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Indian Hills Cinerama
Omaha, USA

This article first appeared in
..in 70mm
The 70mm Newsletter

Here's an Aug. 2000 update on what is going on with the Indian Hills Cinerama in Omaha, for those of you who are interested. I'll start from the very beginning; some of you may wish to scan past the introductory stuff.

The Indian Hills opened as a new Super Cinerama in 1962, and was one of the three Cooper-design round Cinerama buildings, a virtual twin to the buildings in Minneapolis and Denver. It's strip screen was (and its' current single sheet screen is) 35x105, which I believe is the largest Cinerama screen installed in America. Capacity is around 800. "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" and "How the West Was Won" played there, then it was converted for 70mm. In 1977, a 2nd theatre, "The Cameo," seating about 250, was added on to the left of the original auditorium, which was left completely intact. In the 1980s, another 2 auditoriums were added on the right. Upon its closing on September 29, 2000, it was operated by Carmike, which had just filed for bankruptcy and was closing many of its leased facilities. They were in the process of installing new carpet, but had only finished the "bowl" area up by the screen. The seats had all been re-done within the last few years, and all of the digital sound formats had been installed.

When Larry Karstens called me to say that the theatre was closing, I hopped on a plane and flew back to see the final shows, take pictures, meet people, etc. One of the people I met was film historian Bruce Crawford. The three of us spent the day lamenting the fate of the theatre, and trying to drum up publicity in an effort to attract another chain that could take over operation. A couple of blurbs appeared in the Omaha World-Herald, and we also wrote/called some potential operators, but to no avail. This continued for a few weeks. In November, I sent an e-mail to Larry and to Rich Vincent saying something to the effect of, "Nobody else is going to take over operation of the building, so why don't we?" As it turns out, Rich had been thinking the same thing. At that point, we began contacting investors, the property manager, film equipment vendors, bookers, etc., and Rich is currently about to finish up his financial spreadsheet based on info gathered over the last couple of months. We also have been talking with Larry Smith and John Harvey about bringing in actual 3-strip, and with Hurley Screen Corp. about getting a new strip screen to replace the current single-sheet deeply curved screen. Dave Strohmaier has also been lending his help/expertise.
This whole thing is much like the process was in Seattle four years ago. Very small steps, no steps, more small steps, then-- BAM!-- something actually happens! The time involved is driving us all nuts, but we do see that we are making progress, and I suspect that we will have much more to report in the weeks ahead.

In case you were wondering, it is definitely our goal to bring back Cinerama for some special screenings. When that happens, we will publicize it much better than some other recent events. ...and yes, our strips will overlap!
 

Further in 70mm reading:

Matt Lutthans


Internet link:

Indian Hills Down
June 2001 update by Ed Reitan