It was Pulp Fiction that really proved independent films could be big moneymakers. That was more than a decade ago, but the nation’s biggest theater chains are apparently just catching on. One of America’s most massive movie purveyors, AMC Theaters has announced they’ll devote a significant portion of their megaplex power to showing indie movies, instead of say… whatever horrible thing it is that the Wayans Brothers are doing this year.
Reuters says they’ll devote 72 screens in 39 different US markets to showing art house and specialty movies, thus putting themselves in direct competition with the nation’s other biggest indie film purveyor: Landmark Theaters. Landmark still has the artsy fartsy set locked in though, with 215 screens in 15 different states. But it’s a beginning for AMC, as they look for new ways to attract moviegoers after last year’s ticket sales downturn.
What does this mean for me and you? Well for me it might mean I’ll only have to drive 15 minutes to see The Notorious Bettie Page instead of fighting traffic for an hour to make it into downtown Dallas. It also puts independent films in a rather different environment. Landmark Theaters and their cousins tend to cater to a more upscale, elite crowd. Actually let me rephrase that. Art house theaters often cater only to one of two kinds of people: rich college kids living on mommy and daddy’s money or rich, loft living adults who like showing off how environmentally sensitive they are by taking the bus. Not exactly the kind of place where the average Joes of the world might feel comfortable. Movie theaters just shouldn’t serve glasses of wine. But AMC Megaplexes will be showing mainstream films right along with the art house stuff, making movies like Brick more comfortably available to anyone and everyone, rather than just the downtown, big city elite.
Maybe we shouldn’t get too excited. After all, it’s only 73 out of AMC’s thousands of nationwide screens. Still, it’s a beginning. Moving way from slavish devotion to big studio sequels and towards giving moviegoers more variety to choose from has to be a step in the right direction.
