The Cranford Theater, a five-screen cinema in Cranford, New Jersey, close to New York City, is run by Doreen Sayegh. It is approaching its 100th anniversary, and she plans to celebrate the milestone by showing Padlocked, the silent film that opened the theater’s doors on November 29, 1926. An organ player will accompany the screening.
Sayegh is doing more than merely honoring the past; she is preparing for what comes next. The plan she has put together calls for new programming and experiences meant to draw customers back through the door.
“I want us to honor this incredible history while continuing to evolve and ask, what can the next 100 years look like?” Sayegh tells The Hollywood Reporter.
The Sayegh Family’s Long Run in Exhibition
Jesse Y. Sayegh owned his own chain of movie houses in New Jersey, and his daughter Sayegh was raised around the business. The industry faced much less competition back then, during the 1990s. In 1997, he bought the twin-screen Cranford Theater from Cineplex Odeon and turned it into a five-screen theater within a year.
She sold her first popcorn at 8 years old, she recalled, barely seeing over the concession counter. She sold her first movie tickets at age 11, moved up through usher and box office cashier, and became a theater manager. Sayegh’s father retained ownership of the building but sold the indie theater business in 2010, and she stayed with the new owner, Bud Mayo’s Digiplex Destinations.
Why She Bought Back the Theater
In 2019, after two other operators ran the theater after Digiplex, Sayegh showed a potential new tenant around the building. That moment changed everything.
“I was standing on the roof, looking out at the [Cranford] downtown and, I thought, ‘You know what? I want to do this. This is the right place for me,'” she recalled.
Sayegh finished the work with help from her father and got the cinema complex back up and running by November 2019, just in time for the Christmas holidays. The coronavirus outbreak followed soon after.
The Pandemic Years, Popcorn and Drive-In
That dark time is remembered by Sayegh with these words: “By the time we got to March, the night before we closed down, we had maybe seven people in the building, and four of them were employees,”. She did not allow the narrative to conclude there, however.
She went outside the box instead. She served up fresh popcorn and candy to families who pulled up at her front door, passing them through their car windows so they could enjoy them at home. She also turned a parking lot she had rented into a drive-in theater.
“I was worried. You don’t know what’s going to happen,” she recounted of the new venture, which included an alert on her cellphone that sounded every time a ticket was sold.
“I remember the day I was in the parking lot, in the heat and my phone started dinging as soon as the tickets went on sale. And then it just stopped,” Sayegh added. Suddenly, she feared only a couple of tickets had been sold, and her drive-in was a bust.
The web hosting company she contacted explained the problem at once: ticket demand had surged, and it had brought their servers down.
“You’re sold out. You sold out in 90 seconds, for three nights,” the report came back.
Six nights a week became the routine for classic films at the outdoor screen, with “That was so special to me because it really was such a terrifying time. And because the tickets were selling themselves, I didn’t have to worry about selling them. I focused my energy and our efforts on donations, fundraising and the community. Because at the beginning of the pandemic, I found myself in this position of ‘How do I help?’ I just couldn’t sit back and do nothing,” Sayegh recalling the schedule.
A standout creative moment involved a 2020 showing of Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory, with golden tickets concealed at local Cranford businesses. Anyone who secured one of those tickets was granted free admission to the screening.
Streaming Threats and Strikes
Getting film lovers back into the Cranford Theater was a challenge during the pandemic-era rise of streaming movies at home, which was followed by the 2023 Los Angeles writers and actors strikes.
The memory came back to her: “That was definitely a tough time, because our goal is to get people off their couches and into our seats to enjoy movies together on the big screen,”.
Sayegh understood that the days when cinemas simply opened their doors and sold tickets along with drinks and popcorn had passed her industry. Because of that, she kept thinking outside the box to find new business opportunities.
“That’s what we do here, try to create events around a lot of our films or classic films, and create ways for people to get excited and off their couches and into our theater to watch movies together and experience that together,” she explains of diversified programming like comedy shows, piano recitals, film festivals and indie film screenings.
The Ceiling Collapse and Rebuilding
The effort was starting to bear fruit when Sayegh suffered a serious blow in April 2025. A portion of the ceiling gave way inside her theater. Fortunately, the building was nearly empty at the time, and all those present were able to leave without harm.
“No one was hurt,” Sayegh recounted about that fateful night. “That was most important to me, because that would have changed the whole story. And the fact that no one was hurt meant I knew I was going to rebuild.”
The movie house came back after being closed for seven months, with its marquee lights lit up and neon signage glowing on November 26, 2025. It is now 99 years old. Recent films include local productions, as New Jersey experiences a Hollywood boom fueled by film tax credits and other state incentives alongside local hiring.
Sayegh has shown New Jersey-shot pics like an advance screening for Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day and Steven Soderbergh’s supernatural thriller Presence, which was shot in Cranford.
What Comes Next for the Cranford Theater
The centennial screening of Padlocked is a look back at where the theater started. Sayegh’s strategy keeps those roots while pushing forward. New programming and experiences show the direction the theater is heading.
“I want us to honor this incredible history while continuing to evolve and ask, what can the next 100 years look like?”
The Cranford Theater has endured a pandemic, a ceiling collapse, streaming threats and strikes. It has managed to survive by constantly moving forward rather than staying put. Sayegh’s drive-in success showed that imagination can overwhelm servers. Her community focus during the darkest days of the pandemic demonstrated that a theater can mean more than just a seat and a screen.
Her resolve was tested with every step, and so was the strength of the story. The Cranford Theater is more than merely surviving.
Here is how Sayegh has rebuilt the business:
- Sold popcorn at 8 years old, tickets at 11.
- Moved through usher, cashier and manager roles.
- Watched her father sell the business in 2010 but stayed with Bud Mayo’s Digiplex Destinations.
- Bought back the theater in 2019 after two other operators ran it.
- Opened a drive-in theater in response to pandemic closures.
- Survived a ceiling collapse in April 2025.
- Reopened in November 2025.
The tale of Sayegh shows that managing a small theater has nothing to do with fortune. Instead, it rests on resolve and imagination. What the coming 100 years hold will not resemble what came before. Sayegh is prepared for whatever they bring.
Source material: “How a 100-Year-Old Indie Movie Theater Stays In Business,” The Hollywood Reporter.
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