Oscar's Multiplex Cinemas

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Sites of memory · Year: 1982 · Authors: Gilbert López-Atalaya

Following the prevailing trends in the cinema exhibition business in the early 1980s, where the concentration of several cinema screens in the same building sharing space with other varied businesses (cafés, shops, etc.) was dominant, the idea of Oscar's Multiplex Cinemas arose, the first of their kind built in the Canary Islands.

Located on the ground floor of a residential and commercial building on Avenida de Bélgica, Oscar's Multiplex Cinemas were inaugurated on 30 July 1982. The takings from that night were donated to benefit the "Hospitalito de Niños" of Santa Cruz. 

The Oscar's cinema complex was designed by architect Gilbert López-Atalaya, specialised in this type of construction, for entrepreneurs Eladio Fraga, Juan Amador, and the heirs of Jesús Doreste. The four screens built had a total capacity of 1081 seats. The establishment featured the most modern image and sound systems of the time (Dolby Stereo).

With its neon-filled façade and spectacular billboards, in the purest American style, Oscar's Multiplex Cinemas projected the best commercial cinema of the 1980s, 1990s, and the early years of the new 21st century, until the definitive cessation of its activity in October 2005.

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