QUEENS — An independently-owned Forest Hills movie theater, which has managed to stay open thanks to residents' support, is asking for their help again.
On Wednesday, Dec. 30, the five-screen theater, Cinemart Cinemas, at 106-03 Metropolitan Ave., will hold a fundraising campaign, offering cheap tickets to Quentin Tarantino's “The Hateful Eight,” which will be shown both in a 35mm film format and in digital, the theater said.
Set in post-Civil War Wyoming, the movie, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth and Kurt Russell, follows eight strangers seeking shelter during a blizzard.
An $8 admission ($6 for seniors) will include free popcorn, drinks and refills, according to the theater’s Facebook page.
Proceeds will help pay for several upgrades to the theater slated for March 2016, including the installation of a number of leather recliners, according to the theater.
Beginning Dec. 31, patrons will have to pay regular price, which is $9.
The theater, which is located in a quieter portion of the neighborhood more than a dozen blocks from Queens Boulevard, has operated since 1927.
Owner Nicolas Nicolaou, 58, whose family bought Cinemart Cinemas in the mid-1960s, said that the theater has been struggling recently mainly because it was not able to show first-run films for a couple years.
But even after the theater lost about $200,000 last year, Nicolaou refused to close it down.
In January, the theater got another chance after Warner Bros. decided to license "American Sniper" to the Cinemart.
Residents launched a campaign encouraging one another to attend the screenings to help save the Cinemart.
As a result they managed to entirely fill the theater seats, helping prevent the Cinemart from closing its doors.
Since then the theater got several other first-run movies, including “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” “Run All Night."
Nicolaou has also recently invested in installing four new digital projectors to improve the quality of the screenings at the theater.
“The Cinemart is a gem, and the owner needs to prove to Hollywood and the Queens community that it's the 'go-to community venue' which offers high-end accommodations, comfort, diverse and noteworthy films, and consistently affordable prices,” said local historian Michael Perlman, who initiated the campaign to save the theater earlier this year.
“The greater the ticket sales, the greater the likelihood of being licensed more first-run films," he added.
