{"id":370883,"date":"2026-08-14T01:02:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T01:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/370883\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T01:02:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T01:02:18","slug":"tampa-bay-moviegoers-turn-to-seven-independent-cinemas-as-box-office-hits-record-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/370883\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Moviegoers Turn to Seven Independent Cinemas as Box Office Hits Record High"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tampa Bay has seven independent theaters. This year brought the biggest box office weekend ever, pulling in $410 million. Spider-Man: Brand New Day grabbed $360 million during its opening weekend, which broke every record for domestic debuts, per <a href=\"https:\/\/thatssotampa.com\/best-independent-movie-theaters-tampa-bay\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">That&#8217;s So Tampa<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Christopher Nolan&#8217;s The Odyssey\u00a0collected $51 million in its third weekend, while Toy Story 5 sailed past the $1 billion mark and Project Hail Mary proved Ryan Gosling still brings crowds to theaters.<\/p>\n<p>Tampa Theatre sits at 711 N Franklin St. It opened in 1926. Right now, it&#8217;s getting a $30 million makeover before its 100th anniversary this October. On weekends, a 1,400-pipe Mighty Wurlitzer organ performs before films start, all beneath a hand-painted ceiling that looks like stars.<\/p>\n<p>Sun-Ray Cinema operates at 12332 University Mall Court. Tim and Shana Massett run the biggest independently owned theater in the country. They borrowed $1 million through a small business loan, then transformed a shuttered 14-auditorium space at University Mall into something special \u2014 first-run blockbusters shown alongside a menu featuring kimchi hot dogs and vegan milkshakes.<\/p>\n<p>Green Light Cinema opened in 2020 at 221 2nd Ave. N. in St. Petersburg. Mike Hazlett&#8217;s 80-seat art house became a nonprofit and has since added a lounge plus kitchen next door.<\/p>\n<p>The Beach Theatre in St. Pete Beach sat empty for 13 years. Hannah Hockman and her family purchased the 85-year-old venue at 315 Corey Ave. for $1 million, survived Hurricane Debby while renovating, and then reopened it in July 2025 as a single-screen spot for indie films and live performances.<\/p>\n<p>Plant City Premiere Lux 8 &amp; Pizza Pub at 220 W. Alexander St gives you reclining seats, reserved ticketing, and a full Pizza Pub.<\/p>\n<p>Ruskin Family Drive-In opened in 1952 at 5011 N U.S. Hwy 41. It&#8217;s the only drive-in left in Tampa Bay. Hurricane Milton destroyed their screen in 2024, but they rebuilt. Admission runs $7 cash for two first-run movies in one night, with sound coming through 89.3 FM.<\/p>\n<p>Gigglewaters at 737 Main St. in Safety Harbor is a restaurant that screens classic and cult movies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay has seven independent theaters. This year brought the biggest box office weekend ever, pulling in $410&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-370883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}