Status: Closed, screen gone, snack bar still up. (Whit Whitworth 1/99)

Update: Snack bar still up, hardtop theater, the Denniston Cinemas is now on site. (Michigandriveins.com 8/8/99)

Update: The Denniston closed in 1985. (Michigandriveins.com 9/29/02)

Update: We had the Bel-Aire Drive-In at 6231 N.Monroe St. and the Denniston Drive-In located 1/8 mile down the road at 6501. When you parked over at screen 2 of the Bel-Aire, in the far corner, you could actually see the one screen at the Denniston through the trees. Denniston closed in 1985, and the Bel-Aire in 1987. (Excerpt from the now-defunct Drive-In Theatre Fan Club Update Volume 5 May/June)

Update: It looks like people used the vandalized restroom as a paintball area. (Becca 3/9/05)

Update: New aerial images of the three drive-in theatre's that were in Monroe's "drive-in alley" have finally been uncovered and posted, including this 1961 Hi-Res Image. More aerial shots from 1949, 1957, 1961, and 1981 are posted on the Custer (Bel-Aire Twin), Denniston and Dixie Drive-In pages. (Michigandriveins.com 5/22/05)

News Article: Denniston Cinema ending its 35-year run by Charles Slat Denniston Cinema, an area moviehouse that’s been in business for 35 years, will show its last films on Thursday. Owner Joe Sterling, whose grandfather Joseph R. Denniston was a pioneer in the cinema business in Monroe, said it’s becoming tougher to book films to compete against the larger multi-screen theater complexes, such as Phoenix Theatres at Frenchtown Square mall. The Denniston Cinema has been for sale for about three years. "We have three screens and it really is a nice theater —clean and well-designed and everything — but we can’t compete for film because they have eight screens at the mall and the film companies are more interested in that venue," Mr. Sterling said. "We haven’t been able to compete really successfully even since Regal was in there." Regal Cinemas closed but then Phoenix renovated and revived the cinemas at the mall and most recently added 3-D projection capability. "It is difficult when you don’t have any screens because when they open new movies at the mall they can give the film two screens or maybe three, which tends to increase the gross and make it exciting for more people. "We had a lot of compliments, not only for the theater, but for the reasonable prices," he said. "People like our theater but the fact of life is we just can’t compete for film. We get good movies but we don’t get enough and we have to play them too long." The last movies to be shown are the ones playing currently — "Hannah Montana," "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" and "State of Play." He said the moviehouse will close with little fanfare after Thursday’s evening showings. The only significance of the timing, he said, was that Thursday is the end of a booking week. Most new movies open on Fridays. He said the current state of the economy didn’t have much to do with the timing of the closing either. Movie theater business in general has fallen steadily over the years. Part of it has to do with rising ticket prices, but competing media also is a big factor, analysts suggest. Generally, people are busier raising families, home theater has beome more common, video rental and pay-per-view is commonplace and movie releases on the Internet are growing. The cinema, at 6495 N. Monroe St., opened in 1974 two auditoriums, each capable of seating 285 people. A third larger auditorium seating 310 people was added in 1987. Mr. Sterling said the cinema will continue to be for sale. "We’ve had several people look at it, but mostly they were curious," he said. Mr. Sterling got involved in the family business in 1950 when he was finishing high school and began working at the old Monroe Theatre, which stood at 114 S. Monroe St. It was one of several area cinemas started by his grandfather. Among them was the Family Theater, which began in 1917. After attending college and a stint in the Army, Mr. Sterling returned to Monroe to work full-time at the theaters just about the time his grandfather was building drive-in theaters just north of where the Denniston now sits. Movies were shown at the drive-in operation until the 1980s and the outdoor screens were demolished in the 1990s. He also worked for Butterfield Theaters as operations manager and oversaw construction of many Butterfield Theaters around Michigan. "I have been doing this for a long time," he said. (Monroenews.com 5/20/09)