Carolina Mall Cinema unexpectedly closed on Monday. Photo credit: Chris Miller.

One of the things I really enjoy about operating The Cabarrus Compass is occasionally getting the chance to write reviews about movies that really resonate with me.

I’m a cinephile who enjoys all kinds of films — new and old, blockbusters and smaller productions, color and black-and-white. There’s something special about finishing a movie that really connects with you and immediately wanting to talk about it, think about it and share that experience with someone else.

And when I think about my love of movies, I keep coming back to the place where it all began: Carolina Mall Cinema.

The vast majority of movies I watched growing up were on those screens. So when the theater abruptly announced Monday morning that it was closing, the news felt surprisingly personal.

Judging by the reaction, I’m far from alone.

My story announcing the closure has been shared on social media more than 140 times, while the theater’s Facebook announcement has been shared over 900 times.

For a movie theater that has been part of Concord for almost 50 years, Carolina Mall Cinema clearly became much more than simply a place to watch a movie.

It became part of so many people’s memories.

Several people shared their memories of the beloved theater in comments on my story and Carolina Mall Cinema’s original Facebook post.

One woman recalled meeting her future husband in the theater’s parking lot about two decades ago. Another said Carolina Mall Cinema was where her husband took her on their first date — one “that started everything.”

“This was one of my favorite movie places to go to,” another person wrote. “I am going to miss it.”

Others held out hope that the closure might not be the end for Carolina Mall Cinema.

“Need some investors to pair up and bring this thing back to life,” one person wrote. “This place is a Concord staple and actually enjoyable to watch movies.”

Laura Blackwell Lindsey, chair of the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners, was also saddened by the news.

She recalls dropping off her children at the theater to see movies with friends when they were younger and not having to worry if they were safe. Her youngest son later got his first job there — a job Lindsey said he really enjoyed.

“That theater has offered so many families so many memories, for so many years!” Lindsey told The Cabarrus Compass.“It’s a landmark in Concord. I’m really sad to see it go!”

I have reached out to the theater to learn more about why it closed but have not received a response. As of Monday, Carolina Mall Cinema’s individual webpage had also been taken down, and the theater was no longer listed among the locations on parent company Southeast Cinemas Entertainment’s website.

Signs announcing the permanent closure of Carolina Mall Cinema were posted outside the longtime Concord movie theater Monday. Photo credit: Chris Miller.

In an era when massive chains such as Regal, AMC and Cinemark dominate much of the movie-theater landscape, there has always been something refreshing about smaller theaters like Carolina Mall Cinema and the Gem Theatre in downtown Kannapolis.

The tickets are often cheaper, the experience is less corporate and, after enough years, the theater itself becomes woven into the fabric of the community.

And Carolina Mall Cinema had another thing going for it: the best movie theater popcorn around, at least in my opinion. And a machine that automatically filled your bucket with popcorn? Yes, please!

The interior and exterior underwent several renovations over the years, but the theater kept going. It even weathered the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, when its screens went dark but it continued selling giant bags of popcorn for customers to pick up as a way to support the theater.

The movie theater was certainly woven into my life. The love of movies I developed there as a kid followed me well beyond those trips to Carolina Mall Cinema.

I took several film classes at N.C. State and later briefly wrote about the film industry while in graduate school at the University of Maryland. I wrote a reflection on the 20th anniversary of “The Blair Witch Project” (which was filmed entirely in Maryland) and, for a feature-writing class, interviewed several prominent film critics for stories about Disney’s dominance at the box office and its growing strategy of remaking classic animated films.

But all of that came much later. Long before I was studying film or interviewing critics about it, I was just a kid spending weekends at Carolina Mall Cinema, getting lost in whatever was playing on the big screen.

That’s where so much of my fascination with movies began.

I went there to escape whatever was happening in the real world for a couple of hours. Much like opening a good book, walking into a darkened theater offered the chance to disappear into another world — to become absorbed in characters, stories and places that existed only on the screen.

Those trips helped turn movies from something I enjoyed into something I genuinely loved, and I know I’m far from the only person in the area who can say that.

There will always be other theaters and more movies to discover.

But there will never be another place quite like that theater.

Movies give us stories. Places like Carolina Mall Cinema give us the memories that go with them.

The Cabarrus Compass

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