The King Theater opened in June, 1963, by Sam Shapiro as the first theater for the Sameric Theaters chain. This theater was located in the Valley Forge Shopping Center at Town Center Rd and DeKalb Pike in King of Prussia. It wasn’t until the late 1960’s that this theater started using the “Eric” name.
Courtesy of Cinema Treasures
However, it is reported that the King was actually not opened as a Sameric. It was opened as a Jerry Lewis Cinema. Jerry opened it personally and there was a bronze plaque in the floor of the ticket lobby that commemorated that fact (“Opened by the King of show business, Jerry Lewis…”). It was very typical of a Jerry Lewis Cinema, very cheap construction, virtually no decoration, poor, uncomfortable seats.
In 1973/74, the theater was twinned. In 1988/88, four screens were built in an adjoining building in the shopping center, resulting in the name change to Eric King & Queen 6 Theater. In 1988, United Artists acquired the Sameric chain, still calling the theaters Eric Theaters until 1991.
The King’s two theaters sat around 700+. Three of the Queen’s four houses sat 415. The last theater sat 350. All four Queen theaters looked quite identical (except 1 & 4 had no surround speakers, just mono sound), but #4 had to have seats removed from the front several rows to bring it into township regulation due to the amount of parking spaces available.
In 1997/98, The King Twin portion of the King & Queen 6 closed, resulting in a name change to UA Queen 4 Theater.
In 2000, The UA Queen 4 Theater was closed when the UA King of Prussia Stadium 16 and IMAX Theater on Goddard Blvd. opened.
Today, Valley Forge Lockshop and Peppers Italian restaurant occupies the UA Queen 4 building, and Target occupies the former site of the Eric King Twin Theater.