The curtains have been drawn and the lights have gone up at Belfast’s Colonial Theatre.
The art deco movie theater marked its last day in business Sunday, ending a 110-year run that began the same day in April 1912 when the Titanic set off on its fateful maiden voyage, according to the Belfast Republican.
Its last movie screening: “The Last Picture Show,” a 1971 film directed by the late Peter Bogdanovich and starring Cybill Shepherd and Jeff Bridges, the newspaper reported.
That closure comes amid a tough time for movie houses across the country, as they’ve struggled to compete with online streaming services and the COVID-19 pandemic that forced the Colonial Theatre to close to the public for 15 months at its height. It reopened to in-person screenings in June 2021.
The iconic theater has been listed for sale since 2015, and co-owners Mike Hurley and Therese Bagnardi told the Bangor Daily News last month that they hope a new owner can be found soon. Its list price is $1.3 million.
Hurley and Bagnardi bought the theater in 1995, and under their management, they made extensive renovations to the space, including expanding the number of screens, changing the color scheme and converting from film to digital projection.
They told the BDN last month that a nonprofit could acquire the Colonial and pursue a similar model to that used to operate community theaters in Bar Harbor, Bucksport, Ellsworth, Rockland and Waterville.
Interested buyers can contact Worth Real Estate in Belfast at 207-338-5265, according to the Colonial Theatre’s website.