This weekend promises to be big for the box offices, with the first summer blockbusters making their debut. Soon, people in Fayetteville will be able to watch those movies in a state-of-the-art 12 screen theatre. But this newcomer could mean the end for two other Fayetteville cinemas. The new Razorback Cinema is Malco's newest project in Northwest Arkansas...and the general feeling is once it opens it's doors, the other two theatre's Malco owns in Fayetteville will have to shut theirs-- for good. We were unable to reach anyone at Malco's corporate office in Memphis yesterday... but a manager of one of the company's Fayetteville theatres says although nothing is official yet--- he's hearing Malco will shut down it's other two theatres in the city. The pastor of Vintage Fellowship, which meets in the Mall Twin, says he's hearing the same, and is now looking for a new location. All this has got people talking about what the fate of the cinemas should be, with one suggestion of making the mall theatre a place to show independent films. "I believe if we have something like that it's another opportunity and we are going to use it," says local filmmaker Rocio Schult. But some filmmakers say it's not a good idea. "If it's just a venue where they're showing your films, we've got Community Access Television, we've got Jones Television, we have paid programing and other television stations. Those other venues exist and probably reach a lot more people," says filmmaker Lisa Alvarado. Alvarado has her own suggestion-- she'd like to see the theatre's used as a space for local artists. "There's a large artist community that exists in our area, they are desperately looking for studio space, for painters and artists, and the performing artists are looking for a venue for the performing arts." The new Razorback Cinema is set to open this summer and will have stadium seating, plus an arcade and cafe.
