Douglas Theatre Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Douglas Theatre Company is the largest movie theater chain in Nebraska, USA, operating in both Lincoln and Omaha. It is the 38th largest cinema chain in North America.
The company was formed in 1952, by Russell Brehm and then-Senator Roman Hruska. The name "Douglas" was used because Omaha, in Douglas County, would be the location of their first drive-in theater, the 84th & Center, which opened the following year. In ensuing years, other drive-ins were built in Lincoln and Omaha, and temporary acquisitions were made in Texas as well.
In 1967, Douglas opened its first indoor theater in Omaha, the Cinema Center, which is remains in operation today. Three theaters were opened in Lincoln shortly thereafter: the Cinema Twin, in September 1971 (first showing Summer of '42 and Le Mans), Douglas 3, in March 1973 (first showing 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Sting and Serpico) and Plaza 4, in April 1973.
In 1989, the Edgewood 3 theater opened in uptown Lincoln, at 56th & Hwy 2. It was remodeled, and reopened on 4 April 2003, to include three additional screens and stadium seating. Having six screens, it also dropped the "3" from its title.
On 21 November 1997, the East Park theater at 66th & 'O' in Lincoln re-opened after remodeling. It was once part of a small indoor mall, which had been converted into strip shops.
On 4 February 2003, then-mayor of Lincoln Don Wesely announced plans for Douglas Theatres to build a $15 million, 14-screen megaplex downtown. On 8 August, demolition began to raze most of the buildings on the block bordered by 11th, 12th, O and P streets. After over a year of construction, The Grand opened on 19 November 2004. It took the place of four smaller theaters: the Lincoln, which was destroyed to partially make way for the Grand, as well as the Cinema Twin, Douglas 3 and Plaza 4, which closed the night before the opening of the Grand. The Douglas 3 was destroyed in October 2006 to make way for an urban park[1] which is also a public wireless hotspot. The other two theaters remain vacant in downtown Lincoln as of August 2006. The Grand includes over 3,000 stadium seats, and an arcade, "The Vault", which features a 60,000-pound vault door purchased from Wells-Fargo.
Douglas Theatres has a total of 109 screens in its present configuration of theaters, which are:
- East Park (Lincoln)
- Edgewood Cinema (Lincoln)
- Lincoln Grand (Lincoln)
- SouthPointe Cinema (Lincoln)
- Starship 9 (Lincoln)
- 20 Grand (Omaha)
- Cinema Center (Omaha)
- Q-Cinema 9 (Omaha)
- Twin Creek Cinema (Omaha)
- Village Pointe Cinema (Omaha)
There are imminent plans for the Starship 9 (Lincoln's budget theater), along with several Asian restaurants on the same block, to be destroyed to make room for a parking garage. The final day of operation for the Starship is expected to be December 31, 2006. Plans to fill its gap by building another movie complex elsewhere are as yet unannounced.
