I live in a small town in southern MI. Amazingly enough, we have a ten screen multiplex, which is never sold out, even on opening days for the biggest blockbusters. The problem is, if a movie is not a big blockbuster, or doesn't appeal to the 14-17 year old set, it simply won't show up.

About Schmidt
25th Hour
Narc
Chicago
Gangs of New York
Spirited Away

and so on and son on and so on.

I have to travel about an hour to Ann Arbor to see some of them, and had to go 100 miles to metro Detroit for Spirited Away...

However, if I wanted to see any of the fine offerings like:

The Hot Chick
Maid in Manhattan
Just Married
National Security
Kangaroo Jack

I'd have no problems.

I know that they have to sell tickets...but come on, how about one screen of interesting viewing?

I guess the old adage holds: There's no accounting for taste, and nobody goes broke catering to the lowest common denominator.

Sorry for the rant...

-doc

You need to move.

Find the nearest college town. My nearest college town is screening Frida for $3.

My thoughts exactly. Why are you living out in the styx where this would be the case if it bugs you so much? I mean there is an even exchange for everything - suburbs/into-the-great-wide-open where property and cost of living is cheap = JSP-ville. The movie theater is, as you said, never filled to capacity and most theaters make their money off of concessions. Do you think that showing About Schmidt would increase their earnings over sure-fire teen movies that will draw in the largest cache of disposable income AND who are most likely to buy popcorn and the like?

If you think there is a market for such films, why not open your own small art house and give it a go? Otherwise The Bus' answer is probably your best bet if you can't wait for the DVD release (9 times out 10 the presentation would be better in your home in my experience).

I hear Vacaville offers the finest in independant films!

It happens....you live in a small town, chances are if they showed all those movies you listed they'd sell about 10 tickets to each, no where near enough to justify the cost. At least Kangaroo Jack will bring in the little kids.

It's business, tough nuts!

I live in a big city and it's still a hassle to see non-mainstream movies. Ah well.

well sir, not to brag, but I live in the middle of nowhere, and my local theatre is screening Adaptation, Rabbit Proof Fence, and Bowling for Columbine this week...all 3 of them

I thought Aaron was moving to Burley?

Nowadays I just go across the street, but I know how you feel I lived your life once. Listen to Iron Chef what he says is so simple it is mind-boggling.

Cheers ,

DVD Smurf

That is the driving force behind most of my DVD purchases (blind buys of obscure (or foreign) movies that look good (good reviews)). Movies that not only were never shown around here, but most likely will never be in the rental stores.

Don't forget, Chicago still hasn't had a nationwide release and some of the others just went wide this week or last.

ChemDoc: I know exactly how you feel, as my town is identical. Whenever we want to see a good movie and not some stupid comedy, it's a pricey ferry ride across the lake to Vermont, then a half-hour of driving, dealing with all the college traffic, paying for a parking spot, hoping the movie we're going to isn't sold out... Ugh. But it's the only option.

Do you know other people in the area who feel the way you do? If so, get a petition to the manager making him/her aware that it would be feasible to have one screen devoted to non-mainstream shows.

I already did. i've been living here since janury 17th.

Our theater is really screwy. We didn't get Traffic until a month after the Academy Awards were over, and didn't get Crouching Tiger until late May of that year. Then last year we had Mulholland Drive a month after it was released. We just had Spirited Away and currently have Adaptation. Unfortunately noone seens to know or care about these movies. I was the only person in Spirited Away. For Adaptation there was one other person in there. It was 3:55 and the 3:30 show hadn't even started. I went to tell them, and they said they forgot to turn it on. It must've been so sparsely attended the rest of the week they were used to not even running it. Sad.

Same for me heat. Where are you located at in central illinois? Because here in my neck of the woods in illinois we have 2 multiplex theaters (total of 26 screens) and they NEVER NEVER show any of the low-budget or obscure shows. For example, bowling for columbine was here (Unadvertised) for 10 days only. When I talked to the manager of the theater he said that they decided to pull the movie even though they did not make half of what they paid to get the movie. Just plain crazy

Hey, Chemdoc, it's probably because you live in the midwest. It's not really much of a haven for any kind of independent films.

I've heard that Woody Allen movies don't even play in middle America, and I've never seen one advertised, so there may be something to that.

If you want to see anything decent, you'll have to go to the "big city." And even then...