Help Save a Neighbourhood Movie Theatre

Written by TJ Dawe

the rio movie theatre Going to the movies can be depressing. High ticket prices. Crass, commercial atmosphere. Popcorn made somewhere else, that should be used as packing material. Endless ads before the movie starts. But there are a few theatres that still do things differently.

Many cities have a locally owned and operated movie theatre. In Orlando, it's the Enzian. In Montreal, Cinema du Parc. Toronto's got a few: the Bloor, the Royal, the Rialto. Edmonton has the Princess and the Garneau. These places have character, history and individuality.

Vancouver's got the Rio. And you could help save it.

The Rio screens a mix of Hollywood blockbusters (without commercials) and offbeat films. I saw The Room there, the legendary so-awful-it's-brilliant movie, and the audience brought props, joined in the bad lines, and added lines of their own, a la Rocky Horror Picture Show. Which they also screen. Great fun.

The Rio does late night screenings. They'll premiere a new blockbuster Thursday at midnight. Staff in costume. Fridays at 11:30 they'll show a double bill. Here are a few combos for the month of June: The Outsiders and Rumble Fish. Grease (sing-along) and Grease 2. The 1989 Batman, and the campy 1966 Batman. Dazed & Confused and Slacker. The staff are in costume for these too. Audience members come in costume. The movies get introduced by employees, doing skits, awarding prizes, creating an atmosphere that what's going on is more than just a bunch of strangers sitting in a dark room at the same time watching the strip of celluloid.

live music at the Rio They've been screening hockey games during the play-offs. Free admission. They show the Oscars. World Cup Soccer Games. Four hundred people watched Obama's inauguration, live.

They host live events. Concerts. A musical of Pink Floyd's The Wall. Performances and screenings as part of the Vancouver International Comedy Festival and the Vancouver International Burlesque Festival. They're planning on making live events more of what they do, according to a recent interview given by manager Corrine Lea.

To make the venue profitable enough to stay in business, they need to get a liquor license for live events. And they need your support to help make this happen. Please consider signing this petition and helping save something good in the cultural life of a city. And please support your local, independent cinema wherever you live.

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4 comments

Comment Link Wednesday, 15 June 2011 18:51 posted by Scott Payne
This is a great effort. Thanks for letting us know about it, TJ.

At the risk of over-analyzing the issue, it almost sounds to me like this is a sort counter-culture of movie viewing that approaches something post-modern (maybe post-postmodern? I don't know). Regardless, it's a very different mode of movie viewing. Much less individualistic, atomized, and passive. Much more communal and participatory.

For that reason alone, these venues seem worth saving -- along with a host of other reasons.
Comment Link Wednesday, 15 June 2011 18:56 posted by TJ Dawe
Scott, you've hit it. and I'm planning to expand this piece into a full article. I interviewed Rio manager Corrine Lea yesterday, and she told Tommy Wiseau, auteur and star of The Room, will be coming to the Rio for a screening in September. But the dynamics of a venue that expands people's sense of what going to movie is - that's fascinating to me. and beneficial to the community.
Comment Link Wednesday, 15 June 2011 20:18 posted by Trevor Malkinson
TJ, what came up for me while reading this- and I've never been to a local cinema anywhere- is the sheer flexibility that an independent theater has. All the things and events you describe could probably never happen in a corporate theater (with its centralized management processes and the rest of it). Some of the things you describe say to me that an independent/locally owned theater can respond creatively to what's happening in the local community, or put on something fun when there's a more global event of note (Oscars, World Cup). At any rate, I can really feel the creative potential of the independent theater, and I support that for sure.
Comment Link Friday, 17 June 2011 22:33 posted by TJ Dawe
Yes, that flexibility is definitely there, but there are challenges that larger theatres don't face. For one thing, if you've only got one screen, and you bring in a movie no one wants to see, you're locked into showing it for at least two weeks, and your attendance drops to almost nothing. A megaplex can just shunt it into one of their smaller screens. Also, movies get released at specific times, and a special event or a concert might not fit with those times. also, distributors demand big deposits for major movies that smaller, indie theatres have a hard time affording. so there are advantages, but disadvantages too.