The Nugget Twin Cinemas has closed its doors for the most extensive renovations in the theater's 80-year existence, leaving Hanover without its popular movie house for almost three months.
The two-screen, 650-seat theater will be divided into four smaller theaters, two of which will be able to show the same film simultaneously, said Tom Byrne, general manager of the Hanover Improvement Society, the organization that owns the not-for-profit Nugget.
Byrne said the new theater will also have new sound systems with surround sound, new film handling equipment, automated controls for the projectors, new lenses, and screens that will give films a "brighter, clearer" picture.
The changes in the cinema's floor plan will only result in a net loss of about 50 seats, and since all of the renovations remain within the theater's original "footprint," none of the remodeling will be visible from the outside.
Byrne said he hopes that the new format will help the Nugget "appeal to a wider segment of the market." The additional screens mean that the Nugget will be able to present more films that are geared towards specific audiences while at the same running new releases.
For example, "Forrest Gump" showed at the Nugget for 12 weeks in 1994, but the theater was unable to serve local residents with new films while "Gump" was running. The multiple screen format will alleviate this problem.
After the renovations are complete, a new film will be shown in the two larger theaters until it peaks, and then will move into one of the smaller theaters and continue to play "as demand requires."
Dartmouth Film Society Director Michael Ellenberg '97, who said films at the Nugget are one of his more pleasant Dartmouth memories, is supportive of the changes. In conjunction with films being shown through DFS, the Loew Theater, and the Nugget, "there will be something to see every night of the week," he said.
Fremonta Meyer '00 said it had occurred to her that expanding the Nugget might be a good idea, but "its just too bad that they will be closed for so long."
"The closure for renovations seems to be a necessary evil," Jesse Sweet '98 said in an electronic-mail message. "It does not make sense to have two half-emptied theatres when there could be four full ones."
Two years ago, a group of students from the Tuck School produced a survey in which Byrne and the Hanover Improvement Society found impetus for change.
Their study revealed that people who frequented the six-screen Sony Theatres in Lebanon rather than the Nugget generally went to twice as many movies as at the people who went to the Nugget. Byrne said he felt that this statistic was mostly due to the lack of movie options with Nugget only having two screens.
"There was a market that we weren't serving," he said.
Adam Piotrowski '99 said he has never attended a movie at the Nugget, but the changes might entice him to go.
Undertaking a task such as this is not easy for a non-profit organization. Byrne says the society will be borrowing the $350,000 to $400,000 that the renovations will likely cost. The Nugget has no plans to increase ticket prices, but hopes to increase revenues by generating new business with the change in format.
Byrne said the renovations will take place this spring since April and May generally produce the Nugget's lowest ticket sales.
"I am excited about more films being screened in Hanover. I believe that this will enhance the availability of less commercially successful films that are hard to find," said Sweet.
But not everyone felt that more screens would mean better movies.
"Not only will Hanover's one source of entertainment be cut off for three months, but the quality of the films shown at the Nugget will probably change," said Brigitta Wagner '00.
"Instead of showing current art films or unusual Hollywood films that stretch the audience's understanding of 'movies,' the owners might be pressured into ordering more crowd-pleasing, formula films to fill the extra screens," she said.
