West Orange Cinema seeks support

In the midst of a global pandemic, movie theaters have been among the hardest-hit businesses.

Most movie theaters in Florida were not permitted to begin reopening until summertime came around. Even then, the reopening process has been staggered for many as they accommodate Centers for Disease Control guidelines and work to keep guests safe.

West Orange residents have a local, family-owned gem in West Orange Cinema.

The 33-year-old theater facility was built off Maguire Road in Ocoee in 1987, having first opened as the Orange Tree Cinema Pub. Nathan Dygraaf owned the two-story theater-drafthouse, and it accommodated 250 people when it was first built.

Back then, the theater had only one screen — until its four-screen expansion just a couple of years later. Now, the theater has six screens and a larger footprint. 

As a family-owned business, though, it’s also taken a hit from COVID-19. Rose Sirois co-owns West Orange Cinema with her husband, Patrick.

“I’ve actually worked there since I was 18,” Rose Sirois said. “I know the people (who) opened it from the start — they were family friends of ours.”

Rose Sirois said she began working at the cinema in 1991 when it had five screens. Her family friends, she said, sold the theater to their son-in-law and his business partner. That business partner is her husband’s uncle.

“They bought it in 1994, and then his uncle wound up buying out his partner,” Rose Sirois said. “My husband bought it with his cousin in 1996. I was already working there, and that’s actually how I met my husband.” 

What sets West Orange Cinema apart, Rose Sirois said, is its history of being family-owned and -operated.

“We’ve always been for the community, and we’ve always wanted to be a place where families could come be comfortable and see their friends and other community members,” Rose Sirois said. “Our whole thing has always been just about family.”

But as a small, family-owned business, West Orange Cinema is among those community businesses that have felt the impacts of the coronavirus. 

One of the main issues, Rose Sirois said, is that the film companies have pushed back the release dates for many of the upcoming blockbuster hits.

“All the bigger blockbuster movies that were supposed to come out this summer and for the holidays have all been pushed back to next year,” she said. “It’s hard for us because we can’t control that — that’s the movie companies. Right now for them, with New York and Los Angeles being closed, those are their biggest markets, so they’re not going to start releasing those big movies until more of the bigger markets open back up. … It’s hard because it’s out of our control, because if the movie companies don’t release the movies, we have nothing to play.

“There are smaller film companies … so we have some new movies,” she said. “But because there’s not enough of them, we’ve been mixing it up and playing classic movies, too.”

Rose Sirois said West Orange Cinema is a member of the trade organization National Association of Theatre Owners, which assists major movie chains as well as independent and family-owned movie theaters. Cinema staff follows the association’s COVID-19 safety guidelines, as well as those set forth by the CDC.

Times are tough, but luckily, the West Orange community has remained loyal to West Orange Cinema. Supporters are encouraged to purchase tickets if they’re comfortable doing so, purchase concession items to go or add West Orange Cinema gift cards to their holiday shopping lists.

“We’ve always had our loyal customers,” Rose Sirois said. “We have people who still come every week no matter what, and we appreciate that. We’re doing a lot more theater rentals now. We started doing that so people can rent out the theater so it’s just their group, which makes people feel a little more comfortable, too.”

She added that she wants every customer to feel safe and comfortable, and they work hard to achieve that.

“We definitely want people to feel comfortable and safe to be able to come out,” she said. “I think the experience of having a day out at the movies or a night out at the movies is still always fun for people to do and take their family out.”