Tim Ryan, tryan@shawanoleader.com
There are no more coming attractions for the Crescent Pitcher Show.
After a 17-year run as a staple of downtown Shawano, the theater at 220 S. Main St. will go dark Sunday after the last showing of this week’s feature.
Owner Paul Routhieaux said the pressure to go to digital projection and the scarcity of 35 mm prints had just made it too difficult to keep the theater running.
“I told my crew months ago the day may come when we just can’t get prints,” he said. “That day is here.”
Though he feels digital projection is inferior to film, Routhieaux said he did look into converting. But that would cost about $50,000, he said.
While the theater has always had a loyal fan base of recurring customers, it didn’t do enough business to secure financing for the conversion, Routhieaux said.
“It’s been a struggle,” he said. “It’s never been quite as big as we needed it to be.”
The original Crescent Theater closed down in the mid-1980s. In 1996, Routhieaux and his parents, Jim and Jean, revived it, with the added twist of pizza, sandwiches and other menu items, lounge-style seating with tables and a wait-staff.
Routhieaux bought the business from his parents in 2008.
The theater showcased Hollywood movies after they left first-run theaters, usually four to seven weeks behind first-run showings — and preferably before they’re on home video.
However, the window between first-run showings and a movie going to DVD was getting increasingly narrower.
“The window used to be 60 to 80 days,” Routhieaux said. “Now we’re lucky if we get a month.”
Often, he said, it’s as little as two weeks.
Meanwhile, other alternatives such as computer downloading of movies are growing.
“There are several different delivery methods now,” Routhieaux said.
Routhieaux — who met his wife, Amanda, at the Crescent — said the decision to close will mean being able to spend more time with his family.
Routhieaux said the operation was always a risk, but he has no regrets. He also offered his thanks to the community for their loyalty and support.
The Crescent will screen its last movie — “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” — at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
