Historic movie theatre that brought the talkies to High River, Alta., in 1929 up for sale

A southern Alberta cinema that made the transition from screening silent movies to the talkies early in the 20th century is for sale in the 21st for the price of a Toronto fixer-upper.

The list price for the Wales Theatre in downtown High River, Alta., is $1,086,750. Built in 1927, it still shows movies seven days a week -- this week featuring Blink Twice, starring Channing Tatum, about a tech billionaire who owns a private island and likes to party until things go off the rails for his guests.

Before it was the Wales, the theatre was the Highwood, boasting of a balcony that allowed customers to watch silent movies in the early days of the moving picture industry.

"It wasn't until 1929 that it received the talking picture equipment," said Joshua Torrence, Century 21 Foothills associate broker. "Len Cooke, the fellow who installed the equipment in 1929, ended up staying on as the projectionist for 42 years."

In 1933 Sam Tyler, a veteran theatre owner purchased it and two years later hosted a contest to pick a new name for the establishment.

"He held a contest and the name chosen was The Wales," said Irene Kerr, Museum of the Highwood director curator. "It was named after Edward, Prince of Wales, who had a ranch west of High River -- that was where 'the Wales' came from and a boy named Fred Orton won a six dollar prize for coming up with the name."

Kerr says High River doesn't have many historic buildings left today and parts of the Wales Theatre actually came from Calgary.

"It was built with bricks that came from the Regent Theater in downtown Calgary," she said. "Where the Hudson's Bay Company is and so there's a little part of Calgary in there as well."

A community staple

Torrence says over the years, the Wales Theatre has been a staple in the community.

"In 2000, Syed and Rehana Kidwai purchased the theater," he said. "They did a major renovation ensuring that it kept its art deco charm, they installed the latest in comfortable seating and (state of the art) motion picture equipment at that time."

"I know when I used to go there, I've been in High River for 30 years," said Kerr. "It was pretty uncomfortable but now when you go to a movie, it's just as nice as being in a place in Calgary because Syed believed in the theater and the community believed in him and that's kind of what kept the wheels going."

The family even put Noor, their 12-year-old son in the projection booth to learn how to use the film equipment.

"Back then we were using the old school projector so we had the film and I had to go through the whole projector system that took about 15 minutes every day to prepare the movie," Noor said. "It took an hour and a half every week to put the movie on and now we've got this (digital projector) and it's super easy, now you put (a hard drive in) and the quality is way better, we have this huge sound system so a lot's changed in the last 24 years."

Noor Kidwai says it's time for his parents to let someone else take over the business.

"They need to take a break, they want to retire, that's basically it," he said. "Of course I'm sad because this has been in the family for so long, but this is something we want to keep in the community, they want to keep it the same (and find) somebody who wants to put a little bit of new blood into it and keep the tradition of this place."

Torrence says the price tag includes a viable business next to the theatre and residential space above it.

"You get a commercial space of just over 1,200 square feet," he said. "Currently home to Domino's Pizza and there's a two bedroom residential suite above the Domino's as well and it's all one building so you get commercial, residential, the theater space and the business is all for sale."

The Kidwai family says that even with the advent of home theatres, that the Wales Theatre had one of it's best summer's ever in 2024.

"We still get these huge blockbusters, like some of the Marvel movies, Barbie, Oppenheimer, Top Gun," Noor said. "We just had some huge ones -- and even this summer, it was such a good summer for us so you're really seeing the big movies coming back now.

"Honestly, there's no experience like going out to a movie," he added. "People in this town really know that and that's why the theatre is (still) in their hearts."