The Recorder & Times (Brockville)
GALAXY CINEMAS TO CLOSE IN JULY
Arts Centre might fill the gap in city
Brockville's movie theatre will shutter operations this summer after 18 years in business.
Galaxy Cinemas Brockville, located at the Thousand Islands Mall, will close its doors on July 7, Cineplex Inc. confirmed to The Recorder and Times on Friday.
“Our lease was up and we made the very difficult decision not to renew it,” Jason Benway, the company's executive director of operations for the Quebec West and Ontario East region, said in a statement.
“Thanks to our employees and the local community for all their dedication and support over the past 18 years.”
When asked, the company did not elaborate on what led to the decision to close.
The six-screen theatre opened in July 2006 after years of anticipation. Its grand opening on July 28, 2006 ended a four-year wait for a first-run movie theatre in the city, which had been without a theatre since the Parkedale Cinemas closed in January 2002.
The 1,093-seat theatre was so long anticipated that Cineplex in 2006 said the turnout for the grand opening was the biggest they had ever seen with more than 350 movie lovers attending the celebration.
It was the last remaining firstrun movie theatre in the region after Premier Cinemas in Smiths Falls closed its doors in 2012 when the building was purchased, demolished, and turned into a parking lot. Once the Brockville theatre closes, the nearest will be in Kingston or Ottawa.
But there's still hope, said Jonathan Hanna, administrative co-ordinator at the Brockville Arts Centre.
In the four years in the early 2000s when Brockville was left without a movie theatre, the arts
centre stepped in as best it could to offer residents a place to see new films. They hope to do the same this time around, Hanna said on Friday.
“The possibility is there that we could bridge the gap,” Hanna said in a phone call.
“It could potentially open things up where we can present a little bit more variety.”
The arts centre offers film screenings as part of its regular programming, and its website shows a lineup of critically acclaimed films on its schedule until the end of June.
The advantage Cineplex had, as a first-run theatre, was that it could offer movies the day they're released. The arts centre can't necessarily do that, Hanna said, especially with just one screen in an industry that rapidly churns out new content.
But now that the city will be left without an option for consumers to see new release films, the arts centre plans to “look at different titles now than what we might have in the past.”
“Well try our best to make it happen,” he said.
“It's sad for the community because what we ultimately want is variety for everybody. There's so many people in the community that are looking for something to do, especially with film when there's so many coming out at one time.”
They have new and updated projection equipment at the facility now, and Hanna said it will give them an upper hand as they work to ensure they can offer films people want to see.
That's the advantage they have at the local theatre, he said – they get to choose which films are offered based on community requests, which residents can do by reaching out to the facility on social media.
“All is not lost. We still have an outlet for film here at the arts centre,” said Hanna.
Mayor Matt Wren said Friday he had heard talk of the possibility of the movie complex's closure on social media, but the city received no formal notification.
Brockville's economic development team was planning to reach out Friday to discuss “anything the city can do to help attract someone into that space.”
The first option will be to seek out another film venue provider, added the mayor.
“It's not a building that you could just turn over to some other use,” he added.