JACKSON CENTER — The Elder Theatre, 106 W. Pike St., Jackson Center, will begin screening movies in 3-D, Friday.
“The Peanuts Movie” will run in 3-D, Fridays, at 7 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 and 7 p.m.; Sundays at 2 and 7 p.m. and Thursdays at 7 p.m. through Nov. 12. It will run in 2-D format Saturdays and Sundays at 4 p.m. and Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7 p.m.
“We’ve wanted to do 3-D there ever since we were able to install the digital projector, which was about two years ago,” said Rodney Miller, of Jackson Center, who, with his wife, Rebecca “Becky” Miller, owns the cinema.
In a move that anticipated their saving enough money to buy a 3-D unit, the couple installed a silver screen at the same time they put in the digital projection equipment.
“The silver screen gives you the light reflection that you need for the 3-D to work,” Miller said. Acquiring the 3-D equipment, while long in the plans, happened almost overnight.
On Oct. 22, a Thursday, Miller received a phone call from a friend, alerting him that a lightly used 3-D unit was about to come up for sale in Canada. A new unit costs about $32,000. This one would cost less.
“I called on Friday, worked out details on Saturday, and it was installed on Tuesday,” he said.
The unit is placed in front of the digital projector. Movies are projected through the unit, which has a spinning wheel mechanism that creates the 3-D effecct for viewers.
The special glasses which viewers are required to wear arrived yesterday. Miller ordered disposable glasses.
“We may collect them to recycle (the plastic),” he said, “but we won’t use them over again.”
The Millers have operated the 300-seat theater for 32 years. They plan to show every movie they run that is available in 3-D in that format as well as in 2-D format.
Tickets to the 3-D movies will cost $7; 2-D format tickets are $5.
The film schedule is posted on the website, www.eldredtheatre.com. “The Peanuts Movie” will run for two weeks, followed by three weeks of “The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 2.” Miller said he hopes to finalize contracts soon that will have him screening the latest “Star Wars” movie in December.
The couple also own a drive-in theater in Hardin County.
