It tugged at his heart strings, but now he couldn’t loosen his purse strings.
Kevin Smith, who bought his childhood movie theater last year, is struggling to keep it in business.
So he organized a memorabilia sale there to raise funds to maintain it.
“The theater show in the toilet,” Smith, 53, told NJ Advance Media. “We’re selling stuff to stay alive until May.”
The Red Bank, New Jersey, native, who grew up in the Highlands, purchased the Atlantic Moviehouse in Atlantic Highlands with his wife, Jen Schwalbach, and a business partner in the fall of 2022.
He renamed the five-screen theater, which dates back to the early 1920s, SModcastle Cinemas, a nod to his podcast network.
On Saturday, the “Clerks” director hosted SMauction, an auction of movie items such as props, costumes and objects signed by celebrities, in an effort to raise money for the troubled theater.
Smith organized a memorabilia auction to raise money for his troubled theater. Kevin Smith/YouTube
Smith bought his childhood cinema in 2022, and is now struggling to keep it afloat. Kevin Smith/instagram
After the auction ended, Smith hosted a 15th anniversary screening of his 2008 sex comedy “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks.
Smith bought the movie house from Frederick Rast, former mayor of Atlantic Highlands, for an undisclosed sum. The theater and an adjacent building owned by Rast are listed for $2.6 million, according to the Asbury Park Press.
“All of a sudden you’re not just buying a movie theater, you’re buying real estate, two buildings on First Avenue, which feels very, very adult,” Smith told the outlet at the time.
“And thankfully I was able to balance that forced maturity with some fun immaturity in the theater itself.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
