A week ago, the gearheads at Demaras Racing discovered a gem in the west end; the Film.ca Cinemas. More than just a repertoire theatre, this place shows first run movies as well as classics like Steve McQueen’s ‘Bullitt‘. Plans were launched to organize a car meet / fast film night at the theatre.
With summer over, F&F movie nights would be a great fun for car guys.
Over the weekend, media outlets reported that the cinema’s front entrance had been lit on fire by arsonists. Shortly after 5AM on Friday, two men in a white Dodge Durango arrived at the movie theatre well after closing time. Both men were carrying gerry cans full of gasoline, which they poured onto the ground at the front entrance of the theatre. The fire did expensive damage to the glorious entrance, but luckily nobody was hurt.
There’s been widespread speculation about the reasons behind the fire. Some in Toronto suspect that the theatre because it has been screening an Indian movie called “They Call Him OG“. Apparently, the large Indian community in the Greater Toronto Area has made screening of home-country movies very profitable. To stifle competition, bad guys affiliated with Indian-owned cinemas attempted to burn down Film.ca Cinemas, or at minimum, scare the owners and get them to stop showing Indian movies.
Several years ago, some ‘bad guys’ walked into the same theater and slashed screens with box cutters, doing thousands of dollars in damage. Doesn’t seem that the owner is so easily intimidated, and has continued screening Indian movies. But it would be foolish to think that moviegoers wouldn’t be scared off. Who would want to go to a cinema where there’s a chance armed men could burst in, or light the front of the building on fire, while customers were inside the building.
A sad state of affairs in Canada.
That is more like the USA than “peaceful” Canada. Although here they burn Tesla dealerships.
Here they throw red paint at Tesla dealerships. But yes, I thought the same thing. This seems very American, setting fire to a competitor’s movie theatre.