IQALUIT
The Astro Theatre may sometimes feel like it's a galaxy far, far away from Hollywood, but the Iqaluit movie house is still going to be able to show the newest Star Wars film, The Force Awakens, on opening weekend.

Astro Theatre's lobby in Iqaluit will play host to the newest Star Wars film, The Force Awakens. The owner of the two-screen independent cinema, Piksuk Media, will be showing an advance screening as part of a fundraiser for the Blizzards hockey team. - photo courtesy of the Astro Theatre

"We try to get a lot of potential blockbusters on opening weekend," said Charlotte DeWolff, co-owner of Piksuk Media which owns the theatre. "It took a bit of effort for us to get it but we had a lot of people asking about it."

DeWolff said the distributor for The Force Awakens has a lot of conditions for showing the movie and then they had to wait.

"We were probably among the last to be confirmed," she said with a laugh. "We had our request in there for a while but our booker was able to get it for us."

DeWolff said the Astro Theatre also makes less money off of the film compared to movies that have been in circulation for six to eight weeks because the distributor takes a larger cut. But choosing that option would have also meant not getting The Force Awakens until late January or even February.

"If you don't take it opening weekend, you can wait five, six, seven eight weeks before they'll allow you to get it," she said. "It's not easy these days, I can tell you."

The economics of showing a blockbuster film like Star Wars in small, independent regional theatre is getting more and more difficult for owners like DeWolff. She said the conditions for The Force Awakens are keeping it for four weeks and showing it "full-screen."

"Which means we can't show anything else on that screen while Star Wars is playing," she said. "It's a big commitment."

The movie will be shown on the larger of the Astro's two theatres which seats 115 people. The other can hold 60.

DeWolff said she's most excited about being able to arrange an advance screening as a fundraiser for the Blizzard hockey team.

The minor hockey team rented the theatre. DeWolff said it's their event, they're paying the theatre the full ticket price for every ticket that they sell so the distributor get its portion. This is the first time the Astro Theatre is doing this.

Then it will officially open on Dec. 18, which is a Friday.

"This is the first time we've done an advance screening," she said. "We had to get special permission for it and there are stipulations like you can't show it before 7 o'clock at night."

Ultimately, DeWolff said the availability of the newest Star Wars film in Iqaluit is a nice win.

"They're now able to reach the farthest areas of Canada and the remote areas," she said. "We're not being treated like second-rate citizens."

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