Changes to liquor laws are unlikely to help single screen theatres whose owners are lobbying to serve alcohol during movies and live events, the owner of the Roxy Theatre on Quadra Street said Thursday.

"It appears that, on the surface, they are a step in the right direction for performing arts venues. However, in my case and the Rio's case, they will not help us," Michael Sharpe, Roxy owner, said in an email from Los Angeles.

The Rio is a Vancouver theatre that has been granted a primary liquor licence. But B.C. regulations prohibit movie theatres from holding such a licence. Instead, the Rio has been hosting live events, rather than showing movies.

Sharpe has not applied for a liquor licence for the Roxy, but would like to be able to serve alcohol at adult-only evening showings in his theatre on certain nights. He also wants to offer different types of entertainment, such as live shows, again with the ability to serve alcohol.

Energy and Mines Minister Rich Coleman said it's still not possible to serve alcohol during the films, but the change will allow a given venue to serve alcohol at some events and show movies at others.

Venue operators can choose the days of the week and hours of the day for the different events. Once the schedules have been approved by the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch, licence holders may apply for temporary changes to liquor service hours.

But Coleman, who is still streamlining the process, said the schedules won't be permanent. Venues should be able to advise the liquor licensing board of their plans for events with 24 or 48 hours' notice.

The change comes one day after Coleman took over responsibility for the province's liquor laws. They had previously been under the control of Shirley Bond, who on Wednesday was named the province's new minister of justice.

Sharpe said has not had a chance to read all the details, but said what he has seen does not give him the flexibility required in his type of business.

"Movies and events are most of the time booked only a week in advance. It is impossible to guess ahead of time when we would be screening movies and when we would be booking live events," he said. Sharpe said he is going to continue talking to provincial officials to push for further changes to the liquor act.

Rio Theatre owner Corinne Lea, whose business was threatened by the old laws, said that further negotiations are necessary in order for that theatre to survive.

"I went from euphoria to frustration and major disappointment," she said.

The offer from the liquor licensing board requires Lea to provide the ministry with a set schedule determining which nights the Rio will show films.

She also said more flexibility is needed. The set schedule plan is an impossible condition because film release schedules are determined by Hollywood distributors. The requirement will crush the Rio's survival as a multimedia event venue, she said

"If I want to show movies in the evening, I need to have a set schedule that gets approved in advance and doesn't change. They want me to say I'll only play movies on Tuesdays or Wednesdays or whatever.

"Movies come out when Hollywood decides they come out. It's ever changing and it's completely out of our control."

Coleman said he is planning more changes for the province's licensing laws, which haven't had an overhaul since 2002. In the next few weeks, the ministry will consult with municipalities, he said, noting it will consider the oft-raised pitch by venue proprietors to allow moviegoers to have an alcoholic beverage while they watch a flick. He noted municipalities are not in support of serving alcohol at cinemas because of public safety concerns.

"There is no question that's been on the table, or has been lobbied for years," Coleman said. "We should be able to modernize that. We're going to take a look at all the liquor laws in B.C."

Liquor is already served in some B.C. theatres, such as the Coquitlam SilverCity, but they operate with food-primary licences that permit them to act as restaurants.