WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — New owners are raising the curtain on the Old Town theatre and planning on some big updates.
KSN’s Derek Lytle spoke to the owner and a movie buff, who petitioned to bring movies back to the big screen, about what to expect.
The theatre hasn’t seen an audience since it’s doors shut last July, but now movie-goers have something to look forward to. The owner of Boulevard Theatres at Towne West, is taking over, he shared with KSN, they are doing a full renovation, and applying new technology, to make going out to the movies that much better.
“Our main mission is to make the movie going experience the best we can make it,” said Boulevard Theatres Founder, Tyler Cooper.
Cooper, is business partners with Ryan Blasdel, they are getting the space ready to open.
Cooper said, they will implement their self-serve popcorn and drink machines, at the Old Town location. He said, they are almost done with the full renovation, to bring the theatre back.
“Bringing in a lot of new technology, I got into the movie business, because I love movies, why else would you get into the theatre business, than the love of movies,” said Cooper.
A part of the new tech, a user friendly app.
Movie Buff, Leif Jonker, started a movement to find someone, to take over the location, when it closed. He said, he met at length with the new owners, and is excited someone locally is taking over the reigns.
“It drove us crazy, when they all started collecting the bills for the food, right during the end of the movie, the big climax, what they’ve come up with is an app, so you order your food and pay for it with your phone, I think it’s a really elegant solution,” said Jonker.
Addressing issues, broken projectors, soda machines, pumping life back into the cinema.
“They didn’t fix it for four years, so it’s going to be really exciting to see all the upgrades, everything replaced, everything renovated, see it brand new again, it’s going to be awesome,” said Jonker.
The theatre is set to show a mixture of arthouse, independent, and big budget films.
The owner said, they will also be rolling out a membership program, for movie-goers to subscribe and receive monthly show tickets.
They will begin to open some of the theatre rooms in November, as they finish construction. He said, the theatre should be fully open in time for those holiday movies, before the new year.
