Attendance to blame for theatre closure:
The curtain falls for the last time at the Rainbow Cinemas, in downtown Sudbury’s Rainbow Centre, on Aug. 29.
Management at Edmontonbased Magic Lantern Theatres, Rainbow Cinemas’ parent company, has decided against installing digital projectors and indicates in a press release it can no longer acquire 35-mm film prints, which are becoming obsolete.
Tom Hutchinson, president of Magic Lantern, blames chronically poor attendance for the closure.
“The long and short of it is that the attendance has never been satisfactory,” he says.
Hutchinson explains that Rainbow’s format as a second-run theatre, as well as the city’s main alternative-film cinema, was incompatible with local audiences, who, he says, prefer to see films as soon as they are released. Due to distribution agreements, Rainbow Cinemas could not show films on first release. It averaged just 1,500 customers per week, compared to the 5,000-6,000 at three other second-run theatres Magic Lantern operates.
“The other discount cinemas — in Ottawa, Regina and Saskatoon — are still very popular with families and senior citizens,” Hutchinson explains. “The one in Sudbury isn’t.”
Hutchinson says it appears cost was not a concern for local audiences, who were not enticed by discounted prices.
“(Sudburians) aren’t interested in seeing a movie a month or two months after its release,” he says. “In other communities, there are a greater number of people for whom thrift is important.”
The theatre’s closure will impact one full-time and several part-time employees.
“This is not something that’s happened quickly,” Hutchinson says, indicating operations have been “scaled down over time.”
The cinema’s lease does not expire for another year and Magic Lantern plans to rent out the facility during that time for parties and special events.
MARY KATHERINE KEOWN, FOR THE SUDBURY STAR
