On the fourth Sunday of each month, The New State Cinema at 117 North College Avenue shows a classic in the afternoon. The film has to meet two conditions. It must be on the American Film Institute's Top 100 list, and it must have been released between 1936 and 1966. The theater's own page explains why the window starts in 1936: that is the year the theater opened.

That rule sums up how the new owners are running the place. Alan and Suzanne Jackson and Brad and Patricia Haas, two local couples, bought the three-screen theater in September 2025. They have been upgrading equipment and adding programming that keeps returning to the building's first decades. Silver Screen Sundays is the clearest case. It only shows films from the years when this theater was new.

A Calendar That Stops at 1966

Silver Screen Sundays is one of two recurring series the owners have added. The City of Newton describes it as a series of films from the 1930s through the 1960s. The theater's own wording is tighter, with the 1936 start tied directly to the opening. The series is limited to films that could have played here during its first 30 years.

An October title showed what that looks like. The Maltese Falcon, from 1941, ran as a Silver Screen Sunday at 1:30 p.m. on October 4 and October 11, with admission listed at $5, according to Catawba 365.

The anniversary weekend in late August was built the same way. WHKY reported that a public reception and ribbon cutting on Friday, August 28, was followed on Saturday, August 29, by Modern Times at 1 p.m., Mr. Deeds Goes to Town at 3:30 p.m. and Swing Time at 6:30 p.m. Saturday tickets were $1 each and the Friday events were free.

Going by the fourth-Sunday rule, the next two Silver Screen afternoons would fall on November 22 and December 27. Neither title is posted yet. As of late October, the theater's showtime pages showed nothing for either date and its events page had nothing on sale. The New State Cinema website is where announcements will appear.

The Art Deco Front Is Younger Than the Theater

The 1936 cutoff is the theater's birth year, and the building has been rebuilt at least once since then. According to the Hickory Daily Record, it opened in 1936 as The New State Theatre. The paper notes that an article from that time puts the formal opening on Aug. 27, 1936. Cinema Treasures gives August 26, 1936. Both sources agree on the first feature, Joe E. Brown in Earthworm Tractors.

The Record also reports that the theater has changed hands a few times and been hit by several fires. One fire in 1943 destroyed the theater, and Brad Haas told the paper the Art Deco design was added after it. So the front that now reads as the most "original" part of the building dates to its second life. Inside, the building has since been adapted to hold three screens.

That makes the current work the latest round in a pattern that goes back decades. Haas described the goal to the Record in words that would have fit 1943 as well: "We're trying to restore it to what it was, but also modernize it at the same time."

Sound Was the Selling Point in 1936, Too

The opening-era coverage praised the same things the new owners chose to fix first. The Hickory Daily Record writes that the theater's modern sound and projection systems and its interior decorations drew rave reviews in the paper at the time. It quotes that early article on the seating.

"The seating arrangement on both the main floor and the mezzanine floor provides for perfect comfort and easy view of the stage. By proper slanting and expert engineering every seat has been made a good one."

Ninety years later, sound headed the list again. The City of Newton says the owners have upgraded the sound systems in all three auditoriums and refreshed the lobby and concessions area. The Record adds new lobby lighting and paint, along with exterior electronic signage, and reports that more interior and exterior work is planned.

"We wanted to refresh the theater, but also keep that nostalgic, hometown feel," Suzanne Jackson told the Hickory Daily Record. "There's something about this 90-year-old theater we want to preserve."

The paper also reports that none of the four owners runs the theater as a full-time job. It calls the theater a passion project, and notes that Alan Jackson is one of the founders of the Footcandle Film Society and the Footcandle Film Festival. A film-society founder co-owning a 1936 theater helps explain a classics series with a fixed historical window.

Alan Jackson described the past year to the City of Newton this way: "When the four of us bought The New State last September, we did it quietly and got straight to work. Ninety years felt like the right moment to open the doors wide, show the community what we've been up to, and thank the people who have kept this theater alive for nine decades."

Wednesdays Cover a Later Generation of Moviegoers

The second series reaches forward. Retro Rewind Night runs on a Wednesday each month and features what the theater calls "your favorite 1980s/1990s classics." The city's anniversary release describes it more narrowly as an '80s flashback series. Taken together, Sunday afternoons cover the theater's first three decades and Wednesday nights cover the films many current Newton parents first saw on a big screen. No November or December Retro Rewind title had been posted by late October.

Prices have stayed modest. As of October 26, the theater's online checkout listed evening admission at $7 for adults and $5 for children and seniors. A 4 p.m. matinee that day was $5. The matinee was The Nightmare Before Christmas, which the site billed as a family holiday classic.

The city has also invited community members to send in photographs, stories and memories of the theater through the theater's website. Anyone with an old ticket stub or a first-date story from College Avenue can add it to that archive.

November and December Within a Few Blocks of the Marquee

For residents planning the season, the theater is one of several downtown stops with dates on the calendar. Here is what has been posted as of this week:

The holiday shows come from the Newton Performing Arts Center's event listings. Downtown Newton's Light Up the Town page calls the courthouse square gathering an annual event, and its vendors, food trucks and entertainment schedule were still marked TBA.

With the theater on North College Avenue and Light Up the Town at the courthouse square, a December 4 evening downtown can include both the gathering and a screening. Showtimes for that week will be on the theater's site once they are set.

Here at Kendall Real Estate, we pay close attention to places like The New State. A downtown landmark that has been re-equipped and given a reason to visit every month adds a lot to daily life in Newton. If you have questions about the homes within walking distance of College Avenue and the courthouse square, book your complimentary buyer or seller consultation and we will go through them with you.