Those epic escalators at the Scotiabank Theatre are out of service yet again — but Cineplex maintains they’ll be up and running in time for TIFF in September.

The escalators broke down during last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, giving visitors an unwelcome burst of cardio as they climbed 75 steps to catch a screening. Local and visiting media made the issue a cause célèbre, at times attracting more social media attention than the celebrities or movies themselves.

Why the constant breakdowns? It’s partly due to age but also because the original design was poorly considered.

“The escalators at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto are now nearly 20 years old and we are in the process of replacing them,” explains Sarah Van Lange, director of communication at Cineplex.

“The escalators at the theatre were state-of-the-art 20 years ago when the theatre was built, but unfortunately the design of them was such that its mechanics could never really support the length of the escalator itself.”

According to Van Lange, when the theatre was originally built, the owners wanted to make a grand entrance. Two standard escalators were basically jury-rigged together to form one extra-long escalator, rather than separating them with a landing. That means a landing cannot now be accommodated into the design.

The work is being handled in phases — with a new down escalator running by the end of August — although both directions were out of commission this week.

“Though it may look as though we are replacing both escalators at the same time, that is not the case,” Van Lange said. “Unfortunately, the ‘up’ escalator remained in service until last week, and we are doing everything we can to have it repaired as soon as possible.”

She confirmed that all should be well by September, though replacement of the escalators won’t be completed until next spring.

“The ‘up’ and the ‘down’ escalators will both be running for TIFF, with the replacement of the ‘up’ escalator scheduled for after the festival.”

Van Lange stresses that the new escalators will be specifically designed for the four-storey height, and will also take advances in technology since the first set were originally built. The company apologizes for any inconvenience and reminds that there is an elevator just to the right of the escalators.

Of course, you could also just take the stairs and use the calorie burn as justification for a larger-sized popcorn.