Another movie theater, Perimeter Mall opens 1973

I-285 was completed in 1969, Perimeter Mall opened August 11, 1971, and the Perimeter Mall General Cinema triplex opened in December of 1973. The theater held 1,700 people. (Atlanta Constitution, Dec. 23, 1973, “Perimeter Mall Gets 3 Theaters”)

Perimeter Mall theater was located in the corner of the mall’s parking lot, along Ashford Dunwoody Road from 1973 until it closed in 2000. If you enjoy movie theater history, be sure and visit cinematreasures.org page on Perimeter Mall theater. Although, the map on that page doesn’t accurately show where the theater was located. Based on today’s (2025) mall, the theater was in between Dillard’s and Ashford Dunwoody Road.

The first movies shown were “The Way We Were” with Barbara Streisand and Robert Redford, “The Laughing Policeman” starring Walter Matthau and “The Seven-Ups” with Roy Scheider.

The opening films of Perimeter Mall Theater.

Ned Hastings grew up in Sandy Springs, attended North Springs High School, and remembers Perimeter Mall theater showed first-run movies. It was the place to go for high school kids. Hastings recalls, “…on Friday and Saturday nights that theater would be packed, and we’d always bump into packs of kids from school.  If you were there on a date, the whole school would know about it by Monday morning.  The lobby was all glass, so you could drive by and see if it was crowded or not.”

He also remembers during this time going to theaters in Roswell and in Sandy Springs at North Springs Shopping Center and at Cinema 285 at Roswell Road and Hammond Drive. North Springs was a dollar theater. Cinema 285 opened in 1971 in the Grant City Shopping Center. The shopping center later became Hammond Square, and the theater was Hammond Square Cinema before closing in 1977.

Hastings graduated from North Springs in 1984 but continued to go the Perimeter Mall Theater during college. He also worked at the mall between 1985 and 1988. He remembers seeing “The Right Stuff” two times at Perimeter Mall Theater and the film “Platoon.”

Hastings does not think Star Wars played at Perimeter Mall Theater in 1977. “Star Wars didn’t make its way to the Atlanta market until late June or July of 1977.”  The film was intended to show only in theaters that could accomodate Dolby sound. Star Wars played at the Weis Doraville Theater on Buford Highway and three other Atlanta theaters in July 1977, although “None of the four theaters showing Star Wars is equipped with Dolby paraphernalia.” (Atlanta Journal and Constitution, July 24, 1977, “Star Wars doing heavenly”)

Ned remembers Perimeter Mall Theater started out with three screens and was later converted to four screens. According to cinematreasures.org, the middle of the three theaters was divided into two by General Cinema, resulting in four small theaters.

I went to Perimeter Mall movie theater a few times through the years, but couldn’t tell you what movies I saw. That either means my memory is not the best or the movies I saw there were the kind that are easily forgotten. I prefer the second theory.

Perimeter Mall Theater also had midnight movie showing in the 1980s. In May of 1984, Rocky Horror Picture Show was on the bill for midnight along with “Ziggy Stardust,” “Risky Business” and “Kentucky Fried Movie.” (Atlanta Constitution, May 11, 1984)

General Cinema filed for bankruptcy in 2000, and Perimeter Mall Theater closed during that same year. The opening of United Artists Perimeter Pointe 10 in 1995 likely contributed to the downfall of Perimeter Mall Theater. Eight, ten, twelve and fourteen multiplex theaters were opening all around Atlanta.