Kirby Brandhagen has worked at the Cavalier Cinema since seeing a movie there cost 10 cents, when lines to buy a ticket would stretch around the block on opening night.
The lines out the door were gone long before COVID-19 dealt a potentially fatal blow to small theaters around the country. Most film studios have opted to delay releasing their blockbuster movies until the fall and beyond. In recent months, Brandhagen has shown older crowd favorites instead of new releases on the weekends.
Last weekend, across three showings of “Animal House,” he estimates Cavalier Cinema saw a total of 10 movie-goers.
But he doesn’t have plans to go anywhere yet.
“I say my prayers, and I pretty much can sleep,” he said. “I’m too old a dog. I’ve been through the flood in Grand Forks in ’97, and I’ve just had a lot of things in my life that didn’t exactly go as planned. So, this is one more. You roll with the punches.”