Vancouver’s historic Rio Theatre has been given an extra month to raise $1-million as supporters rally to save the building from development, after a weekend fundraiser ended less than halfway toward that goal.

The future of the Rio, an 80-year-old theatre on the city’s Commercial Drive, has been in doubt since the building was put up for sale earlier this year. The theatre is known for screening independent films and hosting live events such as music, comedy and burlesque. The theatre’s supporters plan to raise enough money to buy the building and keep it open. Many other theatres in Vancouver have become condo developments.

The weekend’s events included back-to-back shows featuring filmmaker and actor Kevin Smith, as well as a telethon in which two local comedians told jokes for 30 hours straight.

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By the midnight deadline on Monday, the Indiegogo crowdfunding page was still below the $400,000 mark, but the Rio’s operator, Corinne Lea, said she’s undeterred.

“As far as I’m concerned, this is going to happen. I didn’t do all this work to fail,” Ms. Lea said in an interview on Tuesday. “One way or another, I will find the money to do this.”

Ms. Lea has said she needs a total of $3-million to proceed with the sale; she wanted $1-million of that to come from community fundraising with the rest coming from investors.

She faced a deadline on Monday to put down a non-refundable deposit of $350,000, but she wanted to have raised the full amount first to ensure the deal went through.

Ms. Lea said the current owner agreed to a last-minute extension. The building is owned by Leonard Schein, who used to own a number of independent theatres in the city and is a founder of the Vancouver International Film Festival.

“I was worried we wouldn’t get [the extension], because I know him to be a bit of a tough businessman, even though he has a generous side,” Ms. Lea said.

She now needs to have the deposit ready by May 7, after which she’ll have another 60 days to complete the deal with a $3-million down payment.

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“That means come May 7, I either have to give him a non-refundable deposit of a large sum of money that I will not get back … or I walk away,” said Ms. Lea.

The online crowdfunding campaign will now run until April 16, to account for the time it takes to actually get the money from Indiegogo.

But, that’s not the only reason.

“I think there gets to be a burnout factor … we’ve got about two weeks left in us,” said Ms. Lea, who’s now been spearheading the campaign for six weeks.

She said the fundraising events this past weekend injected new momentum into the campaign.

“We were live-streaming it. So, probably a better word for it would be a live-stream-a-thon,” said Ms. Lea, adding that many supporters came to the theatre in person to make contributions.

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“People were just walking in the door and handing us cheques and donations.”

She is now organizing additional events to capitalize on the final two weeks.

Others in the entertainment business are also stepping in. An amateur porn festival, Dan Savage’s Hump Tour, is donating the proceeds of its April 14 screening to the Rio.

Even if the campaign doesn’t reach its goal of $1-million, Ms. Lea believes she can find more investors to make up the difference.

“We don’t have to have the $1-million or else it all fails. We’re just trying to get as close as we can,” she said.

“I have a group of investors I’ve been speaking with that are all excited to be part of the Rio so it’s looking good.”

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Ms. Lea is still going to be running the Rio after the deal is completed and only anticipates positive changes to the venue and its program.

“Once we own the property, we’ll really be able to take the Rio to the next level and just continue to do the kind of programming that we do.”