Wayne Cinemas to Soon Be Updated and Reopen as “The Wayne”

If you’re like me and have been anxiously awaiting to learn what the future holds for Wayne Cinema, today is your lucky day. The new owner is close enough to assuming official ownership to begin publicly discussing plans.

Luke and Brandy Winterrowd are in the process of finalizing the sale that will make them the new owners of the theater. Luke and Brandy live in Greenville and have two children, Marion and Henry. Luke works as a Journeyman Mechanic at Whirlpool while attending Sinclair in pursuit of an associate’s degree for Automation and Controls Technology with Robotics, and Brandy is the music teacher at DeColores Montessori School.

Luke also started Grey House Comics and Games, which he later sold, and has been working at Wayne Cinema since early 2010. When Alan Teicher, the current owner, announced his retirement recently, Luke and Brandy began the process of purchasing the theater.

So, when will the theater reopen? It largely depends on when the sale is finalized, but they plan to begin renovating the theater and hope to be open for business sometime from mid-November to early December (see? Maybe there were something to the particular posters currently outside the theater after all…).

What’s changing? Potentially a lot: first, the name will change to “The Wayne.” The projectors are being updated to allow the showing of digital formats of movies. They want to move the concession stand to the back wall of the lobby, change out the movie screens and sound system, install new carpet and apply fresh paint throughout. There’s also potential to hold crowd funding campaigns to help offset the costs of the new projectors, which will cost up to $100k to upgrade, as well as to eventually replace the seats. Obviously, the Winterrowds have very ambitious (and smart) plans for the space, but like everyone else, they will need to prioritize things for their budget. Luke did say that the seats will be professionally cleaned and repaired as part of their renovation process prior to reopening.

The theater will continue to be a first run theater, showing new release movies. However, there are also plans in the works to show classic films for special engagements (Luke provided examples of “It’s a Wonderful Life” at Christmas time, or “American Graffiti” and “Cars” during the car show as potential ideas). He also pointed me to a site (Tugg.com) where the public can vote to have a favorite movie shown at your local theater. This could be a way to get classic films into showings as well.

Luke also shared some other great ideas that they are working to incorporate, including putting “a stage in one of the auditoriums for local talent, performances, and special events. A smaller venue for smaller productions.” As the father of little ones, I was also excited that they would like to bring back Saturday morning cartoons. Luke says “Imagine seeing Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, etc. with doughnuts and coffee for the concession.”

I asked Luke what important message he wanted to share with the public at this stage and here is his (refreshing, welcomed) reply:

My family and I love our community. We want to give the community and the county the movie theater it deserves. Everyone should have a place to go where they can enjoy themselves. We want to build strong ties again to the community. Support local business, organizations, charities, and causes. We live in this city and county, why not invest in it too? I know we have a major undertaking getting our community to come back to our theater. It has been neglected too long. I am ready, sleeves rolled up, and willing to do what it takes to get the job done.

I, for one, cannot wait to see these plans come to fruition and plan to become a regular at the theater when it reopens.