On November 29, 1926, a new movie house opened its doors at 25 North Avenue West in downtown Cranford. One hundred years later, to the day, the Cranford Theater is still selling tickets at the same address, and its December schedule leans on the kind of films families have been watching there for generations.

Opening night, 1926

The building first opened as the Branford, a 1,300-seat theater with a stage and a Wurlitzer pipe organ installed in October 1926, several weeks before the doors opened. According to the New Jersey History Project's account of the theater's first century, opening night featured the silent film Padlocked, starring Noah Beery, and drew a crowd large enough that some people were turned away. The theater stood on the site of Cranford's old township building.

The name did not last long. Within a few months the B on the sign was replaced with a C, and the house became the Cranford Theatre. The organ was part of the experience in the silent era: the Garden State Theatre Organ Society identified a young organist, Rex Koury, as one of the players, who started by accompanying the trailers.

A century of changes

Warner Brothers was operating the theater by 1941, and it was remodeled to about 1,200 seats. It stayed largely the same until the 1980s, when it was split into two screens. In 1998 the owner of the Rialto Theater in neighboring Westfield bought it and converted it into a five-screen house.

After several years of corporate ownership, Jesse and Doreen Sayegh bought the theater and reopened it on November 8, 2019. The Cranford Historical Society later gave it a Historic Preservation Award. The Sayeghs kept it going through the pandemic with a pop-up drive-in, and the theater is open again after a closure in 2025.

How Cranford is marking the milestone

The centennial year has run on community memories. The New Jersey History Project has been collecting residents' recollections of first dates, Saturday matinees and family outings in a public card for the theater, and a limited keepsake model of the building has been produced for the anniversary. The theater posts its own celebration details on its Instagram and Facebook pages.

What is on the screens this season

The theater's December listings include a run of holiday titles alongside the new releases:

  • Saturday, December 5: Dr. Seuss' The Grinch
  • Sunday, December 6: White Christmas (1954)
  • Wednesday, December 9: Elf
  • Sunday, December 13: A Christmas Story (1983)

New releases opening in late November include I Play Rocky and The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping on November 19. The theater also advertises a 2026 winter pajama series and a Passport to Movies series themed on Italy.

Getting there

The Cranford Theater is at 25 North Avenue West, a short walk from Cranford station on NJ Transit's Raritan Valley Line. Showtimes and tickets are on the theater's website, and the showtimes hotline is 908-588-2477.

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