Historic Newtown Theatre Getting a 21st-Century Makeover
By Brad Segall
NEWTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- One of the oldest movie theaters in the country, right here in the Philadelphia suburbs, is getting ready to reopen after a state-of-the-art upgrade.
The Newtown Theatre, in Bucks County, stopped showing movies last fall to get ready for a digital upgrade.
A new projector and sound system will be installed next week, and then there will be a couple of weeks of test runs to make sure the bugs are worked out before the theatre reopens in late May.
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Board president Andrew Smith says the first four movies to be shown will be chosen by the public through a tournament on the theatre's Facebook page.
"The interesting part is, we're going to be charging the same price that was charged when those films came out," Smith says, "so, for example, if Casablanca is chosen as one of the films, that ticket price will be 30 cents."
The theatre started showing movies in 1906 and the building itself dates back to the 1800s.
A grassroots effort, with many donations coming in from the community, helped raise the more than $100,000 that was needed for the upgrade.