Show over: Cinema World in Fitchburg to close after 28-year run

FITCHBURG — Cinema World's seven screens will go black for good on March 31, leaving the city without a movie theater for the first time in nearly three decades.

“We can’t thank you enough for making Cinema World as your go-to movie theater over the years!” the movie theater stated on the theater’s Facebook page on Friday.

On May 21, 1996, Cinema World opened for business. The three-month facelift of a former Child World store in the John Fitch Plaza cost an estimated $1 million.

Prior to Cinema World, Fitchburg had been without a movie house since the Fitchburg Theater on Main Street closed after a short-lived revival in the early 1980s.

“The COVID was a killer for a long time and we just never recovered. Being 76-years-old, I think I had enough,” David M. Fedeli of Sterling, the theater's owner, said Friday. “It’s not what it used to be, but it was fun while it lasted.”

When it opened, Cinema World’s tickets were $6 for adults; and $4 for children, senior citizens and all matinees. Movies shown the theater’s first weekend included the first "Mission: Impossible" starring Tom Cruise, as well as "Mr. Holland's Opus," "The Birdcage" and "Primal Fear."

When it closes for good, Cinema World’s tickets will be $8.50 for adults; $6 for children, senior citizens and matinees. Movies shown for the last weekend of the theater most likely will include “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” and “Kung Fu Panda 4.”

Fedeli — who cites "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Midnight Cowboy" as three of his favorite movies — once owned the Tri-Town Drive-in in Lunenburg and Mohawk Drive-in in Gardner, as well as the West Boylston Cinemas. Financially, it doesn’t make sense to continue leasing the building, he said.

“The movies aren’t as good as they once were. They rave about ‘Oppenheimer,’ but I didn’t think it was that great of a movie,” Fedeli said. “When a movie like ‘Barbie’ is the smash-hit for the year, something’s missing.”

Cinema World’s general manager Griffin Finnegan, who has worked at the theater for close to seven years, said the workers have been receiving an outpouring of “nice, generous support” since the announcement of the theater’s closing.

“It has been a great experience,” Finnegan said Friday. “I had a great boss. Everyone who’s worked here has been wonderful. We served a lot of nice customers. It got nice to know of these people, personally, too.”

Cinema World will be open this weekend (through Sunday). It will be closed Monday and Tuesday and close its run Wednesday, March 27, through Sunday, March 31.

“Stop by to see your last movie at Cinema World and enjoy some of our delicious popcorn!” the Facebook posting ends.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Cinema World on John Fitch Highway in Fitchburg to close for good