BRUNSWICK

It took the full 45 days but, with a little more than an hour remaining in its crowdfunding campaign deadline Tuesday, Eveningstar Cinema reached its preliminary goal of $46,060 in contributions, equal to 80 percent of its “wishlist” total of $57,500.

That’s how much it cost to replace the theater’s original 35-millimeter analog film projectors, because analog films no longer are available. But the cost of conversion has been slowly bankrupting theater owner Barry Norman every since. So, hoping to enlist movie buffs to help, he turned to crowdfunding.

The 45-day campaign window began Aug. 17 and closed at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

By 3:45 p.m., donors from as far away as Japan and Calgary, Alberta, had pledged enough money to the campaign, hosted by the website Seed&Spark, to make the project possible.

Seed and Spark requires 80 percent of the wishlist goal to be pledged before it will release the money contributed.

Now the next step is to verify the pledges with Seed and Spark, then sit down with his finance company to do the calculations.

By raising 80 percent, the total owed on the conversion should be manageable, allowing Norman to keep the theater open and his employees punching the time clock.

It’s been a little stressful, Norman said.

Confident that the crowdfunding would work, he nevertheless kept looking elsewhere for money — including the Brunswick Development Corporation, which he said turned him down flat. He wouldn’t elaborate, but said the discussion was brief.

BDC officials would not comment on whether they met with Norman or if they considered a request from Eveningstar.

However, Norman now is grateful that the ordeal is done. He posted a thank-you message on the Seed and Spark website Tuesday night.

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