ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — The IMAX Theater at World Golf Village said it is shutting its doors, but St. Johns County’s Board of County Commissioners said it plans to keep the theater open.
“The end is here: the IMAX Theater is closed to the public,” the theater wrote on its Facebook page. “We truly appreciate and thank you for your patronage and support of the theater for the last 25 years. We will miss you all!”
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The County said in a news release on Thursday evening that it is “soliciting operators to keep the IMAX Theater at World Golf Village open. This process was announced to refute inaccurate information posted on the theater’s social media about being closed to the public.
“We have always been and remain committed to keeping the IMAX theatre open for as long as we are able to. It is a great attraction for our residents and a critical source of entertainment for citizens and visitors of St. Johns County. We recently informed the current operators of the theater that we are soliciting a new operator, as the current operator intends to cease operations. The County owns the theater, and we are dedicated to keeping the theater open,” County Administrator Joy Andrews said in the news release.
That commitment to preserve the theater comes to the delight of Terry Mason, who owns a timeshare in the area and visited the theater in its glory days.
“We’ve enjoyed a couple good movies there, it seemed like it was well run,” Mason told Action News Jax Friday.
RELATED: St. Johns County releases more information about World Golf Village purchase
Questions about the theater’s future were first set in motion in July 2022, when it was announced that the World Golf Hall of Fame would be moving out of St. Augustine and back to North Carolina at the end of 2023.
We told you when Sun-Ray Cinema operators expressed interest in July 2023 in taking on the IMAX theater. Sun-Ray announced in November it would be moving to Tampa after its lease was not renewed in Five Points.
Action News Jax asked St. Johns County Commissioner Wayne Larson Friday if Sun-Ray Cinema has submitted a proposal for operating the World Golf Village as well, but he said he’s unable to provide that information due to privacy reasons.
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The IMAX was supposed to close at the end of September 2023, and then the closing was pushed back to Jan. 31, 2024.
In March, the county said neighbors overwhelmingly wanted the IMAX Theater to stay open and there were no plans to close it.
We told you back in April when the county bought the World Golf Hall of Fame, the IMAX Theater, and the PGA Tour Productions building for $5.5 million.
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At the time, the plan was that the World Golf Foundation would continue to operate the IMAX Theater and maintain the common space until March 2025.
The county plans to hire new developers for projects at World Golf Village that “fit the community’s needs.”
In addition to the IMAX Theater at World Golf Village, Epic Theatres of St. Augustine also screens movies in IMAX.
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