The Farmington Civic Theater just spent $40,000 on faux-leather reclining seats salvaged from a shuttered small-town cinema, part of a broader push that includes beer, wine and bottled cocktails sold from an in-house bar. General manager Clare Cooney says the changes are paying off, with sales climbing 40% over the past year at the city-owned movie house on Grand River Avenue.
The new recliners, which feature a rock back design, came from the Romeo Theater, another small-town movie house that closed earlier this year, according to The Detroit News. The Farmington theater now has 336 seats spread across its two screening rooms, all equipped with the new recliners. Cooney told the paper that the theater's annual budget and sales both hover around $500,000, and that “sales are up 40% in the last year, which is huge.”
A Bar License Built Into the Business Model
Beyond the seats, the theater has leaned on its bar and liquor license to sell beer, wine and bottled cocktails to moviegoers, per the same Detroit News report. The theater sits at 33332 Grand River Ave. in Farmington, according to C & G Newspapers, which also reported that Cooney has managed the theater since July 2025. That outlet noted the theater also plans to hold more events and promote the venue for party rentals going forward.
City officials have also discussed partnering with an outside business to open a pizza restaurant on the theater's second floor, though the Detroit News report frames that only as something under discussion, not a finalized plan. The theater returned to showing first-run films on September 17, 2021, after a pandemic-era closure, according to the City of Farmington.
A Loan, Described Two Different Ways
City financial support has been part of the theater's story for years. In 2020, the Farmington City Council approved a $64,000 loan to keep the theater afloat after it ran out of cash during the state-ordered pandemic closure, according to Hometownlife. ClickOnDetroit reported separately that the city loaned the theater $154,000 when it reopened after COVID to support ongoing operations.
Reports differ on what happened at the City Council's June 15 meeting this year. The Detroit News reported that council members approved a $154,000 loan to be paid back by June 30, 2027, while C & G Newspapers described the same action as an extension of an existing $154,000 loan, also due by June 30, 2027. Hoodline could not independently reconcile which characterization is accurate.
Attendance Numbers Also Diverge
Just how far attendance has recovered depends on which account you read. C & G Newspapers put pre-COVID attendance at roughly 60,000 to 70,000 visitors annually, with this year's attendance projected at about 26,000. ClickOnDetroit, in its own report, estimated pre-COVID crowds at around 55,000 to 60,000 moviegoers a year and more recent attendance at roughly 28,000 to 29,000. Either way, the theater remains well below its pre-pandemic numbers even as it works to rebuild its audience.
That rebuilding effort has included expanded programming beyond traditional movie screenings. ClickOnDetroit reported the Civic now hosts ladies' nights, pop-up events, indie art films and throwback screenings, part of a broader strategy to diversify beyond ticket sales alone. The push comes against a tough national backdrop: the Detroit News noted that U.S. and Canadian movie ticket sales now hover around 800 million annually, roughly half of what they were at their peak around 2002.
For a single-screen-turned-two-screen hometown theater competing with streaming and shrinking industry-wide attendance, the combination of comfortable seating, alcohol sales and varied programming represents Farmington's bet that a night at the movies can still draw a crowd — even if the exact road back to pre-pandemic numbers remains disputed in the available reporting.
