Twin Pine Cinema sits near the stunning Waskesiu Lake in Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan. Built in 1958, the venue runs June to September to serve the summer park visitors.
Chris and Lori Astle bought the theatre five years ago, along with the candy and gift store attached to it, and have run it as a family business with their two daughters ever since. Showing mostly first-run blockbusters through the summer, they end each season with their Reel Rave International Film Festival in September to bring in more art house and international titles.
Many of the theatre’s patrons have nostalgia for the space, and reminisce about the summers they worked there as teenagers, or about volunteering as child ticket-takers to earn a free popcorn.
Fun concessions are no small part of Twin Pine Cinema’s offer: they serve legendary popcorn, Dole soft serve sundaes, and even bubble tea!
Tell us about the Twin Pine Cinema:
Twin Pine Cinema is a two-screen theatre located at Waskesiu Lake, in Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan. Interestingly enough, we are either the first (although possibly the second, by only a week or two) two-screen cinema in North America, built in 1958. We are open from June to September only, as this resort town empties out after summer ends.
What makes Twin Pine Cinema unique?
Folks around here have a deep nostalgia for this theatre and that, in part, keeps them coming back. Many, many community members come visit us to reminisce about the years they worked here, or volunteered as a child ticket-taker in order to earn a free popcorn. We are also an hour north of the closest urban centre, in a place with very limited indoor entertainment and recreation, so we have a bit of a captive audience: people enjoying their holidays.
What sort of films does the venue show?
Over the past five years, we have transitioned into a first-run theatre. We also run a film festival in September to showcase art cinema, if only briefly.
What are Twin Pine Cinema’s greatest challenges?
We would love to be able to host more one-off events, be it musical performers, fundraisers, comedy nights, etc, but the studio restrictions on no split runs makes this often impossible. And of course, our limited operating season puts more pressure on our box office and concession earnings to make the theatre economically-viable.
On its own, I don’t think we could make running a theatre work, but the other half of the business – a candy/gift store – creates a buffer as well. On my husband Chris’ side, managing all the assorted mechanical, audio and projection equipment keeps him incredibly busy.
One Friday of a long weekend it was an internal power source in the projector that conked and had to be replaced; last month it was the main sink that suddenly sprung a leak. Since we are so far away from a hardware store – or another professional – he needs to be incredibly self-reliant. He even removed and replaced 550 chairs on his own a few years ago!
And on my end, learning how to navigate and keep up with social media has been a job unto itself. Facebook and Instagram are a huge driver of customers for us, but keeping it all current is a bit of a beast.
What are your favourite compliments that Twin Pine Cinema receives from its audience?
Many, many folks shower praise on our popcorn. When we bought the business five years ago, customers begged us not to replace the machine, worrying that this was the secret. We DID replace the old machine, but luckily it is in the ingredients and the technique that the magic lies. The previous owner shared his knowledge and it has paid off.
We sell popcorn all day long, and have many customers who stop by a few nights a week to take a bag home to enjoy.
What’s a memorable film screening or event hosted at the venue?
We have three that come to mind! First was hosting a fundraiser featuring the Jim Cuddy Trio. This was a very challenging event for us as new business owners, managing new sound and lighting equipment, poured drinks, and a huge crowd. The music was fantastic, but the best part was how we came together as a staff to pull it off.
The second event was our Barbie Movie Ladies Night. Folks LOVED that movie, and we knew our event might draw a crowd. We ended up with over 200 attendees and had to open up our balcony for overflow. The crowd was pumped, decked out in pink, and ready to party. Most ladies made it a mother-daughter night and it was really fun and memorable for them and us.
Lastly, we host the Reel Rave International Film Festival each September and this is always a great weekend. We see many folks who don’t otherwise attend over the season, and many people use it as an annual get-together opportunity.
What are the most popular concession items?
Popcorn, hands down. The standard order is large with real butter. We also have Dole Soft Serve machines that are quite popular. We added Dole sundaes this year and momentum is growing on these, but we hope to sell more as people test them out and we get more word-of-mouth going on them. We sell Coke products and have learned that Diet Coke > Coke Zero here, by a ratio of about 100:1!
What projects are you considering for the future of Twin Pine Cinema?
We brought in bubble tea when we took over, and this was fairly popular for the first four years, but has dropped significantly this year. Because cooking the boba is a huge labour sink each day, we are considering dropping this for next year and finding some other icy drink to offer.
Tell us about yourself; how did you get your start in film exhibition?
Film Exhibition was on no one’s bingo card, that is for sure, although we have always been cinephiles!
My husband and I had been coming to Waskesiu Lake each summer for decades and seeing that For Sale sign pop up on the theatre (and the attached candy/gift store) tweaked my husband’s interest. Then a few years later, COVID hit, his work moved online, and the crazy adventure started to somehow become possible for us. He is able to move from our home in Edmonton to Saskatchewan for May-September, and I teach school September to June, so running a business in July and August works for me too!
Importantly, this has been a whole-family business as our two daughters have been fully involved since day one. We couldn’t have done this without them. The experience has been a true adventure for us, and we have enjoyed learning everything along the way.