Synopsis: A Live! Movies feature that explores the moviegoing experience.
This week’s segment: A second look at first-run films, by guest Lobbyist Chris McNamara.
I won’t wear secondhand clothes. Those outlet bakeries with the second-shelved loaves of bread creep me out. But I love seeing movies in second-run theaters. I love it as much as I hate seeing blockbusters on opening night at premium cinemas. Cheapskate? Curmudgeon? No … savvy.
By the time a film appears in a second-run movie house, you’ve had time to read the reviews and hear friends discuss the film. The crowds — with their chatter and cell phones — have thinned. The prices have plummeted.
On March 25 I saw “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” at the La Grange Theatre (80 S. La Grange Rd., lagrangetheatre.com), to which I used to ride my bike to see flicks as a kid. I drove this time, parking in a non-metered space on La Grange Road, just steps from the venue.
My ticket cost $3.50 — double what I paid to see “Police Academy.” A small Sprite and a small popcorn cost me $4 total. So my second-run moviegoing experience set me back $7.50. A comparable outing at the AMC River East 21 theater would have cost me $34 with validated parking.
While Brad Pitt aged in reverse onscreen, the La Grange Theatre was sparsely populated — this was the late show on a rainy Tuesday night. The aisles were littered with popcorn kernels. The floor was sticky with pop that I’d spilled there 25 years ago. The screen wasn’t mammoth by any means. And the decor was some bizarre tribute to 1950s rock ‘n’ roll.
But the film was the same one shown at the premium theaters. I could sit wherever I wanted.
And rather than idling through 20 minutes of ads, cell phone lectures and trailers, my 8:45 p.m. flick started at 8:48 p.m., after a single preview.
It was a throwback to moviegoing experiences I remember having as a kid with the prices to match. And in that sense, I picked the right film.
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Send suggestions for Lobbyist topics to ctc-movies@tribune.com.
