Virtually every industry has had to make major changes to stay afloat in the last nine months,, but some are more adaptable than others. While major studios have been able to maintain a steady revenue stream by pivoting to a streaming-only release model for new titles, movie theaters have been left empty-handed, unable to compete with giants like Netflix, Hulu and Disney+.
Theaters did benefit from the federal stimulus bill passed in April, but they’ve seen little to no aid since then. Major companies like AMC and Regal Cinemas are facing bankruptcy, and analysts are doubtful that they will receive any federal relief given their nonessential status.
Big corporations will survive, though. America’s love of moviegoing is not dead, just dampened for the time being. Chains will return as soon as restrictions allow, but independently-owned cinemas may not be so lucky.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Portland’s independent theater scene was alive and well, but after nine months of closure, many of the city’s indie theaters are in peril. The Hollywood Theatre is just one of the many cinema in need of support right now. Their website has a banner about their new “Resiliency Fund,” asking for donations from every online visitor.
“We can’t let the pandemic take the Hollywood down,” it advertises.
Not all of the city’s theaters have even made it this far. The Roseway Theater, which had been in continuous operation since 1925, has been untouched since March. The theater suffered a break-in, shortly before the first stay-at-home orders in early spring, in which much of their sound and projector equipment was smashed, putting them into a precarious position going into the lockdown. After months of forced closure, the façade has fallen into a state of disrepair. In early fall, the brightly-lit fluorescent marquee, which features a giant rose towering above the sidewalk, was damaged. It still sits askew, a signal that even after weeks and weeks the owners can’t repair it. It’s still unclear if the theater will ever reopen, but the trash and broken glass littering the sidewalk under the torn movie posters don’t bode well.
We can’t let the rest of Portland’s locally-owned theaters go the way of the Roseway. Each of them has something unique to offer— The Academy Theater boasts $4 screenings of second-run movies, an often necessary price cut in a time of $17 movie tickets. The Hollywood Theatre hosts cinema festivals year-round, featuring categories from stop-motion animation to international horror.
It’s true that losing a few movie theaters is nowhere near the most pressing issue facing Portland or Oregon right now, but that doesn’t mean we should just let them wither away and die. In recent weeks, governors in both Iowa and Wisconsin announced bonds for movie theaters in their states, meant to stop them from going out of business. Oregon should follow suit—preserving these independent establishments will help keep chains from taking over the city. If local theaters aren’t saved now, they will be sorely missed when restrictions are lifted and Portlanders go back to their pre-pandemic lives.
Photo: “Hollywood Theater” by Peter Merholz is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
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