In LA

Groupon today features a deal for an “$18 movie outing for two” to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (the big screen and their 6-screen multiplex). Two tickets to a film, drinks, popcorn, $18. Given that the normal cost of a ticket to a screening at that theater is $13.75, that I love the cheesy orientalism of the main screen and its genuinely non-ironic grandness, and that it’s not far from home, I should not have mixed feelings about the deal.

But there’s a catch –programming that is incompatible with my tastes. Whoever picks the films that show on the main screen at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre has a unique gift for choosing films that I have no interest in watching. It’s amazingly consistent¹. Not only do I have no interest in watching what they show there, I often recoil from just the posters, and wonder where they find these flicks. Maybe that will change with the new owners. Maybe they’ll let me program the theatre –surely it’s about time Videodrome and Rubin and Ed play together at a grand movie palace. Cult classics featuring cults, a theme night. That ought to goose ticket sales more than a groupon. Right?

I’m probably going to buy into this deal just because I love that theatre and will undoubtedly end up going there a couple of times this year regardless what they’re showing. Maybe I’ll be surprised by how good the swill is and will stop being such a snob.

1. OK, there are exceptions, and I usually jump at the chance to go there and see them. [↩]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 21st, 2012 at 11:59 am and is filed under Deals, Filmmaking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.