Paragon Theaters will be closing its Southern Pines theater effective Friday, March 25, according to Paragon Theaters CEO Mike Whalen in an email to Sandhills Sentinel. However, a new theater company is supposed to come to the facility located on Brucewood Road.
Whalen said the closing of Paragon Sandhills was a financial decision.
“We invested $2.5 million in the theater to renovate it,” said Whalen. “We wanted to invest another $1 million to put in an extreme screen and an arcade. To do so, we requested a rent reduction from the landlord only if the theater exhibition did not come back. They declined to give us a rent reduction which made the theater unprofitable today. We would have loved to stay.”
In late 2018, the Florida-based Paragon Theaters acquired former Sandhills Cinema, the only multiplex theater in Moore County. In May of 2018, Sandhills Cinema was shut down by Southern Pines Fire Department for failing to pass a fire inspection. From 2015-2018, Sandhills Cinema had received a total of 187 violations.
A little more than a year later, COVID-19 came onto the scene, and movie theaters everywhere shut down for a period of time. After more than a year of being closed due to the pandemic, Paragon Sandhills came back from its extended intermission in April of 2021.
However, Whalen said the movie industry is changing due to the pandemic and streaming services.
“The older demo audience has not fully returned to the movies,” said Whalen. “As an example, for January 2022, the domestic box office was $390 million vs. January 2020, pre-COVID, of $906 million.
“Due to the effects of COVID and streaming, the attendance at the theater is running at 50% of prior levels making the theater unprofitable given the rent obligations under our lease. As such, we very much wanted to stay as a tenant and invest additional capital for an extreme screen and arcade. Unfortunately, we could not come to an agreement with the landlord.”
Whalen said the landlord, Entertainment Properties Trust, is hiring a management group to manage the building for a new theater company to come in, but Whalen did not provide any other information.
Sandhills Sentinel is in the process of reaching out to Entertainment Properties Trust and will provide updates about their plans for the theater.
Whalen went on to say, “We enjoyed our time in Southern Pines and wish the community the best going forward.”
To read story of the reopening of the theater under new ownership, please click on below link:
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