An island movie theater? Unlikely

Submitted by Susan Hardee Steger
January 11, 2015 4:00 p.m.

Movie fans driving by the South 14th  8 Flags Shopping Center  are constantly reminded there is no longer an island  movie theater. The shopping center marquee now stands with a simple message, “Now Closed; New Yulee Location Opens December.”  Unconfirmed rumors indicate a February opening date is more likely.

Months ago, the Fernandina Observer received  an opinion piece from local resident Tony Crawford that encouraged movie fans to contact Carmike Theatres and let them know a theater on the island would certainly be appreciated. Individuals did write, but to no avail.

Some avid movie goers wished investors could carve out a small section of the old 14th Street theater and open a fine arts theater. Our local area misses some great movies. Good Night and Good Luck never came to Fernandina.

Jason Mudd, CEO and president of AXIA public relations, wrote about his very brief interest in operating a movie theater. In his blog titled, “Why I decided not to run a movie theatre,” Jason learned about the behind the scenes negotiating and bidding wars that take place for movie distributions.

“Movie theaters use movie distribution companies to bid on and provide movies. You have to connect and negotiate deals with these distributors; they are your access to the Hollywood products,” says Jason.

“Often you are bidding against other theaters in the area and offering a guaranteed minimum amount of ticket sales. A percentage of all ticket sales will go toward the movie distribution company. The closer you are to another movie theater, the more you have to bid to justify showing the movie and dividing audience share.”

That was not good news for Jason considering Carmike- Yulee will be 8 miles away.

Not one to give up, Jason explored “second run” or “discount” theaters but realized it is hard to compete with today’s video streaming options.

A price of $50,000 each for high definition movie projectors didn’t help pique Jason’s interest in the business either. It didn’t take Jason long to figure out a lot of tickets, candy, and popcorn must be sold to recoup that investment.

So as we say goodbye to our Island 7 Cinema, we must focus on the positive. The Fernandina Little Theatre occasionally shows some pretty good movies at their Beech Street location. In fact, the 5th Annual Oscar-Nominated Short Films Fest begins Feb 13-15, 2015.

In addition, Rendezvous International Film Festival will kick off screening weekly Independent films beginning Thursday January 29th at Sheffield’s at the Palace. Then the festival will kickoff on June 5th for 9 days showing over a 100 films from 82 countries and more.