I Wasn’t Ready to See My Movie Theater Like This

It was late last week when news broke that Regal Cinemas had abruptly closed its Cross Keys Stadium 12 movie theater in Gloucester County, so I had to stop by Sunday night to take a look at it one more time.

And, man, is it sad.

Sad because this place had been showing movies for a little over 31 years -- that's three decades of seeing major Hollywood blockbusters, first dates, simple nights out, and kids' parties.

As I mentioned the other day, I am a huge fan of going to the movies. While many people these days enjoy sitting on the couch and watching Netflix for 10 hours straight, I (still) go to the movies. A lot. I saw 260 movies at Regal last year.

And while this particular theater had never really ever been remodeled since it opened in 1994 and it was very dated, that became part of its charm.

And now all of that glorious neon...

...will never light up ever again.

This past Sunday night, it was cold and windy with a ton of snow on the ground (what else is new) and driving up to the dark and empty theater was rather eerie.

The 90s-era marquee simply had one word on it: CLOSED.

The main entrance was lifeless...

All of the movie posters for the coming attractions were still up outside. That made it even more surreal and liminal. Just about all of the lights were off.

The only thing that was on inside were the frames for the movie posters that would never be seen there again.

All of the letters were still up on their big sign out by the Black Horse Pike. I can't say I blame them for not wanting to take them all down when it was 15 degrees outside with all of that concrete-like snow on the ground.

As sad as it feels emotionally, the reason this place went dark is probably pretty simple: economics.

First, like I mentioned earlier, people would rather sit at home and stream movies on their 75" TV instead of going to the movies. And, sure, seeing a movie out is not cheap if you don't know all of the tips and tricks.

Second, this was a rather unique situation where Regal operated two separate movie theaters that were only one mile apart. Regal built the Cross Keys 12 as a new theater in 1994 and then in 2002, it merged/took over the United Artists chain, which had opened its own theater less than five minutes away a few years earlier. For over 20 years, those two theaters often showed the same movies, but the much more modern UA always had significantly bigger crowds.

Back to Sunday night, I didn't realize how much I'd miss this theater until I was standing there in the cold, staring at the word "CLOSED."

I had last been there in September to see a couple of movies and I managed to grab some pictures...

Chris Coleman, a South Jersey native, is the brand manager for WPG Talk Radio 95.5 FM and afternoon on-air personality on WPUR Cat Country 107.3 in Atlantic City, NJ. He joined the station in February 1998 and covers news, events, and stories of interest across Southern New Jersey for Townsquare Media. Story tips: chris.coleman@townsquaremedia.com