Venue: Carolina Theatre
Address: 220 North Tryon
Town: Charlotte, US

The Carolina Theatre originally opened in Charlotte, North Carolina, as a silent picture palace in 1927. After several decades of showing both live entertainment and films, the theatre closed in 1978. It sat vacant for nearly 50 years before reopening in March 2025. The Carolina Theatre opened in 1927, as part of Paramount Picture's Publix Theatre chain. The opening feature was the silent movie, A Kiss in a Taxi. Originally, movies ran for three days, and vaudeville performers were on stage Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. In 1938, the theatre was renovated to accommodate sound films, with the original murals replaced with acoustic tiles. On Feb. 10, 1956, the theatre played host to a performance by Elvis Presley. In 1953, the theatre installed a panoramic screen to accommodate CinemaScope films. In 1961, it was further renovated to accommodate Cinerama films. The Sound of Music would premiere at the Carolina Theatre on March 31, 1965, and run a record 79 weeks. The 398,201 people who saw the movie were more than the population of Charlotte, at the time. With rising competition from suburban multiplexes, the theatre closed on Nov. 27, 1978, with a showing of Bruce Lee’s Fists of Fury. Arson furthered damaged the theatre in the 1980s. After many unsuccessful attempts to renovate and revive the theatre, the City of Charlotte acquired the building in 1986 and sold it to Foundation For The Carolinas in April 2013. The renovation will restore historical touches, such as the murals and original marquee, to replicate the original 1927 atmosphere as much as possible. Most of the $51.5 million of the budget was raised from private sources. Construction on the restoration began in 2017. The theatre will be part of a larger Civic Campus called Belk Place. When completed, programming will focus on civic discussions, speakers, community gatherings, films, concerts and more. After many delays, foundation executive vice president Laura Smith said that after many delays the theate