Brixton Square 8 Theatre

[yukong]

Tonight, as I drove home, I noticed that since this weekend, the Brixton Square 8 Theatre is closed. I had heard rumors a few years ago that it might close, but then nothing more. But it is now closed. It seemed to be fairly busy the past several months. Sad to see another theatre close.

[solitude]

That's too bad. They sometimes screened films you wouldn't see at other theaters and it was always very clean after the Hollywood Theaters chain took it over. I just checked the Hollywood website and its gone from the site, but the Norman theater is still there so I guess they plan on keeping that one.

[Ginkasa]

The area is becoming over-saturated with movie theatres. I would expect a lot of the older and smaller theatres to start closing down once Warren and the new Dickinson near Quail Springs opens.

[jacodenn]

Oh man! That is where my youngest Son saw his very first in-theatre movie, "Home On The Range." I wish they would keep it open. Oh well.

[oneforone]

From what I understand the place was pretty nasty. A coworker of mine visited the place a few days before they closed. She left half way through the movie and got a refund.

She said the place was dirty and the only refreshments they had was candy, bottled soda and popcorn. She drew the line when she took her kids to the restroom and found mold on the walls and no running water for the toilets and sinks. She said the called the health department the next morning. That may have been the final nail in the coffin for Brixton.

I wonder what will take it's place.....A chruch, another theater, an events center like Express Events Center.

[jbrown84]

I wonder what will take it's place.....A chruch, another theater, an events center like Express Events Center.

Interestingly, the Express Event Center houses the North Campus of Northwest Baptist Church.

I can definitely see a church going in there. It would be a nice location for an art theatre if they did a major remodel.

Solitude, I never heard about them showing anything that wasn't offered elsewhere. What kinds of movies?

[Matt]

The Brixton Square 8 is/was just a couple of miles from my house, and I saw exactly one movie there in the nearly twelve years I've been at this location. Meanwhile, I've seen dozens upon dozens of movies at AMC Quail, which is much more of a pain in the ass to get to.

So, I guess I can't say I'll miss the Brixton at all.

[jbrown84]

It was really dumpy the one time i went there in the last 10 years, which was about 5 years ago.

[solitude]

They were the only theater with the guts around here to show "Death Of A President" (fictional account of George W. Bush assassination) in 2006.

[jbrown84]

Hmm never heard about that. It's certainly rare for that type of theatre to show any indie films--especially ones that aren't shown elsewhere, not even the art museum.

[Bobby H]

IMHO, the Brixton Square 8 hasn't been worth visiting since General Cinemas operated it back in the 1990s. I have to say the same thing about the theater at Penn Square Mall.

I've never liked the Spotlight 14 in Norman. Even when it first opened in 1997 it wasn't impressive. It just seemed to be a lower rent version of any 1990s era Cinemark theater.

When the new Warren Theaters Moore 20 opens, the Spotlight 14 in Norman is really going to take a financial beating. I think chances are good the Spotlight 14 will either close or go bargain/2nd run.

[solitude]

You are so right about Dickinson's Penn Square theater. Horribly run. I hope Dickinson's new Imax theater complex will be better managed.

[betts]

Penn Square is so horribly run that I don't know how they make any money. The good news is that you never have to worry about getting a ticket, even to a movie on opening day that's sold out everywhere else. That's where I went to see the Lord of the Rings movies and I always walked right in. So, I guess it's not all bad. I keep wondering if Penn Square is their tax write off.

[MadMonk]

It was really dumpy the one time i went there in the last 10 years, which was about 5 years ago.

I had the same experience. It was the closest theater to my home, but I refused to go back after my last experience.

I remember when that theater opened. It was really nice, but for some reason it just started going downhill about ten years ago.

[Bobby H]

It was really nice, but for some reason it just started going downhill about ten years ago.

I think that was when General Cinemas bailed out of Oklahoma.

General Cinemas was usually pretty good at delivering better levels of presentation quality than most other movie theater chains. When GCC had the Penn Square Mall theater one of the screens was THX certified, had 70mm projection capability and was among the first few hundred theaters that installed DTS to show Jurassic Park. They installed more digital surround systems in their OKC area theaters up until the time they left the state.

I was even more saddened when General Cinemas closed down their Northpark Mall 1-2 theater in Dallas in the late 1990s. The #1 screen there was legendary for its show quality. It didn't look like much from the outside, but it was huge (over 1000 seats) inside. It had one of the original 2 THX equipped theaters in the nation, with the sound system personally designed by Tomlinson Holman himself in 1983. Great sound quality and more than enough "thump" to move the air in your chest.

I don't know why, but General Cinemas went out of business at the end of the 1990s.

Once Hollywood/Wallace took over the Penn Square Mall theater things started to slip. I think GCC removed the 70mm projector from screen #1. Then the theater lost its THX license because of poor maintenance. Years later, Hollywood/Wallace sold the Penn Square Mall theater to Dickinson Theaters. I think Dickinson is a better company than Hollywood/Wallace. However, I don't think they're all that great either.

I'm trying to withhold my judgment on Dickinson's new theater building projects. I've heard about the new one they're building with the IMAX screen (however, I think it's going to be a smaller "SR" theater than a full sized IMAX venue). Dickinson is apparently going to install digital projection, which may be a good thing.

Currently people in OKC wanting to check out "digital cinema" and "digital 3D" are limited to just one screen at the Harkins Bricktown 16. Meanwhile towns like Shawnee, Stillwater, Lawton and Duncan have Carmike locations that are 100% digital cinema equipped and have Real-D digital 3D installed on multiple screens. That might be an issue to consider if you want to watch U23D in a couple of weeks.

Warren Theaters has plans to convert all their theaters to digital cinema, including the new Moore 20 complex. However, I haven't heard which system they're going to choose. They've been demo-ing systems from Dolby, Sony & Christie/AccessIT in Wichita.

[venture]

People should be glad there is at least a choice in venues here. My old hometown suffers from a single company that controls every screen ini the metro area there - National Amusements. The product is okay, decent design (none of this standing out in the cold getting tickets crap)...but the fact they control the entire market unless you want to drive 30-40 miles is a hit on the wallet.

[jbrown84]

Well Wichita is under a monopoly, but fortunately for them, it's Warren Theatres, not Dickinson or Hollywood.

[Bobby H]

One can make a pretty solid argument that Warren Theaters is the best movie theater chain in the United States. It's a company that "gets it" when it comes to delivering on the movie-going experience.

Most movie theater companies don't understand that. Instead they're run with the typical bean-counter mentality where the goal is to do as little as possible, as cheaply as possible while charging full price for that ticket and big prices at the snack counter.

One defense of that bean counter mentality is that profit margins for movie theaters are terribly slim. Most theaters get little to nothing from revenue on ticket sales, thanks to the ever increasing greed of movie distributors. The high prices at the snack counter is really the only thing paying the bills at movie theaters. Without that revenue no movie theater in the country would be able to stay open.

Still, it costs a lot to see a movie in a real movie theater -especially when a family is buying tickets instead of just one person. For that price it just isn't good enough to show the movie in an ordinary looking auditorium with mediocre projection and audio quality.

Home theater is getting ever more sophisticated. Now that Blu-Ray appears to be winning the High-Def movie disc format war lots of people will soon be upgrading to HD. That's going to make it even more critical for movie theaters to get their act together.

A theater that is willing to spend the extra money on top notch equipment, decor and well trained, caring staff can see that extra money spent as a good investment. That effort translates into great experiences for the customers and plenty of return visits. The theater's positive reputation grows and attracts more crowds. Home theater can be great, but it doesn't match the scale of a big commercial movie theater -and it lacks the communal, crowd participatory experience as well. When a movie theater is doing everything right customers will even drive considerable distances to see movies there.

When the Northpark 1-2 theater in Dallas was in operation, I had no problem driving over 200 miles each way to see movies there. It was that good of a movie theater. I saw movies like Jurassic Park, Apollo 13, The Lion King and Titanic there. Northpark 1-2 was one of only a handful of theaters in the nation showing Titanic in 70mm DTS.

As good as I expect Warren's new theater to be, I'll probably be making the hour's drive up to Moore to see some big event movies there.

[donuteyes]

i worked at the brixton square theater for a while in the late 90's, and it is true that when general cinema left, the quality went with them. i was a box office ticket salesmen, and i was promoted to projectionist because GCC used union guys, and hollywood didn't. i can honestly say that my high school friends and i had no business running the projection booth at first.

that's just an example of how things were when general cinema left in (i believe) 1997. all the managers were replaced as well, we never heard why exactly. during the change to hollywood, a friend of mine didn't recieve a paycheck for three weeks, and (obviously) he quit. it didn't take long for everyone else to leave as well.

it is true that they showed plenty of flims that were off the radar. i know when i worked there we were the only theater showing 'brassed off,' a wonderful early ewan mcgregor film, we had 'anna karrenna,' 'sleeping with the fishes,' 'albino alligator,' 'when we were kings,' and plenty of other, smaller indie films that were far away from the mainstream films that everyone else would show.

it went downhill because the people running it ran it into the ground from the get-go. the only thing that continued was the smaller films now and then. it says a lot about those films, and their audiences, that the theater survived as long as it did after general cinema left. i think i still have my GCC shirt accually...

[Joe Kimball]

I remember it being the crown jewel matinee, just about, back in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

Was the theatre at Northpark mall ever priced in proportion to the 24-screen palaces of today? I went and saw a few second-run flicks there recently and nearly put my hand through the screen after losing my footing on some spilled soda at the entrance of one of the theatres.

[Bobby H]

I'm pretty sure the Northpark Mall theater in Oklahoma City was operated as a first run theater many years ago. But it has been a 2nd run discount theater for as long as I can remember.

The Northpark 1-2 theater in Dallas previously mentioned is obviously a completely different theater. It was a fantastic place to see movies. Unfortunately it now no longer exists.

[jbrown84]

The Northpark theatre was the place to see a movie when my mom was in high school in the 70s.

[yukong]

Was at Brixton Square today and drove back to the old theatre. There is construction work going on at the old theatre. They are placing some sort of facia/facade on the upper parts of the outside walls, from the top down 6-8 feet. They have removed the front center part of the theatre and the inside is exposed. They have gutted the inside and it looks like most of the old theatres are currently just a big open space. Definitely something substantial going on. But it doesn't look like it will be more offices/retail outparcels.

Does anyone know what is going on? New theatres?

[Joe Kimball]

An article from the Oklahoma Journal Record dating to March 25 of this year (or, the headline of which, since I can't access it without a subscription, boo), states that GBR Properties out of Tulsa is turning it into office space.

Kind of a shame, really, since those were eight decently soundproofed and acoustic rooms, at least that I could tell. Could have had the next incarnation of Stax in at least a couple of them.

[yukong]

well, I hate to see that. There are already several empty office spaces in that mall. So, now there can be more empty office spaces.