Some prices increasing at Imperial Theater

The good news is that the admission fee won’t change at the Imperial Theatre.
The bad news is that soft drink prices will be increasing in early August. The cost of specials and refills will rise along with the price of pop.
Pop prices will increase by 50 cents for each size and 25 cents for refills. Both specials will increase by $1.
The previous pricing will last one more weekend before the new prices take effect on Aug. 5.
The rising price of soft drink syrup is the cause of the increase, according to city officials.
Cost for bags, oil, butter and seasoning have also risen, but the theater board decided to keep those prices the same.
“We are very thankful to AK Acres Popcorn for their generous donations of the popcorn to the theater,” City Clerk/Administrator Jo Leyland said.  
The board also realized there was an issue with the speaker system.
The board had a technician come in to try to fix things. He  discovered major problems, Leyland said.
Some adjustments were done to make the speaking sections more audible because the center speaker had blown out, but ultimately the whole sound system needs to be replaced.
The cost of replacing the sound system will be under $11,000
“We’ve had some great community support in raising funds to replace it,” Leyland said.
The theater board and city council strive to keep tickets affordable for everyone, thus the theater operates on a tight budget, she noted. Because of this, the theater depends on volunteers to remain open. There is no revenue to pay concession employees.
The Imperial Theatre is not a first-run movie theater, which means the theater does not usually get a movie right after it is released.
Recently, the theater has been able to get new releases if they agree to track admissions and pay a percentage of the money collected. For new movies, it can be up to 60%, but for the older movies, it can be 40% of the admissions.
The largest source of theater revenue is from concessions, Leyland said.