Community sponsors — individuals and businesses — have stepped up to keep movies on the screen. But the question persists: Is Powell’s movie theater going to be forced to close by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic?

“We certainly hope not,” said Brandon Asay, who owns the Vali Twin Cinema with his wife Diedre. “We’re doing everything we can to keep this thing going.”

The Asays have had substantial assistance from supporters, who have rallied to the Vali’s side. Sponsors pay $250 per week per screen (the Vali has two screens), and that has kept the doors open for 2 1/2 months — free for movie-goers.

The weekly sponsorship payment covers the cost of renting the movies and paying the overhead of turning the projector on nightly. It allows the Vali to be open four nights a week — Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Thursday, with some matinees along the way. Enough sponsors have come forward to carry the Vali through the end of the year.

“We’re just so thankful,” said Diedre.

“Without that, we probably would have been closed by now,” Brandon acknowledged. First known as the Lyric and then as the Teton, “this theater has been on Powell’s main street for 101 years, since 1919,” Brandon noted. “It’s survived a lot, including flu epidemics, world wars, recessions and depressions.”

When the idea of sponsorship assistance started circulating, the response in the community was overwhelming.

“The phone rang off the hook,” Brandon said.

Sponsors get to choose what movies are shown from among the titles that are available to the Vali. Not everyone makes a specific request; they just want to help, Brandon said.

“We’re trying to hang on until it gets better,” he said. “We don’t know how long this pandemic is going to last.”

Still, Brandon is disappointed that movie-going has lagged. Attendance has waned, even with free admission, and concession revenue suffers.

“We’re not making any money on sponsorships,” said Brandon. “Without people in the seats, the theater is not a profitable business.”

The Vali Twin Cinema observes pandemic protocols by taping off seating areas to achieve acceptable distancing. Face coverings are recommended, but not mandatory.

Seating has been restricted to a little less than 50% of capacity. Screen 1 has 140 seats, and it is presently limited to 58. Screen 2 had a pre-COVID capacity of 225 seats, and it is taped off to seat no more than 98. The theater sanitizes each seat after every showing.

“We’re following all health guidelines,” Diedre said. “We’re trying to make it as safe as we possibly can.”

It doesn’t help that movie availability is a week-to-week thing.

“Hollywood is not giving us new movies,” Brandon said. “What they’re presently doing is holding the product until more theaters open, until the big cities open. Studios don’t want their productions to fail. Disney Studios will hardly make any releases available.”

“Things change weekly,” Diedre added. “We have been confirmed on several movies, and then they’re pushed back. We don’t know what our holiday showings will be, and normally we would know that now.”

The uncertainty has caused more than small town heartache. Regal, the second largest movie chain in the country with 536 theaters and over 7,000 screens, has temporarily closed. The National Association of Theater Owners is now lobbying Congress for COVID relief, Diedre noted.

“It’s killing the industry,” Brandon said of the pandemic. “And we’re just a small fish in the industry, a minnow in the ocean.”