News No ‘Hocus Pocus’: Halloween favorite tops movie charts Abby Doriot co-editor in chief
Photo by: Isabela Diaz
Movie night: Sarah and John Edrington reopen the Ross Theater to its original state as a movie theater. The last time the venue was a movie theatre was about two decades ago. The theater showed “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in October with patrons socially distanced inside.
Ross Theater returns to roots Catherine Rose staff writer While many movie theaters across the country decided to close their doors during the global pandemic, the Ross Theater on the southside of the square opened its doors for the first time in about 20 years since the business was last a movie theater. “We bought the theater to be a place to come for the community and help to build the downtown historic square back up,” Sarah Edrington, who owns the Ross Theater with her husband, John. The Ross Theater, originally named the Scott Theatre, was built by Ethel Luckett in 1947, allowing 600 people to sit inside the Art Moderne-style building. The Luckett family opened several Scott County businesses including the Moonglo DriveIn and the first Scottsburg swimming pool, according to the Scottsburg Heritage Center and the Scott County Bicentennial. “I remember in the ‘60s going to see ‘The Jungle
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Book’ when it first came out. The line was so long that it stretched around the corner of the building next to the theater,” said Alice Stackhouse, a Scottsburg resident. Before opening night, the Ross Theater had to prepare to reopen the space as a movie theater — the space was used as a concert venue since 2002 and Ron Ross, who ran the Ross Country Jamboree there for more than a decade. “No major remodeling has taken place yet,” Edrington said. “That is the reason we are asking for donations as we are a non-profit organization.” Three weeks ago, the Ross Theater celebrated the theater’s 73rd anniversary with cake and later its opening with “Hocus Pocus,” the top grossing domestic re-release movie of 2020 so far. The theater also featured movies, such as “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” and will be playing “Elf” later this
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month. Tickets prices run at $3 per person. “We will be showing second-run movies for the time being,” Edrington said. But, getting to opening night was carefully planned with COVID-19 concerns of physically distancing in an enclosed space. “We have two Phoenix Guardian HEPA air scrubbers that ran except for during times public is in,” Edrington said. “They will be on during times of shows. We also clean and fog the theater after each showtime. Our theater can seat 500, but we have it limited to 150 for the time being.” While the extensive cleaning and air filtering system was done by the theater, the customers had to do their part as well. “We ask families to leave three seats between them and the next family. We asked that everyone wears a mask unless eating or drinking,” Edrington said.
Despite being produced in 1993, “Hocus Pocus” has climbed back up to claim the lead for the box office. The classic Halloween movie surpassed “Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back” after Disney re-released it at the beginning of October 2020. Due to COVID-19, movies have not been able to be made and produced, so movie theaters around the world are suffering accordingly. However, instead of completely closing down, some theaters decided to start showing older movies to boost revenue. “I think it’s a great idea to show old movies. I think that gives people a chance to get out and do something different while also giving the theaters a chance to get money so they don’t close,” Kennedy Stivers (11) said. Even locally, the Ross Theater on the square showed “Hocus Pocus” for a weekend in October. “There were a lot of people that came to the weekend showing of ‘Hocus Pocus’ at our theater. I think it was mostly due to the excitement that surrounded fall activities and new things to do,” Stivers said. While many people were looking forward to the Halloween aspect of it, others were looking to support a local business. “I loved getting to go to a fun Halloween movie while supporting the theater at the same time. They are just opening back up, and they really needed this event to start out on a high note,” Mella Neace (11) said.
