While the show appears set to go on at the closed Movieplex 9 in Rutland, it's still unclear who will be running it.

A month after Cinema North, the oft-financially troubled owners of the nine-screen theater, announced the closure on the marquee, a downtown development official and a county senator with the inside track on the movie business said multiple franchises are vying for a lease and hopes are high the theater could reopen before the new year.

"They're hoping to be able to open up by the Christmas season," Downtown Rutland Partnership executive director Michael Coppinger said, quoting his most recent conversation with the theater's landlords, Centro-Heritage. Coppinger said he was told the company hoped to sign a new lease on the theater sometime within the next three weeks.

The Boston- and New York-based owners of the Rutland Shopping Plaza, where the theater is located, couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

The Movieplex's closing last month coincided with the closure of other theaters owned by Cinema North in Massachusetts and New York.

Earlier this week, Kevin Mullin, the brother of Cinema North co-owner Kipp Mullin and one of Rutland County's three senators, bought one of the defunct theaters in Hudson, N.Y., and he's eyeing another former Cinema North theater in that state.

Mullin said he would like to run the theater in Rutland too, but he doesn't think he'll get the lease.

"The Plaza Movieplex in Rutland was the number-one deal on my list when I started," Mullin said. "I met with Centro and was told they'd get back to me. They told me they were going to decide a week ago but I haven't heard from them."

Part of the reason for Mullin's doubts about obtaining a lease for the Movieplex is the volume of competition he faces. Interest in the Rutland theater is high, he said, due to the market potential in the area. Despite Cinema North's financial struggles — which pushed the owners to the brink of eviction on more than one occasion — Mullin said the theater always turned a profit and could earn even higher margins if upgraded.

"Rutland is a very good market. That's why there's so much demand for the theater," he said.

Mullin also said he doubted his chances because of rumors in the industry that Centro-Heritage had already decided to lease the theater to a Massachusetts company with theaters in several New England states.

brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com