The historic Odeon Theatre in downtown Tucumcari, New Mexico, recently opened its doors for the first time in nearly 2 1/2 years after the COVID-19 pandemic and needed repairs.
The 1935 theater celebrated its reopening last Thursday with a free screening of the 2016 Oscar-nominated crime drama “Hell or High Water,” which partially was filed in Tucumcari.
You can read more about the reopening in the Quay County Sun (my day job).
The Odeon’s owners plan to show first- or second-run movies five to six days a week. In the near future, they plan free movie screenings at lunchtime and will offer sandwiches and other bistro fare.
Concessions are a big revenue source for movie venues, so concentrating more efforts on that makes sense.
The owners had to perform a lot of renovations in the lobby area — including the concession stand — and make expensive repairs to the digital projector and its booth.
The Odeon Theatre is the county’s only operating movie house. The next-closest one is 60 miles away, in Santa Rosa, New Mexico.
The Odeon sits about a half-mile north of Route 66 in Tucumcari. Quite a few Route 66 travelers have gone there if they’re staying in town overnight and the Odeon is open.
(Image of the Odeon Theatre in Tucumcari, New Mexico, on the night of its reopening by the author)