Do you have a small-town movie theatre near your cottage? You should go this summer—it might be your last chance. Word is that as Hollywood begins releasing movies only in a digital format (and no longer on film) this may cause small theatres in North America to shut their doors permanently if they can’t afford the new equipment necessary for digital projection.
While up at my cottage, we don’t go to the movies. (Behaviours that are common-place in the city, like watching movies, or bathing, aren’t really encouraged there.) So the only cottage-country movie theatre I’ve been to—several times, actually—is not near my cottage: It’s the Highlands Cinemas in Kinmount, Ont. Sadly, the last time I went was a while ago—I think it was to see M. Night Shyamalan’s Lady in the Water, in 2006. The movie was not fantastic (it’s no Sixth Sense), but I didn’t care. The Highlands Cinemas, with it’s museum of old film equipment, artifacts, costumes, and posters, along with the old-timey décor inside the five theatres themselves, is so cool that I could watch almost anything—Space Chimps, or Katherine Heigl’s entire works back-to-back, or a montage of random car chase scenes—and it would still be a great experience. It’s open this season, so check it out if you’ve never been, but as explained here on the website, the future is uncertain.
If cottage country theatres are closing, what can you do to keep them open? Well, you can go, for one thing. Take your friends! Buy food from the concession (this generates a lot of revenue for the theatre)! And tell the theatre you support them! So stop reading this blog, and run, don’t walk, to the movies.
Related Story See you at the movies next year
Related Story Drive-in theatres in the Summer of COVID-19