Only In Theaters doc - about a hidden gem that America is in danger of losing - art house theaters

I went to film school - a long time ago - and that’s how I learned about art house films and art house film theaters. Most people don’t go to film school, and they never hear about or go to an art house film theater. This was not a major problem even as recent as 2019 - the times were good for art house theaters, attendance was up, the theaters were making money or surviving. Then came the pandemic of 2020, and the slow recovery, and many theaters of all types - including art house theaters - are closing.

There is a new documentary called Only In Theaters - about the Laemmle art house chain in Los Angeles area, and the family that owns and runs it. It is an excellent documentary, and a great introduction to the problems facing art house theaters at the moment. Here is the screening schedule for the doc - go see it at a movie theater if you can. It offers a great introduction to the community around art house theaters, and the major problems the sector is facing now.

Let’s move on to the bigger topic, and question, at hand. How can art house theaters survive in 2023 and beyond? The current failure of art house theaters, beyond the problems caused by the pandemic, has its roots in what made them a success - they were a European film alternative to Hollywood movies. Art house theaters had their boom time in America in the 1960s - around the time of the French New Wave and other non-Hollywood filmmaking movements. Then the theaters got another boost during the 1990s indie film wave in America. The 1960s audiences are now very old and they are not coming to the theaters like they used to. Indie movies were swallowed up by Hollywood and now most of them quickly go to VOD if they have any theatrical screenings at all. But, there is still a place for art house theaters in America. Here is how they can survive and thrive:

1 - Indie filmmaking is as popular as ever in America. Filmmakers spend hundreds of millions of $s each year making indie films, submitting to festivals, and ultimately releasing the films one way or another. Art house theaters should reach out to and work with indie filmmakers. Create new screening programs that bring in theater rentals (similar to what film festivals do), and help the filmmakers promote their movies using their (the theaters’) experience in showing and promoting indie/art house movies. So, indie filmmakers and self-distributed indie films can be a steady revenue stream for art house theaters. Any theatrical screenings can be used by filmmakers as a reason to create promotional material, seek and get press coverage that will be useful for their VOD releases down the road or for developing their careers. This year I am experimenting with such a program in LA through the Indie Discovery LA Film Series - where the programmer + filmmakers + the theater work together to make week long engagements of indie films previously not shown at theaters a success. I will have more on that screening series later in the year.

2 - Art house theaters, by and large, served a “white” customer base in the past. They can now add diverse programmers, have them find movies to show - movies that would bring in a diverse audience - specially movies by diverse filmmakers in the local area where the theaters are located. Several such local diverse filmmakers, several sold out shows a week, all year long, can = a new, significant revenue stream. Also add younger programmers and scouts to help find movies to show. Basically do a lot more of original programming that appeals to a lot of people living in areas near the theater. And work with many community organizations to bring in movies that would appeal to their members. There are many ways to expand the programming.

3 - Theaters should organize and demand long release windows before movies are released on VOD. They should favor/book only movies that can play at least several months in theaters before they have to go on VOD. All types of movie theaters - art house and mainstream - need a longer theatrical window in order to survive. So, a longer theatrical window for movies means audiences can’t wait just a week or two to catch a movie on VOD, so they will come see the movies at the theaters. Increased revenue.

4 - Generate their own media. Anyone can launch a website, a blog, a social media page - or a hundred, or a thousand now. Art house theaters are dependent on established media to send customers their way through press coverage and reviews. Art house theaters need to become much more active on the web, perhaps even in print (publish magazines, etc), and repeatedly tell the world that they exist and that they have an amazing product - great non-Hollywood movies from all over the world, from film festivals, from individual filmmakers. Also working with or sponsoring a diverse group of writers, bloggers, promoters can help sell art house movies and the art house moviegoing experience to a wider public.

5 - Find a way to lower prices for each trip to the theaters so that more people can go more often. Perhaps a membership program that significantly lowers prices.

Hollywood movies and mainstream TV and streaming shows are boring. Because they have to aim wide to capture a large number of viewers. So they rely on tired formulas. Indie, art house movies have a narrower focus, and they are more interesting. Also a lot of art house films are made by auteurs - individual artists - not a committee of business people who determine which boring films get made and released based on business factors. And art house theaters show amazing movies from all over the world. So, the product or service that art house theaters offers is great - great movies at a great environment. A million times better than watching movies on VOD at home by yourself while worrying about various strange noises the neighbors are making. Art house theaters can survive these difficult times if they are to make necessary changes and become more useful for more people. Art house theaters are a hidden gem of American life, and thus should be saved from going extinct.