You’ve arrived on Hawkins Street, standing where movie magic once flickered through the night: the famous Screen Cinema. If you listen closely-or perhaps if you hear a faint reel whirring through time--that might just be the echoes of hundreds of films and thousands of stories that passed through here.
Now, take a step back to the 1970s. Imagine a brand-new cinema rising where the old Regal Theatre once stood, its grand doors opening for the first time in 1972 as the New Metropole. It had one big screen, plush red seats, and that scent of fresh popcorn you can almost smell now. Don’t get too cozy, though-by 1982, the main auditorium was ingeniously split into three, with new screens literally suspended from the ceiling. Imagine watching a film with the ceiling above you secretly holding up another world of movie-goers! What a plot twist.
In 1984, it took the name everyone in Dublin came to know and love: the Screen Cinema. While other cinemas chased Hollywood blockbusters, the Screen danced to the beat of a different drummer-it became famous for independent, Irish, and foreign films. If you were a film buff, this was your temple! It was the artistic sibling to the glamourous Savoy up on O’Connell Street.
The Screen wasn’t afraid of a little facelift, either. In 2004, out went the old neon sign and classic marquee, replaced by a slick electronic board lighting up Hawkins Street with the latest programme. It may have lost a little nostalgia but gained a modern spark. It hosted legends at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, welcoming stars like Wim Wenders and Julie Walters, and even threw wild retro nights: monster horror marathons at Halloween, seasons of Hollywood musicals, and black-and-white classics drifting across the city through summer nights. Popcorn sales surely boomed during The Great Escape!
But-as in all great films-there’s a twist, and not every story gets a happy ending. Audience numbers fell, and by 2016, after 35 years of memories, the Screen Cinema closed its doors. In 2018, the building itself disappeared, leaving only footprints in Dublin’s cinematic heart. Yet, there’s still a star in this tale: Mr. Screen, the cheerful usher statue who once greeted you outside, lives on in the lobby of the Savoy Cinema, still tipping his cap to movie-goers.
A final curtain for the Screen-roll credits-but hey, you never know when a reboot might appear!
