Reel dream: Gander exploring feasibility of movie theatre in town

Gander's town council is putting up thousands of dollars to see if the region can sustain a movie theatre.

Coun. Sarah McBreairty, who chairs the town's development, tourism and culture committee, said the idea came out of last year's recreation master plan for the Town of Gander.

"The number one need — or the number one desire — was a movie theatre," said McBreairty.

"People really wanted to see a movie theatre in Gander. We're going to take it that extra step and put some money into a feasibility study."

The study will be primarily funded by town council, which has committed $20,000 toward the project.

McBreairty said council is applying to the provincial and federal government for additional money to cover the $35,000 budget for the study.

Study not the norm

McBreairty said reviving a movie theatre could potentially have a positive impact on the community.

"It gives people something to do in the evenings or in the off-time," said McBreairty.

"For people of Gander, and also people who are visiting Gander [and] might have a couple hours to spare."

She said a feasibility study for a business is outside of the norm for the town council.

"It doesn't happen. But what happened here is the need came first and the request," said McBreairty, who believes a movie theatre would be able to pull in customers from surrounding communities, creating a catchment area of about 90,000 people.

Bring back the big screen

Gander did once have a movie theatre, but that has been closed for many years.

Movie theatres have proven viable in nearby centres such as Grand Falls-Windsor, Clarenville, and Bonavista.

"We're also talking to various communities that have different models that already exist to see what works and what doesn't work," she said.

McBreairty wouldn't say if the town would play a role in funding a movie theatre once the study was completed.

"We would like to see what that looks like before we make any commitment on that level," she said.

"We're open to ideas, obviously. We're going down that road so we'd like to see what it looks like."