Modern projector arrives at the Ritz Theatre

After months of fundraising, hard work and waiting, the Ritz Theatre received its new modern movie projector on Tues., Sept. 9, just in time for the 77th birthday of the theatre.

The Ritz Theatre opened its doors in 1937 and for its first feature showed “Wake Up and Live.” It is only fitting then that the next milestone for the Ritz falls on this date.

The projector, which was being installed on Sept. 9, is a Christie Solaria One+. It will allow the theatre to feature recently released movies to area patrons at a reasonable price. Ticket prices for movies will only increase to $7 for adults and $8 for Loge seating. Children’s ticket prices remain at $5.

John Rankin, president of the RDDA, estimated total cost for the projector, shipping and installation at $48,000. Rankin also said the projector will be completely installed by Friday.

The projector is different than the original goal but was $10,000 less. The Solaria One+ unit is a more compact projector than other Christie products and is designed for use in smaller theatres.

Though it is smaller, it provides a high quality image and is even capable of supporting 3D projection when stacked with another Solaria unit.

It is designed to reduce the cost of ownership, making it ideal for the Ritzville Theatre and other rural movie theatres.

Additionally members of the Ritzville Broncos football and volleyball teams assisted RDDA members in moving left over seat parts to the annex in the theatre for storage.

With the projector installed the RDDA will continue working on the Ritz Theatre, specifically the heating system, Rankin said. The Vivitech projector that has been used to play movies off of BluRay Discs will likely be sold according to Rankin, so the theatre can get some of the money.

Rankin anticipated it could be sold at a price that was comparable to its cost due to the low hours of use.

Once the theatre is complete the organization will be able to move to a new project.

The projector should be up and running by this weekend and the first movie to be shown on it will be “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” starting at 7:30 p.m.

The next movie to air at the theatre will be “Guardians of the Galaxy”, which was the number one selling movie at the box-office for the fourth weekend this last weekend.

September will also see the showing of “Different Drummers” on Sept. 26–28. “Different Drummers” is based off of the true-life story of Lyle Hatcher.

The movie was produced in Spokane and features local actors such as Caden Liberty who plays the role of Richard, the fourth grade class bully.

According to the Ritz Theatre Facebook page Hatcher will also make an appearance at the Saturday, Sept. 27, showing of the movie.

More information about features and show times can be found on the Ritz Theatre website, http://www.ritzvilletheater.com, or on their Facebook by searching the Ritzville Ritz.