (in Feb ‘04) and, unfortunately, didn’t get to experience the Dolby Digital Surround EX sound system. Its not the film’s fault, as the movie is a low-budget ($40K) foreign language film. I’m wondering if this moviehouse was one auditorium at one time. The staff didn’t know.