— by Duncan Green
7/2/25
Springfield, VT — Entering the Springfield 3 Cinema is more like walking into a shrine dedicated to film fandom than your typical AMC. Whether it’s life-sized models of R2-D2, the T-Rex from Jurassic Park, or some other one-of-a-kind cult classic tribute, something’s always on display. In a world where going to the movies is the province of large commercialized chains and streaming services, the theater in Springfield, VT is how Chad Free maintains everything he loves about the “old fashioned” movie-going experience.
Free took over ownership of the cinema in 2013, and he’s a film purist — to say the least. As a kid growing up in towns across America, his favorite movies were often what kept him anchored. Films let him bond with his father, who owned various drive-ins and theaters, as the family moved around for his parents’ work in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Above all, Free remembers being floored by Jurassic Park after its theatrical release in 1993. While a career in the film industry never felt like an obvious choice, the Steven Spielberg classic was a first step in a lifelong obsession with the movie world — and more specifically the viewing experience.
Watching a film is a borderline religious experience for Free. There’s no talking, cell phone use, or distractions of any kind as soon as the lights go down. You wouldn't do any of this in your place of worship, so don’t in his, he says with a laugh. But for Free, the theater-going experience expands beyond just the two hours you spend in your seat. He sees the movie as starting when you walk in the front door. Before big releases, Free, his sons Tristen and Andy, and good friend Dimitri Freeman spend days driving across New England to obtain all the essential pieces for a display in the lobby. For the 50th anniversary of Jaws, Free’s team put together a massive tribute to Spielberg — a true prophet in his film faith, complete with shark models, original posters, and even Lego sculptures of classic scenes.
Free is also a purist when it comes to his displays. Hours in the car, large sums, and tedious artistic procedures—such as wrestling homemade costumes onto mannequins—are just a part of his process. He has a rotation of roughly 10 displays, from Tim Burton to Star Wars, that are put up and taken down throughout the year. “My Dad is a workaholic,” Tristen says. “Once he gets something in his head, he’ll do anything to make it happen.”
Free, who now also owns the Keene Cinemas 6, didn’t always have the resources to make these projects come to life. When he moved to Springfield in the mid-aughts with his wife and then-toddler son, he fell in love with the Main Street theater and made it his mission to become a part of it. The only problem: He was “dirt broke.” His wife worked in the Springfield School District, while Free took on odd jobs to help make ends meet.
For every major release, Free and his team spend hours constructing life sized models of signature characters and scenes in the lobby, and theaters themselves! Photos courtesy of Chad Free
Then, in 2008, the theater was severely damaged by fire. A resident living in an apartment above the cinema lit his unit on fire, resulting in significant smoke and water damage in the main theater and lobby. The space was forced to close for reconstruction and then was taken over by the town’s Housing Authority. Free tried repeatedly to get a job with the theater, even when it was under repairs, and was turned down—until, after much pestering, he got a job as a projectionist making $250 a week. It wasn’t a livable wage for his young family, but he saw it as a first step toward owning the space.
As the theater struggled post-reopening, other candidates to take over ownership fell away, Free says. With the town’s Chamber of Commerce considering overseeing its closure, Free finally took it over in 2013. He admits it was probably a poor business decision to invest in a small theater that was losing money faster than seemed possible, but he couldn’t resist the chance. “He has been one of the driving forces in the ‘family-owned, locally owned business model, and he's proud of it,” says the Chamber’s Taylor Drinker. “He owns that that's who he is.”
And the cinema has rebounded. Free attributes this success to intentionally low ticket prices, the “mom and pop vibe” his team has been able to create, and constant efforts to improve sound, picture, and general experience quality. While he brings in professionals for some maintenance work, Free has taken it on himself to learn various industry skills, including speaker engineering, projection, and even HVAC maintenance. He believes people notice quality in their movie-going experience, and says this commitment has yielded good results. With ticket prices ranging from $6-$9, depending on viewers’ ages and the showtime, he charges half of what most commercialized cinemas do — much to studios’ and chain theaters’ chagrin. “He really wanted to build a place for anyone to come watch,” says Freeman. “I think it’s noticeable right when you walk in the door.”
Drinker argues that Springfield is growing and evolving in exciting ways economically, and that Free is a uniquely steady presence for those pinning their hopes on downtown. With the Chamber seeking to fill vacant storefronts with new local businesses, the cinema is evidence of steady economic activity in a somewhat unsteady market. Drinker points out that having a one-of-a-kind cinema like Free’s tells potential business owners that their hypothetical shop or restaurant will have people walking by regularly. In a small rural downtown, foot traffic is far from guaranteed. “You can compare it to other towns with a bowling alley, or a ski slope,” Drinker says. “Having a driving activity that brings people in, then they want to go to eat before or after, or maybe a little shop before or after. It really helps.”
The cinema’s main screening room, decked out to celebrate Spielberg as Jaws turns 50. Photo by Duncan Green.
While he loves the idea of helping other businesses, Free really doesn’t see the theater as a money maker. In fact, he dislikes the cinema world’s focus on making as much money as possible, and feels it has created “movie deserts” in which streaming services and large distances between theaters leave many without the watching experience that brings him such joy—especially with services like Disney+, HBOMax and Apple TV+ costing upwards of $12 every month.
Free argues that the studios have cost many small theaters and their devoted fans the community and tradition of movie-watching. Unlike many other theaters, Free shows films at random, sometimes long after a deal with a studio is overdue. He says he’s had some spats with big studios over it, but doesn’t mind. As a defender of the “Mom and Pop” theater model, he wants to show movies people want to watch. Sometimes, he’ll show 2023’s animated Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse, which he calls one of the best movies of all time that he thought would be awful; it’s virtually impossible to see in theaters now. And at his insistence, we sat together in an empty theater to watch *Mad Max: Fury Road—*it has “the greatest opening scene ever”—because I’d never seen it.
The Springfield 3 isn’t your usual theater. But then, neither is its owner. And that’s exactly what Free wants.
Duncan Green grew up in Plainfield and went to Lebanon High School. He’s now a rising junior at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, studying journalism and history, and served as news editor this past semester for The Daily Orange*, SU’s independent student newspaper. He is Daybreak’s first summer reporter.*