Read time: 9 min.

As a kid, one of my favorite holiday traditions was heading to the movies with my family after Christmas brunch. I felt bad for the staff manning the multiplex, but those outings gave me the chance to experience some unforgettable classics on the big screen with some of my extended family. More often than not, we ended up at Muncie’s ShowPlace 7. Today, it’s hard to believe that such a big part of our holiday tradition is home to a plumbing and HVAC supply company!

Muncie’s been home to a great slate of theaters over the years. Downtown featured several that dated from the early vaudeville days, like the Columbia, Liberty, Lyric, Orpheum, Rivoli, Royal, Star, Strand, and Wysor Grand¹. My parents remember the Strand and Rivoli, along with outdoor theaters like the Muncie Drive-In and the Ski-Hi. Millennials my age probably only recognize the Columbia and Star, now the Mark III Tap Room² and the Muncie Civic Theater. 

Y&W Management Corporation of Indianapolis operated most of those old theaters. Although the company made plans for a $225,000 movie house a mile and a half south of downtown in 1949³, it built a Kiddieland amusement park on the Madison Street site instead. It took almost two more decades for a suburban movie theater to open in town, but several opened in rapid succession. The Delaware Cinema debuted in 1968, and General Cinemas’ Northwest Plaza Cinema followed a year later. 

United Artists’ Muncie Mall Cinema joined the pair in 1974, marking the beginning of a period of change for theaters in Delaware County over the following decades. The Strand met the wrecking ball in 1979, and the Muncie Drive-In near Yorktown closed in 1986. The following year, Minnetrista Corporation bought the sixty-year-old Rivoli to make way for a new headquarters for Ball Brothers Foundation, the George and Frances Ball Foundation, and the family’s other philanthropic entities⁴. 

The demolition of the Rivoli was the end of an era for downtown movie theaters in Muncie, but it also signaled the start of the city’s multiplex boom. In 1989, permits were approved for the Carmike Cinema 7, a sprawling 22,327-square-foot theater with seating for 1,308. That same year, Delaware Cinema expanded with a third auditorium. Kerasotes, the new owners of the Northwest Plaza Cinema, unveiled plans to add six more screens to their own theater⁵.

The Cinema 7 was Carmike’s first Indiana multiplex. “The new theater will be a notch above what you’re used to in Muncie,” said the company’s vice president for development. “We spend our money where the customer sees and feels it.” What’s more, officials decreed that the theater would offer “the best seat money can buy and a first-quality sound system⁶.” 

Indeed it did. The “Ultra Modern Theatre,” featured a state-of-the-art stereo system, high-back luxury seats, Tivoli aisle lighting, wall-to-wall screens, and a computerized concession stand and box office⁷. Carmike Cinema 7 opened on Friday, December 15, 1989, with showings of Blaze, We’re No Angels, Welcome Home, Bernadette, Dead Poets Society, Romero, and From Hollywood to Deadwood. 

Unfortunately, Carmike’s presence as a Muncie theater operator proved to be brief. In 1992, the Kerasotes theater chain took over the venue and rebranded it as Dollar Cinema. The shift marked a second chapter for the multiplex, positioning it as a budget-friendly option for local moviegoers. That February 14th, the Dollar Cinema adopted the second-run model, showcasing films that had already completed their initial runs at the larger Northwest 8⁸.

This change allowed Kerasotes to cater to audiences seeking a more affordable way to enjoy popular titles. As “Muncie’s newest theater,” Dollar Cinema showed Father of the Bride, The Addams Family, My Girl, Grand Canyon, The Last Boy Scout, Rush, and An American Tail: Fever Goes West during its grand reopening⁹. 

By the time Cinema 7 was rebranded as Dollar Cinema, the concept of dollar movies was already familiar to Muncie residents. The Muncie Mall 3, for instance, had been offering second-run films for just ninety-nine cents¹⁰! However, Kerasotes reverted the Dollar Cinema to a first-run format after only four years and restored its original name, Cinema 7. Management explained that the change was intended to provide Muncie with a greater variety of films¹¹, but some patrons disappointedly found that the theater often showed the same movies in multiple auditoriums¹².

By 2000, Kerasotes had solidified its position as the only name in town for indoor movies. That year, the company temporarily closed Cinema 7 for a four-month renovation, transforming it into the modern ShowPlace 7. The revamped theater boasted a sleek new exterior, stadium seating, larger screens, and an expanded lobby. It also introduced luxurious “eco chairs” equipped with cupholders and retractable armrests, providing a more comfortable and state-of-the-art experience.

From what I can gather, the remodeled multiplex opened its doors with Fantasia 2000, Frequency, Gladiator, Titan A.E., U-571, and Where The Heart Is. To further entice moviegoers, the theater hosted sneak previews of Chicken Run and Me, Myself & Irene the very next day. The diverse slate of films appealed to a broad audience, which set the stage for the theater’s grand reintroduction as Muncie’s newest premier movie destination.

I remember watching The Lion King at the old Dollar Cinema shortly after its release, but for me, the building at 2401 N. Community Drive will always be defined by its time as ShowPlace 7. I can’t even count how many movies I saw there- Elf, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars: Episode VI, and several from the Harry Potter series.

I wouldn’t think of a twenty-six-year-old theater as aging, but the ShowPlace 7 held on through 2005. That year proved to be another turning point for Muncie’s movie scene: Kerasotes shifted its attention to the sprawling new ShowPlace 12, let the lease on the mall theater lapse, and shut down the aging Northwest Plaza 8.

AMC acquired Kerasotes in 2010, but my family, friends, and I continued watching movies at Muncie’s original ShowPlace for several more years. The theater finally closed its doors for good in 2014. AMC didn’t provide much public explanation for the closure, but the writing had been on the wall: the theater had been listed for sale in the preceding months, but it continued hosting irregular showings, primarily on weekends¹⁴.

The old ShowPlace 7 sat abandoned for nearly five years, its paint fading and the parking lot slowly crumbling into disrepair. Then, to my surprise, the theater found new life when it was purchased and repurposed! Today, it serves as the Muncie location for Lee Supply, an Indianapolis-based retailer specializing in kitchen, bathroom, lighting, and appliances. The building now features a warehouse and a will-call counter. Most prominently, its front has been transformed into a sprawling 6,000-square-foot showroom¹⁵.

I haven’t ventured inside, but the theater’s transition from ShowPlace to Showroom is ironic. Once a building dedicated to entertaining crowds with blockbuster movies, it now displays sleek, modern home essentials for sale. My nostalgia for its theater days remains, but it’s good to see the space revitalized and contributing to the community once again. How about that for a second act?

Still I feel a little nostalgia as I pass the old ShowPlace. Once the newest addition to Muncie’s rich movie-going history, it joined its predecessors in transitioning to more utilitarian purposes. Today, the Delaware Cinema has been repurposed into a bingo hall, while the Northwest 8 was demolished and partially rebuilt as a Ruby Tuesday’s. The Muncie Mall 3 now serves as a storage facility, and all the changes leave AMC’s ShowPlace 12 as the city’s sole remaining theater.

This year, I don’t think I’ll be going to the movies for Christmas. In fact, I haven’t attended many screenings since the old ShowPlace 7 closed, at least not in Muncie. The ShowPlace 12 is another state-of-the-art facility with all the latest high-tech amenities, but it’s more expensive and impersonal than the theaters I grew up with.

For me, moviegoing is less about luxury and more about the atmosphere- the memories of sticky floors, sharing popcorn, and a cozy sense of community in a darkened room. The sleek reclining seats, online reservations, and immersive sound systems at the ShowPlace 12 may appeal to contemporary tastes, but they lack the charm of its predecessor, which was once a state-of-the-art facility in its own right. Instead of going out, I think I’ll catch the newest films on streaming. As I do, I’ll remember holidays with family and weekends with friends at Muncie’s old ShowPlace 7.

Sources Cited
1 Cunningham, B. (1987, January 24). Remembering the Rivoli. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 
2 Album of Yesteryear (1980, June 1). The Muncie Star. p. 44.
3 Transfer Lease of Star Theater (1935, April 9). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 13.
4 LaGuardia, J. (1987, January 5). Ball foundations and family offices to replace Rivoli. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
5 Roysdon, K. (1989, April 13). There’s more news on theater scene. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 19.
6 Roysdon, K. (1989, February 11). Delaware Cinema to add third screen. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 2.
7 Carmike Cinemas (1989, December 10). The Muncie Star. P. 28.
8 Richey, R. (1992, February 13). Kerasotes Buys Carmike Cinema.  The Muncie Star. p. 9. 
9 Dollar Cinema (1992, February 13). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 16.
10 Gibson, R. (1992, February 13). Second run: Cinema’s format to change. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 2.
11 Gibson, R. (1996, March 23). No more movies for a buck. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
12 Logan, B. (1996, July 10). Is this progress? The Muncie Star. p. 4.
13 Cinema 7 now ShowPlace 7 (2000, June 25). The Muncie Star Press. p. 43.
14 Roysdon, K. (2014, December 15). AMC Showplace 7 movie theater closes. The Muncie Star Press. Pp. 1A-2A.
15 Stefanski, C. (2019, September 5). Former theater to become plumbing, HVAC business. The Muncie Star Press. p. A1.