Tara Theatre facts for kids
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Loew's Tara
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| Address | 2345 Cheshire Bridge Road NE Atlanta, Georgia |
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| Operator | Plaza Theatre (Atlanta) |
| Type | Art house Independent film |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1968 |
| Reopened | 2023 |
| Website | |
| https://www.taraatlanta.com/ | |
The Tara Theatre is a special movie theater in Atlanta, Georgia. It's known as an art house theater because it mostly shows independent films. These are movies made outside of the big Hollywood studios, often with unique stories and styles. The Tara Theatre is the only one in Atlanta that shows only these kinds of films. It's also part of the Atlanta Film Festival, which is a big event for movie lovers!
Contents
A Look Back: The Tara Theatre's Story
How the Tara Theatre Began
The Tara Theatre first opened its doors in June 1968. It was built by a company called Loew's Theatres. The building had a modern design, which was very popular back then.
It was originally called Loew's Tara. The name "Tara" came from a famous fictional plantation in the book Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. This book is about the O'Hara family.
When it first opened, the Tara Theatre had one very large screen, about 60 feet wide! It could seat 1,000 people and showed movies with amazing sound. The very first movie shown there was Gone with the Wind itself, in a special format.
Changes Over the Years
Over time, the single big screen was divided into two smaller theaters. In the 1970s, a third theater was added to the building. Then, in the early 1980s, one of the two theaters was divided again, making even more screens.
In the 1980s, the Tara Theatre became part of a local group of theaters called Lefont. Later, a company called United Artists Theaters bought the Tara. They even used part of the building as their main office for the region.
In 2002, United Artists joined with another company to form Regal Entertainment Group. For a while, the Tara still operated under the United Artists name. After this, the Tara Theatre got a makeover! Its inside and outside were updated with cool, shiny designs. They also added large pictures of famous old Hollywood movie stars like Greta Garbo, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Charlie Chaplin.
Recent History and Reopening
Regal closed the Tara Theatre in November 2022. Many people in Atlanta were sad to see it go.
However, the Tara Theatre reopened in May 2023! It is now owned by a local company that also owns the historic Plaza Theatre nearby. This means the Tara Theatre continues to be a special place for independent films in Atlanta.
