ABOVE: Fairmont 5 Theatres staff member, Ethan Pockrus, passes a popcorn and pop to some movie goers ahead of a showing on Thursday evening. Last week the theater saw a record number of people come through.

FAIRMONT– Over Thanksgiving week, Fairmont 5 Theatres saw a record number of movie-goers come through. This was thanks to several factors including highly anticipated releases, a holiday break and the newly renovated facility.

While it’s been here for decades, the theater in Fairmont re-opened under the new ownership of Rob Mayer and Tom Struthers in the summer of 2022. Mayer said last week was by far the busiest they’ve experienced.

“The big movie of the five day period was “Moana 2.” It broke all kinds of records. It was the biggest Thanksgiving opening of all time. It was the biggest Disney animated opening of all time,” Mayer said.

They began showing the movie on Tuesday, Nov. 26 and Mayer said they saw about 50 percent more foot traffic for the film than they did “Inside Out 2,” which had formerly held the title of biggest movie of this year.

“I think “Moana 2″ has every shot of over taking that and becoming the number one movie of the year,” he said.

He said that the movie hits all demographics.

The theater’s manager, Tim Jertson, confirmed that and said, “it really was top to bottom. Some of the family programs really have one type– grandparents bring the grandkids. But this one brought teenagers, young couples with no kids, all the way up to groups of people and families. It really was an all-ages appeal.”

In addition to “Moana 2,” “Wicked” had opened the week before and was still drawing crowds Thanksgiving week.

“It had the top opening for a broadway musical of all time. The numbers from an industry standpoint are just fantastic,” Mayer said.

Over the six day time frame Fairmont 5 Theatres saw about 3,600 people come in to watch a movie.

“I don’t think there’s really anything to compare it to and the short time period it was. It was very compressed,” Mayer said.

He said they’ve gone months with that kind of attendance.

With 3,600 people coming over a six day period, that means an average of 600 people a day came through the theater. While the numbers were surprising and encouraging, not everyone could squeeze in to see a movie each day, despite having multiple showtimes in a day.

All five theaters have new heated, leather reclining seats installed, along with new flooring and pathway layouts. Most, with the exception of theaters two and five, also have new screens. The other two will be replaced later this month.

The new seats are more comfortable and spacious for guests, but also take up quite a bit more space. Mayer said they have around 330 seats in the building, which is down from about 1,000 before.

“People really like the seats,” he said.

However, fewer seats means fewer people in the theater at once and Jertson said they did have to turn some people away or encourage them to come back for a later show time.

“We were selling so many tickets to the next show time for people who were there for the previous one and sometimes we were two-thirds sold out of a show an hour before the show was even scheduled to start,” Jertson said.

However, he said despite having to turn some people away, not many were upset but rather had the opposite reaction.

“About 80 percent of the people I had to tell we were sold-out had the same response, they said, ‘well that’s great. You’re doing good and we’ll continue to be here.’ That was really the attitude of everyone. We didn’t have any problems to speak of.”

Those who still want to avoid the risk of showing up to a sold out movie can book their ticket online ahead of time. This is a newer option offered by Fairmont 5 Theatres which Jertson said has started to pick up more in recent weeks.

Around Christmas, a few big titles are also coming out including “Mufasa” which is part of the Lion King franchise and “Sonic 3,” a popular video game that has become a movie series.

“The kids love it. It’s probably within our top 10 of popularity,” Mayer said.

With that said, he encourages people to book in advance if they know they want to see a certain movie on a certain day.

Looking back on the success of the last week, Mayer said, “we were very pleased to see the turnout and the people in Fairmont and the surrounding communities come out. I heard from a few folks who went to the movies more than once.”

He said seeing the amount of satisfied people in the theater is why he and his business partner wanted to revive and improve the theater.

“We wanted to give the town something it could be proud of and enjoy. Seeing people enjoy it brings a lot of joy to me as well,” Mayer said.