Washington will soon be getting its movie theater back.

The theater at Washington Square Mall is being leased by Golden Ticket Cinemas, an independent theater company out of the Raleigh-Durham area, according to theater manager Stoney Crouse.

Crouse said the lease is signed and remodeling has begun, and she hopes to reopen it by the first of February.

“We’ve been talking since December, so I didn’t know it was going to happen until it actually happened,” Crouse said. “We’re going to be brand new, brand new, brand new.”

Washington’s theater will be the first one opened by Golden Ticket, she said, although there is another theater in the works elsewhere.

“This is a whole, brand new company,” Crouse said. “This is the first time they’ve branched out on their own.”

Carmike Cinemas closed its Washington location in early December 2016, leaving Beaufort County without its only commercial theater. Carmike’s Greenville location is still in operation, and some of the Washington employees transferred there.

With Washington’s theater location reopening, however, Crouse said she will offer positions to many of her former employees to come back, as well as any new applicants interested.

With no corporate company at the helm, Crouse said the theater can have more leeway when it comes to fundraisers or promotions, making it more of a Washington location, rather than a branch of a corporation.

“I’m going to be handling the theater and pretty much running everything from the local aspect,” she said. “Probably the majority is going to be the employees we had working there before.”

When customers walk in, Crouse said she wants them to view the theater as new and improved and different than before. Crouse said she is confident about what Golden Ticket has to offer.

“I’m excited. A lot of people are excited,” she said.

Crouse said she is scheduled to sit down with Golden Ticket representatives next week to discuss an exact opening date.