Walton Theater back open this weekend
Published 9:41 pm Wednesday, March 18, 2015
By Blake Deshazo | The Selma Times-Journal
Selma residents will be able to enjoy a night out at the movies this weekend, as the Walton Theater is set to reopen its doors.
All Things Are Possible (ATAP) Community Development Corporation, a non-profit organization in Selma, has leased the theater from the city and will manage the day-to-day operations of it.
The first movie to play in the reopened theater will be ‘Insurgent.’
“We are kicking off this Friday,” pastor John Grayson, CEO of ATAP said.
“We’ll start at 6 p.m., and we’ll go through Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We’ll have four showings on Saturday and then two on Sunday afternoon.”
Friday’s showings will be held at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., Saturday’s showings will be at 1:30 p.m., 4 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. and Sunday’s showings will be at 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $8.50 for adults, $6 for children between ages two and 12 and free for children younger than two. Matinee prices are $2 off.
Grayson and ATAP are excited to offer more options for entertainment in Selma.
“Hopefully, this will give our young people something to do to entertain them and keep them out of trouble,” Grayson said. “I think it will be a great asset to our community, and hopefully we can play a great part in making things better in the community for our youth and giving them some type of entertainment for them to take part in.”
Tickets will be available to purchase one hour prior to showtime.
“We don’t have online access to do tickets just yet, but we do have tickets available in our office and hour before the movie time, and that is about the biggest challenge we’ve had so far,” Grayson said.
Getting the theater ready to reopen has been a long process, but it has been well worth it, Grayson said.
“We’ve been waiting, and there has been a ton of paperwork and licensing to go through with the movie companies, and we finally got all of that done,” Grayson said.
“Now, we’re ready to get started.”
Reopening the theater has created eight new jobs and the potential for even more in the future.
Grayson said the theater’s second film will depend on the success of Insurgent.
“Insurgent is running two weeks definitely, and after the two weeks we should have ‘Furious 7’ that is supposed to be coming out in April. If this one does good, then they are going to try to get us ‘Furious 7.’”