Tickets now available for free first-run movies on Apr. 19

Free tickets for first-run movies on all five screens of the Cochrane Movie House are now available for the evening showings on Apr. 19.

Cochrane Home Treasures, the town's nonprofit second-hand thrift store, will be providing four nights of free movies to the community from now until November to give residents a special treat in these trying times.

It fits well within their mission statement, "Everybody deserves the nice and the necessary."

Being screened on Apr. 19 are The Super Mario Bros. Movie, John Wick: Chapter 4, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Air, and The Pope's Exorcist. There's one showing of each and start times range from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.

Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Home Treasures chair Barb Primeau says they rely heavily upon the input of store manager Cayley Breeze, who is in close contact with the store's clientele.

"We see hundreds of people, sometimes hundreds of people a day, whether they are donating to us or shopping with us," explains Breeze. "As a second-hand thrift store, we understand how much things cost nowadays and how people are trying to save money. I think that's where the initiative started."

Cochrane Movie House owner Hal Wolf says the tickets became available today when the box office opened at 12:30 p.m., and people have already been dropping by.

"We were very excited at the opportunity to work with Cochrane Home Treasures," says Wolf. "The fact that they wanted to give back to the community and somehow involve the Cochrane Movie House is incredible. This is the idea that was presented to us, we worked together, and we're looking forward to paying it forward to the community of Cochrane."

Free movies have been offered before, but never first-run movies in all five of their cinemas. Their total seating capacity between all five is about 500 people.

"In 24 years of business, we have never done anything like this," says Wolf. "So we're very excited to see what happens, we're very tickled to be working with Cochrane Home Treasures, and I think it's an outstanding idea and we have the venue here to provide what they need."

Super Mario was the most popular out of the gate, but on the other side of the spectrum, tickets have also been picked up for The Pope's Exorcist, which debuts this Friday. 

Other free movie nights are scheduled for Wed. June 14, Wed. Oct. 11, and Wed. Nov. 8.