Forum - View topicAnswerman - How Do Small Indie Theaters End Up Showing Anime?
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
 SubscriberExempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 614 Location: inland US west, pretty rural |
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Ditto to what Alan45 said. I'd have to go 600 miles, almost a 1000 km, to get to a metro center that had Your Name. ( to Seattle, WA, on the US west coast. )
FloozyGod, the theater staff probably couldn't legally sell a poster like that. But giving it away would probably be "overlooked." |
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PurpleWarrior13
 Posts: 2027 |
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I work at a Regal, and we usually get the wider anime releases like the DBZ movies, Digimon, Your Name (for 2 weeks), Sword Art Online, and all the Miyazaki reissues. They do pretty good business too, especially DBZ and the Miyazaki stuff. We also got FUNi's release of Shin Godzilla.
An ancient local theater in downtown Richmond from the 1920s called the Byrd doesn't get the new releases until they're finished with the chains, with $4 tickets. They do a lot of midnight movies with classic films like Kill Bill and Heathers, and they run some kids movies every morning, including some Ghibli stuff like My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service. I believe they still sometimes project on 35mm too. |
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Sakagami Tomoyo
 Posts: 940 Location: Melbourne, VIC, Australia |
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This seems to be one area where Australia has it relatively good; even the two major chains screen anime films, even if they are way fewer screenings and fewer cinemas than just about any other film would get. I suspect this is at least partly thanks to Madman making a real push for it.
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relyat08
 Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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Angelika is the sh*t. I will forever love them here in NOVA. I don't think they have missed a single anime film theatrical release since I've started watching them in like 2013(excluding a couple that were like 3 locations, San Fran, NYC, and LA). Great indie theater overall too. They show a lot of really interesting stuff, have themed days and showings, with lots of old-school stuff as well, and they have solid food, alcohol, and artisan popcorn and stuff, if you're into that.
Have you been to the Reston Town Center theater at all? I think that's where the Kabaneri ones were. I almost went, but couldn't find anyone to go with, so I missed out, but if it's the theater I'm thinking of the seats are absolutely the best I've ever sat in and you should go at least once. They have electronic recline, super wide seating(enough that little me was able to sit cross-legged, side-legged, and pretty much however I wanted), and they extend out fully, so even if you are in the front row, you don't have to worry about getting a kink in your neck or anything. |
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3767 |
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^I haven't been but that is the one I was referring to. I only go to the movie theater to see anime (aside from more mainstream stuff with family) and the Kabeneri compilation films (and Shin Godzilla) are the only ones that were showing there so I haven't gone. The seats at the Fair Oaks Regal are like that, so at least I don't miss out on that aspect.
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NeoStrayCat
 Posts: 618 |
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Well, like some others here, I'm kinda lucky the local "Starlight" branch of theaters/cinemas (in CA, no less, lol), plays mostly the Funi films that Merxamers mentioned, the one across Uptown Whitter there plays them close around, lol.
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MoonPhase1
Posts: 492 |
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My area gets an occasional Anime movie like a handful of them a year. Most usually are very packed in fact with the DBZ movies, they had to move the movie to a bigger room because it was so packed.
But the day I saw Your Name English Dub it had like 5-6 people in it including myself. Though I did kind of wait a little while before seeing it. |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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The Brattle in Harvard Square also shows anime from time to time. I saw the first two Madoka movies there and, more recently, a showing of Totoro. The Kendall Square has its neighbors MIT and Harvard to draw an audience for anime. The Kendall also screened Shin Godzilla and Miss Hokusai last fall. |
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simmererdown
 Posts: 13 Location: Ohio |
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I've actually been really surprised that both my local chain theaters (Regal and Cinimark) get the Funimation releases.
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13581 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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Here in the Valley of the Sun, limited anime viewings (the non-Studio Ghibli ones) tend to be limited to Tempe theaters, be it AMC or Harkins. Darn it!
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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While there are plenty of small indie theaters around here in southern California, I've found myself watching anime films mostly from the Century chain at various locations, most commonly North Hollywood or Oxnard. Some of them will even sometimes show older anime movies as part of their weekly classic movies screenings, about three or four times per year. It's mostly Ghibli stuff, but sometimes you get the Makoto Shinkai and Mamoru Hosoda movie. I think Cinemark owns Century. A few Regency Theatres will sometimes show the major anime films, like the DBZ ones, but not very often, and it's not consistent. (Regency seems to be a local chain.)
The locally owned small theaters, on the other hand, have their hands full with actual indie films and third-world films. I think anime movies are too mainstream for them, though I do recall One Piece: Strong World being shown at one of them.
Believe me, it can be very tough obtaining posters if you yourself are not a vendor. I tried to get a poster for Cardfight! Vanguard from various vendors after Bushiroad stopped printing for that set, but every vendor refused, even though they were taken down shortly afterwards. |
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Lapin noir
Posts: 127 Location: United Kingdom |
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For all Justin's thorough explanation of the situation from a purely financial perspective, as someone who semi-regularly volunteers at an independent cinema (consistently running movies since 1914 – sucks to be you, Byrd Theatre
 though, admittedly, not much competition for the interior  ) I feel obligated to point out that he has missed one important part of the answer to the question: because, in some cases, they fribbing well want to!
If the way you make your decisions is not in answer to the question "How can I make myself rich?" but "How can I provide the richest variety of what cinema has to offer and include the most varied audience that it's possible to while making enough profit to continue doing this?", then theatrical anime logically forms part of the answer. I emphasise with anyone missing releases because they're only played a single time, late on a week night, however, and consider myself to be exceptionally charmed in not being a student but living a short enough travelling distance from a student area to be able to get to – and, more to the point, back from – such screenings. It's in this that the "that it's possible to while making enough profit to continue doing this?" part of the above question kicks in. There are really whole states which have a cinema distribution network in which your name. hasn't been licensed? Though, that said, since there's no list available of every one of the "85 countries and regions" it's supposedly been licensed for theatrical distribution in, that could be (and probably is) pure marketing fluff. Or at the least a case of erring on the side of optimism. |
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