TEMPLE, Texas (FOX 44) – The Premiere Cinemas theater in the Temple Mall is closing after 20 years.

According to company officials, the theater opened in Thanksgiving 2002, and will be closing for good after Christmas.

The theater opened with twelve screens when the mall was under the management of Colonial Properties, as Premiere was building a number of cinemas across the country with Colonial. The
cinema was expanded to 16 screens to keep up with the demand, and added an IMAX in 2015 – giving Temple the distinction of being among the smallest towns anywhere to have its own IMAX.

Premiere says is going out with a bang this month – they will be featuring James Cameron’s acclaimed “Avatar: The Way of Water” in IMAX for a limited time until the final curtain falls around New Year’s.