Huge turnout for Maudie puts Wolfville's Fundy Cinema in the black

The owner of Fundy Cinema in Wolfville, N.S., said ticket sales for the movie Maudiewill bring the business some breathing room forthe months ahead.

Fundy Cinema shows Canadian, independent and foreign films at the Al Whittle Theatre.

Owner Noemi Volovics had originallyplanned on having two showings of Maudie a movie about the life of famed Nova Scotian painter Maud Lewis but added two more showings after the first two showings on Easter Sunday and Monday sold out.

In total, 516 tickets were sold for atheatre that can seat up to 176 people at a time.

"It's good for me because it means I don't have to worry for the rest of the year," said Volovics.

She saidMaudie brought in several hundred dollars of profit, which is a hugehelp for such a small operation.

People lined up in the street

"This is basically a business that makes absolutely no profit, so if I put on films that are less well attended, they have to be financed by those films that are well attended," said Volovics.

"In this case, I made some money, so if I lose some money on some other films, I'm secure for a while."

Most of the movies Fundy Cinema shows don't attract the kind of crowds Maudie brought in. On average,80 to 100 people attend a screening, but sometimes a movie may only bring in30 people, said Volovics.

When Maudie came to town, people lined up on the street to get tickets, while some were turned away.

Adding two extra screenings to meet demand is something Volovics said hasn't happened in about 10years.

"I didn't know it was going to be this big, but basically the phone calls about getting tickets started coming in as soon as we announced it," she said.

"It didn't surprise me because the subject matter is Nova Scotia and ... at the screening there were quite a few people who knew her personally."