A day after Yellowknife’s Capitol Theatre announced its impending closure, the owners of its building suggested it may be kept open “for a similar purpose.”
Theatre general manager Chris Wood said on Tuesday it will close on March 31. Wood said the business had been losing money for years and was unable to renew the lease for its three screens inside the downtown Precambrian Building.
The Precambrian is jointly owned by southern property giant Kingsett and Det’on Cho, the economic development arm of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation.
On Wednesday, McCor Management – which operates the Precambrian – sent Cabin Radio a statement on behalf of the building’s owners that suggested its days as a movie theatre may not be over.
Even so, the statement was sufficiently vague that it’s still possible your last moviegoing day in Yellowknife is March 31.
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“Det’on Cho, on behalf of the ownership of the Precambrian Building, confirms that the current lease for the Capitol Theatre space will not be renewed,” the statement issued by McCor read.
“We recognize the importance of entertainment venues, especially indoor spaces, to the Yellowknife community. Our focus is on moving forward with a new leaseholder who will continue to use the space for a similar purpose.”
Asked if the owners had a new leaseholder in mind or if a process would take place to solicit a business for the space, a spokesperson for McCor replied by email: “Yes to both your comments.”
“Now that the tough decision has been made, we’ll be working on what’s next in the upcoming weeks,” they wrote.
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Asked how McCor defined “a similar purpose,” the spokesperson wrote: “There is no decisions made on what will be done next. There is always opportunity and new ideas to be explored, we just aren’t there yet.”
Residents have pitched all kinds of ideas to keep the theatre open since Capitol Theatre made its announcement on Tuesday, ranging from a non-profit taking it over to a group of businesses jointly pitching in.
However, “a similar purpose” could also mean using the screens as a classroom or lecture space, such as for Aurora College, which already has a nearby campus and has been looking to acquire new space.
In a Tuesday interview, Wood said the movie theatre business had been hit hard by the audience shift to streaming post-pandemic and the theatre had struggled to survive on its snack sales alone, with almost all movie ticket revenue taken by the distributors of the films.
Wood suggested any theatre paying the same fees in the same building would have trouble making ends meet.
“We’ve done everything we’ve can. I’ve worked overtime. I know my manager has as well,” he said.
“We’ve done everything we can to keep the theatre in as good shape as we could and keep the money coming in.
“I don’t think there’s anything – other than everybody attending one movie a week – that could have saved this theatre.”
