“I think there’s been a lot of camaraderie amongst the art house cinemas because, quite frankly, it’s tough for art house cinemas in the best of times,” Barker said. At least North Park is a single screen theater with 607 seats, which means patrons who want to return after the pandemic will theoretically have ample space. “We can give people 20 feet of distance,” he said. “An art house cinema with a huge, old-fashioned screen—you can see movies the way that these auteurs want their movies to be seen.”
North Park also happens to be celebrating a special anniversary this year. “November will be our hundredth birthday, and we’ve survived a lot of things,” he said. “So I think coronavirus is just another thing that we’ll survive.”
Kiggins Theatre—Vancouver, Washington
Back to the Future is Kiggins Theater owner Dan Wyatt’s favorite film of all time, so quoting it on the marquee was a no-brainer for him. He settled on an urgent bit of dialogue from Doc Brown: “Marty, you must not leave the house. Anything you do could have serious repercussions on future events.” Soon, photos of his red, black, and cream marquee went viral, catching the eye of Michael J. Fox—who posted a photo of it on Instagram—and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, which produced the film. “We took the keys to the DeLorean away from Doc and Marty for the time being,” the company quipped on Twitter.
“I was pretty excited,” Wyatt said of the message. “That was the one I was most proud of.”
It’s one of many ’80s-centric messages the theater has posted during the pandemic, including “Goonies never say die” (from The Goonies) and “Keep your distance, Chewie, but don’t look like you’re keeping your distance” (from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi). Wyatt, with the help of events and operations coordinator Laine Keniston, has come up with new messages several times in the past two months and changing the aluminum lettering himself.
Wyatt has also been busy finding alternate revenue sources for the theater, including setting up virtual screenings, selling gift certificates, and transitioning it into a popcorn to-go restaurant. “Some days we’re out-grossing even a regular Friday or Saturday,” Wyatt noted, a silver lining.
“It’s been here since 1936,” Wyatt said of the theater. “Kiggins was the name of the town’s mayor at the time, who was quite the real estate magnate and a movie lover. He built several theaters, but this was the only one that exists today. It stands out as a little bit of a beacon on Main Street.”
Sunrise Theater—Southern Pines, North Carolina
On March 15, the Sunrise Theater was forced to cancel a sold-out screening of the Riverdance 25th anniversary show—a gut punch as the reality of the coronavirus began to settle in. “We had to send 360 people away,” said MaryBeth Poplyk, the historic theater’s executive director. “It was just not in their best interest, health-wise. We’re a small theater, so you’re tightly packed in there.”