Kings Plaza 6 Theaters
5201 Kings Plaza,
Brooklyn,
NY
11234
5201 Kings Plaza,
Brooklyn,
NY
11234
11 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 44 comments
I don’t remember the “North & South” aspect of this theater, but if you were facing the front of the theater early on, the larger theater was on the right and the smaller was on the left. The larger theater was much nicer and well decorated from what I remember with dark blue seats with a really nice gold & blue curtain that worked until the late 70’s early 80’s. The left side was not as nice & much smaller, and was very similar to the Lowes Georgetown theater in the area. The right side was then split up in the early 80’s. Does anybody know the original seat count for each theater? The theater entrance was located on the second floor, and I don’t believe they used any part of the first floor of the mall, but I’m not sure how they sloped the floor here. If anybody here knows how this worked I would be interested in knowing. I’m pretty sure that whatever space was utilized for the 2 original theaters, was then used for the splits at least for the theaters on the right side. Best Buy came in after the theaters closed and they utilized both floors from what I was told and can see in some of the online photos.
The splitting is like GCC Southland 5 in Hayward, CA.
Originally a twin, the bigger theater was split. THEN Theatre 3 was split again. The upper level was 3 and 5 (tiny) the lower level (affectionately THE DUNGEON!) was #4. 😍😍
Please update, became a quad on December 19, 1983 and six plex on December 9, 1994
grand opening ad just posted
Please update, theatre closed January 7, 2010 and total seats 1500
The desciption should be updated, went to a Quad in 1983 (grand opening ad in photos), the old North was split, two small and one large (which you went down a ramp) and in 1994 went to a sixplex which the South Theatre got split just like the North. Seating capacity of theatre 1 (125), theatre 2 (280), theatre 3 (125) which was the old South Theatre and Theatre 4 (208), theatre 5 (523) and theatre 6 (208) which was the old North Theatre.
In the early 1990’s they only use one entrance and broke the wall down. When the theatre open in 1970, their were dedicated entrances to the North and the South, own refreshment stand and restrooms.
When it open as a quad in 1983, 2 big houses had Dolby Stereo. In 1994, Dolby was added to the new small screens and the other 2 got it soon after and in 1995 or 1996, the two big houses got DTS Digital Sound.
Unfortunately, AMC would not of renovated the theatre instead of closing it. Southern Brooklyn does not have enough move theatres.
There was a fire at the shopping center where this theater used to be this morning…
Opened December 18, 1970
<ahref=“https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18735265/kings_plaza_cinemas_opening/” style=“text-decoration: none;display:block;”>
Kings plaza cinemas opening · Fri, Dec 18, 1970 – 79 · Daily News (New York, New York) · Newspapers.com
In 1984, they split 3 screens and about 10 years later, they split the other big hour into 3 screens.
Each of the 2 big screens were chopped, 2 in the back and 1 in the front.
I believe it would have been a combination of redistributing the space and expanding into adjacent retail space. The theater was located in the shopping center not, as an adjacent building. Hence not building from the ground up. Also, I believe it was on the second level of the shopping center, not the ground floor.
Does anybody have any recall as to when and how the addition four screens came to be? Were they built from the ground up or were the existing auditoriums partitioned off to make six venues?
The most insane thing I ever witnessed was opening weekend for “Jaws”. The lines snaked through Kings Plaza’s 2nd floor. Shows were sold out for hours.
Yes, it is a Best Buy now, but that’s probably for the best. It started out as a twin theater. I remember seeing “Earthquake” in SurroundSound there, and being 6 or 7 and seeing “Midway” there too. (Not sure if that movie’s really appropriate for a 6/7 year old.) I, too, remember lines going down to Macy’s for movies like the Superman and Rocky movies.
I remember going to see “The Right Stuff” there. By that time I think they made it a quad. The only seats left were in the very front. I watched a 3 hour movie with my neck reaching up…my neck hurts just thinking about that! My friends and I used to buy candy and soda in the newsstand that was downstairs and smuggle them in so we wouldn’t have to pay for food there. Saw my first R-rated film there (“Sudden Impact”) Asked some old man to buy tickets for us…score!
Saw many movies there (or at least made the attempt to see them) on dates throughout high school and college. Last movie I saw there was “Gremlins 2” in 1990. By that time, the place was really bad and dirty and Sheepshead Bay was still new and seemed so much nicer. Nuff said.
I lived in Brooklyn all my teenage life, theaters like this one was an escape from the neighbor-hood many theaters were in walking distance, but you wouldn’t take a girl there due to enemies in the area, and her friends might see her and label her a whore. The Kings plaza allowed you to shop and see a movie and have dinner in the area, all in walking distance and catch a cab or bus depending on the maturity of the date. While back in Brooklyn on vacation with my wife, I was giving her the grand tour, she is native Italian, I was brushed buy a female “thug” who wanted to stare me down, while expecting an “excuuussse me”, she wanted to confront me and engage in a starring contest, I chose to let it go but if it wasn’t for my training and military bearing she might have got a good ol brooklyn beat down. The area has changed and but popular culture has changed also these theaters have to find a way to attract movie goers, we can get young amped up teens watching violent movies with the variety of drugs out there, then let them loose on society and expect them to maintain property values and personal behavior.
While it is appropriate – at least for those who enjoyed viewing movies here – to mourn the passing of this theater, it is worth pointing out that the opening of Kings Plaza in 1970 had the unforseen consequence of really gutting the once vibrant Flatbush/Church Avenues shopping district. The greatest cinematic victim of this development was, of course, the Loews King.
So the random fates of life go forward: The Kings Plaza Theaters are now history while the Loews King is undergoing a well deserved restoration.
This is a Best Buy now.
This in its day one of brooklyns highest grossing movie theaters.
On a sunday I went to an 10:00AM morning discount showing to a movie the mall did open till 10AM from the parking area . At least I miss those dumb commercials when I finally enter the theater.
Passed by Kings Plaza this afternoon and, lo and behold, this theater is indeed closed. Saw many wonderful films here: “Superman,” “Diamonds are Forever,” “Live and Let Die,” “Moonraker,” “For Your Eyes Only,” “Octopussy,” “2010,” etc., etc. However when the clientele of this theater started to change, it was the kiss of death. And this theater is now deceased.
Since I was the one who posted this theater originally to Cinema Treasures (I’m also gena2), it only seems appropriate that I be the one to post of its demise. I heard a very strong rumor that this theater will be gone soon, and in its place there will be a Best Buy (like we really need that). It saddens me greatly, as this theater (like the Kingsway, the Marboro, and the Georgetown Twin) was one of my childhood theaters. My late grandmother took me here to see Rocky 3, though I’m sure she was slighly disturbed that her six year old granddaughter wanted to see it. (I liked the theme song.) My last memory of going here, is seeing “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” about the life of Tina Turner. During all the scenes in which Tina was getting beat up by Ike, a man near me was yelling “Go get her Ike! Beat her up BUT GOOD!‘ It was at this point that I realized I could no longer patronize this theater. The moviegoers were just too insane. But I’ll miss it. Thinking of going one more time for old time’s sake.
This theater opened when the Kings Plaza mall opened in 1970 and, at the beginning, was quite popular. In 1971, I stood for 2 hours on a very long line waiting for the next showing of Sean Connery in “Diamonds are Forever.” (I saw many Bond films there.) One of my favorite memories was a rainy Christmas eve. 1978, sitting on the floor next to the Alexanders dept. store for several hours waiting, with my wife, for the next showing of “Superman.” I saw many films there and then 2 things happened: they turned 2 nice large theaters into four (six now.) But more importantly, individuals from outside the area discovered the plaza and this theater. As a result predictibly the crime rate went up and this was no longer a very enjoyable place to see a film. (I can clearly remember an incident of windows being smashed after a group of rowdy “youngsters” came out of a showing of Bad Boys.“) The last time I was there was in the late ‘80s or early '90s to take my son to see a Tom Selleck film "Mr. Baseball.” I have not been back since.
Yes I do remember (and miss) those double features. And the one you saw in 1974 was typical of that era, where a new movie would be doubled with one from 6 months to a year earlier. (sometimes even 2 or 3 years earlier) Some other classic ‘double features’ from that time include, “The Graduate” & “Carnal Knowledge”, “The French Connection” & “MAS*H”, and “Bullitt” & “Bonnie and Clyde”. When the theatres were short on films to run, they could always count on these, and others to get them thru.
In 1974 or so, a friend & I saw a double bill (remember them ?) of “Claudine” and “Harry & Tonto” here.
Another re-issue for Christmas 1971
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