Corvallis is losing its original art house movie theater after a 10-year run.

The Avalon Cinema will close its doors for good June 30 with a farewell screening of the cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Cinema Paradiso," a nostalgic tale about a small-town movie house.

Owner Paul Turner said the 90-seat theater at 160 N.W. Jackson Ave. had been losing money for some time, but the final straw came on June 7.

"I opened a film called 'Operation Homecoming,' an outstanding film about veterans writing about their wartime experiences, and I had one person show up," Turner said. "I said, 'OK, hint taken.'"

The Avalon has been struggling since 2004, when the 12-screen Carmike megaplex joined Regal Cinemas' four-screen theater, dramatically cutting into the number of high-drawing independent films Turner was able to book. The situation only got worse when Turner opened his own four-screen art house, the Darkside, in 2005.

"The theater business is product-driven. In other words, you have to have good movies to put butts in seats," Turner said. "All the good product that wasn't going to Carmike or Regal was going to the Darkside, so basically the success of the Darkside torpedoed (the Avalon)."

Compounding the problem was Turner's decision to move the Avalon's 35-millimeter projection system to the Darkside and replace it with a digital system. While the industry trend is to produce more movies for digital formats, many titles are still available only on film, Turner said, taking the Avalon out of the running for some pictures.

Turner tried various gambits to keep the Avalon viable, culminating late last year in a $35,000 renovation project and the addition of beer and wine sales, but nothing worked.

"We were hoping the venue would be the attraction," he said. "If we gave it five years, that probably would be the way it would be."

Turner didn't have five years, however. Keeping the Avalon afloat has diverted resources away from the Darkside, he said, and he started having trouble paying his bills. While his landlords at both buildings have been understanding, movie distributors for the most part have not, making it increasingly difficult to book the titles customers might pay to see.

"We're not getting product because we're behind in film rent," Turner said.

The cash crunch has eased somewhat in the last week, since Turner announced on his blog and in an e-mail to his customer list that he was planning to close the Avalon.

"I've had $100 bills appear in the mail in unmarked envelopes, I've had people come in and buy tickets in $100 blocks - people have just been amazing," he said.

While the outpouring of support has enabled him to catch up on some bills, he said, his financial position is still far from secure, even at the Darkside. Theater chains are cycling new releases through their multiplexes at an ever-increasing pace, and national companies always get priority over independent exhibitors with film distributors.

"Carmike and Regal are in the middle of a war for product, and unfortunately I'm caught in the crossfire," Turner said. "Because they have so many screens to fill, they've been taking a lot of the market I've spent a decade building. We used to get five or six big hits a year. Now we get one or two."

Where does that leave the Darkside? Turner's considering his options, but he's leaning toward converting it into a nonprofit operation.

That would enable him to sell memberships, apply for grants and use volunteer labor. It would also allow him to draw a salary.

"I'll just get a job taking care of the projectors and booking the movies rather than trying to deal with the financial end of it," he said.

One thing Turner's not considering is applying for a license to sell beer and wine at the Darkside.

"It didn't work (at the Avalon)," he said, "so the thought of pushing it there doesn't have a huge appeal to me."