Famed director Martin Scorsese made news last month when he explained to film critic Peter Travers why he no longer went to see movies in a theater. Citing audience cellphone use, incessant talking and generally restive behavior that often drowns out dialogue, the director of “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “Goodfellas” told Travers he’d had enough.
Of course, big screens in the U.S. were in big trouble long before Scorsese’s admission. The pandemic only turbo-charged the pre-COVID trend away from theaters in favor of home-based entertainment media. In the first half of 2020, Netflix added more than 26 million subscribers. So when shuttered theaters reopened, audiences — specifically American audiences — did not rush back in droves.
CFI took over from Cinemark, the Plano, Texas-based movie theater giant that had a long-term lease on the Sequoia.“We are thrilled to have reopened the Sequoia Cinema under the CAFILM umbrella,” said Mark Fishkin, Executive Director and Founder of the California Film Institute. “The Sequoia holds a special place in the hearts of many, and we are excited to welcome patrons back for the movie-watching experience. While a full renovation is planned for the future, our current priority is to provide a welcoming environment for our community to enjoy fantastic films. We’re eager to reconnect with our loyal patrons and share the magic of the big screen with them.”
On a recent edition of NPR’s “Fresh Air,” actor Mark Hamill spoke about the 1997 theatrical rerelease of George Lucas’ “Star Wars” trilogy in honor of the 20th anniversary of the original film’s release. Hamill requested a DVD copy of the remastered films for his family, but his kids demanded to attend the screenings in person.
That same excitement was also palpable from 2012 to 2016, when the Mill Valley Film Festival presented the first three “Star Wars” movies to packed houses at the now-defunct Century Cinema in Corte Madera. It was there that Lucas first held preview screenings for his friends and employees. Though the films had been out for over 30 years, the thrill of watching them on a big screen with costume-wearing fans and members of the production team showed how theaters can be more than just a place to watch a film.
Theaters can also be places of safety, sanctuary and shelter. During the 2019 wildfires in Sonoma and Marin counties, the Mill Valley Film Festival opened its theaters to displaced fire victims, offering a place to recharge cellphones and watch movies for free. And during this year’s heat wave across the nation, theaters are cooling centers, hydration stations and spaces of physical respite.
The California Film Institute and the Roxie are members of the Arthouse Convergence, a national coalition of independent theatrical exhibitors dedicated to advocating for the survival and resilience of independent cinema.
Is the forecast for movie theaters still cloudy? Yes, but there are signs of hope. A few weeks ago, I was chatting with several high school students. Almost all of them had seen Ryan Coogler’s new movie “Sinners” on the big screen, and each one told me they planned to see it again.
Mr. Scorsese: Come home. Your viewers, old and young, are saving a seat for you.
KD Davis is a former senior film programmer for the Mill Valley Film Festival and professor emerita of cinematic arts at California State University Monterey Bay.
Designed by the Reid Brothers of San Francisco and built by Blumenthal Theaters, Inc. for $125,000, the Sequoia opened as a single screen theater in February 1929, the same year as the stock market crash. Records at the Mill Valley Library’s Lucretia Little History Room indicate that the theater was named by Ralph Kliewe, a local student who won a naming contest and thus got to watch movies there for free for a year.
The opening night featured the films “Uncle Tom” and “The Kid’s Clever,” a sports review by Grantland Rice as well as vaudeville acts, speeches and a performance on a Wurlitzer organ. Blumenthal owned and operated the theater for nearly 50 years. Blumenthal “twinned” the theater in 1875 by turning it into a two-screen house, and Pacific Theatres took it over one year later, making subsequent repairs in 1991.
The theater underwent a $1 million renovation In 1999 by Plath & Company, and two years later, Pacific sold its Marin business to San Rafael-based Century Theatres. In 2004, the movie house’s roof collapsed during a showing of the film “Garden State” just days before MVFF was set to begin. The damage forced the festival to move the bulk of its events to the Rafael, save for those that could be accommodated by the Throckmorton Theatre.
In 2006, Cinemark acquired Century Theatres, and has operated the theater as CineArts Sequoia ever since. Throughout all those years, the Blumenthal family continued to own the building, selling it to CFI and its investors in 2008.
The eventual realization of the goal to renovate the Sequoia would truly put the Mill Valley Film Festival on the best possible footing to be successful and sustainable for decades to come, Fishkin says.