Really need a night out? NC theater will let you rent a big screen for your next binge.
A Triangle movie theater is opening up for private screenings, just bring the password for your streaming service of choice.
The Silverspot Cinema in Chapel Hill will reopen this weekend by reservation only. For $99, groups of eight can rent a theater for three hours and stream a movie of their choosing. The $99 also serves as a food and drink tab toward Silverspot’s menu of snacks and sandwiches, as well as beer and wine.
The company calls the service Silverspot Private, and Chapel Hill becomes the third location in the nation to offer screenings, joining Silverspot theaters in Ohio and Wisconsin.
“We’re excited to reopen in Chapel Hill, and we hope our customers are excited to come back,” said Silverspot marketing director Soledad Gonzalo in a phone interview.
The theater will use Apple TV to set up any streaming service a customer subscribes to, including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and so on.
“You have to provide your own streaming service, but anything you want to stream you can,” Gonzalo said.
Missing the movie theater
Movie theaters remain one of the missing pieces of life in the coronavirus pandemic. Theaters have been largely shuttered since March as a means to cut down on crowds and limit the spread of the coronavirus.
In place of the big screen, even bigger screens have made a comeback, with drive-in theaters finding new audiences. Other theaters, like Durham’s Carolina Theatre, are popping popcorn and selling concessions to-go.
Silverspot believes small groups and large theaters allow for social distancing.
“We are excited to reopen the restaurant and hope to open the auditoriums for films very soon. In the meantime, we are excited to launch Silverspot Private,” said Gonzalo Ulivi, Silverspot managing partner, in a release. “Guests can enjoy a film on the big screen in a private setting. It’s the ultimate movie-going experience. The large size of our auditoriums makes these gatherings safe, plus we have full-service food and bar. We think these will be very popular. We’re thrilled to be back.”
North Carolina has not explicitly reopened movie theaters, as the state remains in Phase 2 through the end of August and into at least mid-September. Silverspot thinks it can operate by capping groups at 10, satisfying the state’s restriction on indoor gatherings.
“Right now, we’re doing screenings on a first-come, first-served basis and will schedule things apart so not too many people are there at the same time,” Gonzalo said.
A pandemic trend
Private screenings are becoming a bit of a pandemic trend, as theater companies around the country are starting to offer the use of entire theaters for small groups.
Alamo Drafthouse is screening certain movies for $150 a theater at its locations in Austin and Denver, but not Raleigh. Last month, Hilton Head’s Park Plaza Cinema was told to stop its private screenings, as it was violating South Carolina state law, the Island Packet reported.
In Chapel Hill, alongside its theater, Silverspot is also opening up its restaurant Trilogy for indoor and patio dining starting Saturday, Aug. 15.
The theater’s pandemic hours will be 1 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
“We’re slowly reopening theaters as we can and as customers are comfortable coming out,” Gonzalo said. “We’re excited about the opportunity to reopen and hopeful we can do that soon.”
To reserve a theater, visit silverspot.net/private.
This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Really need a night out? NC theater will let you rent a big screen for your next binge.."
