Kansas City, MO – The cinema comes alive for the first time in decades in downtown Shawnee. For the first time since 1974, a movie will be shown on the big screen at the Aztec Theater.
To celebrate the return of the Aztec Theater, and because of the season, the first movie on screen at the theater in 47 years will be the original 1931 Dracula.
“I had seen it years ago and doing previews here and there, I am just so excited,” said Chris Calkins, owner of the Aztec Theater, at 11119 Johnson Dr., Shawnee.
Calkins and his business partners bought the building in 2017. But the building was just a shell of itself. The seats had been torn out and the outside marquee had been destroyed. There was so much trash inside, it took them two months to clean it out.
“It was used for storage for years and years. Then it just got filled up with debris and miscellaneous stuff,” said Calkins.
There isn’t much of anything left from the original days. Calkins and his crew have renovated it with pieces and parts from other theaters around Kansas and the KC Metro. A new marquee, light fixtures from elsewhere, and for some of the decorations they've hung old film reels found in the debris of the original Aztec.
The debut on Wednesday night is sold out. But there's another chance to see the vintage Dracula soon after on November 10th. Tickets are $5 per person and seating is limited to just more than 200 people.
Calkins says he won't get an opportunity to watch the movie himself. There's no staff, so he and his partners will be doing all the work on opening night.