Here’s an interesting piece about a single-screen theater in Harmony, Minnesota where the community pitched in with the theater owners to pay for a $75,000 digital conversion.
While digital projection allowed the major distributors to consolidate their power, it also offered a way to streamline and downsize exhibition. The 1600 American single-screen venues are especially vulnerable. For the industry, it seems, any part of film culture that preserves some history or takes root in a community is simply a nuisance. Michelle Haugerud puts it simply. “They don’t care if we go out of business.”
We have one single-screen theater left in Rochester. It shows double features for $5 with good, cheap popcorn and reasonably-priced candy. And there’s always a chance that the theater cat will sit on your lap during the movie. It still projects in 35mm, and the owner, who’s getting older, is trying to sell. My guess is that some community organization will help someone purchase it and do a digital upgrade, but that’s by no means certain.
In my home town in the Dakotas, there are two single screens, an indoor theater that runs in the winter, and an outdoor drive-in which is open in the summer. I doubt the owners can afford to sink over $100K into a digital conversion, so it’s only a matter of time before those go away.
(The photo is from one of the community fundraising efforts via Roger Ebert’s Facebook).
rikyrah
I’m a supporter of the small theater. I think every person should be able to go somewhere and see a movie on the big screen. I don’t ever want that to go away.
ps-love those subversive Girl Scouts…lol
PeakVT
Going digital should help single-screen theaters, since they’ll be able to offer more varied content, including live broadcasts. $100K is a big hump to get over, though.
cathyx
My first job was at a single screen theater. I worked the concession stand and had to add up the orders in my head. No cash register.
General Stuck
I wish we could do something like this where I live. The only theater is a big screen teevee some fundies put up in a metal storage building to run PG and wingnut movies. And charge regular movie going price. The Passion ran for almost a year. Followed by Fahrenheit 911, I guess to get some outrage on for the 2004 election. I don’t go near the place.
Skipjack
On the other hand, the longer they wait, the less expensive the conversion process will be. I think a lot of old theaters will be run as non-profits soon.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Those Girl Scouts better watch out for Ted Nugent because he says that he like to eat ’em up.
I’m pretty sure he wasn’t singing about their cookies.
PurpleGirl
I can’t remember the last time I was in a single-screen theater; I can’t think of one in my area. Even the art houses I can think of have been made into two screens, and they weren’t all that large to begin with. (Goddess, to think about a single screen the size of the former Lowe’s Triboro…)
Schlemizel
Harmony is a great little town – we bike down there & Lansboro often – but I can’t imagine where they came up with that kind of cash. Good for them.
The movie business have built a model that is unsustainable for theater owners. The get nothing for showing movies in their first few weeks so all their income comes from concessions and the few odd shows that hang around. But DVD and cable are getting new movies even sooner so all that will be left are sub-run houses with movies a couple of months old. That might work for small towns or movie/cafe places but the giant movie bins are going to die at the hands of the producers and distributors.
Villago Delenda Est
Of course, there is a problem.
What content is available that is worthy of a communal single screen theater? They don’t make stuff like Lawrence of Arabia anymore. They make lousy remakes of Saturday Night Live sketches.
gaz
The thing that struck me about this post is the picture, not the text – maybe because it’s early and I just crawled out of bed not too long ago.
I’m looking at the girl scouts and thinking.. AWWW adorbs.
I’m looking at the plethora of cookies and thinking YUM…
And then I remembered that all of those good, god fearin, “real” murikans have now been programmed by Malkin, et al, to hate these girls and their cookies…
and I’m just… WHAT THE HELL? The world has come unglued.
they’re GIRL SCOUTS! not demons. not commies. not the boogeyman, but LITTLE GIRLS. WITH COOKIES. It’s just surreal that people can be convinced to fear and loathe little girls with cookies and merit badges.
I don’t even know anymore. fuck…
Schlemizel
@gaz:
But Gaz! Ya gotta get em started early or they they will reject the lesbian life style and not be used to repeated abortions! That is what GSA is all about, just ask the wingnuts.
gaz
@Schlemizel: facepalm.
I know right? but this stuff rises to a level where mere snark and sarcasm doesn’t do it justice. then again I don’t know what would.
Of all of the crazy programming in these people, the girl scout thing stands out as particularly awful. A singularly poignant illustration of the level of detachment and fear these people face. Part of me feels sorry for them. And part of me wishes they’d go sleep on some railroad tracks.
Villago Delenda Est
@Schlemizel:
It’s all about projection with the wingtards. The best example is their incessant fear of the “recruitment” of gays. They fear that they will try to get them while they’re young and indoctrinate them.
Meanwhile, they’re busy trying to lure kids to Jeebus by whatever means necessary to brainwash the little demons into being good little tithers to keep the scam going.
gaz
@Villago Delenda Est: the GOP. No ego, all id.
Tribalism at it’s most toxic.
gaz
@General Stuck:
Tell me you are joking, please.
If serious, I’d have to wonder where you live. Buttefark, WY?
heh. Even our little crap town has a single screen (and a larger theater at the mall – or so I’m told – I don’t go there)
Xecky Gilchrist
The Salt Lake Film Society managed to preserve a single-screen theater in Salt Lake City and they show all sorts of stuff that’s non-mainstream, both in digital and 35mm. I think the whole Sundance scene helps with film in this town.
General Stuck
@gaz:
Buttefark, NM
When I moved here 10 years ago, there was a downtown theater that had been around forever. But then pieces of the ceiling started falling on moviegoers and the city condemned the building. And no one has stepped forward to renovate it, if it can be renovated. There was talk of a regional movie theater chain building a two screen theater here, but that fell through for some reason. So it’s NF time,, all the time.
gaz
@General Stuck: so sad =(
Roger Moore
I guess I’m lucky to live in the Big City. We still have some great single screen theaters, including a handful of classic 1920’s and 1930s movie palaces. It’s fantastic to watch a big popcorn movie at Groman’s Chinese Theater or a classic at American Cinematheque at the Egyptian, or even a new Pizar movie at El Capitan.
burnspbesq
@Roger Moore:
Not to mention that there are at least five theaters within a half hour of me that run the Metropolitan Opera live broadcasts. There are advantages to living at Ground Zero of the film industry.
Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor
@gaz:
They seem to be against just about any group that tries to be communal, hopeful, or improvement-oriented. It’s a particular feature of their psychopathy: You will suffer, and you will suffer alone!
For BHO’s speech the week after the Giffords shooting, the evening’s slogan was “TOGETHER WE THRIVE”. The true wingers like Malkin went completely insane over the choice of words.
This also happens to be part of the Abuser pattern.
gbear
There are only a couple of drive in movie theaters left in the Mpls./St. Paul area and one of them, The Cottage View Drive In on Highway 61 (yes, Bob Dylan’s Highway 61) is going to be closing next year to be replaced by a Walmart Superstore. Losing this theater will leave Cottage Grove with as much personality as a suburban Mitt Romney.
gaz
@Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor:
Heh. Funny, that.
bemused
Great story. It’s wonderful that some of the small town theaters are still around.
I have to brag up another single screen, small town Minnesota movie theater in my neck of the woods, Comet Theatre, established in 1939. It’s a fun, unique place to visit. Along with movies, it is also a coffee/gift/antique shop. In fact, antiques/gift items are displayed inside the theatre itself. Lots to look at until the movie starts. One whole side of the building is painted in a mural depicting characters from classic movies. On the other side of the building is an old largish boat where you can enjoy your coffee when the weather cooperates. The owner is a yoga teacher and has classes in an old church on the same street. My in-laws, who will be celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary this fall, had their first dates at this theatre.
WereBear
Yeah, funny how that works.
One of the advantages of living in a tourist area is that we have a restored movie palace from the 1920’s. Granted, it’s been divided into four little theaters, but this means we get variety, and we kept the pipe organ. Great for the silent film festivals at Halloween.
JoeShabadoo
I say let them go out of business.
Unless the single screen is the only theater in town I see no need for it. They are being “saved” for pointless nostalgia because they aren’t exactly important even if film critics champion them because they hate change.
Bigger theaters have more selection, offer imax, 3D, and more showtimes. New theaters are also usually stadium style seating with big comfortable chairs and almost always have bigger screens and better sound. These single screens theaters are inferior in just about every way.
bemused
@JoeShabadoo:
Debbie Downer.
gaz
@JoeShabadoo:
Not if you want some independent content, or foreign film. A lot of us f4ggy artsy types happen to enjoy that kind of thing.
And in urban environments particularly, these types of theaters do continue to survive and even thrive.
These theaters are less popular than their large corporate counterparts, but if that’s your singular assessment of value, then what can I say? You don’t much value culture. Either that or you seem to think McDonald’s is the only place we need to go to get some take out. When you say things like that, what I hear is a blatant appeal to the Lowest Common Denominator. I’ve never been a big fan of that. It leads to a race to the bottom anywhere it’s applied.
Matt
@Villago Delenda Est:
And if you own a rep house and would like to show Lawrence of Arabia then it may not even be possible to get a film print.
This piece ran in LA Weekly earlier this month.
It’s a great, indepth piece and the whole thing is worth reading.
gaz
oops. I bumped myself into moderation with a naughty word. I wonder what wordpress has against homosexuality. =)
WereBear
@JoeShabadoo: Let me guess; you live in a big metropolitan area, or have access to such.
Well, guess what? Not everybody does. Yet, are they not human? If pricked, do they not bleed?
Us rural yokels would like to throw off the yoke of anti-intellectualism… if people would let us.
bemused
@WereBear:
And as if movie theaters have to be one type or the other in larger towns. What’s wrong with co-existing? Does everything from political views to movie theaters have to be monolithic in this country?
WereBear
You are right! We should, being liberals, embrace the dang diversity!
bemused
@WereBear:
I think we do. Not so sure that Joe does.
Origuy
It’s not just the US, of course. I was in Oban, on the western shore of Scotland, last summer. The only movie theater (or theatre) was closed and had been for several years. There was an effort to try to get it open again. This is in a tourist town with no big cities for many miles. There wasn’t that much to do at night beside the pubs.
Xecky Gilchrist
Oh, and in Ogden, Utah, there’s this beautifully restored old Art Deco movie palace that has a Mighty Wurlitzer and everything.
bemused
@Xecky Gilchrist:
So beautiful. From the website, it looks like many diverse wonderful events go on there too. I’d love to see it if I ever travel in that direction.
Martin
Our local theater isn’t a single screen, but it’s independently owned (by one of the locals) and offers 2nd run movies at $1 or $2. There’s 5 screen, and they focus mainly on family stuff, with usually one screen at night showing something blowey up for the teenagers and one or two for mom/dad date night. Concessions are about midway between the price at the grocery store and most regular theaters.
Every showing I’ve been to, other than their first few months when the owner couldn’t afford employees and was running between selling tickets and starting projectors and selling popcorn has been packed. He hires people from the neighborhood and a lot of the teenagers from the local high school. He pays pretty well, from what I hear. He’s our neighbor. It’s our theater. The employees are our friends and family. All of the video rental stuff has gone out of business. Everyone goes there. Movie + popcorn for 4 people on the dollar night is $10, and the kids can sit with their friends, etc.
Even though this is the middle of the OC will 3 million residents, there’s a surprising amount of ‘take care of the neighbors’ attitude here.
Amanda in the South Bay
The last movie I saw in a theatre was…Indiana Jones IV.
One thing I did like about Santa Cruz was that they had two indie theatres downtown-one, the Nick, that played artsy-fartsy stuff, and another on Pacific Avenue that seemed to play random old movies. Ah, that good old fashioned gentrified college town feel…
BigSouthern
@JoeShabadoo:
Of course the problem there is that corporate theaters have little to no incentive to play anything other than the typical corporate fare. To say nothing of the space they take up building those stadium seating rooms that are full for maybe the first two weekends of a movie, maybe. And all the impermeable surface area they add to the world in the form of their massive parking lots.
Looking at The Byrd theater in my beloved Richmond (http://byrdtheatre.com/) and I’m seeing events offered that no chain would ever touch: Bicycle Film Festival, Byrlesque at the Byrd: A Live Burlesque & Vaudeville Tribute to Cinema, and the annual French Film Festival.
Also, reflecting on the existence of the Wurlitzer in a movie theater, it occurs to me that there used to be a time when businesses actually competed for customers by offering enhancements to the experience instead of just working their hardest to make sure they’re the only company left standing.
Cris (without an H)
Both our local single-screen theaters went dark, and were taken over by the local upstart evangelical church. Which actually beats being turned into office space — at least they’re still being used for public entertainment.
Xecky Gilchrist
@bemused: They occasionally do silent films with live accompaniment on the Mighty Wurlitzer. Those are tons of fun.
When I was a kid in 1970s Ogden, the Egyptian was a grungy, run-down venue much the worse for having been “updated” in the 1950s or so. It was basically what would now be called a dollar-flicks theater, showing double features of stuff like Dean Jones Disney movies for the kids. I’m really happy they restored it.
swordofdoom
@Xecky Gilchrist: That’s great to hear about the Egyptian. I lived in Ogden 20 years ago, and several times the Egyptian seemed destined for the wrecking ball. I’m glad to hear it was brought back from the brink. Even in the late ’80s, when it was basically boarded up, it was absolutely gorgeous from the outside.
And for whoever it was who poo-poohed single-screen theaters, there’s no worse place to see a movie than a mall theater built before the mid-’90s. Crappy projection systems, ski-jump aisle down the middle of the auditorium and screens that can’t really accommodate 2.35:1 formats. Yeah, theaters with up-to-date sound systems and stadium seating are nice, but give me an old, well-maintained single-screen theater anytime. It’s the difference between staying at a vintage hotel and one that has the exact room design as every other one in the chain. Character counts for something.
reality-based
MRmix, you’re from the Dakotas? Where? I came home (after 28 years in Utah and CA) to my small Nodak home town to care for again parent in 2008
two movie theatres – one 30 miles away in Park River, the other 30 miles away in Langdon – both now owned and run by the town, with shows Fri, Sat, and Sunday. 40 miles sway, in Grafton, the twin-screen strand has been owned by the same family since the depression
– otherwise, it’s a 90 minute drive to Grand Forks.
all three theatres struggling to raise funds to fund the conversion – NOBODY wants to lose them.
The NY Times – which has a real jones for North Dakota stories, even assigning a Sulzberger kid to the beat (we’re quaint, or something) – did a GREAT story on the Langdon and Park River Theatres a couple of years ago, with great pictures –
story link
Schlemizel
@gbear:
Gad, I used to go there when I was a kid & we took our kids there a few times. Might have to see a show this summer for old time sake before its becomes shit on a shingle.
Xecky Gilchrist
@swordofdoom: Even in the late ‘80s, when it was basically boarded up, it was absolutely gorgeous from the outside.
That’s true, it always was pretty from the outside. I too am happy they managed to salvage it – I remember how sad it looked when I left town in ’85.
wenchacha
mistermix: the Dryden is a single, right?
Your larger point is a good one, though. The Cinema is so great for that neighborhood. Imagine: a movie theater you can walk to, get Chinese or Indian or diner fare before or after the show.
Jacquie
I know I’m late as usual, but I had to add an endorsement for the Cinema in Rochester. I live right down the street and I’ve been going there since tickets were $3. There is no place else where you can get a night out for two with a double feature, two popcorns and drinks with refills, and chocolate crinkle cookies for less than $20.