Villa Theatre Closing it's doors, and is up for sale

Greg Kirkwood sent a press release to the PCN that states:

Attention Phillips County and the surrounding areas, it is with great sadness that we are announcing the Villa Theatre will be closing for the foreseeable future with our last showing being April 29, 2021, at 6 p.m., tentatively playing Nobody, rated R.

We purchased the Villa Theatre with the intention of providing another form of entertainment for the community. We never intended to get rich, but we were at least hoping to break even monthly. The movie industry is still very much reeling from the Coronavirus. The availability of movies is unreliable, release dates are changing all the time and not many movies are being made.

The cost to bring a movie to a theatre is between 35-70% per ticket sold. Most theatres make much of their profit from concessions. We have mentioned in the past that we need a minimum of 15 patrons per showing and concessions must be purchased by each person to come close to breaking even. The reality since Coronavirus hit is that we have had five or less per showing. This only ensures that the debt is piling up.

We want everyone to know that the Villa Theatre and building are for sale. There is an option for the right person or persons to lease the Villa as well! We will be leaving the Villa the way it is, all of its contents will remain.

Please use all Gift Certificates and punch cards by Thursday, April 29, 2021, at the 6 p.m. showing.

We have had so much fun learning, updating, and fixing the Villa Theatre! We appreciate each and every one of our patrons for their support!

Greg Kirkwood told the PCN that he appreciates the efforts Angel Kent, his office manager, for all of the hard work and dedication that she has given to keep the theatre going as long as they have. He also expressed gratitude to all of the employees at the theatre for their dedication.

Kirkwood is also appreciative of all of the people and businesses in the community that purchased sponsor tickets to help keep us going when things got rough with the pandemic and when we were trying to get things back up and going after the “lockdown”.

Kirkwood said, “The movie industry has continuously made it very difficult on the small theatres. They would just as soon get rid of the small independent theatres and just have the big multiplex theatres. We have to pay up to 70 cents on the dollar to get movies, so we need a certain number of patrons per showing just to break even. This past weekend, we had four showings of Chaos Walking. It’s a good movie. It’s not a blockbuster, but it’s good entertainment. We had a total of 12 patrons total through all four showings. We just can’t keep doing that and come close to breaking even.”