THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE STORY BY JENNIFER BAILEY
ABOVE: The T-Mobile Hometown Grant the Lorraine Theatre received was for plans to reopen and show first run movies again in Vermilion County. (photo provided)
HOOPESTON — Vermilion County moviegoers won’t have to leave the county to see the next Marvel superhero movie in the theater.
The announcement many had been waiting for about the reopening of the Lorraine Theatre came Friday.
The first movie that will be shown is “Captain America: Brave New World.”
Ticket information can be found on the theater’s website at lorrainetheatre.com.
On a social media post, Save the Lorraine Foundation officials said, “We are absolutely overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement as we celebrate this incredible milestone together. It has been a long and challenging 13-year journey filled with dedication, perseverance and countless hours of hard work from our amazing volunteers. Seeing the joy on your faces as movies light up this theatre once more is truly the greatest reward. We will see everyone very soon.”
The foundation announced last year that it received a $40,667 T-Mobile Hometown Grant to reach its $120,000 fundraising goal to show first-run movies at the theater again.
The upgraded equipment in the theater includes the latest sound and motion picture technology, according to foundation President Alex Houmes.
The new equipment has 36-50 surround channels, compared to the previous nine, he said.
Houmes has said COVID-19 made the showing of first-run movies feasible again at the theater. With the Lorraine being a single-screen, smaller theater that can hold 318 people in its newer seats, it was tough to show a movie for four weeks or more and make a profit. Now, with the relaxed rules, after COVID-19, they can show a movie for two to three weeks, he said.
“We’ll be the only first-run theater in Vermilion County,” Houmes said.
That luxury has been missing in Vermilion County since the AMC Theater closed in the Danville Village Mall three years ago.
It’s been about 13 years of fundraising and renovations to the 1922 historic theater at 324 E. Main St. in Hoopeston.
Before they could buy the movie equipment, they had to get the building usable again after being closed for about a year around 2012.
Theater restoration has cost about $600,00 in total, Houmes said. He estimates the entire restoration project has been about $1.1 million in costs and donated labor.
The foundation says the Lorraine Theatre will once again be “The Best Place for Movies.”
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