City of Aspen officials are working on ensuring that the show will go on for Aspen’s 106-year-old Isis Theatre, which is in peril due to the movie house’s struggle to cover rent and wider film industry challenges.

The city took ownership of the five-screen theater on Hopkins Avenue last year when it refinanced $2.1 million in debt on the building, which the nonprofit, Aspen Film, is responsible for as the municipal government’s sublessee.

It’s based on a deal, designed to save from the Isis as a theater, brokered in 2007 between Aspen Film, the city and an out-of-state retail group.

That deal offers a path to ownership of the theater for Aspen Film, which subleases the space to Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Theatres as its operator, which it has been for the past 14 years.

But with the fallout of the pandemic – which had the theater mostly shuttered for nearly a year – as well as changes and challenges in the industry, all parties agree that the lease terms for Metropolitan are untenable. Thus, the future is uncertain.

Behind the curtain

As it stands currently, Aspen Film is on the hook for $331,000 in back rent and HOA payments that it owes to the city, according to Pete Strecker,