Even in this day of almost wall-sized televisions, there are certain movies that still should only be seen in a movie theatre, in my opinion. Also, given the sometimes poor selection of new movies, I think it’d be nice to have the option to go see an old flick. We have a couple of independent theatres that show old films now and then, in addition to their usual fare of art films, foreign films, and others that don’t usually get into mainstream theatres. However, these older movies tend to be quite uncommon.
Are there any movie theatres where you live that show only older movies? Maybe there isn’t even such a thing anywhere. If I were to own one, I think I’d like maybe 4 different screens and switch around what’s showing every week or so. Knowing nothing about the movie business, is there anything I’m missing that might make this implausible?
To be clear, I’m not talking about second-run discount theatres. I’m thinking of a theatre that only shows stuff that is maybe five years old and older.
I’ve often thought it would be really great to see certain movies on the big screen. I’d definitely go. We do have a theater by us that mostly plays second-run movies, but they also run old movies–we saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail couple years ago.
I’d love to see the sparkling red dresses from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on the big screen.
We have a theater that shows older movies, and movies that have just left the traditional theaters. It has tables instead of rows of seats, and they serve meals with it. I love it. It’s also cheap, so as a college student that is an added bonus
We have one here in Minneapolis. It’s called the Oak Street Cinema, and they only have one screen. They have a monthly schedule. Usually every month follows a theme, retrospectives and such, or a showing of a new print of an old movie. There is NOTHING like seeing the crop duster come at Cary Grant on the big screen when you watch North by Northwest.
For a while, they had “Hindi First Fridays,” where they would play Bollywood movies without subtitles. The Indian community put them on, and I always wanted to go, but I was intimidated. It’s a shame really, since they don’t do it anymore.
Also, one of the “Arthouse” theatres in town usually plays an older cult movie on Fridays at midnight. Is there a Film Society or some such thing up in Calgary? If you do, they might be your best bet.
This is not the only place in NY that plays old movies (I hope), but one of the graveyards has monthly-late night screenings of old movies in the chapel. I’ve never gone, but I certainly plan to.
There’s this one, I don’t live near it, but I used to go when I visited my sister in Palo Alto.
From what I understand, it only shows older movies. (Check some of their older schedules…)
In Lexington, Kentucky, there’s the Kentucky Theatre. First constructed in the 1920’s, burned down at some point, then restored with the help of some generous donors. It has now been rebuilt to look as it originally did in the Hollywood glory days, with fancy velvet curtains and all that good jazz. Supposedly they’re going to install the old pipe organ so they can play dramatic music to accompany silent films again. Right now they show a mixture of indies and classics. The premier of Seabiscuit was held their last summer.
Not here, though I know many, many people who’ve talked about starting one.
When I attended the University of Georgia though, the University had nightly movies in the student center: old movies, foreign, art-house, silent, animated, cult, you name it. A different movie every day, six days a week, for $2.
Friday and Saturday nights they’d have a midnight showing of something like “The Wall” or “Rocky Horror” or “The Holy Grail” or some such that would always be rowdy and fun. Sunday was foreign-film day. I saw SO many movies there that I would otherwise never have seen on the big screen. From “Lawrence of Arabia” to “The Shining” to “L’Avventura.”
I really, really miss that theater.
Anyway, Standup Karmic, maybe check with the University of Calgary film department? I’m poking around their Web site but can’t find anything and I’m in a hurry right now. They may have a smaller-scale production going or something like that; I ran something like that at another university for a while. If you don’t find it on their site, send some film prof an e-mail and ask about it.
Around here they have the Alamo Drafthouse. They show new movies and old movies, as well as random stuff. They do trivia once a week, and they’ve had comedians come in before and do a Mystery Science Theatre thing, but live. They have tables in front of the seats, and they serve alcohol and food. Student discounts too, it’s awesome.
Vision - a small cinema with bar that plays more art than old movies though
AFI Silver - beautiful art-deco cinema with various filmcycles. They are now in the middle of a “Naughty and Nice Xmas”-cycle with such movies as :Wonderful life", Home Alone", “Die Hard”, “Miracle on 34rd street”, “A Muppet Christmas Carol” and my favorite “A nightmare before Christmas”. They just finished cycles on Bill Murray, Katherine Hepburn, Robert de Niro, various Japanese directors and The European Union.
True, Intent, that was my first thought. But we also have the Paramount – a beautiful old-timey theater, very baroque with gilt and cherubs and stuff, that shows old movies and indie stuff.
Well I know something about owning a movie theatre. I did it for a few years.
If you wanted to do this here are the problems.
A There is very little chance you will build a new theatre to do this. Rather you will take a theatre that has closed and re-open it. Now there is a reason that thetre closed. People in the community weren’t going. Maybe they’ll like your classic movie approach. Maybe not.
B Being that you bought an old building the place is probaly not that energy efficent. It takes a lot of energy to heat and or cool 4 auditorims and a lobby. So a large chunk of budget is for that or for making improvements on the property. (new hvac and insulation ect.)
C You will need a lot of advertising and probably a weekly/monthly newsletter. You will need to develop a core audience that comes every week or two . It’s tough but it can be done. Don’t expect to make a profit right away.
D Most of these films have a flat rate rental. It varies widely from title to title. Probably $200 to $1,000 dollars for a week. Of course you pay for any shipping charges too and the quality of the print is never going to be know till you build the print up and see it. Your core audience will understand but newbies will come out and yell at you a lot.
When I owned and operated I searched for a print of MP and the Holy Grail. I finally found one and hyped the midnight show. When I finally got the print the first three reels had a splice about every 6 inches. That’s about four every second for about the first hour of the film. I decided to not charge admission and told everyone that the print was in really rough shape. I wasn’t sure it would run. I had a packed house and we sold a ton of concessions. I called the company to complain and we argued and argued. I never gave them the print back. Later I found a decent print. I hyped the show again and even said it was a new print. About 8 people showed up to see it.
The Vogue Theater in my old neighborhood has been closed for some time, now. The last film I saw there was The Full Monty. The management was trying a new thing and they ran that film, and that alone, for months. Then they closed. Previously, it’s schedule included art films and foreign films and for years they showed Rocky Horror, Song Remains the Same, Kids Are Alright and The Holy Grail. I have that in the 70s there was lots of pot smoking in there. I never experienced any of that.
When my dad and my uncles were kids they rode their bikes to the theater and watched all the Saturday serials. My father in law did as well. It now sits vacant with two 6X6 posts holding up the marquee. The whole little strip it sits in is almost 100% vacant. There are plans to revamp the whole area in the coming few years and I hope it includes the Vogue.
Here in Cumberland, we have The Embassy. It’s an old theater, closed for years, then reopen by a guy who lives in Greenwich Village, and only comes down on weekends for the shows. Sometimes they show old movies. I know they have shown The Mouse That Roared, The Sound of Music, and every Halloween they show Rocky Horror. When they don’t show movies, they have rock concerts with local punk bands. On the second floor of the place, they sell beer. They’re very watchful that underage kids don’t get upstairs where the beer is sold, and I’m glad of that because I can feel comfortable letting my teenager go and see her favorite local punk band. They charge $6.00 for movie tickets, and anywhere from $7.00 to $10.00 for the concerts, depending on who’s playing.