When the Franklin Theatre re-opened its doors on Friday, June 3, 3011, hundreds of people packed the downtown Franklin streets in order to celebrate the restoration of one of the greatest landmarks of community’s history.
The original Franklin Theatre opened its doors in 1937, and at the time the price of admission was 10 cents for children and 25 cents for adults. Through the years the theatre was a tremendously popular staple of the downtown Franklin streets, as in several ways it set trends for an ever growing community. Some of these trends included becoming the first air-conditioned building, as well as housing the first public restrooms in 1938.
This landmark set precedents in other areas of the community as well, as it did in 1940 when the theatre manager and city agreed to allow movies to be shown on Sundays, as long as they weren’t operating during church hours.
Through the years the theatre gained more and more popularity, even after a name change to the Franklin Cinema, and in 2004, the Franklin Cinema hosted the world premiere of Peter Berg’s, Friday Night Lights, a popular film featuring local celebrity Tim McGraw.
Again in 2005, the cinema held the world premiere of Elizabethtown. A movie packed with star power including Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst.
So when the theatre closed its doors in 2007, a great hole was left in the community which had grown accustomed to seeing modern films in a very nostalgic setting.
“This place means so much to so many people,” said Lindsay George, Community Relations Director of the Franklin Theatre. “Everyone has a story about their favorite time at the Franklin Theatre.”
This left many people wondering if they ever again would have the opportunity to see a film in the Franklin Theatre. Fortunately, they would.
Enter the Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County, a group that in 2008 began a campaign to save the theatre. After securing an $8 million loan for re-development, the group began the complicated task of renovating the building to provide modern amenities, while still holding on to its nostalgic charm from 1937.
After three years of renovations and hard work, the new Franklin Theatre was able to re-open its doors earlier this month.
“The entire community really came together to save this theatre,” said Sara Preston, Program Director of the Franklin Theatre. “And now that it’s open, the whole town couldn’t be happier!”
This type of sentiment was evident by the outpouring of support that occurred when the theatre held its Grand Opening a few weeks ago. A night that fittingly held a main showing of the classic, Gone with the Wind.
The theatre now provides a unique combination of movies including Casablanca, The Big Lebowski and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, as well as new films which have included The King’s Speech, Source Code, Limitless and I Am Number Four.
Also, the new Franklin theatre will host a number of concerts beginning in July and is the new home of live theatre company Studio Tenn, a group which will perform a number classical plays and musicals.
Oh, almost forgot to mention, movie tickets are only $5.