Hingham, Mass., Residents, Officials Cheer Opening of New 2-Screen Theater.

Byline: Robert Preer

Jun. 20--A small Hingham-based theater chain and a group of Scituate activists have rewritten the ending to a familiar tale -- the demise of the downtown movie house.

"Shrek 2" and the third "Harry Potter" movie were the scheduled features for this weekend's opening at the latest version of the Scituate Playhouse on Front Street.

Late last week, David Scott, treasurer of Patriot Cinemas, was overseeing workers putting the final touches on the new two-screen theater that is part of a waterfront condominium development in the heart of Scituate's downtown.

"It's a dinosaur -- the downtown movie theater. They say they don't build them anymore, that's for sure," said Scott, smiling at the irony in the statement.

The new theater is on the site of the old Scituate Playhouse, which was demolished in 2001. The playhouse, which had been rebuilt after a long-ago fire, was deteriorating and in need of costly repairs. Like other downtown theaters, it also had been battered by competition from suburban megaplexes, video stores, and cable television.

When property owner Steve Warner announced plans in 2000 to redevelop the site and demolish the theater, a grass-roots group calling itself "Save the Movie House Committee" collected 2,500 signatures on petitions calling for the movie theater to survive.