The Royal opened in 1855. Hamilton's Diorama was shown on the 15th June 1883. The Royal put on animated films for the first time in 1906 under the ownership of Richard Thornton and the first recorded boxing film shown in Sunderland of the World Championship fight between Britt and Nelson was shown at this cinema. Due to the recession in 1933 the cinema was turned into a boxing stadium and reopened in 1940 as a cinema again. After is closed the premises were bought by the council and renovated into commercial properties.

The Roker Cinema opened on the 15th October 1915. The Roker was the first cinema in Sunderland to use ordinary electricity in the 1920s. The Roker also had an organ which was built in Sunderland. The Roker closed on the 8th April 1961.

The Ritz opened on the 1st March 1937 as part of Union Cinemas. It was of art deco style designed by architect William Riddell Glen. It was taken over by Associated British Cinema and renamed ABC in 1961. In 1974 it was converted into a two screen cinema with the rear stalls area being converted into a Painted Wagon pub. It closed on 29th April 1999.

Black's Regal Theatre was built on the site of the Olympia Exhibition Hall and Pleasuredrome (1897-1910) and it was built for the northern independent Black's circuit. It was designed by architects Edwin Sheridan Grey in the art deco style and it opened on 28th March 1932. It could seat 2522 people. The theatre was equipped with a Compton 3Manual/9Ranks theatre organ which had an Art Deco style console on a lift. Facilities included a cafe and roller rink. In 1955 the Black's circuit was taken over by the Rank Organisation and the Regal was re-named Odeon from 28th November 1955. It was divided into a three screen cinema in 1975 with 1,200 seats in the former circle and two 150 seat screens in the rear stalls. It closed in 1982 and remained empty for many years. It re-opened as top-rank bingo club and remains in use today as Mecca Bingo. Apart from the auditorium, most of the decorative scheme has been lost due to recent refurbishment. Other losses include original light fittings, the Compton organ and organ case, proscenium, stalls seating and original doors with leaded glass panels. The Black family was instrumental in establishing cinema in the North-East. As early as 1906 they showed films in converted concert halls and chapels. Their first picture houses included the Palace in Gateshead (1909), the Boro in North Shields (1910). By 1918 the family had acquired, converted and built 13 cinemas in North East England. In 1928 George Black II became founding director of the General Theatre Corporation, later director of Gaumont British Picture Corporation. Alfred Black built up a new circuit of Regal Cinemas including Sunderland in 1932 (his home town), Byker (1933), South Shields (1935) and Gateshead (1937). Materials - steel frame and red brick, with terracotta facings to the tower, now mostly painted. The rear face still retains the original buff and red scheme. Modern tile to the lower face of the tower. Concrete and steel balcony. The cinema has a narrow street frontage which widens out to the rear. The auditorium is reached via a series of foyers. A long wide corridor formerly gave access to a ballroom at the rear. The main north elevation is in the form of a square, three stage tower. The art deco style decoration includes pilasters, zigzags and fluted motifs. On the right and left returns, there are keyed and fluted octagonal windows in the upper stage. The second stage has a vertical ribbed and zigzag band and three windows with original zigzag glazing. Beyond the towers there are further windows at first floor level, with similar glazing. The rest of the cinema is plain red brick. Tall fly tower pierced by large fire doors. Inside there are no historic features in the entrance lobby and entrance hall. The plain stairs lead up to a former boardroom and offices on the first floor, again with no visible historic features. The western half of the outer foyer retains its original terrazzo floor, parts of the original ceiling and wall decoration. The large auditorium is now a bingo hall. The original seating has been removed and floor levels altered. The original proscenium and stage have been removed. The ante-proscenium walls retain their original decorative scheme of vertical panels, fibrous grilles in the form of female dancers wearing crinoline skirts. These figures could have been inspired by the work of Claud Lovat Fraser. They are surrounded by scrolls and stylised music notes and are set in ziggurat frames with roundels. The corbelled balconies have modern replacement doors. The flanking panels are surmounted by Art Deco keystones. The top of the splay walls are friezes of stylised foliage and palm. The cove lighting is now over-painted. The ante-proscenium area also has glazed coves in the ceiling. The side walls are decorated with half-circle grilles, ogee plaster waves, grilles of scrolls and half-disc plaster mouldings at cornice level. The dressing rooms and offices to either side of the auditorium have been refurbished. The balcony front is decorated with foliage and palms. The side sections have sunburst mouldings. There are more ogee mouldings on the balcony soffit. The front seating of the balcony has been removed, but the rest of the tip-up seats still remain. The projection room does not retain original projection machinery.

The Queens Hall Kinema was opened in December 1912. It was a luxurious cinema but quite small. It closed due to the competition from the Havelock cinema in 1917.

The Picture House was situated in High Street West and opened on the 16th December 1912. It became known to the people of the town as "The Ranch" because of the large number of westerns, or cowboy movies, it showed. It was renowned for its sliding roof which was intended to open during hot weather. The Picture House closed on the 30th September 1966 after 54 years. It was demolished shortly after to make way for the new Bridges Shopping precinct.

Designed by Thomas Angelo Moore and opened as a Theatre of Varieties by Mr Horace Livermore in August 1891 known as the People's Palace. Due to competition from the newly built Empire Theatre it closed down in 1908 to 1909. It reopened in 1909 with the presentation of Hamilton's Flickerless Pictures. From 1918-1948 it was managed by Mrs Grey, the only woman in the country to hold such a position at that time. Known as the Palace Theatre - later Palace Cinema. The theatre closed on the 1st December 1956 and was left unoccupied until it was demolished in 1973.

The Theatre De Luxe was in Fawcett Street in the Town Centre opposite the Town Hall. It opened on the 19th April. It was due to opposition from the newly opened Havelock Cinema on the corner of Fawcett Street which finally forced it to close in 1917, having only been opened for 5 years.

The theatre opened on 24th December 1906. In 1913 it showed the first moving pictures in the town and in 1915 the first Kinemacolour film. It screened its first "talkie" film on the 26th January 1930. The theatre was taken over by the Black Brothers in 1918 (known as Blacks Palace). During WW2 it hosted evening shows as well as showing films. It was very badly damaged during a bombing raid in 1943 and left derelict for ten years before being demolished in 1953. When built the theatre was flat fronted in line with other buildings on the street and had no protruding entrance way to distinguish it from other buildings on either side.

The cinema stood on the corner of High Street West and Fawcett Street and was built on the site of Havelock house (burnt down in 1989) from which it took its name. The cinema opened on the 16th December 1915 and was a project of Provincial Cinematograph Theatres(PCT). It was the first cinema in Sunderland to play “talkies” in 1929. The entrance of the cinema covered the corner of High Street West and Fawcett Street and was topped by a square tower in renaissance revival style. The cinema seated 1504. It was renamed Gaumont in 1960 and closed on the 15th July 1963 and demolished.