Spanish businessman Francisco Serrador dreamed of turning it into our Times Square, our Broadway, a toy city. An entertainment empire with movie theaters, theaters, hotels, and restaurants. That was how the quadrilateral formed by Floriano Peixoto square and its surroundings actually became a "Cinelândia": land of movie theaters. In those decades of the 1920s and 1930s, after all, they became many. There was the Capitólio, the Glória, the Cine-Palácio, the Pathé, the Império, the Odeon, the Alhambra, the Rex, the Rio, the Plaza, the Metro.
Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of a theater. On the left side, there are trees with dense foliage. In the center, the theater building has a light-colored facade with windows and decorative balconies. At the top, there is a balcony with a balustrade. The name of the film "A Butres Humanos" is written in large letters on the theater's marquee, along with the names of the actors "Alan Ladd." The theater entrance is crowded with people walking and talking.The first of these — not just in the downtown area, but in the whole city — was the Parisiense. It opened in 1907, on Avenida Central, today Rio Branco, number 179, on the site of the current Edifício Avenida Central. There was also the Cine Pathé, one of the most luxurious movie theaters in the area. It was the premiere venue for big American film hits. It opened in 1907, in a building that still catches the eye today for its art déco architecture. In 1999, it was sold and turned into an evangelical church.
Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of a social event in a hall decorated with chandeliers and ornate balconies. The image shows a crowd of people wearing formal attire, including straw hats, in a room full of architectural detail. On the left, we see a wall with paintings and plants, while on the right there is a balcony with people looking on. In the center, most of the guests are standing, talking and interacting with one another.Cine Palácio also has a history. The building that housed it was designed by Adolfo Morales de Los Ríos and was originally built to be the Cassino Nacional Brasileiro. In 1901, it underwent a renovation that turned it into a variety theater. In 1917, it became a cinema, and in 1929, it screened the first fully spoken film: Melodia da Broadway. In 2008, it closed its doors. Today, the building houses the Teatro Riachuelo Rio.
Cine Vitória, on the other hand, had its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s. Luxurious and spacious, it captured the glamour of the area quite well. It opened in 1942, with the screening of Charles Chaplin's The Great Dictator. In the 1970s, having lost its audience, it started showing pornographic films. In 1988, it stopped operating, and the site was abandoned. In 2012, a branch of Livraria Cultura opened where the cinema once stood, and it closed in 2018.
Finally, the Cinema Metro-Passeio, which was located at 62 rua do Passeio, was the most modern cinema in the city at the time of its opening, in 1936. It held nearly 2,000 spectators, and the great novelty was the air conditioning, which until then had only existed in a small cinema on avenida Atlântica called Varieté. It was common for people to go in there just to enjoy the cool air. It ceased operations in 1980.
