Once, in a prototypically apocalyptic declaration, German filmmaker Werner Herzog remarked: “I would travel down to hell and wrestle a film away from the devil if it was necessary.”
Jaimie Lockwood”™s efforts at bringing a Bethel movie theater back to life haven”™t been quite so deliriously melodramatic ”“ but, she admits, the challenges have sometimes been considerable.
“My husband Frank and I never really had plans to own a movie theater before the opportunity presented itself,” Lockwood told the Business Journal. “But we”™d always kind of fantasized about opening some type of business here in Bethel.”
The opportunity first arose in April 2020 when, during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, longtime Bethel Cinema owners Ken Karlan and Pam Karpen announced that they could not survive in the then-devastating economic climate. “We will be heartbroken if the theater is truly closed for good,” they wrote in an email.
Ownership of the four-screen theater at 269 Greenwood Ave. passed to landlord Donna Jack, with whom the Lockwoods began working soon after its closing was announced.
“We were not in a position to buy a movie theater at that time,” Lockwood said, “but we kept in touch. I cannot say enough about how wonderful she”™s been throughout this process.”
She said that “deep cleaning” took on new meaning as they went about restoring and renovating the site, which prior to Karlan and Karpen”™s 15-year stewardship had served as a family movie theater, an exhibitor of X-rated flicks (not simultaneously) and as home to the Bright Clouds ministry.
“Our backgrounds are in marketing and advertising,” she said of herself and her husband. “And we both have day jobs,” she as director of client services at Activate Marketing Services and Frank as head brewer and co-founder at Reverie Brewing Co. in Newtown.
As a result, “I probably never would have reached out” to Jack, but Frank “was so optimistic about what could be done” that they took the plunge.
She said that the work will probably be done in phases; while the current seats “which are pretty uncomfortable” will remain in place for now, plans are to eventually replace them with something more conducive to an eating-and-drinking prospect ”“ something along the lines of what Alamo Drafthouse does, she said, with a revamped concessions area under construction.
“We”™re keeping four screens, and at least one of them will be dedicated to smaller art-house films, like they had before,” Lockwood said. “But we also want to try and pull in more wide-release stuff as well, which is what we anticipate will drive most of our traffic.”
The couple is also considering theme nights, “like showing ”˜The Big Lebowski”™ and offering White Russians.”
A line of Reverie brews will also be available, she acknowledged. “Plus we”™ll have to come up with something for ”˜Lord of the Rings,”™ because if Frank has his way, we”™ll be showing those in the first moth,” she laughed.
Though the cleaning and construction is going more slowly than they”™d hoped ”“ Lockwood said the hunt is on for an onsite manager while she and Frank juggle parenthood with their regular jobs ”“ rebranding the facility as Greenwood Features was pretty much a given.
In addition to representing its new ownership, the name has a double meaning, she said. “We”™d like to do events here as well as show movies, and ”“ along with the different kinds of concessions ”“ it all adds up to new features.”
The plan is to open in mid- to late-December, Lockwood said, “in time for the holidays, to capture the holiday spirit.
“Whether that happens or not,” she laughed, “is still to be seen.”
