Odeon Cinema (II)

The original Odeon location closed in 1938 (it has its own page on Cinema Treasure) and was demolished for a newer Odeon Cinema at the same site. Costing a total of $247,000 in United States money for the theater’s construction, the newer 501-seat Odeon relaunched later that same year, reopening with Erroll Flynn’s “The Adventures of Robin Hood”. It was designed in the functionalist style by the young Umeå architect Denis Sundberg and was only the second building erected by the structural engineer Olaus Forsberg and his newly-established Olaus Forsberg & Company.

The last major innovation at Odeon Cinema was the 1955 installation of CinemaScope. By then, the operation had been taken over by Johan’s son Rolf Sjögren. In the late-1970’s, the operation was taken over by the partner Europa Film chain, which unfortunately was already having financial problems. And in the early-1980’s, the entire company and its theaters in the area were sold to the “arch-rival” Svensk Filmindustri. Barely a decade later, the Sweden Film Industry decided to close down the Odeon on May 31, 1990.

Already in the late-1980’s, a local dispute erupted over the Brage district, where the Odeon was located. The property owner wanted to demolish the Odeon building to build a 15-story hotel. The National Heritage Board advised against it, citing the area’s more small-scale character. A local environmental group arranged meetings and debates, and collected 6,000 signatures that were submitted to the city council, which nevertheless chose to hammer out a new detailed plan that made room for the hotel.

On its final night on May 31, 1990, the Odeon Cinema didn’t ended with a movie. Instead, a protest evening was organized which attracted hundreds of visitors plus music by various bands and artists. When the event was over, about 30 visitors refused to leave the place, which they instead declared occupied. Although the property owner chose not to file a police report, the occupation lasted only a little over a week, and after a while, the building was demolished. Two years later in 1992, the new Plaza Hotel was constructed and opened on the site.

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