 The Princess Theatre opened as a single @-@ screen cinema on March 8 , 1915 to rave reviews . It had cost McKernan CDN $ 75 @,@ 000 and had taken 10 months to build , longer than expected . The theatre opened with 660 seats and the largest live performance stage in a cinema west of Winnipeg . It was at the time the only cinema on Edmonton ’ s south side , and would keep that title until the opening of the Garneau Theatre in 1940 . Opening night was a benefit concert for The Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire , associated with the 19th Alberta Dragoons , B Squad . The program proudly included newsreels “ featuring actual war scenes ” . In audience were the Lt. Governor and Mayor W.T. Henry . The house ’ s first feature film , The Eagle ’ s Mate starring Mary Pickford , was screened the following night . 
