SANFORD - The old strip malls of rural North Carolina tell a story of migration and transformation. Kendale Plaza, the gigantic, decades-old shopping center on Industrial Drive, is no different.

Here, one can drop into a tienda to buy a phone card to call home to Mexico, or have one's hair fixed by a Spanish-speaking stylist.

But near the end of the shopping center, one business helps set this plaza apart from any other in the region.

In big letters, on a movie marquee no less, are these words: "Bajo la Misma Luna." It translates to "Under the Same Moon," and it is one of the most popular Spanish-language films of the year.

The guys who own this movie theater aim to make a little money providing families with entertainment in their own language.

As far as the owners can tell, the theater, which opened in March, is the only one in North Carolina that exclusively books films for Spanish-speaking audiences. The next closest theater is in Atlanta, said Richard Herring, a Virginia-based theater consultant and film buyer who helped the owners get Cinema Latino off the ground.

They hope to reach an underserved audience. And on a recent Friday night, they did.

Bolfrano Pineda and Lelicia Ibarra of Sanford brought their kids, Jerry, 10, and Omar, 5, to the theater for a family night at the movies. Jerry explained that his folks don't speak much English, so they can't go to the regular multiplex together.

So how does it feel to be able to go out to the movies as a family?

"Exciting," Jerry said, just before scooting off to see Jet Li and Jackie Chan kung-fu their way through a Spanish-subtitled version of "Forbidden Kingdom."

Unlike the owners of most businesses that cater to Latinos, the men who own the theater -- a couple of cousins and a buddy -- do not speak Spanish. They're locals who saw an opportunity and went for it.

Bill Johnson is a Nationwide insurance agent in town. His first cousin Russell McGhee lives in Chatham County, and until layoffs earlier this year worked for the company that runs Sears and Kmart. Friend Larry Howell owns Sanford Rent-All.

The men had kicked around business ideas for a while, including a sports bar and a bus service to ferry tourists in Gettysburg, Pa. (It's a long story).

But nothing really got off the ground until they came up with the Spanish-language movie concept.

Crunching the numbers

They started their industry research by Googling "how to start a movie theater." The Internet helped them find Herring, the consultant, who last year visited Sanford and helped them crunch the numbers for refurbishing and running the shuttered Carmike Twin theater.

According to a 2006 estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 15 percent of the population in Lee County is of Hispanic or Latino origin.

That adds up to about 8,500 people, but the theater owners aren't concentrating on them alone. They've already welcomed patrons from Fayetteville and Durham, as well as English speakers.

Many of the theater's movies are in English with Spanish subtitles. Some, including "Under the Same Moon," are in Spanish with English subtitles.

Either way, people who have no inkling of Spanish can still enjoy the movies.

The men set the theater's admission prices in part to entice English-speaking movie fans away from traditional theaters. Before 6 p.m., all showings are $3, as are all screenings on Thursdays. After 6 p.m., tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for children.

Because there is so little demand for them in the region, securing the film prints can be a struggle. The theater scored a Spanish-language version of "Iron Man," but the film had to be flown in from a Texas theater after it finished its run on a Thursday night. By Friday evening, it was on the screens in Sanford.

Johnson said the theater is receptive to suggestions from the community.

"We're going to try to get what the public wants to see," he said, noting that they received multiple requests for "Under the Same Moon."

Jamie Mullin of Sanford saw commercials for the movie on Spanish-language television and decided to check it out.

Munching popcorn in the lobby before the movie, Mullin said she moved to the United States from Mexico about 11 years ago.

"I have a lot of memories" of going to the movies in Mexico, she said. When asked how long it had been since she had been to see a Spanish-language movie in a theater, she paused.

"Ohhhhhh," she said, "11 years."

Business has been slow so far, and on this particular Friday night, the 7 p.m. showings of "Under the Same Moon" and "Forbidden Kingdom" only attracted about a dozen customers.

But the owners are confident that as word spreads, business will pick up.

"We can see the growth potential is there," McGhee said.