Forum IV

Logan5 on January 30, 2012 at 9:24 pm

Officially opened in December 1974, this theatre was known and advertised as the “Forum IV” (note Roman numerals).

dallasmovietheaters on August 2, 2025 at 12:22 pm

In a space drawn up by architect Charles Herbert and Associates, Prestige Jewelers and Distributors (aka Ardans - a store akin to a Service Merchandise) was the focal point of a shopping center addition known in planning as the Daniels Building and just for a short time as the Prestige Mall. Located next to Merle Hay Mall just beyond its Sears store, Davis Theatres launched the Forum IV Theatres with two auditoriums ready to go on December 18, 1974 opening with “Godfather II” and “The Gambler.”

The Forum lobby was an ancient Roman concept bathed in red and gold with signage above the doors used roman numerals and the entries has statues and pillars. Forums I-IV seated 274, 400, 200, and 250 for a total of 1,124 seats. It was the Westside’s first quad-plex. Its programming was diverse. With Davis having success with adult films in the porno chic era elsewhere in town, R-rated softcore titles were booked in the Forum. In June of 1975, you could see “The Happy Hooker” and “If You Don’t Stop It, I’ll go Blind” in auditoriums I and IV. Auditorium III had the kid-friendly “Secret of the Sacred Forest” (with the Plaza down the way with its giant 60’ screen seating 700 having the much more popular “Benji”). But overshadowing those titles beginning June 20, 1975 was Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws.” It played six full months in Forum II to the Christmas season as the venue’s biggest hit.

Davis Theatres was under the microscope for its racier presentations as it struggled to get clearances for other mainstream Hollywood hits. Overmatched in a more competitive multiplex environment, Davis told stockholders it wasn’t equipped to compete in the marketplace. So it sold out its theatrical operation in 1976 to the Dubinsky Brothers Circuit.

The Forum lost a lot of its dated kitschy feel in a redesign in the 1980s which took it down slightly to 1,030 seat capacity. Chicago-based Excellence Theatres took over here effective on December 1, 1989 after buying out Dubinksy Bros. In 1991, Carmike and Excellence created a joint operating agreement in February and, that same year, essentially buying out the Excellence side by September. This moved the venue to Carmike ownership. The mall. meanwhile, had morphed several times and the theater was now considered simply part of the Haymarket Mall.

The theatre was purportedly the first to be equipped with DTS sound in Des Moines and — again — it was another Spielberg title packing the Forum’s largest screen with the opus “Jurassic Park” in 1993. “JP” did monster business for the theatre with the sound leaking to the neighboring screen. But Carmike Cinemas had inherited the Forum IV’s design issues that became one of three complexed cited in an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit against the chain locally. That suit also included the River Hills / Riviera and the Sierra 3. Rather than retrofit the aged theatre to comply with ADA, the Forum was closed on May 19, 1998. Carmike was already focused on megaplexes of that era including its Wynnsong 16 that opened the next day causing not only the Forum’s closure but Carmike 11’s downgrade to sub-run, dollar discount status.

The Forum theatre space was gutted and retrofitted for other retail purposes becoming a very-long running space for Hobby Lobby beginning a little over a year later on October 24, 1999.