A longstanding downtown landmark in our city will be closing its doors as of next week. The Jan Cinema, which has been in its location for more than 40 years, will shut down as of August 14.
Landmark Cinema’s CEO Neil Campbell says the decision has been a long time coming.
“It all boils down to the profitability of that theatre. We did put digital in, we did put 3D in, but to do anything more we would have to redo the whole building and there’s just not enough auditoriums in there. So it’s just a matter of doing the best thing for the Jan for the future.”
Campbell says it’s disappointing to see the doors on their last Grande Prairie theatre close after so many years in the community.
“In the old days, we had the Jan, the Gaiety, we had the Lyric. We were the only game in town for a lot of years. Look at how many generations went to the Jan to watch their movies, how many kids grew up and had their own kids going to the Jan.”
The Lyric Theatre was sold back in 2012. The Gaiety Theatre played its last film in 1991, before being torn down, also in 2012.
