あたご劇場, Movie theater in Kochi, Japan
Atago Theater is a three-story cinema at 1-22 Atagomachi 1-chome in Kochi, with 150 seats split between the ground floor and a balcony, and the projection room on the top floor. It is the only cinema in Shikoku with a second-floor seating area, located about 30 meters east of the Atago shopping street.
Atago Theater opened on April 23, 1955, in Atago-machi 1-chome, Kochi, built by Sadami Mizuta, owner of the Aki Taiheikan, and run by his brother Kaneyoshi Mizuta. It opened with a double bill of 20th Century Fox's "The Raid" and Paramount's "Flotilla" ("Bottomless Fleet"). After the nearby Enokuchi Theater closed on January 28, 1964, Atago Theater took over its Toei film distribution rights. It showed 35 mm film until April 20, 2013, when it switched to a German digital projector bought for about 6 million yen.
Since the 1980s the theatre has leaned toward art films and revivals, and after TOHO Cinemas Kochi opened in 2004 it became a mini-theatre showing everything from art-house titles to old classics. Manga artist Rieko Saibara, a Kochi native, saw films here with her father-in-law and recalled that "idiots often dropped things from the second floor".
The theater is about 30 meters east of the Atago shopping street in Atago-machi 1-chome, with 150 seats split between the ground floor and a second-floor balcony. It is the only cinema in Shikoku with a balcony. The building has three floors above ground, the top floor housing the projection room.
The second-floor balcony makes it the only cinema in Shikoku with a balcony seating area. Manga artist Rieko Saibara, a Kochi native, recalled watching films here with her father-in-law and noted that people on the balcony often dropped things onto the floor below.
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