Regal Closes Windsor Hills Cinema

[Jay]

Windsor Hills theater closes

Windsor Hills Cinema, in the Windsor Hills Mall at NW 23 and Meridian, closed Sunday with no plans to reopen, a company spokesman said.
Russ Nunnley, marketing and communications director for theater owner Regal Entertainment Group, based in Knoxville, Tenn., said the company determined the cinema was underperforming.

"It was not financially feasible to continue, so we executed our rights to terminate our lease," he said.

Brooke Harvey with Weingarten Realty Investors of Houston, the landlord and owner of Windsor Hills Shopping Center, said he has negotiations under way for a new tenant for the theater's space but is not at liberty to discuss details.

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My guess is another dollar theater will open like the one in Norman, at North Park or Crossroads.

[Sooner&RiceGrad]

I have always thought that there was a thirsty market for theatres, I suppose this location is in a part of town that is deteriorating, though Windsor Hills, well Oaklawn Park is actually really nice. The stuff around is crap though. They will fill it's space, but maybe they won't. Like at Shields and 74th Street, they didn't replace that one.

What I think they must want to do is build a more suburban Yukon location, and consolidate this market. The problem with that is that Yukon, which stretched from near NW 122nd, and goes all the way south to around SW 29 is seeing most of it's growth out in the rural parts between it and Mustang. Maybe the ywill jump on some of that Lake Overholser construction, that area is seeing some growth too.

[Patrick]

I'm really not surprised Windsor Hills Cinema closed. It was a 10 screen theatre without stadium seating. I mean, at least Penn Square 10 has some stadium seating theatres......Windsor had none. Also, Windsor Hills Cinema was somewhat at a disadvantage because of its hidden location behind the shopping center.
I was surprised it stayed open this long, in a theatre market that's become so competitive with the addition of so many stadium seating theatres.

I actually think a dollar movie would do well in this location. There aren't any dollar theatres on the west side of town. Lakeshore Theatre, not too far from there, used to show dollar movies, but they closed several years ago. The only other dollar movie house on the NW side is Northpark, and that's quite a drive from Windsor.

[Jay]

I think if windsor hills does not re-open as a movie theater it will be remodeled for a church or trade school. Who knows Votterot may move or expand into the old theater. The parking lot behind the center would be ideal for a church or trade school. I know Express bought the old AMC theater near countyline and thier sharing it with NW Baptist Church as an event center.

[Patrick]

I'm actually a member of NW Baptist (have been for quite some time) and was involved in the launching of our North Campus (a satellite church) at the Express Events Center. We currently only use the facility on Sunday. We have a more contemporary worship service there (Christian rock band), complete with Bible Study, children's department, youth group, etc. The North Campus has grown to well over 150 in weekly attendance, much smaller than the 850 we have at the main campus, but still not bad for just starting.

Express actually owns the facility and leases it to us for Sundays only. The rest of the week, Express operates it as an Events Center, which is used for proms, banquets, meetings, wedding receptions, and other catered events. Express also uses the space for their own meetings.

Only 1 of the original theaters remains. Much of the space (5 theaters) was opened up to form a large banquet room. 2 theaters were converted into classroom/meeting room space. The facility is equipped with a full kitchen. In my opinion, it was good use for the space.

Windsor Hills Baptist Church School (they have a Christian college there as well) has been looking for more space. They might consider leasing the space.

[HFK]

I'm not surprised that it closed: I went to a late show there a few months ago, and found the theater to be in disrepair. There were very few moviegoers: I was the only one watching the movie. It's a bit sad to lose a neighborhood theater, but I suppose that such things must go the way of WalMart and Shopping Malls.

It's a shame that there aren't any local old movie palaces still in operation: I spent some time in the Bay Area a couple of years ago and was impressed by the number and quality of 'indie' cinemas there. Stanford has a nice, small movie palace that showed oldies from the golden age, and Oakand has the great Paramount (a bit of a Mecca for movie-lovers). I saw "Rear Window" and "Jaws". Quite an experience, especially "Rear Window".

I've read that the Harkin had planned to experiement with some movies: does anyone know if they've decided to sceen some classics? Are there any Palaces still operating in the state, and do any of them show oldies?

[Keith]

I'm not surprised that it closed: I went to a late show there a few months ago, and found the theater to be in disrepair. There were very few moviegoers: I was the only one watching the movie. It's a bit sad to lose a neighborhood theater, but I suppose that such things must go the way of WalMart and Shopping Malls.

I'm like you, HFK. I was also surprised it closed, however, like you said, there were not very many people that were visiting that theatre. It reminds me of the Almonte theatre at SW.59 & May. It was an older movie theatre, so it didn't have the quality sound or the stadium seating that many other theatres now have. It has been shut down for years now, and that particular shopping center doesn't see a whole lot of business.

[Jay]

I was sad to see the Almonte 6 go, I saw many movies throughout my childhood there.

[swake]

In Tulsa there is the Circle Cinema

http://www.circlecinema.com/

And then AMC Southroads 20 shows a lot of independent movies.