A liquor licensing battle marks one of the Rio Theatre's latest attempts to stay afloat.
The multimedia venue on East Broadway near Commercial Drive applied for a primary liquor licence from the province 14 months ago, says Rio owner and general manager Corinne Lea.
"On their website when you first apply for a liquor primary licence, they tell you it takes three to six months," she said.
Lea and the original investors who bought the building in 2004 learned the hard way that it's tough to sustain a single-screen cinema, so the Rio refocused on becoming a multimedia event space that hosts music, comedy and fashion shows and school tours as well as Hollywood blockbusters and midnight cult film screenings.
Lea knew the Rio wouldn't be permitted to serve alcohol during movies but she learned in September that as a licensed venue, the Rio couldn't run as a cinema at all.
That news came after the Rio invested $100,000 in a silver screen and projector.
The city endorsed the liquor licence in October and its cultural services department stated in the related staff report that it didn't understand or support the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch's position "determining that a so called 'live performance venue' would preclude showing feature films/motion pictures."
Booking ahead is proving difficult.
"The province wants us to be a full-time concert venue, but as you can understand, I'm in a difficult position because I'm booking my theatre say three months in advance and this licence, I have no idea when it's coming," she said.
Festival Cinemas, which runs the Park, Ridge and Fifth Avenue theatres, bailed out the Rio in May by buying the building from the original investors who were struggling to make ends meet.
An online petition to change provincial regulations that prevent single-screen movie theatres from obtaining a liquor licence as well as regulations that prevent licensed cultural venues from selling alcohol during film screenings that attract an audience primarily of adults of legal drinking age had collected more than 2,300 signatures by the afternoon of Jan. 4.
The provincial Liquor Control and Licensing Branch has argued the law is meant to prevent minors from drinking in dark theatres.
Lea notes minors sit alongside drinking adults in the dark at concerts at Rogers Arena.
"Our intention is really just to serve alcohol at independent movie premieres or special events," she said. "I don't care to serve alcohol at Harry Potter or something like that."
Lea doesn't anticipate that allowing patrons to buy drinks before a film or during intermission would lead to drunken disturbances during screenings.
The Rio has been serving alcohol at special events with temporary licences. Lea said it applied for a liquor licence because the temporary permits are meant for non-profits and were too limiting.
Lea says increased access to movies at home has hurt movie theatres. Film distributors also want cinemas to commit to each film for two to three weeks. A multi-screen cinema can shuffle a poorly attended film to a smaller theatre while those with a single screen have to suffer through a poor run.
The Liquor Control and Licensing Board did not respond to the Courier by its press deadline.
Twitter: @Cheryl_Rossi
