By DOUG CORRIGAN
A unique movie theatre opened over the Thanksgiving holiday. The Spanish 8 Theatres in Spanish Fork isn’t your average theatre. They want to be a theatre that has the community in mind.
General Manager at the theatre, Bobby Goode, said being independent and not part of a national chain like Cinemark, gives more freedom when it comes to movie selection and how long they will play them.
Although many movie distributors like Warner Brothers sell movies in package deals, Goode said their are ways around that.
“We want to show movies that have the community in mind. Sometimes we can’t get shows we want without agreeing to show others we don’t, but we can show them in our small theatre and only keep them a week.”
Many movies will not be shown at this theatre, said Goode. “Any movie N-C 17 or R that our owners feel has too much violence or nudity will not be shown. We only have one R rated show right now, ‘The Peacemaker.’ Still our ushers control carefully where underage kids go.”
Another program the theatre is promoting is designed to make sure kids don’t switch theatres during films. Parents can have their child’s hand stamped for a specific movie so the ushers know where they belong.
One of the owners, Jon Triesault, is a former movie producer and is the theater’s visionary here, Goode said. He wants to bring in movies the other theatres have passed over. There are many excellent independent movies, like those at the Sundance Film Festival, that only have a chance in foreign theatres.
On Monday nights families can get in for $5 per family, and they try to keep concessions 25 to 50 cents cheaper than most theatres, Goode said.
The theatre is also teaming up with the city council to offer kids shows for free on some Saturdays.
“On December thirteenth the City Council has paid for “Balto” to be shown at 10 a.m.,” Goode said.
Although it’s not working yet, the theatre has a unique ticket purchasing system. For a 99 cent fee one can purchase tickets over the phone using a credit or debit card, he said. This makes it possible to know which shows are sold out without going to the theatre.
“It will be one of our biggest assets once we work out the bugs,” Goode said.
The theatre is located ten to fifteen minutes south of Provo off the Price-Manti exit. It is an original looking building inside and out. Ticket prices are $1.50 before 6 p.m. and $2.50 after.
