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WILTON — Once again as it had once before, the fragrance of hot buttered popcorn roams the long halls of the Wilton Mall, welcoming all who enter with a familiar and comforting scent.
Four years after hosting what was thought to be its final screening, a multi-theater cinema has opened once again at Wilton Mall. The cinema features eight screens, including one large-format auditorium. All the auditoriums feature luxury leather rocking chairs, wall-to-wall screens, and Dolby Digital surround sound.
It is operated by Scene One Entertainment. Joe Masher is its owner and CEO. For Masher, formerly of Bow Tie Management, It is a return once again to a place he was charged with operating once before – this time in the role of entrepreneur instead of employee.
“It first opened on my birthday in 2013, so this one holds a special meaning for me,” Masher said, at a gathering staged March 13 to celebrate the cinema’s opening, in front of an audience that included local business executives, regional political dignitaries and members of the media.
Sen. James Tedisco recalled his own brush with the cinema world as a young man, working in the wardrobe department during the filming of “The Way We Were.” The film, starring Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand, was filmed in part in Ballston Spa and Schenectady in 1972. “I got fifty bucks a day,” Tedisco quipped.
The Wilton movie theater had originally opened in October 2013 by Bow Tie Cinemas and closed during the early on-set of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A return of movies in a mall might seem a challenging proposition of entertainment days-gone-by, but Masher – who also owns a cinema in Schenectady, said he believes in movie-going as a traditionally out-of-home American cultural experience. “And that’s not going to change,” he said, flanked by a cinema lobby with walls draped in the images of posterboard heroes – Ryan Gosling, Amy Winehouse, Emily Blunt, among them, collaborating with a visual variety depicting twisters, apes, ancient warriors, and next-generation robots.
“I just came back from a week in Los Angeles where I was part of a coalition that met all of the heads of distribution from various studios, and we were assured the film calendar is packing-in for the rest of the year and that we would have exclusive product that would be as “In Theaters Only,” said Masher, who grew up in Troy, worked several decades in the cinema theater industry in a variety of locations on the east coast. Now, he says, he has returned home to the region and has brought some members of “my old theater team” along with him.
“The theater is in fantastic shape and the mall has maintained it beautifully since its pandemic closure,” Masher said, adding that potential future plans include removing some of the rows in one of the theaters and inserting a stage where comedy shows and Open Mic nights can be held, as well as transforming a portion near the entryway into an authentic beer garden.
“Scene One Cinemas fulfills one of the most requested uses from our guests and brings the former theater space in the food court back to life,” said Wilton Mall General Manager Mike Shaffer.
The Wilton Mall has seen some large-scale changes in recent years, and more changes may soon be underway. In 2018 BonTon closed, followed two years later by the closure of Sears. In 2020, Saratoga Hospital set up its medical offices in a repurposed vacant space previously occupied by Sears, and a potential project under discussion seeks to develop nearly 400 apartments alongside the mall.
“I’m very excited with what’s going on at the Wilton Mall, particularly with the potential of the residential units coming in,” Masher said. The plan for that potential development continues to move through the town’s approval process. Developers will next stage a public appearance before the Wilton Town Board on April 4.
The cinema screens movies every day.
