Vaudreuil-Dorion theatre screening English films Cineplex Oden introduces weekly feature
Off-Island anglophones who are looking forward to the day they won’t have to cross a bridge to catch a movie in English may be surprised to discover that the day is Thursday.
The eight-screen Cineplex Odeon Carrefour in Vaudreuil-Dorion, which used to only screen films in French, has introduced a weekly English feature on Thursdays.
The first English screening was Beauty and the Beast on March 23. Other recent films have included blockbusters such as Ghost In The Shell, The Fate of the Furious and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. This Thursday’s English screening is King Arthur: Legend of the Sword at 7:10 p.m.
Theatre manager Bhavesh Mistry said customers have been asking for English films almost weekly, so he approached the Cineplex head office in Montreal about it.
“As a resident of Vaudreuil myself, I know there’s a growing anglophone community, despite it still being majority Frenchspeaking,” he said. “There are also people who like to see films in the original format instead of being translated into French.”
The English screenings are being promoted on Facebook and on the cineplex.com movie listings.
Mistry said he couldn’t explain why the theatre had not tried English screenings long before, as he only began working at the Cineplex last October.
According to Cineplex vicepresident of communications Pat Marshall, the Thursday screenings will continue through the summer on a trial basis to test demand for English films. It will only continue if ticket sales are strong. She said if the community wants to see more English films and showtimes, they have to vote with their wallets.
Even more English film options are on the way soon, with the planned construction of a new 10-screen Guzzo Mega-Plex Cinema at the Faubourg de l’Île mall, which will allocate about 40 per cent of screenings to English films. Guzzo did not return requests for comment by the Montreal Gazette. According to the City of Pincourt, construction will begin this summer.