The region enjoyed a collective sigh of delight and relief over Memorial Day weekend as the new owners of The Moviehouse in Millerton, N.Y., enjoyed a successful soft opening (showing the films “A Quiet Place 2” and “Dream Horse”).
Carol and Robert Sadlon were the creators of The Moviehouse, which opened on Memorial Day weekend in 1978 — which was the reason new owners Chelsea Altman and David Maltby pushed hard to open on the same holiday weekend this year.
After Robert died in 2019, his widow and partner began making plans to turn the theater to new owners — and felt very fortunate to have found Maltby and Altman earlier this year.
Ownership changed hands in March; and in a perhaps ironic twist, the COVID-19 pandemic became kind of sort of a good thing. It allowed them to get in quickly with construction crews and do updates to the interior and, of course, add the elevator that theater patrons had been asking for (and making donations toward) in recent years.
“And we have an ice maker now,” Altman said in an interview by phone on May 10. “Apparently that was something people really wanted.”
Ice will come in handy for more than soft drinks from the concession stand. Maltby and Altman both have backgrounds in the entertainment and hospitality industries and they will be part of a new trend toward making movie theaters more like entertainment centers.
Of course it will still be possible to come and just see a movie; but there will be options for making it more of a Night Out.
The small upstairs theater that was in recent years a screening room will be available for parties and events. It’s possible that patrons will someday be able to enter by a separate door that takes them right upstairs to have a glass of wine, even if they’re not seeing a film, Altman said. The logistics on that are still being calculated out.
Altman did not expect the upstairs space to be open by Memorial Day weekend — and in fact it wasn’t.
“We had wanted to do a soft opening on Memorial Day weekend, with just the two downstairs theaters open,” she said.
“There were some construction delays upstairs, it’s an old building and this is a big job. And from an operations perspective, we can open slowly and see how it goes, and not be overwhelmed with four theaters and the bar, all at once.”
The expected grand opening date will be July 4 weekend.
Altman and Maltby feel fortunate to have found a general manager, Casey Lehman, who moved here from Ohio for this job, which he learned about from an online careers website.
“He wanted to hear about any film job, anywhere, and then he saw this one,” Altman said. “He’s been the perfect guy for the job, charming and intelligent and knowledgeable about films and also about the service industry. He found a place to live, easily. It feels very Meant To Be.”
Changes small and large are in evidence at The Moviehouse, with fresh paint and new carpet and even a new sign outside.
“But we’re not changing the name,” Altman promised. Nor will she and Maltby swerve dramatically from the high-quality film offerings that area cinema fans have traditionally found and loved at The Moviehouse.
Even the website will remain the same, at www.themoviehouse.net, although the site will get updated and spiffed up this summer. For now because of COVID-19, but possibly on into the future, moviegoers will have to reserve their seats online ahead of time. Tickets will also be sold at the door, but at that point there will likely be fewer seats to choose from.
