In Frame: A new cinema should come to Luzerne County — but where?

With the loss of West Hazleton’s Cinema & Drafthouse, there are now only four movie venues in Luzerne County, and two of them are the always majestic but unfortunately temporary drive-ins, Garden and Moonlite. Movies 14 in Wilkes-Barre and the Regal in Hazle Twp. are year-round consistent presences, as is Cinemark in Moosic, just north of Luzerne County’s border.

Let’s cut right through it: We need a new movie theater in Luzerne County.

But where?

With some research, I’ve nailed down a few municipalities that might be worthy of the cinematic torch left behind by West Hazleton. In this experiment, I’m looking for municipalities that can theoretically support themselves in their own communities, but also won’t be stepping on the toes of any existing theaters or drive-ins.

Already occupied

Right off the bat, Hazle Twp., Plymouth Twp, West Wyoming, and Wilkes-Barre are knocked off the list. Each of those places already has a movie venue, and there is simply too much land in the county to force one in where the screens already reside.

We know that people are not immune to jumping over municipal borders to go to their local theater, so we’re going to be knocking off the municipalities that border Hazle Twp., Plymouth Twp, West Wyoming, and Wilkes-Barre. That goes for Moosic, as well (sorry to Avoca, Duryea, and Pittston Township).

Luzerne County is drivable enough to where none of the existing venues is so out of reach, so perhaps I’m being a little naive about the border rules I’m putting into place. However, what I want is a true hometown theater where foot traffic makes up a non-zero percentage of the attendance. Other Pennsylvania towns like Wind Gap and Phoenixville get this right, so why can’t we?

Boroughs and cities only

In the spirit of serving Main Street America, I’m kicking out the many townships of Luzerne County from the equation. Boroughs and cities, for the most part, capture the mood I have in mind for our hypothetical theater a little bit better. Some places are just too far away from the population centers — and, in some cases, their own people — to sustain themselves. Those places are, in almost every case, very rural townships rather than boroughs with distinct streets.

I do want to offer an olive branch to the people of townships that have a more tight-knit community with a clear main drag, such as Fairview and Jenkins townships. They can probably support movie theaters, and they are quite walkable. If a theater sprouts up in either of these places, I feel they can still achieve what I have in mind.

Serving the people

Next up, we need to zoom in on that population center concept mentioned in the previous section. Of the 24 municipalities that remain in contention for a theater, 15 of them are lacking in enough people. Yes, they’re technically boroughs, but they lag behind some of the townships in terms of their populations. Places like Nuangola and Shickshinny have potential, but probably can’t support even a single-screen theater on their own. On the other hand, boroughs like Penn Lake Park and Bear Creek Village, while pleasant, are too insular.

That’s not to say, by the way, that we should be ignoring any of these places in terms of arts and entertainment. I want all of Luzerne County to get a slice of the pie. The Wyoming Valley can not have a monopoly on all of the county’s artistry, and they don’t. There are young people in all corners of the county who deserve a place to explore the creative world; the venue for this just might not be a movie theater in every case.

That leaves us with nine municipalities that check all of the boxes for what I think would make for a good movie venue home: Ashley, Conyngham, Dallas, Dupont, Freeland, Harveys Lake, Luzerne, Pittston, and West Pittston.

And the winner is…

It’s Freeland, folks.

Pittston and West Pittston already have a lot going on in terms of arts and culture, and they’ll be just fine without this theater. Easy access to Cinemark, Movies 14, and the Moonlite give these rivaling boroughs a plethora of lively viewing options.

Harveys Lake is an interesting thought, but it strikes me as having some of that isolationist issue that also plagues Penn Lake and Bear Creek Village. Likewise, in the Back Mountain, Dallas’ solid access to the drive-ins and Movies 14 is keeping the theater away.

Ashley, Conyngham, Dupont, and Luzerne are all a little light on population, and each of them keeps too close to existing theaters: Movies 14, the Regal, Cinemark, and the Moonlite, respectively. Close, but pass.

And then there’s Freeland. While it would be relatively close to the Regal, that southern half of the county did just lose the Cinema & Drafthouse, so a gap has opened. Freeland does have a Main Street, and I’m sure a movie theater would liven up the whole community. You might be surprised to learn that, of the nine contenders at the end, only Pittston and West Pittston have more people than Freeland. There’s potential here.

So, Freeland municipal leaders, get on this. I’ll pick the movies if you handle the zoning.