SARANAC LAKE – Peter Wilson has so far been a one-man army in his effort to build a new movie theater downtown.

Now the former owner of Major Plowshares Army-Navy says he needs more troops, and a lot of ammunition, to make his dream come true.

Wilson held a public meeting Thursday on his Cinema Saranac Lake project. He said he’s looking for volunteers to serve on a steering committee to help move the plan forward.

He’s also seeking in-roads to raise funds for a multi-screen theater that he said would cost an estimated $3 to $5 million.

“We’re going to need a lot of local support, and that’s why I’m trying to get the word out,” he said. “It’s my baby now, but I want to grow it into something the community has ownership of.”

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Why Saranac Lake?

Saranac Lake has been without a movie theater since the closure of the small, single-screen Berkeley Theater in 2000. The village’s last big movie house was the 1,100-seat Pontiac Theater, which burned down in 1978.

There are movie theaters in Lake Placid and Tupper Lake, but Saranac Lake needs and deserves to have its own, Wilson told a group of about a 20 people in the Saranac Lake Free Library’s Cantwell Community Room.

“The downtown area needs something to extend the day beyond 5:30 p.m., when most stores close,” he said. “If the movie starts at 7:30, slowly but surely the downtown businesses, like I was for 18 years, will start saying, ‘There’s traffic on the street, and it’s staying longer because people are staying to go to the movies.’ It will extend the business day for downtown businesses.”

Wilson also said a movie theater would give local kids and adults something to do.

“A movie theater I see as having great potential for giving kids some entertainment and some inspiration, and for families to get together,” he said. “The social aspect of going to the movies is something you don’t get at home.”

Referring to some of the questions he’s been asked frequently, Wilson said he believes Saranac Lake is a big enough market to support its own independent theater. At one time, he noted, there were five commercial movie theaters between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake, although the area’s population was much larger then.

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The plan

Wilson closed his store last year to pursue his dream. He’s done a lot of research and drawn up a business plan, which he shared with the audience Thursday.

He wants to build a three-to-four-screen movie house along a main thoroughfare downtown. It would have a large, 130-seat theater, two mid-size screens for about 70 people each, and a possible fourth screen for an audience of 40. One of the screens would be for 3-D movies.

Wilson said multiple screens are needed to make money, “because the distribution system requires any first-run movie you get to book in for a certain length of time.

“In week one, they get 95 percent (of the take),” he said. “You lose a little less money the second week. By the third, fourth or fifth week you start making money. So you’d move three weeks ago’s top movie to the small screen, and you’d be getting a greater share of it. You have to circulate them through.”

Wilson said he’d screen first-run films, but not the same ones that would show in the Palace in Lake Placid or the State Theater in Tupper Lake.

“Geographically we won’t be allowed to show the same film simultaneously,” he wrote in a handout distributed before the meeting. “Fortunately, the movie industry has plenty of options at any given time. We’ll be providing more choice, and we hope to boost public interest in movies all around – the ‘rising tide that floats all boats.'”

Wilson would also pursue other ideas to keep the theater going, such as showing easier-to-get independent and foreign films, live simulcasts of sports and special events, and hosting video game tournaments. He also plans to have a small cafe and ice cream parlor in front of the theater.

An educational component is also planned. Wilson said he’d engage the video clubs of local schools to produce the short “Welcome” videos at the start of every feature. A “library” of sound, lighting and imaging equipment, and editing facilities, would be made available for school programs and the public.

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Location

Just where the theater would be located is still up in the air. Wilson said he’s looked at a few sites downtown but hasn’t negotiated with any property owners yet. Local resident Steve Erman asked if he’d renovate an existing building or start from scratch.

“There are some locations where the footprint is big enough, and at the very least it would be gutting a building, using the footprint, and building up,” Wilson said. “There are other buildings I’ve been looking at that would pretty much be starting from scratch. You’d have to tear it down.”

Pendragon Theatre is considering relocating from its site on Brandy Brook Avenue to a proposed community arts center downtown. At one point, Wilson was working with Pendragon on the possibility of his movie theater sharing the same building, but that now appears to be off the table.

“The scenario on that would have been a two-wing building: one wing would be a production theater, and the other would be a move theater,” Wilson said. “But you can’t have them abutting because of noise. The movie theater is probably going to have to be a stand-alone.”

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Support sought

Wilson stressed throughout his presentation that he wants this to be a “community supported” theater. Margot Gold, Erman’s wife, asked what that means.

Wilson said the theater would “probably” be a nonprofit. He said he’s been working with an umbrella organization, which he didn’t name, that would allow the project to secure 501(c)3 status.

“My goal is we’d raise enough money to get this thing built and going so that we’ll have some funds to see us through the hard years at the start,” Wilson said. “I don’t want to make this something where we have to go back to the community every year with our hand out.

“I’m trying to get steering committee members who can sit down and hash through all the possible scenarios for how we’ll raise $3 million to $5 million. There’s a lot of potential out there, and I’m going to be approaching a lot of different sources for funds. I’ll be going after grants and large donors. If anybody knows anybody really wealthy, tell me.”

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Optimism

The small audience appeared to be enthusiastic about the effort.

“If Tupper Lake could have a Wild Center – that was unbelievable – we can have a movie theater,” said Joyce Heinklein.

“There have been so many things that have been done, whether it’s the Wild Center, Pisgah, Dewey, the Carousel – this community can do it,” Wilson said. “It’s just a matter of spreading the word and getting the ball rolling.”