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From Staff Reports
Grail Moviehouse will open in downtown Asheville in early 2016 with two new movie screens, but not necessarily showing new films.
The 250-seat, 4,500-square-foot cinema will open at 45 South French Broad Avenue, which also houses the Downtown Market and Hopey & Co.
It will screen a mix of new independent films, classics, documentaries, foreign movies and local projects.
The two screens will enable Grail to balance whatever’s popular with more obscure films, according to Steve White, who is co-owner along with partner Davida Horowitz.
The only downtown cinema currently is the Fine Arts Theatre, which also has two screens.
The Grail will distinguish itself from its competitor by screenings numerous documentaries and foreign films and creating a space where local filmmakers and animators can screen their works.
He also said the Grail will be an affordable place to view films to fill the void left by Cinebarre’s closing last year in West Asheville.
Besides offering the traditional popcorn, candy and drinks, Grail’s owners plan to reach out and purchase concessions from difference local food vendors for snacks, ice cream treats and “maybe” a daily different popcorn flavor, White said.
White, who has lived in Asheville since 2001, said the cinema’s name was inspired by the Asheville Community Theatre’s performance of “Spamalot,” a musical based on the film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
“We’re big Monty Python fans, and we were trying to come up with a name that sort of captured old classic move theaters, and they always have the single name that’s on the marqee,” he recently told the Asheville Citizen-Times.
“The final song of that is ‘Find Your Grail’ (about) the whole theme of ‘Go out there and find the thing you’re looking for and go for it.’”
White previously worked as a corporate video consultant since his arrival in Asheville. In 1995, he produced a directed a feature film, “Immortal.”
White said his strategy for success with the cinema is to focus on reaching the “magic number” of people needed to creat a communal viewing experience, while also balancing the budget.
Both of his screens will use digital projectors initially, but White, a film buff, said he owns a 35-mm film projector that he might use for special events. |
