Apollo Cinema selling theatre seat naming rights
Posted Apr 11, 2020 08:00:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Movie theatres across Canada are shut down during the pandemic, leaving many independent cinemas looking for alternative ways to pay the rent.
For the dedicated movie fan, Apollo Cinema in downtown Kitchener is offering the naming rights to their seats.
Daniel Demois is the Co-owner of the Apollo Cinema, as well as the Fox Theatre in Toronto's Beaches neighbourhood, where they have already sold out seats within the week of launching the sale.
Like many other independent cinemas, they have been selling gift cards and memberships to pay their bills, rent, or to have the proper operational funds when they do reopen. The Princess Cinemas in Uptown Waterloo is also selling packs of movie passes and memberships as well.
After receiving emails upon email of people asking about how they can support the Apollo, Demois said they decided to put their seats up for sale. They weren't the first ones to come up with the idea, but they found great success at their Fox Theatre.
“It's a difficult time for everybody, so the idea that people are willing to spend their money in an uncertain time, and pass it along to the Apollo is very encouraging,” Demois said.
“It really makes you feel like you're a part of something that people appreciate, and we appreciate the people that are helping us out.”
For $150 plus tax, you will get your name memorialized onto a seat of your choice, or dedicate the seat to that movie fan in your life. The sale is also open to entrepreneurs who want to inscribe the name of their business onto a seat.
The Apollo has also been experimenting with “virtual screenings” of movies. Demois understands that people aren't unfamiliar with streaming services, but he said they know their audience. Through a partnership with Kino Lorber, the Apollo is playing indie art films you won't normally find on other streaming services. New ones that would have been released theatrically, if it weren't for the pandemic. Profits are split between the Apollo and Kino Lorber.
In early April, they screened “Bacurau”, a modern day western set in Brazil, involving a village that vanished from the maps, armed mercenaries, and a UFO-shaped drone of sorts. It was a Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize winner.
Their latest offering is a film they screened before during their Night Light Film Festival in October: a horror-comedy film called “Extra Ordinary.” The film follows Rose, a lonely driving instructor in rural Ireland, who has supernatural gifts. She has to save the life of a teenager, who is being used by a washed-up one-hit-wonder rock star, trying to make a return to greatness, through a pact with the devil.
For more details on how to support the Apollo Cinema, head to their website here.
