Coyote Twin Faces Reduced Hours
The Coyote Twin, a non-profit movie theater, has cut showings on Thursdays at 4 p.m. and Saturdays at 1 p.m.. The theater was paying more than they were getting back in sales on tickets and concessions during those times.
By opening later on Thursdays and Saturdays, the Coyote Twin is not actively losing money. Shannon Cole is the Executive Director of the Vermillion Cultural Association.
“It was always pretty tough to say no to booking a kid’s birthday party on a Saturday afternoon because we had regular business hours at that time, but now we can,” Cole said.
Dropping from a total of 10 showings to eight allows the theater to accommodate private and public rentals of older movies that community members would want to see on the big screen.
“On the long-term, strategic level, we’re looking at different business plans if the downturn in Hollywood continues and audiences don’t grow again,” Cole said.
In the immediate future, the Coyote Twin will continue to operate as a firstrun community cinema, as they have in the past, but with two less showtimes. The Coyote Twin will continually be a part of the community as a movie theater.
“Word in the film business is that the movies coming out in 2026 have a real shot at turning around movie attendance,” Cole said. “If that’s true, we will keep operating as a theater that picks up movies on their premiere weekends.”
If that is not the case, the theater still has options. Like many movie theaters, the Coyote Twin could only run two evening showtimes a weekend or only run repertory movies, but that is not their current preference. The theater is still booking the big titles that draw crowds and the indie titles to meet the interests of the community.
“At the moment, we’re working on some grants to hopefully be able to sustain the Community Movie Monday program,” Cole said. “If those come through, we would be able to guarantee free Monday movies without calling on all our usual suspect sponsors as much.”
Free movie crowds at the Coyote Twin averaged around 60 people during the 2025 holiday movie series and the January mystery movie. The Coyote Twin has made a commitment to offer as many free Community Movie Monday screenings this year as they find sponsors for.
