Exploring an Abandoned 2020 Movie Theater with Everything Left Behind!

[@Karalainee]

Feels like a time capsule of when movies died. It’s been over four years and we still haven’t gotten back to movie theater and movies like we did before 2020.

[@justinfusco6121]

Those small reels are trailers that play before the movie. I used to work at a theatre. They put about 4 trailers before the film and they are huge when all put together, they almost fill up those large circular platforms you saw. Fun fact, trailers used to be after the movie not before, thats why they're caller trailers. No one stayed to watch them, so now they are before the movie.

[@Mbplayerone]

@justinfusco6121 geez how long ago was that? I'm old and I don't remember that fact 🤣

[@fightingidiocy7724]

lol no lies! Siskel and Ebert came into our theater all the time. Met them both a few times! very nice! Gene always got small popcorn, small pop, Roger got large popcorn with extra butter and large coke! it took 3 of us to move Dances With Wolves from one platter to anotherr! That one got just one trailer because of the long run time! lol! We would discourage people from seeing (it sucks! boring, yawn) the 9 pm show, because it let out 1 am! hahahha no one wanted to stay that late.

[@retroman1990]

This theater first opened in 1988 as the River Run Theatres. Among the movies I saw here growing up; "The Devil's Advocate", "The General's Daughter", "Natural Born Killers", "Primary Colors". Loews Cineplex closed it in 2001, and it was reopened on November 19 2004 as the Lansing Cinema 8 under Pittsburgh based Jenco Theatres. As the Lansing 8, I saw the first "Saw" and "Saw III", "Doom", "Inside Man", "16 Blocks", "Jet Li's Fearless", "The Omen 2006", "Knowing" and several others up until 2013 or so. Carmike Cinemas eventually took over from Jenco, then a company called New Vision ran it until the pandemic caused them to file bankruptcy. As such, this never reopened. Unfortunately Lansing and its neighbor Calumet City has been on the decline for a while. River Oaks mall is a ghost town save for JC Penney and Macy's. The Landings shopping center (where this theater is on the outskirts of) has several vacant retail buildings including an abandoned Walmart and Ultra Foods.

[@GiantSlopCanyon]

The word is "projector"

[@cypherinferno5029]

@peopledork0 the words are "Who Gives a $hit"

[@troyonplanet]

@@cypherinferno5029 the words are “the people who expect You Tubers to know what they’re filming” 😊

[@arker-n8c]

Wrong, it called film rolls motor!

[@tadnuggets]

my man got them squeaky ass shoes spongebob had

[@BEandME2020]

@tadnuggets Now as I'm watching this now i heard it but didn't pay it no mind till you said it, now I can't un-hear it🤣🤣 them cheap shoes

[@TestTest-cy5gg]

They were annoying at times.

[@kristinasymons]

😅😅

[@karolsmith6754]

i hope no one goes and busts this place up, it looks so cool

[@DavidMaupin-ps7ob]

@@karolsmith6754 preserve the past

[@jukeboxjohnnie]

Those small reels are trailer adverts not full films, they are highly desirable for collectors!

[@seangalvin4582]

@@jukeboxjohnnie I'm surprised to see actual film trailers to movies in the mid 2010s. Those are probably pretty rare. My city's theaters were 100% digital by the late 2000s. It looks like this theater might have been using film pretty recently. Maybe it wasn't part of a big chain. Converting to digital may have been too expensive.

[@TrumpsTrashTruck]

Can’t believe no one’s taken a lot of this stuff. Big money in there

[@davidbandler]

Those aren't films, they're the trailers for films. An entire feature-length film makes a spool over 1 foot in diameter. Those little spools are about 5-10 minutes. You're finding all those trailers in the cutting room and that's the cut/splice table and gas to blow dust off the film. You had to splice the trailers you wanted to the starts of films so that the entire thing would play without you needing to load/reload the projectors. More well-off or chain theaters would have multiple projectors per screen so they wouldn't need to cut-in the trailers. That theater isn't abandoned, it's sitting in escrow while the bankruptcy court and insurance settle everything; then they'll likely have an industry sale and sell-off whatever they can inside. Assuming criminals aren't breaking/entering and vandalizing the place.

[@javyrodriguez332]

That is the old Cineplex Oldeon on Torrance by the Old River Oaks Mall. I thought this looked familiar.

[@jeremybrown6894]

New Vision Cinema 8 Lansing

[@roblbar]

Before the dark times. Before the empire.

[@HumorNWaffles]

Used to be called River Run in the 90s

[@arri275555]

I was a protectionist in the early 2000's. Those are protectors. The lenses are for flat and scope. They represent different aspect ratios. 1:85 or 2:39. The projectors used a Xenon bulb to show the image on the screen. The silver discs with film on it are called platters. The film you found in the locker and in other locations are just trailers. They are not the entire film. The bench at 12.08 is used for splicing the film together like the trailer to the entire film. It's also used for repairs if the portion of the film gets damaged. I am surprised they left the projectors and the speakers in the theaters

[@carlashepherd9362]

When I think of a time capsule I’m thinking it’s been abandoned for decades, not 4 yrs! In this case it’s a 4 yr old time capsule! Very awesome video bro! 🤘👍❤️

[@plateshutoverlock]

The "bottles" are projector bulbs, and the metal table with the controls is used for splicing film. Usually to splice several individual reels into one large platter reel (in this particular theater), and those little spools of film would be added in as well to show the trailers and information cards.

[@Leafy17]

Im surprised they never took anything out! All that perfectly good (for now) thousand dollar equipment just sitting there. Lets hope it doesnt fall into the wrong hands

[@largol33t1]

I guess it's like a public bus: if it's not being used, it's losing money. The bulbs probably cost a fortune to replace so they don't bother selling them on Ebay to recoup some lost funds.

[@garypaez3947]

The theaters had level seating that was converted to stadium seating I think in the 2000s. The Little Calumet River runs next to the theaters and that is why there is mold and smell. I worked at the theater in the 90s and can remember the great times there.

[@mrlox9576]

Was cool to get a look behind the scenes. Thanks for not being one of those A-holes who smashes places up and ruins things for the next explorers, hate those people. 👍

[@IsaacMorgan-lu6xu]

bro doesnt know what ghostbusters is?

[@fightingidiocy7724]

Siskel and Ebert came into our theater all the time. Met them both a few times! very nice! Gene always got small popcorn, small pop, Roger got large popcorn with extra butter and large coke! it took 3 of us to move "Dances With Wolves" from one platter to another! That one got just one trailer because of the long run time! lol! We would discourage people from seeing (it sucks! boring, yawn) the 9 pm show, because it let out 1 am! hahahha no one wanted to stay that late. worked from 1988 until 1992..it was the best job ever.

[@xxexplosivexxxxexplosivexx8512]

The bottles are xenon projector bulbs. A guy that works in a local theater once told me a story about how unsafe they were if mishandled. If there was even a single speck of dirt while in use, there was supposedly a high risk of them exploding.

[@Neslerm1120]

Yup. Very dangerous. Had one explode before. Shattered the mirror that surrounded it. Down a projector for a few days

[@robertmailhos8159]

That is a big theater that sits in the state of abandonedment 😮

[@shrimp_bucket]

Damn didn't know the classic ghostbusters vehicle? Dang... Ghostbusters: Afterlife!

[@zeppelin5000]

@@shrimp_bucket he's a kid, probably doesn't know any better lol.

[@jwtb85]

River Oaks Mall next door should be something to explore when it closes.

[@aj4377]

I literally used to go here as a teenager in early 2000s for group outtings and dates . Sad how this movie theater ended up😢. Thanks for the memories.

[@snextime]

Projectors, not cameras.

[@DougieYT]

The Birds of Prey movie themed cups and the vintage posters are neat finds 🔥

[@mkeolver]

Not gonna lie I'd probably help myself to that Candyman poster and a Sonic plushie.

[@journeyofsound397]

@@mkeolver I'd have helped myself to a lot of the posters that were in there lol

[@RoeVenturesLLC]

30:00 Lansing 8 cinema was my old theater it’s been closed 5 years. Before covid, only evening movie times in 2019 no matinee.

[@lilrockettshipp]

is this the one on torrence?if so i used to go there

[@JohnKozuch]

Yes it’s not n Torrance Ave behind the restaurant I used to go there too back in the day as a kid

[@RottingMidwest]

insane

[@2swag.productions]

thats crazy that they left the candy

[@MyKingdomForAK9]

Yes, ❤️ 😋 and that no one came back to rescue the XL-size cases of toilet paper, for 🏡 use❣️

[@TrumpsTrashTruck]

Bro’s on here talkin bout candy when there’s thousands of dollars in equipment lol

[@MyKingdomForAK9]

​@@TrumpsTrashTruck 💯❣️❗️ Yes; of course. 👍

[@belphegor8072]

Nothing better that a stale sour straw or a stale air head

[@benjaminmendenhall4497]

The $4.95 popcorn refills are for the reusable popcorn bucket that you get at the beginning of the year and you can keep on reusing the same popcorn bucket for that year I did that a few times and it worth it if you go to the movies a lot

[@w8kdzradio113]

The flat platters are part of what looks like a triple deck platter system, prior to those, at least at the drive in theater I used to work at we used huge reels containing about 2400 feet of the movie with at least on changeover between 2 projectors each projector containing about half the movie, our projectors were so archaic that we didn't have the rotating appendage on the front to switch between flat and scope (which would have been nice) because most of the trailers (previews) were in flat aspect with most of the movies being in scope (Cinema Scope, the small reels of film you see are not the complete movies, they are trailers (most averaging a couple of minutes at 24 frames per second, the actual movies would have been 3 to 4000 foot of film, they came on reels we called shipping reels anywhere from 6 to 8 of them at approximately 27 to 30 minutes of film per reel, and we would splice them together, the table that you said was for rewinding is called a make up table, it is where we would take the shipping reels and splice them together onto larger reels or the platter system, the camera as you put it is the projector, that is where the magic actually happens to put the movie up on the screen, I was surprised that if they closed in 2020 that they still had 35mm projection equipment in the booth as most theaters were forced to convert to digital projection equipment in 2014 or go dark, there is one theater out there that I am aware of that was still getting 35mm prints after that, that is the Mahoning Drive in in Pennsylvania, but a lot of theaters did make the switch to digital equipment which means I am still in possession of a useless skill from my time working at the drive in that I worked at in the 90's. the slide projector in most theaters were used to put ads on the screen prior to starting the film, this cinema really is a time capsule of a bygone era, I do have a couple trailer reals of the 2 big blockbusters of 1996 (Twister and ID4) because the movie companies never wanted them back, only the actual films had to be broken down and sent back

[@jwestbrook61]

The building was converted to digital projection sometime in the 2010s, with the film platter systems, projectors and lamphouse consoles set aside taking up space. For reasons lost to time, the film equipment was not picked up by a metal recycler, which was the fate of most of the film projection equipment. The movie trailers (previews) were occupying space as the owners/ operators/ management/ staff never got around to tossing them in the trash. They must have owned the Icee equipment to leave it abandoned like that. The food left behind should be trashed. The previous owners must have went into a deep state of bankrupcy to leave all that behind. (Except for the digital projection equipment.)

[@w8kdzradio113]

The drive in I used to work at took one of the 4 projectors I used to run in the downstairs area for customers to see (less the rectifier and platter system) they were the original ones that were put in when the place was opened in 1950, they worked in there (being a seasonal business) until 2013 when it was converted to digital, the other ones I guess were scrapped, I remember I was there this year (I hadn't worked there since about 99) when I was waiting on my girlfriend, and another customer and his friend were looking at it, and I walked over to them and told them, yeah I played the original Twister amongst other movies on that beast over a 7 to 8 year period, and they asked, well how did that work, and I retorted, barely, but it did work

[@topekasub]

I would have loved to have that Neighbors trailer!

[@Jimboslice0223]

Good ol Lansing!

[@DS321o]

85% of this is you reading movie posters out loud

[@TerriSmith-nv8mj]

Wow, really cool 😮

[@SteveWiant]

I saw so many movies here growing up.

[@silent.hills.explorations]

This place looks insane!

[@ocsrc]

The actual film machines are out of date Everyone uses digital encrypted machines now that are networked to the Internet. They pay for the rights to view them and they get the authenticator keys over the Internet. They download the entire film but it won't be able to be played without the decryption keys They were sending via satellite downlink before the Internet was fast enough to download an entire film in a matter of minutes Those small reels are previews The actual film would be 3 big reels

[@thorodinson85]

They left so much stuff behind. I saw someone go inside a different movie theater, and most of the stuff was gone. This one had everything! I would have taken so much cool stuff left behind in there.

[@OzMoney]

This is Lansing Cinema 8, right by River Oaks Shopping Mall. I’ve seen several movies there starting back in the 1990s, all the way up until around 2016. Good times!!!

[@ricj7517]

Great video 👍

[@Ceezzx1]

Here from insta seemed rlly interesting 🤔 and it was thanks for the awesome vid 👍🙌

[@xjm40]

I'm shocked that they are still using film projectors in that place. Most new places now have digital.

[@depressedtruffle0000]

The amount of collectors Value here makes me crazy. And is sooo cool. Great video but yo shoes are squeaky ahh.

[@TerryTheNewsGirl]

Worked in a cinema (well two) in UK for nine years. The second one shuts in February. I'd love to go nosing around when it does.

[@IJustWatchYouTubeAllDay]

Cool video. He's a really good reader (:

[@RicMorton]

Those loose film rolls are "coming attractions" featurettes. The actual film rolls are huge, filling up one, or more, of the projector "platters".

[@RicMorton]

Of course now everything is digital

[@l.french560]

I remember seeing dream girls here on Christmas day!

[@squigglyline2813]

1:45 lol, oh look. There's a monitor in the police station with the cops watching you.😂

[@savic408]

A QUIET PLACE 2 was released in 2021 dude!

[@ArmiStevens]

It was originally supposed to come out in 2020 but moved to 2021 during to covid.

[@niceguy01]

The movie you said you didn’t know what it was I can’t believe you don’t know what it is when the car is right there with the logo on it 🤨🙄 when were you born? You Never heard of ghost busters?

[@jason.c4rs]

@@niceguy01 you can tell he knows he just doesnt know what its doing in 2020

[@alienperson7286]

I'm pretty sure he was joking lol

[@w8kdzradio113]

I think that was for Ghostbusters Afterlife the one that came out in 2021

[@understoodcdp11]

I was actually at a movie theater after watching sing 2 with my family when we got the school email saying we were staying home and going online, it was a surreal feeling, it did not help i was going from 8th grade onto a freshman in High-school like that

[@Yvez97]

Damn it feels like only a little bit ago you where on 1000 subs. Congratz to where you have come from!

[@ColoradosBackyard]

Man your a better person than I am, I’d be taking some of those films for souvenirs lol

[@topekasub]

You twist the inner ring on the slide carousel to get the slides out!

[@JohnKozuch]

Awesome video crazy to see that theater is still standing and left abandoned. This theater is in my hometown used to go there back in the day watch movies the last movie I can think of I saw there was Transformers movie.

[@Sweetkaos26]

The photo booth printed out actual pictures, they came out at the bottom thats why it says pictures here. Some of the ink in those photo booths reeked of rotten eggs 😂 especially the pictures in the little filmstrip layout. Ah memories lol

[@icouldntbemoreintroverted]

When i saw the hand at 8:30 i was so confused lol

[@pumacat1637]

Surprised that there is no squatters at least u be out of the elements

[@Doltonboy15500]

This is the old River Run theater in Lansing illinois. Opened in 1988.

[@etexbassfreak]

8:26 notice the KMART bucket.

[@skKing-bc5mb]

Those are projectors and that is a splice table

[@johnb5082]

Lol Ghostbusters afterlife poster and you're like "idk what that is?!" The car is a dead giveaway

[@garyszewc3339]

That's nothing. When the Pontiac Silver Dome closed, It was like they just walked away. There were still bottles of ketchup and mustard sitting on the tables in the restaurant. It's sat like that for years. They came in and removed all the seats, and sold them off before the imploded they building.

[@scRipXx]

39:54 The sign for Sonic 2 is on the header but didn’t that come out in 2022? Was that film another victim of circumstance?

[@EggnogDog-nk8yx]

He accidentally said sonic 2. If you look closely, you can see that it has no two on it. The first sonic came out in 2020🙂

[@johnlerch7699]

that was more like the managers office there are no security guards in a movie theater.

[@ocsrc]

The slides are for advertising before the previews. Local companies would buy advertising from the company

[@johndersham1]

I am surprised to see a film projector in there. The entire industry went to digital projection in around 2014. Hollywood scans the movies still made on film and sends out high res, digital reproductions for projection.

[@midwestspeed7889]

Is this the one by river oaks mall?

[@MinerMichelle2006]

For Real, COVID-19 is 🗑

[@jameswhitmore2599]

The video games also have bill acceptors on them. Either they broke in and took the cash, or they broke in and the money was already gone. The bottom of the changer is built like a safe.

[@katyhm]

so many movies just chilling 🥴🥲

[@russellterral29]

I saw a small Goonies sign on the floor next to the desk. I would have taken that quickly

[@richardvillafana7743]

how did you get in?

[@Blodreina27]

Is this theater still there?

[@jwestbrook61]

AMC acquired what was left of New Vision Theaters. This would explain the abandonment. They didn't assume control of this one.

[@timboslice1979]

Movie money accepted! That's weird Too bad that stuff can't be sold, given away or auctioned off.

[@fightingidiocy7724]

holy shit my family lived in Lansing from 1965 until 1976

[@sophiaseeboth1306]

Anyone know if this theater was used for Chicago fire

[@MoK86]

well the film you saw on the triple decker tables those are called platters but the film you saw are just left over trailers that are played before the film. the film you saw in the locker were just trailers to films and not the full movie. the table you found is called a make up table and those are to build films and then move it to a platter and put the film on that and then have it ready to play. man i wish. was there i would of jacked the toilet paper and the popcorn buckets and the cups

[@joesweeney3453]

22:12 go get a desani water from the counter

[@Engine7601]

How did you not recognize the Ecto-1 on the poster outside? Must not be a Ghostbusters fan

[@Neslerm1120]

I can understand why they didn’t reopen. They were still using film projectors. I think all studios are now digital. You are sent either a hard drive with the movie or they send it to the theaters via the internet now. Film is unfortunately dead

[@PurgatoryPriest]

8:20 - be truthful, you were going to say *The Lone Banger* right? 😅

[@lunamarie3171]

Old school movie theater

[@helenr991]

That's what you are call a selfie booth that's a picture Booth not a selfie

[@larenzaarnold6582]

If I would've been there and saw that hand, I would've ran an exit hole in the wall

[@krist6687]

It’s a Photo Booth we have had them forever and it’s not a selfie booth I am just letting you know , and that’s picture part would be your pics that the machine took

[@ocsrc]

The popcorn would come in these giant tube bags You would not believe how big, like 15 feet tall They actually load up the popcorn tubs and put them under the heat lamp and they take a tiny bit of oil and a cup of popcorn and pop it in the machine before the movie so you have the fresh smell of popcorn but the popcorn is actually from a giant bag that has been sitting around for weeks and it has special chemicals that prevent it from going stale It's really really really really really bad for you and the artificial butter is even worse I used to know people that owned a theater

[@JonTalksEverythingPodcast]

i wonder why they never reopened the movie theater

[@gabecollins5585]

Probably lack of funding so they couldn’t afford to stay open because they weren’t getting money when closed.

[@JonTalksEverythingPodcast]

@@gabecollins5585 yea very possible

[@ericanddella]

Im confused cause you say 2020 but is that when it closed or got built? It looks very late 90’s from the outside.

[@w8kdzradio113]

he said it closed 2020 due to the pandemic, was supposed to be temporary but ended up permanent

[@xjm40]

Those small reels that you picked up in a locker are actually trailers not full pictures.

[@adriansalas1007]

That clearly says village of Lansing building department lmao

[@DeanBaxter-x7d]

VonRueden Overpass

[@jasonsimpkins9069]

Not really massive but still cool

[@hi-friaudioman]

No disrespect but you should educate yourself on what some of that stuff is. I winced in pain every time you called a projector a "camera" 🥶

[@w8kdzradio113]

old school 35mm projectionist here, yep that one grinded my gears a little bit, but again I don't expect outsiders to know what this stuff is, but the projector is the center piece of the whole thing, and most of us seen those things in school (mostly 16mm stuff) or maybe that's just a gen X thing

[@kevinmcshea6373]

These are the cameras???? Let me show you the school 😂

[@Legoland2023]

Why were there film projectors in 2020 when it closed?

[@w8kdzradio113]

yeah that threw me off to since the digital conversion was forced in 2014

[@Legoland2023]

@@w8kdzradio113 you worked there?

[@thewarnextdoor6.5]

Looks like the apocalypse happend and its like the last of us just going through an abandoned building thats a memory of our past.