Hospital for Sick Children to get new theatre

Last Updated: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 | 6:53 PM ET

CBC News

Some of Canada's sickest children will enjoy top-notch entertainment thanks to a new first-run movie theatre being built at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Donors presented a $1-million gift Tuesday to help transform an existing auditorium space into a 250-seat theatre.

The Hollywood at SickKids will screen movies each week, including new releases from major studios and family movies from a library of films. All movies will also be broadcast into patient rooms via closed circuit television.

Filmmaker and advertising executive Barry Avrich came up with the idea while walking through the hospital and noticing a child who was watching a film on a small video player.

"Movies have provided us the opportunity to escape and there should be no boundaries to the ability to escape, including a hospital bed," Avrich said in a statement.

"I am thrilled that SickKids has embraced this idea and that the studios are supporting it."

Famed film director Norman Jewison and singer Chantal Kreviazuk also took part in the announcement. Jewison called the project pretty good medicine for children whose illnesses keep them from the kind of activities routinely enjoyed by their healthier friends.

Kreviazuk, who is branching out into movie production, said she hopes the new theatre becomes a model for similar projects.

"I just think that it's going to provide great reprieve for the staff and the kids and it's just an absolutely brilliant idea."

Construction on the Hollywood at SickKids theatre will begin later this year or early in the new year. It should be ready for its official opening in May 2007.