ByTowne Cinema owner Bruce White. (Etienne Ranger, OBJ)

Don't be fooled by the $3 curtains in the office; the ByTowne Cinema is doing quite well, with industry observers saying the movie house could become one of the top independent cinemas in the country, if not the most successful.

"If this were a publicly traded company, I'd buy stock in it," says ByTowne owner Bruce White, noting that the movie theatre pulls in roughly $1.5 million in revenues each fiscal year and sells between 12,000 and 15,000 memberships annually.

While the Mayfair Theatre's recent shutdown could suggest a slowdown in cinema – under pressure from DVDs and Internet downloads – ByTowne's success tells a different story.

"Cinema's a lot like book publishing – there's sort of the super layer of the top 10 or 20 hits that people consume on the weekends, and then there's the layer that's more literature, and we are sort of the literature of film where we don't sell nearly as many copies of it, but ... the prestige and the exoticness of the films is different," says Mr. White. "It's a difficult business for the (chain cinemas) to be in, and it's a good business for us to be in."

The cinema, which regularly draws long lines with its arthouse, foreign, Canadian and classic offerings, earlier this month celebrated its 20th year in its present guise and location, with its history as the erstwhile Beechwood-area Towne Cinema extending even further back to the '70s.

The ByTowne even sometimes features a surprise hit, such as when moviegoers lined up to see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which mainstream theatres initially passed up.

But even big cinema chains such as Cineplex Odeon are doing well in Ottawa, despite rumblings of an economic slowdown. "All Ottawa-area theatres enjoyed increased attendance this year over last year," says Pat Marshall, vice-president of communications for Cineplex Entertainment, although she could not provide specific numbers. She adds that 2008 has been a very good year for the company, which is particularly significant since the company saw its best-ever North American summer box office numbers in 2007 and for the first time crossed the $4-billion mark.

"Our industry has a history of doing well in difficult times and in recessionary periods; people need escapism when the environment around them is difficult, and movies are still the most affordable entertainment option available," says Ms. Marshall, adding that consumers may cut back on pricier fun such as sporting events or live theatre instead.

Mr. White agrees, adding that the impending downturn could actually help mitigate the DVD revolution. "The allure of going out and seeing a movie on the big screen still means something to people, thank goodness ... HDTVs are pretty seductive and they look cool, but it's still staying at home."

Barry Nabatian, general manager of Market Research Corp., estimates that the total spent on movies in the National Capital Region this year will be a minimum of $100 million to $105 million, relatively higher than last year's estimated total spending of between $97 million and $100 million.

"Usually, when people are experiencing real or perceived hard times, video stores, supermarkets, movies and liquor stores continue to be prosperous, and people will spend less on opera, clothes, cars, live theatre and concerts," he says.

He adds he wouldn't be surprised if the ByTowne was the most successful movie theatre of its kind in the country, and says the cinema is most likely one of the top three, partly because of the stability of the local market.

"The Mayfair was in a bit of a position, because it was programming more second-run mainstream Hollywood movies, and as the window of time between the theatrical release and DVD gets shorter and shorter, it's getting squeezed," says John Yemen, who has been vocal in his support of the Mayfair and is now looking to build a similar movie house in the hip Wellington West area. "Years ago, the Mayfair had three to four months between when the movie left the theatres and when it came out on DVD, (and) now it's weeks.

"There's been talk that maybe the time has passed (for independent cinemas), but I don't think that's the case," he says. "There's a potential for an upswing with the city's (development) intensification. People just need to get smarter about the way the business is run."