AMC Kabuki 8 is a

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

in the Japan Center complex in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Japantown is a common name for Japanese communities in cities and towns outside Japan. Alternatively, a Japantown may be called J-town, Little Tokyo or , the first two being common names for Japantown, San Francisco, Japantown, San Jose and Little To ...

neighborhood.

History

Kabuki Theater originally opened in 1960 as a large dinner theater. The theater was the first

multiplex Multiplex may refer to: * Multiplex (automobile), a former American car make * Multiplex (comics), a DC comic book supervillain * Multiplex (company), a global contracting and development company * Multiplex (assay), a biological assay which measu ...

in San Francisco. As part of the original Japan Center mission to showcase Japanese culture, it was the first authentic

Kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

theater in America, designed in a traditional 17th century style with a proscenium, stage entrance/exit ramp, revolving stage, and trap doors. The theater was designed with dining tables so audiences could eat while watching Kabuki performances. The restaurant, named the Kabuki Theater Restaurant, was limited to serving Chinese and American food so it would not draw business away from the Japan Center Japanese restaurants. It has hosted San Francisco's Cherry Blossom Festival activities, is one of a small number of theaters showing performances by the

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when he ...

, and has screened several films for

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in in ...

and

San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival CAAMFest, known prior to 2013 as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), is presented every March in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States as the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asia ...

as recently as 2011.

Ownership

Formerly the

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

Kabuki Cinema 8, it was acquired by

Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...

Sundance Cinemas In 1969, Robert Redford purchased at the base of Mount Timpanogos in Utah's Wasatch Mountains. He named this land Sundance (after his character in the 1969 film ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid''). The Sundance Group is a listing of all the ...

chain in 2006 as part of an anti-trust agreement allowing AMC to acquire Loews. Sundance renovated the theater, and reopened it under its current name in December 2007, as the chain's second theater. On October 6, 2015, it was announced that

Carmike Cinemas Carmike Cinemas was a motion picture exhibitor headquartered in Columbus, Georgia. As of March 2016, the company had 276 theaters with 2,954 screens in 41 states, and was the fourth largest movie theater chain in the United States. The company b ...

has acquired

for $36 million. On November 15, 2016, Carmike was purchased by

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...

for $1.2 Billion, bringing the theater back into AMC's control. AMC announced on March 1, 2017, that the Carmike owned brands will be retired and all theaters would be placed under one of three new AMC brands. The Sundance Kabuki as of April 2017 was renamed the AMC Dine-in Kabuki 8.https://www.amctheatres.com/carmike?rel=Carmike_HPPromo1#california On April 4, 2018, the theater was re branded as the AMC Kabuki 8 and dropped the AMC Dine-in menu.

References

External links

* Cinemas and movie theaters in California Theatres in San Francisco Theatres completed in 1960 {{SanFrancisco-struct-stub