The first day that the theatres began being advertised as Carmike rather than Martin was October 25, 1985. All three Martin theatres, the Capri 4, Cinema Twin, and Martin, appeared with the Carmike logo that day.

Were all the Martin theatres taken over by Carmike on the same day in all cities simultaneously? Was it a takeover or did Martin become Carmike? I'd be interested in knowing the details of this transition.

If October 25, 1985 was the magic date of transition in all cities, that will simplify some of my research (for Nashville, for example).

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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site

My wife and I moved to Lebanon, Tennessee at the end of April to live closer to the drive-in we are getting ready to open in Wilson county in April. The only theatre currently open between Lebanon and the Opry-Mills side of Nashville is the 3 screen Martin Theatre in the K-Mart shopping center in Lebanon. The front of the theatre building says in great big letters "Martin Theatre" - although the marquee out by the highway says Carmike.

The talk of the town is that many people avoid this theatre due to poor management, rude employees, and out-of-date viewing conditions in the auditoriums. Most people say they'll drive the extra 30 minutes to go to the Regal 20 screen at Opry Mills.

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Barry Floyd
Floyd Entertainment Group
Lebanon, Tennessee

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Michael W. Patrick is President and CEO of Carmike Cinemas, Inc.

The July issue of Film Journal International under Reel News on page 6., reports: "Carmike Cinemas filed a shelf statement last month with the Securities and Exchange Commission, allowing it to sell up to 3.5 million shares in the open market. Proceeds from the proposed sale would total an estimated $95 million at Carmikes current market price."

quote:

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Carl Patrick was the President of Fuqua Industries which owned Martin Theatres and Gulf State Theatres. Prior to this he was President and Chairman of Martin Theatres. Presently Chairman of The Board of Carmike Cinemas, Inc.

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Ah... that explains the listing of theatres in ads as "Fuqua" theatres for some years in Florence and Decatur! I was curious about that. If anyone else has more details about all this, or can point me to some good sources of information about the whole Martin/Fuqua/Carmike story, please speak up!

Another interesting transition was from some Fairlane/Litchfield theatres to United Artists, then to Carmike. The Litchfield to United Artists transition in Florence and Decatur, AL seems to have taken place on December 4, 1987, with the United Artists to Carmike transition seeming to happen on June 3, 1990. However, some Litchfield theatres ended up being Regal theatres (Rainbow Cinema 8 in Gadsden, AL and Courtyard Cinema 8 in Nashville). If anyone knows about these transitions, please contribute.

My goal is to document these things so they'll be recorded on my WWW site under the histories of the appropriate theatres so that anyone curious in the future will have a source of reference.

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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site

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