SAVE RETRO CINEMA 4

The digital age of film has arrived. Like most movie theater owners, we bought this theater after it had closed down due to our love of movies. One of my favorite things to do at the end of a movie, was to take my little girl to the front of the auditorium and dance with her to the music that plays during the ending credits. The thought of no longer being able to do this in our home town theater made both my wife and I very upset. It was this passion that has kept the theater running. The studios are ceasing the production of 35mm film and we have to convert to digital by the end of April. It has already become very hard to get our hands on 35mm prints. As a small movie theater in a small town, it is had enough to lobby the distributiors to rent us films, but now that they are producing fewer copies, we are at times unable to get the titles that our customers want us to get. The large theaters in the country have already converted to digital projection, but the small ones like us, can't incur the expense of conversion. This is why many of us are using GoGetFunding and other sources to fund this huge cash requirement. The jig is up. Retro Cinema MUST convert to digital, or go out of business.

The cost of this conversion is astronomical for such a small business. Many theaters have found the cost of going digital is more than their entire theater/business is actually worth. We need $300,000 to upgrade all 4 of our screens. We can stay open with one screen if we get a minimum of $75,000. Given that, and the little if no profits a small theater can make, getting a loan is out of the question. This obviously makes the large theaters very happy. There are approximately 2000 theaters across the US that are facing the same struggles, and it is estimated that 60% of these will have to close down. This means more business for the big guys and our small hometown theaters could become a thing of the past. This also means less money staying in our own town. If you have to go to Shelby to watch a movie, where do you eat? Where do you shop before and after the movie? You do all of this in Shelby! We need to keep the money here in our own community. This is why Retro Cinema, like many other small town theaters, are turning to the community, its customers, and even people from out of town that understand the importance of Forest City keeping their own theater.

Ready for the good news? Here it is! This is a ONE TIME project. Once the projectors, lamp houses, sound, computers, etc. to run it all are installed, the theater should be good to go and on its feet until Hollywood decides to throw us their next beig idea! Since it took over 100 years for them to come up with digital movies, so we aren't that worried :) AND with this new system, we will have a much easier time getting the movies that our customers want to see. PLUS, we will be able to bring alternative programming to the community. We already show UFC events, but do you wanna watch the big game live on the big screen with fresh popcorn? DONE! How about a ballet or opera? DONE! How about a concert? DONE! We will have the opportunity to be far more creative with what we bring you! Did we mention the INCREDIBLE picture quality and sound? No more "melting" pictures, broken film, green lines, or frustrating stops and starts required to fix a bad spot in the film....NOPE....all will be a thing of the past (thank goodness!).

Reaching our goal is important. All of the funds raised will be put directly into improving the theater for the public...every penny! After the conversion, we have every intention of bringing in new seating, new carpet, and updating the theater in general. We even had some folks from the County to come in and say that they would help us upgrade the outside of the building and even expand and add two more screens! This will increase business for us and our local business, which means more jobs!

Now, the upside to you making a donation through this website is that you will actually save money on your visit to the theater and even with local businesses. We have rewards posted based on the amount of your donation. Please look at these and take advantage of the savings that you will receive. There is a reward for almost any budget. We also want you to feel comfortable making your donation and want you to know that if for some reason we are unable to raise enough money to stay open, that we will be donating the money back to our community by allowing people to vote on Facebook where they would like to see the money go. We will not be keeping any of the money raised for our own personal benefit.

With the help of our community we will make this an even better place for our hometown. We look forward to continuing to serve our community and being a place that we can all be proud of. Thank you so much for your time.

To take advantage of these offers, look down the right side of the page and select the offer that you want to take advantage of. It will verify the info and then allow you to make your donation with Paypal. You do not have to have a Paypal account to use your debt or credit.

Local business rewards list: Find these along with Retros rewards on the right side of the page.

$5 donation Hopes and Dreams Salon and Spa: $10 off a one hour massage.

$5 donation Iron Ink Tattoos and Piercing: $10 off the price of a regular piercing.

$10 donation Moon Light Studio: Save 25% off your next photo session.

$10 donation Red Line Audio and Performance Save $20 off regular window tinting.