INITIAL REPORT: Lone Springfield movie theater sold to national entertainment company
1. Chakeres Theatres are part of a chain that was started more than 100 years ago by a Greek immigrant named Phil Chakeres. He founded the Chakeres Amusement Company in 1911 at age 26. At the height of their success, Chakeres operated more than 90 screens around southwest Ohio.
2. Chakeres Cinema 10 was established in 1996 after the existing Cinema 7 added three screens, changing the name to Cinema 10. Cinema 7 opened in 1990 in a former Jo-Ann Fabrics building on National Road.
3. Chakeres Cinema 10 is on the same road as the former Chakeres Melody Cruise Drive-In, which was across the street from the abandoned Showboat Drive-In. Chakeres closed the Melody in 2016.
4. The Chakeres first theater was The Princess, a 150-seat theater built at 17 W. Main in 1911.
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5. Chakeres is also responsible for the name Fairborn, given to the twin cities Fairfield and Osborn that sat next to one another in Greene County. In 1948, he built a new theater on Broadstreet, using architects Lioyd Zeller and Herman Hunter from Springfield. Because he wanted the two-screen theater to serve both Fairfield and Osborn, he named it, "Fairborn." It is now on the National Registry of Historic Places.
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