A Return to Theaters

Yesterday night, we went to a showing of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It was part of a summer-long weekly Steven Spielberg film retrospective at our local theater in Culver City—we missed Raiders of the Lost Ark last week, but plan to see Last Crusade next week, which concludes the series.

Like many people, Temple of Doom is my least favorite of the Indiana Jones films. Though I love the opening Busby Berkeley-inspired musical number and the terrific action sequence that immediately follows (which has a very strong Terry and the Pirates flavor to it), I had not seen the movie in its entirety beyond those opening scenes in many years. I primarily went to accompany my wife who really wanted to see it and ended up really enjoying it. Seeing it on the big screen with a nearly full house made it great fun. (Our 19 year old son also accompanied us—he’s seen the movie too but never in a theater.)

As you’ll see in the photos, people even came in cosplay as Indiana Jones and other characters! They all gathered in the lobby afterwards—one even came dressed as Shia LeBeouf’s Mutt character in his Marlon Brando-inspired The Wild One leather biker outfit, though I didn’t take a photo.

I assume showing films in repertory has been a success because the theater is now running several retrospectives concurrently. A few weeks ago, we saw Babe as part of a weekly family summer film series and watched The Iron Giant as part of the same series a few weeks before. Both screenings were also well attended. A horror film series, presumably in the run up to Halloween, kicks off shortly with Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness. I should add these films are also at reduced prices—the family films were only $5.99/ticket while last night’s film was only $8.99/ticket (it’s reserved seating and they don’t even charge an online service fee!). Showing familiar classic films that people have a fondness for may be a way to get people back in the theater.

By the way, I had forgotten how intense and scary both Temple of Doom and Babe can be for younger audiences—during both films, in the middle of the show, I noticed that some families with young children left the theater.

I particularly look forward to a 100 Years of MGM retrospective that kicks off in September—it includes, of course, The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind and Singing in the Rain, but also 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as A Night of the Opera, Shaft and others. (I’ve seen all these films theatrically, including 2001 in 70 mm). I remarked on how I’d like to see Singing in the Rain and 2001—my wife initially said she wasn’t interested in the latter, but changed her mind when she saw the trailer for it that screened before Temple of Doom, because it’s so beautifully shot! What particularly makes the venue ideal for the series is because the old MGM Studios (now Sony) lot is in Culver City as well, just down the street from the theater.

This local theater is a multiplex that was once an ArcLight. It went dark during the pandemic when ArcLight declared bankruptcy, but was purchased by Amazon Studios, which is next door to the property at the historic Culver Studios, in downtown Culver City. The theater is on a promenade next to one of the studio’s entrances. Though owned by Amazon, the theater still screens first-run theatrical films, though I’ve occasionally noticed special events and screenings there. Indeed, the 2022 West Coast red carpet premiere for Amazon’s Rings of Power series was held there, when the theater was technically still closed—we saw the temporary red carpet area they had set up, which included the Prime Video logo over the top of the theater entrance (see accompanying photo). I thought it was going to be a permanent fixture of the renamed theater, but the next time I was there, it was gone, so I guess it was just temporary for the purpose of the event. The venue is now simply the Culver Theater, though it is indeed owned by Amazon.

Below are two photos from 2022 of the ArcLight Theatre in Culver City, which by this time had gone dark due to the pandemic, and had been purchased by Amazon Studios. Though the theater had not been re-opened, it was used for the West Coast red carpet premiere for the Amazon series, The Rings of Power.