OB Malco cinema could be another year away

OLIVE BRANCH - It could be another year before Olive Branch gets a new cinema.

Malco Theaters Inc. president Stephen Lightman said Wednesday that Malco hopes to break ground on its new cinema approved for construction on about 10.8 acres at the intersection of Goodman Road and North Hamilton Circle in Olive Branch some time within a year.

Lightman said Malco’s original plans to break ground this summer on the $6- to $8-million theater changed with the economy.
“We would have broken ground this summer if the economy was in better shape,” Lightman said. “We have decided to wait until the local economy improves; growth in Olive Branch picks up again and people are back into a good spending mood, before we make that kind of investment.

“If the economy looks like it is improving and can support a theater, then we will certainly break ground within a year.”

Olive Branch residents have waited years to see the construction of a new theater become a reality.