High River’s iconic movie palace up for sale after nearly a century of films

A southern Alberta movie theater that made the transition from silent films to talkies in the early 20th century is for sale in the 21st century for the price of a Toronto renovation building.

The list price for the Wales Theatre in downtown High River, Alberta, is $1,086,750. Built in 1927, it still shows movies seven days a week, this week Blink twicestarring Channing Tatum, about a tech billionaire who owns a private island and likes to party until things go wrong for his guests.

Before being called the Wales, the theatre was called the Highwood, which had a balcony that allowed patrons to watch silent films in the early days of the film industry.

“It wasn’t until 1929 that the theater was equipped with a talking picture system,” says Joshua Torrence, an associate broker at Century 21 Foothills. “Len Cooke, the guy who installed the system in 1929, ended up being the projectionist for 42 years.”

In 1933, veteran theater owner Sam Tyler purchased it and two years later held a contest to choose a new name for the establishment.

“He had a contest and the name chosen was The Wales,” said Irene Kerr, director of the Highwood Museum. “It was named after Edward, Prince of Wales, who had a ranch west of High River. That’s where the name ‘The Wales’ came from and a boy named Fred Orton won a six-dollar prize for coming up with that name.”

Kerr says High River doesn’t have many historic buildings today and that parts of the Wales Theatre actually came from Calgary.

“It was built with bricks from the Regent Theatre in downtown Calgary,” she explained. “That’s where the Hudson’s Bay Company is, so there’s a little bit of Calgary in there too.”

A community staple

Torrence says that over the years, Theatre Wales has become a fixture in the community.

“In 2000, Syed and Rehana Kidwai bought the cinema,” he said. “They did a major renovation to retain its art deco charm, installed comfortable seats and state-of-the-art cinema equipment at the time.”

“I know when I was going there, I had lived in High River for 30 years,” Kerr said. “It was pretty uncomfortable, but now when you go to the theatre it’s just as enjoyable as Calgary because Syed believed in theatre and the community believed in him, and that’s what kind of pushed it forward.”

The family even put their 12-year-old son Noor in the projection booth to learn how to use the movie equipment.

“Back then we were using an old-fashioned projector, so we had the film and I had to go through the whole projection system, which took about 15 minutes every day to get the film ready,” Noor said. “It used to take an hour and a half every week to get the film up and running and now we have this (digital projector) and it’s super easy, now you put (a hard drive) in and the quality is way better, we have this huge sound system, so a lot has changed in the last 24 years.”

Noor Kidwai says it is time for her parents to let someone else take over the business.

“They need a break, they want to retire, that’s all,” he said. “Of course I’m sad because it’s been in the family for so long, but it’s something we want to keep in the community, they want to keep it that way (and find) someone who wants to bring some new blood in and keep the tradition of this place.”

Torrence says the price includes a viable business next to the theater and residential space above.

“You’re getting a little over 1,200 square feet of commercial space,” he said. “Currently, Domino’s Pizza is located there and there’s also a two-bedroom residential suite above the Domino’s. It’s one building, so you have commercial space, residential space, theater space and the business are all for sale.”

The Kidwai family say that even with the advent of home cinemas, the Wales Theatre had one of its best summers ever in 2024.

“We always have these huge blockbusters, like some of the Marvel movies, Barbie, Oppenheimer, Top Gun“, Noor said. “We’ve had some big movies – and even this summer, it was such a good summer for us that you’re really seeing the big movies come back now.

“Honestly, there’s nothing like going to see a movie,” he added. “People in this city really know that and that’s why theater is always in their hearts.”