The "Lakeside 1" building of the Mitchell Theatres Lakeside Cinema in Woodward, Oklahoma was destroyed by a tornado just after 12:30am on April 15, 2012, according to a press release issued by Mitchell Theatres today.

Photo courtesy Mitchell Theatres

At approximately 12:30am on April 15, 2012, the Mitchell Theatres Lakeside 1 theatre building sustained heavy tornado damage and is now out of operation. The classic one screen theatre opened in December of 1970 and served Woodward area moviegoers for over 40 years. The one screen theatre was recently converted to showing movies in digital and was operating on the weekends to give patrons a place to see movies while the new Lakeside 6 building (located behind Lakeside 1) was under construction.

Construction on the new 6-screen building is expected to be completed by August 2012.

Until then, moviegoers in the area will need to visit the Buffalo Theatre & Community Centre in Buffalo or Rialto Theatre in Alva, both of which are more than 30-45 minutes away.