Centervision, the Iowa State Center’s free outdoor movie project, will not be coming to Ames this summer. After a year and a half of planning, the Iowa State Center had to cancel the project just days before its premiere.

“It was a big process to get the movies,” said Sara Huber, advertising and promotion coordinator for the Iowa State Center. “We thought that we were good to go.”

However, the movie company working with the Iowa State Center had questions regarding distribution rights.

“It was a little late to be messing around with that stuff,” she said.

As a result of the conflict over distribution rights, the project was cancelled.

“We wanted to provide the community with quality, not crappy movies, but it didn’t work out,” Huber said. “We give 100 percent to our projects not just 50.”

Over 3,000 tickets for the project were being distributed by local sponsors, Hy-Vee, KASI and KCCQ FM and The Ames Tribune.

To make up for any inconveniences to the public, the Iowa State Center is allowing all Centervision tickets to be saved for up to one year and redeemed for a free medium soft drink at any future Iowa State Center event.

The sponsors of Centervision would like to see the project completed eventually.

“I think that Centervision is a wonderful concept,” said Jeff Seaton, general sales manager for KASI and KCCQ FM. “This is a winning idea. Don’t bury it.”

Seaton said phones would instantly “light up” when packs of Centervision tickets were given away over the radio.

“The concept of Centervision is very ideal for quality family entertainment … We gave out hundreds of tickets,” Seaton said.

The Iowa State Center is still looking into having Centervision at a later date, Huber said.

“We’ve had a lot of support,” Huber said. “We are always looking for new events to bring to the community, and we are planning to discuss how we can revive Centervision.”

Originally, Centervision planned to show popular movies including “The Waterboy,” “A Bug’s Life” and “Armageddon.”

The first movie, “Patch Adams,” was scheduled to play Saturday at 8 p.m.