Century Theatres
American movie theater chain, owned by Cinemark
Century Theatres is a movie theater chain that operates many multiplexes in the western United States, primarily in California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. In its later years, it had expanded into the inter-mountain states, the Pacific Northwest, Texas, Alaska and parts of the Midwestern United States. Founded in 1941, the chain was headquartered in San Rafael, California, until it was acquired by Cinemark Theatres from Plano, Texas, in 2006. Many now-Cinemark-owned theaters continue to operate under the Century brand.
History
The Century Theater chain was originally named Syufy Enterprises, for its founder Raymond Syufy, Senior, who built his first theater in Vallejo, California, in 1941. The first Century theater was the Century 21 in San Jose, California, which opened November 24, 1964, adjacent to the Winchester Mystery House. The Century 21 theater was built to showcase Cinerama type movies (the left and right empty projection booths are still present), but in fact, it showed only 70mm movies. The screen was later replaced with a flat model, and has remained intact as a throwback to the domed Cinerama palaces of the 1960s. The "Century 21" name was a tactic used to convey to the viewing public a "futuristic image". This image is bolstered by the lobby's distinct modern "bubbled lights" and metallic gold accents.
“Century Theatres” enters the record as american movie theater chain, owned by Cinemark. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Century, Theatres and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Century Theatres” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Century, Theatres and American provides the most credible route into that argument.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2946307. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1941, 2006 and 1964.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Century Theatres” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.