Commander's Corner - Base Theater Closure
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- The Commander's Corner is a forum for the Dyess community to make suggestions or voice concerns about Dyess directly to Col. Glen VanHerck, 7th Bomb Wing commander. Each week the Dyess Public Affairs office solicits questions via the official Dyess Facebook page, offering people an opportunity to ask questions and receive answers directly from the wing commander.
QUESTION
Why did the base movie theater shut down?
Col. Glen VanHerck |
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RESPONSE
Thank you for your inquiry, Melissa. The base theater was closed last September as the result of a financial decision made by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service. This was not only local issue for AAFES, but has affected many installations worldwide. Movie distributors are converting from film rolls to a digital format, which is more cost-effective for movie distributors, but not for theater owners. Switching from traditional film projectors to digital equipment can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars; furthermore, attendance at the movie theater was not very strong and did not break even with operational costs. For those reasons, AAFES determined that investing the necessary funds to make the switch to a digital format would not be a logical business decision.
While the theater will not be used to show movies, the building itself is used on a daily basis, as it provides an ideal location for our Airmen to conduct training, host guest speakers and hold retirement, graduation and various other ceremonies.
Thank you for utilizing the Commander's Corner and your concerns. Please continue to submit your questions-I am happy to answer them!
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