The Regal Continental is no more.
The popular multiplex, located just south of Hampden Avenue and Interstate 25, has seemingly fallen victim to bankruptcy closures by its parent company, Regal Cinemas, which were announced in January as part of a company-wide restructuring.
At the time, owner Cineworld said the closures would include two of the company’s Colorado-based theaters — Meadows Stadium 12 in Littleton and SouthGlenn Stadium 14 in Centennial — out of 39 total planned closures. While the SouthGlenn location continues to sell tickets to daily screenings, there are no showtimes for Littleton’s Meadows Stadium 12.
And now, Regal Continental’s website has gone dark, with no new movie listings as of this week. A sign on its door says: “Thank you! It has been our pleasure to serve you at this theater. Regal Continental is now closed,” according to 9News.
Representatives for Regal Cinemas and owner Cineworld did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Cineworld Group LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September as it deals with billions of dollars in debt and lower-than-expected attendance at screenings, The Denver Post has reported.
The loss of Regal Continental, one of the metro area’s first large-screen houses that predated modern IMAX screens, chops the company’s local movie theaters down from 10 at the beginning of the year to seven. On social media, former Denver residents such as Rian Johnson — director of “Glass Onion” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” — mourned the loss of its giant screens that hosted thousands of dazzling movie premieres.
“God, so many memories,” Johnson wrote on Twitter before mentioning the opening weekend for 1983’s “Return of the Jedi.”
“Oh wow yeah SAME,” wrote Scott Derrickson, who grew up in Denver and directed Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” and “The Black Phone,” in response. “It was always The Cooper, Century 21 or The Continental for the blockbusters. But The Continental was the biggest screen. Now they’re all gone. The end of an era.”
“The Continental was one of Denver’s premiere showcase theaters when it opened January 26, 1966, with Charlton Heston in ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy,’ ” according to the Cinema Treasures theater-history archive. “(It) continued throughout the 1970s and 1980s, with a screen that measured 35’x 83′. Seating for the theater was originally 916.”
Regal, which started as a single large screen, also hosted dozens of 70mm presentations over the decades, including the original “Star Wars” trilogy, Cinema Treasures said. “With the right booking, the Continental Theatre could be responsible for 35% of a film’s business in the city of Denver.”
The news arrives as another seemingly shuttered local movie house — the Arvada location of the former, low-cost Elvis Cinemas — is set to reopen under new ownership. While Elvis bid farewell to its three metro area locations in early March, the Arvada location (5157 W. 64th Ave.) has been picked up by the team behind Sonora Cinemas.
Sonora was a Spanish- and English-language movie house in Aurora that closed in 2020, according to its Facebook page. It’s now being revived for a late-April refresh, although any changes will be mostly cosmetic, according to Denverite.
“Soon we will be at your service,” its owners wrote on Facebook while sharing photos of new hardware and finishes at the Arvada location.
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