BYU closing movie theater for first time in 30 years

For the first time in 30 years, Brigham Young University will close its 400-seat Varsity Theater during the spring and summer terms, when most students are off campus.   The theater may reopen, if substantial crowds can be drawn.  The Varsity also features live comedy routines and musicians once a week.

"It just hasn't proven to be profitable," said Jerry Jerry Bishop, director of the Wilkinson Student Center.  "We don't have the lines like we did before.  With the change of not showing edited movies, the interest has gone to other theaters.  [The change] has definitely had an impact on the number of people who come to the movies."

BYU edited movies to meet the school's moral code and because LDS Church leaders have advised church members not to watch films with profanity, nudity, or excessive violence.  Students would wait in line for hours before the box office opened to buy tickets for edited films.  The theater made headlines when Steven Spielberg refused to allow the school to cut parts of "Schindler's List."  The school stopped editing films in 1998.  Now the Varsity only shows G, PG, and a limited number of PG-13 movies.