Not appearing at a city theater near you: Small-town market means many great movies pass on by
Mount Pleasant film buffs often find the anticipation of a new movie tempered with the disappointment of finding out that it is not playing in town.
Whereas films like "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and "Four Christmases" enjoy prolonged stays in the one theater that regularly screens movies, Celebration Cinema 4935 E. Pickard Road, other films never see the light of day in Mount Pleasant.
Films with Academy Award buzz like "The Wrestler," "The Reader" and "Milk" never screened at Celebration and Best Picture winner "Slumdog Millionaire" came to the theater well after its initial release.
"It's not that we don't want to get them," said Celebration Cinema General Manager Chris Couling. "It's that the movie companies won't bring them here."
Couling said that when a film does not come to the theater, it is most often not a decision by Celebration! Cinema or its parent company, Loeks Theatres Inc., but the film distribution companies.
"There's a couple of different release patterns for movies," Couling said. "Wide releases play almost in every movie theater in every town, because they know there's appeal and they'll sell a lot of tickets.
"Then there's indie movies like 'The Wrestler' or 'The Reader,' and these get a limited release," he said.
Limited releases usually are distributed to a thousand theaters or less in larger cities that are considered major markets. A film generally is considered a wide release when distributed to 2,500 theaters or more.
"We're what they call a 'smaller market,'" Couling said. "Art-house movies have a smaller niche than, say, "Race to Witch Mountain." If it's a success and the movie's a genuine hit, then we'll get it."
Couling has said when distribution limitations keep films that deal with racial or diverse matter, such as "Milk" or "Notorious," people will accuse the theater of prejudice, despite it not being the decision of Loeks Theatres.
One possible answer seems to be a small, independent theater opening in Mount Pleasant, but many doubt whether or not there would be enough interested patrons to generate business.
"I think there would be an interest," said Jackson sophomore Chelsea Yehl. "Obviously there's some interest, if we're having this (International Film Festival), you'd think if people go to that, there would be a market for a smaller theater."
Battle Creek junior Geoff Covey questions whether or not the following of people who attend events like the Film Festival and watch independent films in Mount Pleasant is enough to keep a small, non-corporate theater alive.
"(Mount Pleasant is a) very small town, and the population that is actually interested in that is really small," Covey said. "It's a shame."
Couling said there is a "small but adamant" subset of people in the city who regularly go to screenings of smaller or independent films, when they do get them at Celebration!
"I don't think there would be a business model for building a unique art-house theater in this town, because I think it wouldn't thrive," Couling said.
lifeline@cm-life.com
