As they say in Hollywood, the Nugget Theaters has been put on hiatus.
The downtown Hanover cinema, operated by the nonprofit Hanover Improvement Society, closed 13 days after it reopened last month, after hoped-for audiences never materialized and the Hollywood movie studios have held off releasing major new films due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was a twofold problem,” Hanover Improvement Society general manager, Jeff Graham, explained via email. “First, people were hesitant to go to an inside event like a theater, and two, all the movie companies kept pushing back new release dates so there were no new movies to be found, so we decided to pause for a bit.”
Graham said he’s not sure when the Nugget will reopen because the Hollywood studios are waiting on a decision by the movie theater chains as to when they will reopen.
“The new movie releases will be dictated by when the big chains reopen; only at that time will the film companies continue to release more product, or not,” he said.
AMC Theaters, the nation’s largest chain with 1,000 theaters, reopened 100 theaters on Thursday and said it aims to have two-thirds of its U.S. locations opened by Sept. 3.
National chains Regal Cinemas and Cinemark also began phased-in openings last week.
But in the Upper Valley there are still only few places where movie fans can go out and see a movie.
Entertainment Cinemas at the Miracle Mile Plaza in Lebanon has been closed since March and the manager’s phone line at the theater says it is out of service. Owner Entertainment Management Corp. in South Easton, Mass., did not respond to messages for comment.
The Claremont Cinemas Center on Washington Street has been showing mostly “throwback movies” on Friday and Saturday nights since July — this weekend it’s Inception (2010), The Lego Movie (2014), and new releases Unhinged and Words on Bathroom Walls.
But if you enjoy a drive-in movie theater, then you’re in luck: both the Fairlee Motel and Drive-In Theater and the Bethel Drive-In are open weekend nights.
The Fairlee Drive-In’s double feature this weekend (Aug. 22-23) is Despicable Me and Minions.
At the Bethel Drive-In, theater operator Tammy Tomaszewski said that attendance has been running “slightly better” this summer than in previous seasons — and that’s with only half the regular allotment of vehicles allowed in the field to keep them properly spaced apart.
Tomaszewski, who was the manager at the Randolph Playhouse Theatre for 30 years before she and her husband David Tomaszewski took over running the Bethel Drive-In six years ago, attributes the bump in business to families wanting a safe environment to take their kids for entertainment and to the fact that “it hasn’t really rained this summer.”
The Playhouse Theatre has also been shuttered by the pandemic.
In the interim — or intermission? — the Bethel Drive-In has been extending a helping hand to the nonprofit Playhouse Theatre.
“We are letting the Playhouse do the concessions at the drive-in, selling candy, popcorn, ice cream. This is the first time. I didn’t want them to go out of business,” Tomaszewski said.
“Other summers we normally show two movies but this year we’re doing one so people don’t congregate too long,” Tomaszewski said. “Even doing the one movie, it’s better this year.”
And with only one car allowed between speaker posts — in a normal season it’s two cars — Tomaszewski said people are setting up folding chairs and “everybody’s got plenty of space.”
Tomaszewski said although the drive-in usually shows first-run movies, this summer the studios have only been distributing old crowd-pleasers. The most popular movies they’ve shown this summer?
Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
“Star Wars was very popular,” she said.
This weekend’s (Aug. 22-23) feature in Bethel is the 1990 romantic fantasy thriller Ghost.
“The distributors give you a certain amount of movies to choose from,” Tomaszewski explained in regard to how she selects what movies will be playing at the drive-in. “I usually book on Monday for the following Friday.”
The Lyme Inn, run by Jack Elliott, has nabbed the 13th spot among the 25 top small hotels in the U.S. as ranked by Trip Advisor. The travel advice site and app says it compiles its “traveler choice — best of the best” awards by a combination of user reviews, ratings and “saves” that travelers share on its platform.
■The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in New Hampshire ticked down to 8.1% in July from 9.2% in June, New Hampshire Employment Security reported last week.
My business is knowing your business. Tell me about it at jlippman@vnews.com.
