The historic arthouse theater Tara Theatre in Atlanta is reopening in spring 2023 after Regal Cinemas closed it in November 2022. It is located at Cheshire Bridge and LaVista roads.
Here are five things to know about the Tara:
1. Loew’s opened the single 1,000-seat theater in 1968, naming it Tara after the fictional plantation from the 1939 classic film “Gone With the Wind.” which was also the first film shown there.
2. In 1977, Burt Reynolds hosted the premiere of “Smokey and the Bandit” at Tara.
3. The theater was the first in Atlanta to show “Star Wars.” which stayed there for nearly six months.
AJC podcast from November, when the theater closed
4. In 1980, legendary local arthouse cinema owner George Lefont purchased the theater and began screening independent and foreign films that most other theaters wouldn’t touch. including the controversial X-rated historical drama “Caligula.”
5. After Lefont sold the theater in 1990, Tara maintained the arthouse strategy through multiple owners and eventually became a four-screen theater. The final movies shown at the theater before it shut down included “Tar,” “Call Jane” and the appropriately titled “Decision to Leave.”
Credit: Cinemat
Credit: Cinemat
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