The historic Circle Cinema in Tulsa finally is opening a second screen, reported the Tulsa World. And a third screen should be showing movies by July 2013.
The nonprofit Circle Cinema is unique in its mandate to offer the community art-house indie-movie favorites, documentaries and foreign films. It often juggles showtimes for up to four or five films in its 105-seat theater, which limits showtimes for the most popular movies.
With the second screen adding 122 seats – and a third and larger one, with 268 seats, planned to open next July – the Circle will now broaden its scope to also show even more high-profile films like the upcoming awards-season favorite “Silver Linings Playbook,” starring Bradley Cooper of “The Hangover” and Jennifer Lawrence of “The Hunger Games.”
The theater, located on Lewis Avenue near Admiral Place, opened on Route 66 in 1928, and remains the oldest theater still standing in Tulsa. The Circle is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The theater closed for nearly a decade, then reopened in 2004 as a venue for independent films.
The Circle’s management had planned to restore the entire theater after reopening it, but fundraising for that effort took time. Also, a contractor botched the work on the main theater, and it took time to resolve that mistake.
The Circle recently received a $23,000 cost-share grant from the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program to renovate its facade.
Here’s a very good Tulsa World video from 2008, when the theater marked its 80th year: