By Mary Owen
Film is coming to an end this year at Star Cinema, and a Stayton business has stepped up to help raise funds for a digital upgrade.
“We thought we had at least another year if not longer, but due to the Kodak bankruptcy, the movie studios are pushing harder to end film,” said Jeff Mexico, who co-owns the downtown theater with business partner, Robin Harris-Mexico. “It has been difficult to obtain movies because they always tell us there are not enough prints, but if we had digital, we could get any movie we ask for.”
Mexico is unsure when film will cease to exist, but is guessing “by the end of summer if we don’t have digital, we will have a very hard time to obtain 35mm film through fall and winter.”
Mexico said the theater is shooting for August, if not sooner, to upgrade to digital.
“We should be fine with opening summer blockbusters, but after that we will be lucky to get much on our list without having digital in place,” he said. The cost for a digital projector and lens is estimated at $35,000 to $45,000.
“There’s also the cost of the server and any accessories to hook up to our existing sound system,” he added. “We won’t know for sure until we settle on the system, whether it’s used or new. We are still researching.”
To help raise funds for Star Cinema’s digital upgrade, Marty White, owner of Quilt ‘n Stitch, is raffling off a quilt that she pieced and quilted herself.
“We will be selling tickets through SummerFest and having a silent auction at that time to benefit the theater,” said White, who plans to have quilts throughout the year for the cause.
Tickets are $5 each and are available at Star Cinema and Quilt ‘n Stitch during regular business hours.
What motivated White to create a quilt for the project is Star Cinema’s place in Stayton history, providing local residents with “a great value for date and/or family night. And it provides high school and college-age students a good job that is flexible.”
To help cover expenses for the four theaters they own, the Mexicos also are holding a Gift Card Sale Drive.
“We have sold $25,000 in gift cards to rapidly gather the funds in a short time,” Mexico said. “We still have a ways to go – around $50,000 more to reach our goal of around $38,000 per theater. We put these funds in a separate account specifically for the digital upgrade.”
Concentrating on upgrades for the Fox and Star only, the Mexicos are selling their Courtyard Coffeehouse & Deli in Dallas as well as the Pix Theatre in Albany.
“Only having three businesses to run will help us by reducing our stress load and having more time and energy to concentrate on just three theaters,” he said.
The upside of having digital is a crisper focused picture and no more scratches, Mexico said. “And alternative content, such as concerts, sporting events,” he added. “We can even add a 3-D system if we felt the customers would prefer watching movies in 3-D, but at this time we are only planning on 2-D.”
Mexico is thinking about alternating the two options in the future. Digital also makes showings easier, he added. “Instead of splicing together 20-minute reels to build the movie, then break it down back onto the reels, we just receive a hard drive and plug it into the computer server,” he said. “Then transfer the movie onto the server and use the mouse to create the show by dragging the trailers and movie onto the timeline. It will even start at the correct time and shut itself down at the end of the movie.”
With additional hardware, Mexico said the system will even turn lights on and off. “Basically, there’s no need for a projectionist anymore,” he said. “Once it’s programmed and scheduled, it will run by itself.”’
To purchase gift cards go to: www.StarCinema.net or www.DallasFox.net.
