CLEARLAKE — Clearlake Cinema will play its final movies today, for the time being. After this evening”s shows the cinema will close for an undetermined amount of time to undergo remodeling.
Lynn Wilder, who is one of three general managers at the cinema, reported that specific remodeling details are yet to be determined and it is unknown how long the project will take.
“We are definitely going to spiff up the inside and we are contemplating adding two more screens,” Wilder said. “This Thursday will be the last show for now.”
The cinema is owned by One Shot Mining Company, LLC, which is controlled by the Wilder family. Wilder said that her late husband, Bill Wilder, had built the cinema, which opened its doors in 1984, as a service to the community. The family has struggled, she said, to keep the theater operating for the community.
“When Bill built the cinema he did it as a community service, so the people of Clearlake would have a theater to go to. Our family is struggling to keep Bill”s dream for the community alive,” Wilder said. “But, without the support of the community, that is not going to happen because we can”t continue to operate it at a loss.”
The cinema faces a number of obstacles. According to Wilder, 55 to 60 percent of all ticket sales goes straight to the film distribution companies. The cinema basically depends on snack bar sales to remain operational.
“The problem is with the high percentage that the film rental companies charge, people don”t understand that the snack bar is really what brings in the money,” Wilder said. “If they don”t support the snack bar they are killing the theater.”
Wilder said that management has tried to keep ticket prices low; however, the theater still does not see a lot of support. “Everybody goes to Lakeport,” she said. “They pay higher prices but it”s fancier.”
Raising ticket prices would not provide much of a profit for the theater, Wilder said, because of the percentage that is paid out to the distribution companies. In order to increase revenues, the theater would need to increase snack bar sales or add additional screens.
“We are only allowed to show two movies at a time and in order to get more movies we have to add two more screens at a cost of probably close to a half-million dollars,” Wilder said. “If we get films on a break, we are compelled to keep them at least two weeks, sometimes three before we can switch them out. That ties up the screens for those weeks so we are kind of between a rock and hard spot.”
Wilder added that sometimes when a big movie comes out, the theater is required to send $1000 in advance in order to get the movie on its release date, which she said is what movie-goers want.
Along with providing entertainment to the community, Wilder said that the theater has also provided jobs for local students. “We provide entry level jobs to students in our community to give them experience,” she said, “and we have to pay them minimum wage which we could have been paying an adult who knows better what they are doing.”
Wilder added that it”s not that the students can”t do the job, it just that an adult generally takes more responsibility and has more experience in the workforce.
According to Wilder, the theater has always operated at a loss; however when her husband was alive, he could afford to do so. She said that her family is just not in a position to continue that trend. She added that the theater is still trying to recover from expenses associated with leasing the property as well.
“We it leased out to Cinema West for seven years,” Wilder said. “Then we got it back from them and put in two new screens and revamped the air conditioning. We put a lot of money into things that they just let go and the cinema hasn”t recovered from that. The cinema is still continuing to lose money. Bill operated the theater at a loss for all those years but we just can”t.”
Plans to remodel the theater were put into motion while Bill Wilder was still alive. According to Lynn Wilder, the permit process has been complete for some time; however with Bill Wilder”s passing, the project was put on hold in order that the family could address more pressing issues.
Contact Denise Rockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com.
