Posted 7/19/22


It’s almost time for a “Cinemagic” goodbye. Later this month, the doors of the revered Cinemagic Theatre in Athens will close after more than 20 years in business.

Ralph Freehauf has owned and operated the theater since 1997. He says when things started out, the site where the business now stands was nothing more than a field and forest.

Freehauf, who has been in the movie business since the late 1970s, said the theater started as a drive-in and the initial screen cost $26,000 and could accommodate around 400 cars.

Cinemagic transitioned into a fully-fledged, five-screen indoor movie theater along with its original drive-in screen in 2006.

Freehauf said he’s now past retirement age, and the theater plans to go “quietly into the sunset” and close without any major fanfare. There are no plans for anyone else to take over the theater, and it will be put up for sale in August.