Many theaters in small communities that are unable to afford to purchase digital projectors and new sound systems before Hollywood stops distributing new movies on film later this year are turning to the crowd-funding site Kickstarter to save them from extinction, the Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday. The newspaper noted that while 85 percent of the nation's theaters have already converted to digital, about 1,000 theaters, most of them small-town family operations can't afford to do so or don't want to assume debt. Using Kickstarter, these theaters are mostly promising free tickets and/or candy or popcorn to investors. Others, the Times observed, have been more creative, offering investors the opportunity to act as a projectionist for a day or have their names displayed onscreen before a movie plays. According to Yancey Strickler, co-founder of Kickstarter, most of the fundraising efforts have proved successful. The ability to keep these theaters open and alive and ingrained as part of their community is something that people are happy to do, Strickler told the Times.