Cinerama Dome -- list of playdates

[Oss Rae]

Here's a list of movies that played there. I see a lot of the ones I remember. Wish I could've seen Silent Running and Phantom of the Paradise there.

www.in70mm.com/news/2021/dome_playdates/index.htm?fbclid=IwAR2W0aKIH-P-xSIsqFlv97QTGCA1B80t6bzPPAQdIX2Rh-HoKkWryeY-zTY

Still hoping the theater can come back.

[Brian]

Very cool, Oss Rae -- what a comprehensive and well organized list, with lots of wonderful memories.

I didn't see very many movies at the Cinerama Dome, but those I saw were memorable experiences, sometimes more because of the unique venue with its giant curved screen than the movies themselves, such as "Logan's Run," "The Blue Lagoon" and "Back to the Future." Then there was "Apocalypse Now," which started its premiere run at the Dome before the titles were added to the 70mm print.  (They passed out big glossy cards with the credits instead.)  Before you posted the link to that list, I had been trying to remember when I saw "Woodstock" there, guessing that it might have been the fifth anniversary in 1975 but it was actually late 1976.  Another thing I loved was the gigantic parking lot next to the theater in the decades before the ArcLight complex was built with plenty of free spaces always available.

I also appreciated that the list gave the number of weeks each movie played in its run.  I was shocked that "1941," a huge bomb, lasted nine weeks.  I worked the premiere as a production assistant for Universal in December 1979, and one of my jobs that night was greeting John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Christopher Lee as they emerged from vintage cars.  Belushi and Ackroyd improvised a sketch where they lifted the hood and checked the oil, and Lee was the sweetest man.  I insisted on seeing "1941" for free but Universal didn't have tickets for the Dome, so they sent me to a multiplex in Culver City.  However, I paid my way into "Hair" at the Dome for the best viewing experience after working on its premiere at Filmex earlier that year in Century City -- and that was magical.

[Oss Rae]

Logan's Run must've been amazing there. Never even saw it in a theater, only on TV. Somewhere I have an article about all the different locations Logan's Run was filmed at in Texas.

I'm not sure where I saw Apocalypse Now, but it was at a different theater after it had been playing a while.

Movies I saw at the Dome included Jesus Christ Superstar in September '74 (I remember seeing a preview of Airport 1975 first), Fantasia re-release in late '78 or early '79, The Wiz, Hair, Muppet Movie, Saturn 3, Disney's The Black Hole, Heavy Metal :The Movie (saw it opening day in summer '81), DOA remake 1988, Back to the Future 3, Arachnophobia, Fantasia re-release, early 2000s: a private retrospective about architect Welton Beckett, designer of the Dome.

I interviewed Christopher Lee in the early 2000s regarding his role in Lord of the Rings. (It was long-distance by phone.) He expressed frustration and displeasure over being misquoted all the time. I let him proofread the interview before it went to press, something I do as often as I can.

I know someone who was at Woodstock and then organized protests against the initial release of the movie. It was felt that the movie was selling people's culture back to them.

[Brian]

What a list, Oss Rae. You were truly blessed to go there so often when you were a kid -- and you kept going as an adult!  Yes, "Logan's Run" was amazing at the Dome. The curved screen reinforced the great special effects of the Carousel sequences, as you could imagine.  The screen was an impediment for "Woodstock," however, when I had to sit too close in the packed theater -- taking in the split screens in that movie required at lot of head movement.  I also remember the Cinerama Dome having the best sound of any theater in the '70's.

Remember the news last December about the liquor license application, when unnamed sources said that the new owner planned to reopen the Dome and the attached ArcLight complex, maybe this year?  I searched for more recent stories and came up empty.