Hey, let's slap another presenter from the Oscarcast the other night. Kevin Costner presented the award for Best Director and before he did, he talked for a few minutes and said, among other things…
You know, about a half-mile from here, I saw my first full-length adult movie. I know what you're thinking, but I was seven years old and I was away from my parents and wanted to have some fun. It was a cowboy movie called How the West Was Won. And what I witnessed that afternoon in the Cinerama Dome was perfect.
Kevin Costner was born January 18, 1955 so he was seven years old in 1962. The Cinerama Dome, which is indeed about a half-mile from where he spoke those words, wasn't built in 1962. It was built the following year and opened on November 7, 1963 with It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World as its first attraction…and only attraction for 67 weeks.
How the West Was Won was released in the United States on February 20, 1963 when Kevin Costner was eight years old. It opened at the old Warner Cinerama Hollywood where it ran for for 93 weeks. Click here for a photo. The theater, which has been closed since 1994, was considerably closer to the Dolby than the Cinerama Dome. That is almost certainly where he saw the film.