Tim League is pretty awesome. Yes, he makes awkward video introductions to trailers, such as the one currently running before trailers for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), but what he has done with the Alamo Drafthouse is something every theater should aspire to and why I am there at least once a week. There is a strict no talking, texting, or arriving late policy. Yes, I have kicked people out of the theater when seeing movies there. They have terrific food and drink service. They also have preserved film projectors in their theaters while this huge digital transition has been going on. This is the subject of Tim League’s open letter to theater owners about the early 35mm and 70mm screenings for Christopher Nolan‘s Interstellar.
You see, theater owners who have made the complete transition over to digital are not too pleased that Interstellar will be showing two days early exclusively for film presentation. League’s argument is theaters should have preserved some way of projecting film, both to honor filmmakers’ creative visions and for good business practices.
I ask all cinema owners, what is our relationship to filmmakers? I consider myself a venue in service of the creative visionaries who create the stories and experiences for which we charge. If Christopher Nolan prefers for his movie to be projected from 35mm or 70mm prints, then we as an industry should respect his vision and do our best to support it. He is seeing an industry that has all but abandoned the rich history and tradition of film projection and is using this highly anticipated release to stop the rapid erosion of film projection in cinemas.
League is not totally against digital. Every Alamo Drafthouse theater converted to Sony Digital 4K presentation a long time ago, but that does not mean they had to leave film behind like the dodo. They can coexist.
At our equipped cinemas in the Alamo Drafthouse chain, 35mm still accounts for anywhere from 1 percent to 7 percent of our total box office revenue depending on the venue. Five-percent alternative content is a stretch goal for TOTAL alternative content for most cinemas; we reached that in some locations simply by not throwing out our 35mm projectors.
His full letter is a must read. As someone who loves celluloid, I am very happy that I can attend a Drafthouse screening of something like Hedwig and the Angry Inch and see it in 35mm. That is a thrill. I, for one, will be seeing Interstellar in 70mm IMAX, and I do not want to see it any other way.
You can read the full letter at Deadline.
