Jaymie and Josh Tyau weren’t looking to purchase a movie theater. But Josh, a structural engineer, and Jaymie, who recently got her private pilot’s license, came on the radar of the lawyer helping to sell Kailua Cinemas, the only independently owned first-run movie theater in Hawai‘i.
At the time, the Tyaus were helping their 17-year-old son, Nolan, run a kettle corn business at the Lōkahi Kailua Market. “That’s how he thought of us,” Jaymie says of the lawyer, with a laugh. “‘You’d be great as theater owners because you know how to make bomb kettle corn.’”
From a business standpoint, it didn’t make sense. The theater had been losing money for years. “This is a dreamer’s project. I was like, I don’t know if we’re this insane,” Jaymie says. “But apparently, we are.” They got the keys in September 2025…