Castle Theatre - 'Go digital or go dark'
This article reprinted with permission of the Courier-Times, New Castle's local newspaper
Castle Theatre will ned to 'go digital or go dark'
The future remains uncertain for the historic Castle Theatre, which opened in 1935. A fundraising effort failed to reach the $130,000 goal needed to convert the film projection system from 35mm to a digital format.
Castle operators Rick and Elaine Dearduff said earlier that they had reached an agreement wit the Nellie Bundy trust, overseen by the JP Morgan Chase Bank, to operate the theatre through the rest of this year and continue trying to bring quality movies to New Castle.
Individual film companies are setting their own deadlines for making the switch to distributing movies only in the digital format.
Rick Dearduff said the theatre still is operating on a "week to week" basis. "But at some point we're going to have to go digital or go dark."
Dearduff was asked whether it might be possible to start showing older classic films.
"We might be able to do that for a short time," Dearduff said. "But some companies have already started taking their classic movies into digital. They're not available any more in film.
What about the possibility of having other events in the theatre, such as live bands or theatre stage productions? "That's something that could be thought of," Dearduff said. "But I'm not into being a concert promoter. so that might have to fall back on the landlord. That's not our area of expertise. So that might have to be someone else when we walk awaj," he said.
"We'll do everything we can to try to get the digital in here," Dearduff said. "But that's a big expense."
| 9/2/2013 7:56:00 AM |
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The Castle Theatre has been exploring ways to convert to digital film equipment. (David Burns / C-T photo) |
Castle Theatre will ned to 'go digital or go dark'
The future remains uncertain for the historic Castle Theatre, which opened in 1935. A fundraising effort failed to reach the $130,000 goal needed to convert the film projection system from 35mm to a digital format.
Castle operators Rick and Elaine Dearduff said earlier that they had reached an agreement wit the Nellie Bundy trust, overseen by the JP Morgan Chase Bank, to operate the theatre through the rest of this year and continue trying to bring quality movies to New Castle.
Individual film companies are setting their own deadlines for making the switch to distributing movies only in the digital format.
Rick Dearduff said the theatre still is operating on a "week to week" basis. "But at some point we're going to have to go digital or go dark."
Dearduff was asked whether it might be possible to start showing older classic films.
"We might be able to do that for a short time," Dearduff said. "But some companies have already started taking their classic movies into digital. They're not available any more in film.
What about the possibility of having other events in the theatre, such as live bands or theatre stage productions? "That's something that could be thought of," Dearduff said. "But I'm not into being a concert promoter. so that might have to fall back on the landlord. That's not our area of expertise. So that might have to be someone else when we walk awaj," he said.
"We'll do everything we can to try to get the digital in here," Dearduff said. "But that's a big expense."
