Design mockup. Not a real business. Every name, address, number and price on this page is invented.

The Alden Three

214 Main Street, Hallock, Missouri

(816) 555-0142

6:30

Three screens, one start time.

Everything in the building goes on at half past six. You do not have to know which screen you want, and you do not have to look up a listing. Come at quarter past and there is time to get popcorn.

Call the box office

A small-town cinema on a dark street, its marquee bulbs lit and the lobby doors glowing behind them.

At 6:30, all three

The building holds three auditoriums off one lobby. They start together and they let out within half an hour of each other, so the lobby is busy twice a night and quiet in between.

  1. 1

    The big room

    186 seats, the original auditorium, and the only one with a balcony rail across the back. Whatever most people came for that week plays here.

  2. 2

    The east room

    96 seats, built into the old retail space next door in 1987. Flat floor at the front, six rows of risers behind it. Usually the family picture.

  3. 3

    The upstairs room

    74 seats up one flight, and the warmest room in the building in August. This is where a picture goes when it holds for a second and third week.

What time you get out

Trailers and the two local advertisements run about twelve minutes, so the picture itself starts near 6:42. Working back from that, a 6:30 show puts you on the sidewalk at roughly these times.

A ninety minute picture
8:12
Two hours
8:42
Two and a half hours
9:12
Three hours
9:42

Nothing here runs past ten. If a picture is long enough to, it plays as a single show and the box office says so when you buy.

A projector in a dark room throwing a hard beam of light through the haze.

Saturday and Sunday, three times

The weekend is the only part of the week that is not one wave. The house opens at one and runs three sittings, and the first two are matinee price.

  1. 1:30

    Doors at one. Lights up in the auditorium until the lights go down, which is what most people with small children are after. Matinee price.

  2. 4:30

    The quietest show of the week, and the one to pick if you want a row to yourself. Matinee price.

  3. 7:30

    The full house. On an opening weekend the big room sells out by about ten past, and the line starts at the door rather than the counter.

Rows of red seats in a dark auditorium, lit only by the port window at the back of the room.

What it costs

Every price the box office charges, printed here rather than at the window. Cash and cards both, and there is no online booking fee because there is no online booking.

Admission
Adult$9.25
Senior, 62 and over$8.00
Student with an ID$8.00
Child, 11 and under$6.50
Serving or retired military$6.50
Matinee, Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 and 4:30
Adult, senior, student$7.50
Child and military$6.50
Concession
Popcorn, small and large$4.50 / $6.00
Soda, small and large$3.50 / $4.75
Candy$3.00
Refill on popcorn or sodafree, once

A 3D picture adds $3.00, or $2.00 for a child. Glasses come back in the bin by the door and get cleaned, so bring your own pair if you would rather.

A steel bowl heaped with green paper roll tickets, each stamped with a serial number.

Before you come

The box office opens at 6:00

Weeknights at six, weekends at one. Before that the phone is answered but the lobby is locked.

Pictures change on Thursday

The last showing of the outgoing week is Wednesday at 6:30. What is on this week is on the board in the lobby, and whoever answers the phone will read it to you.

Nobody reserves a seat

Seating is open in all three rooms. On a busy Saturday at 7:30 that means arriving twenty minutes early if you want to sit together.

An R picture needs a parent in the row

Under seventeen, a parent or guardian buys the ticket and sits in the auditorium. The box office does not make exceptions to this one.

Getting in and around

Step-free from the sidewalk into the lobby, and step-free into the big room and the east room. The upstairs room is one flight with a handrail on both sides and no lift.

Renting the house

All three rooms go out for birthdays, school groups and church groups on weekday afternoons. Call and ask for the afternoon rate.

A theatre marquee lit in warm amber against a black street, the bulbs running around its edge.

If the board in the lobby is the fastest answer and you are not on Main Street, the second fastest is this.

(816) 555-0142

Answered from four in the afternoon until the last show goes in. Ask what is playing, ask how long it runs, ask whether the big room is filling up. Somebody standing in the lobby will tell you.

Monday to Friday
6:30
Saturday
1:30 · 4:30 · 7:30
Sunday
1:30 · 4:30 · 7:30
Call the box office (816) 555-0142