General Cinema Theatres at the Wyoming Valley Mall
Wilkes Barre, PA (February 1984)
The GCC Theatre at the Wyoming Valley Mall had a pretty good lineup of movies on their screens forty years ago today.
This photo was taken when it was still a five screen theater, with Cinema I and II inside of the mall and Cinema III, IV, and V in a separate building that shared its parking lot with the mall. They expanded sometime in the late 80's to add a third and fourth screen to the theater that was part of the mall itself. Both buildings continued to do business throughout the 80's and 90's until they had their final screening on October 19th, 2000.
Cinema I was screening Silkwood which stars Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher. It was a biopic about the life of whistleblower Karen Silkwood, who many people believe was murdered to put an end to her work to expose the alleged wrongdoings of the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site where she worked. The movie was released in December 1983 and received a great deal of critical acclaim.
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| Times Leader - Wilkes Barre, PA (February 10, 1984) |
Cinema I was screening Silkwood which stars Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher. It was a biopic about the life of whistleblower Karen Silkwood, who many people believe was murdered to put an end to her work to expose the alleged wrongdoings of the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site where she worked. The movie was released in December 1983 and received a great deal of critical acclaim.
Cinema II had the New World Pictures exploitation flick Angel. This is the story of young girl who is an honor student during the day and a prostitute at night. It went on to become a cult classic that spawned a series that included Avenging Angel in 1985 and Angel III: The Final Chapter in 1988.
Cinema III had the heavy hitter of the lineup; the Academy Award winning Terms Of Endearment. This film earned James L. Brooks the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, in addition to Shirley MacLaine winning Best Actress and Jack Nicholson winning Best Supporting Actor for their performances.
Cinema IV featured Michael Mann's 1983 supernatural horror film The Keep. Like Angel, this film has gone on to become a cult classic due in large part to an excellent score by Tangerine Dream, but it was poorly reviewed in its time and earned back less than $5 million on a $6 million dollar budget.
Cinema V rounds out the first run features at this theatre with Never Cry Wolf. This film from Walt Disney Pictures had just premiered nationwide two weeks earlier as is said to have been one of the films that inspired the creation of the 90's television series Northern Exposure. It was highly regarded in its time and currently has a score of 100% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.
In addition to the main lineup of films, local pop radio station 98.5 KRZ hosted two midnight movies: The Beatles 1964 classic film, A Hard Day's Night, and the 1981 Canadian slasher My Bloody Valentine.
