When Cineplex Entertainment launched its Classic Film Series, skeptics wondered whether such an initiative would fly.
Why pay to see Citizen Kane (1941) or The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) in a movie theatre when you can download it or rent a Blu-Ray and watch it on TV, they reasoned.
Five years later, the series, part of Cineplex’s event-cinema programming, has been so successful the theatre chain is expressing its appreciation to customers by offering free screenings of Rear Window nationwide.
“People love Hitchcock,” said Brad LaDouceur, vice-president of event cinema for Cineplex, explaining why the company chose to showcase the 1954 thriller for its gratitude giveaway.
“We’re doing this as a thank-you to audiences who have supported us, and also to give new audiences a chance to see classic films presented in a state-of-the-art auditorium in digital.”
The local screening — 12:55 p.m. on Sept. 13, at SilverCity — kicks off fifth-anniversary celebrations for the series that began with Casablanca, one of many films that have stood the test of time and found new audiences.
“It’s great because it’s giving audiences a chance to see films they may never have discovered,” LaDouceur said. “We have cinephile favourites and audience favourites. We’re not afraid to take a leap of faith and try something obscure.”
Bookings have been triggered in part by Hollywood studios’ escalating commitment to remaster cinema classics deemed to have a potential big-screen afterlife, he said.
“They’re creating these beautiful new DCPs [digital cinema packages] for cinema use,” he said.
Universal’s 40th anniversary release of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws and its digitally remastered 20th anniversary edition of Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 are examples of classics that attract filmgoers keen to relive the magic they felt when they saw such films when they opened. What baby boomer can forget the impact of Jaws in the summer of 1975?
“Not a single person there was seeing the movie [Apollo 13] for the first time,” said film reviewer Jason Whyte, who has been hosting local screenings since last summer and often polls the audience.
“We’ve built a huge audience and there are more and more regulars coming. I’ve seen some families taking their kids for the first time to see movies they loved, which is really touching.”
Last year’s showings of The Shawshank Redemption, Frank Darabont’s 1994 prison drama that moviegoers can’t seem to get enough of, was another particularly popular attraction, LaDouceur said.
Coincidentally, Rear Window star James Stewart starred in two other films on the calendar: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (October) and It’s a Wonderful Life (December).
Upcoming highlights include Pal Joey (November), in honour of Frank Sinatra’s centennial, and the Billy Wilder comedy Sabrina, starring Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden, in January.
Free advance tickets to Rear Window can be obtained in-person at the SilverCity box-office.
Tickets to all other films in the Classic Film Series are $6.
For more details visit cineplex.com.
