The entrance to the Mountain Valley Mall Cinema 7 in North Conway, seen Monday. After the movie theater closes, Premier Furniture Rentals will be the sole tenant. (TOM EASTMAN PHOTO)
CONWAY — After three decades of being able to see the latest blockbuster movie at Mountain Valley Mall Cinemas in North Conway, starting Sunday, Oct. 20, to see a new movie on the big screen, valley residents will have to drive 40 minutes to Bridgton, Maine; an hour to Meredith; or an hour and 15 minutes to Lancaster.
Posted on Facebook Monday was the following:
“It is with a heavy heart that we announce that Mountain Valley Mall Cinemas 7 will be closing our doors permanently on Sunday, Oct. 20, at the end of the business day. We have been part of the North Conway community for more than 30 years and the decision was a difficult one to make. We want to give all of our gift card holders an opportunity to use their purchased gift cards throughout the next four weeks.”
Mark Benvenuto, on behalf of the theater’s owners, Belmont Capital of Boston, confirmed the news to the Sun on Tuesday. “Yes, it is a sad day for us. ... The owners made the decision to close based on the industry and the fact that our lease is up at the end of October. While we enjoy the business some days of the year, it still remains unpredictable.”
He said “about five employees who remain working for us” will be affected by the cinema closing.
The cinema closed during the pandemic in March 2020 and reopened in July that year with guidelines that all theaters followed. It closed down in late October that year but reopened in May 2021 and remained open until now.
The company’s other theaters include Claremont Cinema 6 in Claremont and Gilford Cinema 8 in Gilford in New Hampshire; Athol Cinemas 8 in Athol and Edgartown Cinema 2 in Edgartown, Mass.; Bangor Drive-In in Hermon and Bangor Mall Cinemas 19 in Bangor, Maine; and Island Cinemas 10 in Middletown and Rustic View Drive-In in North Smithfield, R.I.
The theater’s Facebook posting garnered 215 comments as of Tuesday.
Matt Ortiz wrote, “My first movie here was in 2007 (Ratatouille). My parents and I ate at panda garden before going we watched the movie. From watching Panda Garden close, to JCP (JCPenney) and now the theater. I hope they something nice with it.”
Mackenzie Carpenter wrote, “We just went to see ‘Beetlejuice!’ I’ve been going here since I was a child! I’m really sad to see you go, the only movie theater in the valley!”
Alec Kerr, who writes movie reviews for the Sun, echoed that comment, saying it will be a sad day when the valley no longer has an operating movie theater.
“Have all theaters been struggling, especially since the pandemic? It depends — if a movie hits the zeitgeist, such as ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ or ‘Inside Out 2,’ or last year’s ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer,’ that’s one thing, but others films are struggling,” said Kerr.
He said the pandemic, combined with changing movie-watching trends such as streaming services are part of the impact.
The comforts of home are hard to beat when compared with having to go and drive to a theater, let alone forking out big bucks for the popcorn, candy and soda, articles in national media have noted.
“Five to 10 years ago, when a new movie came out, it was just something you did — you would go see it. Now, people are willing to wait for it to show up on streaming,” Kerr said.
With the local cinema closing, movie fans’ closest options are The Magic Lantern in Bridgton, Maine, or BarnZ’s Meredith Cinema. Bridgton in summer also has the Bridgton Twin Drive-In. Littleton has Jax Jr Cinemas.
The local theater’s seven screens are showing “Transformers One 3D,” “Transformers One,” “Beetlejuice,” “Speak No Evil,” “Substance,” “The Killer’s Game” and “Deadpool and Wolverine.”
Sean Young, proprietor of the neighboring Premier furniture rental store, wrote on Facebook that with the theater closing, his store will stand alone at that end of the mall property, following the closing of JC Penney in October 2020 and the Panda Garden Chinese restaurant in 2015.
A call placed to leasing representative Riley Merritt was not returned as of press time to learn more about the cinema site or the former JC Penney store plans.
The space is listed online at kimcorealty.com.
For show times at Mountain Valley Mall Cinema 7, call (603) 356-6703 or go to yourneighborhoodtheatre.com.
These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.
Current Issue - October 2024