County Theater Expansion Project Nearing Completion

DOYLESTOWN, PA — Barring any unexpected obstacles, the County Theater in Doylestown plans to open in February.

The historic venue closed in mid-January to begin a $5 million expansion project to build a new lobby and a third theater. While management initially planned for a partial reopening over the summer, the onset of the coronavirus pandemic led to the decision to remain closed through 2020 and finish construction sooner.

Movie theatres large and small have faced significant economic hardship since they were forced to close in March. After a few months of showings that began in late summer, Regal Cinemas decided to close of all its locations nationwide, including its 22 theatres in Pennsylvania. AMC, which still has some theaters open, including one in Bensalem, has warned it may run out of cash by the end of the year. Smaller, indie theaters are facing a similar cash struggle.

John Toner, founding director of The County Theater, has been watching from the sidelines, so to speak.

"There are still some independent operators that are struggling along, but it didn't seem to make any sense to us," Toner said. "It made more sense to be doing something productive during COVID rather than have a closed theater or one that no one was coming to."

Even before the pandemic came along, the movie theater business was already taking a hit from streaming services, he said. As a nonprofit arthouse, the theater is in a better position to adjust to changes in the movie business moving forward.

Besides, he said, a local downtown theater offers things that Netflix can't, such as filmmaker appearances and local film screenings.

Wearing a hard hat and neon vest, Toner chats with construction workers on a rainy Wednesday afternoon, who are working hard to finish by the end of January. A former attorney, Toner and a few of his like-minded peers formed a film society in Doylestown in the eighties. When the opportunity came to run the movie theater, they jumped at the opportunity.

Founded in 1938, the County Theater has been a popular local hangout for decades. As larger movie theaters began to dot the American landscape, the local theater fell on hard times and underwent several changes in ownership until 1993, when it was purchased by the nonprofit County Theater, Inc.

The theater draws about 75,000 people in a normal, non-pandemic year. By adding an extra screen, Toner thinks the theater will become more popular than ever once the pandemic is over.

"People are always gonna want to come see movies in person," Toner said. "It's like going to a restaurant: you want to be out and with people. I think it's going to be especially true when COVID is over and things get back to normal."

The nonprofit is about $200,000 short of its $3 million fundraising goal for the year, which will help cover the hard costs of the renovation project.

"At this point, the most important thing for us is to raise that final $200,000," Toner said.