Note to theaters: Give classics a try now and then

Jordan Commons opened its doors with "North By Northwest" on one of its 17 new screens.   The Avalon Theatre recently played “Singin' in the Rain.”   “The Gold Rush” finished tonight a two-night run at the Organ Loft.

Chris Hicks was asked to help program a non-week series of classic films at SCERA.  Attendance increased each week, bolstered by reasonable admission prices, mailings to SCERA members, newspaper ads, and the theater's prominent marquee.  The series was so successful that SCERA president Norm Nielsen wants to do it again next year.

“...there are quite simply too many screens in the Salt Lake Valley these days and not nearly enough movies to go around.  So, rather than just pull in yet another recent movie that no one cares about, why not dedicate a screen or two to showing old classics?  Or, how about pulling some older movie in when things get slow and "The Bachelor" is being screened to an empty auditorium?  Sure, some "classics" would do better business than others -- but they couldn't do much worse than some of the current fare.”