To get back to the theater discussion, look again at the site Mike Deneen suggested, the Music Box Theater in Chicago (
www.musicboxtheatre.com) ... yes, Chicago has 6 million people, but the Music Box Theater is really a neighborhood theater for the Southport/Wrigleyville neighborhood. There's probably not a whole lot of folks from the South Side driving to it.
While it does do a lot of movies like the Cedar Lee and hopefully soon the under-restoration theater at West 65th in Gordon Square, it also does a lot of fun things; among the movies this summer are foreign films ... which the Cedar Lee does, so the Detroit or restored Hilliard should avoid those for competition ... but the Music Box is also showing a variety of classic films, like "An American in Paris," "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," "Lawrence of Arabia," "Hud," and "Citizen Kane." And while it is showing Rocky Horror Picture Show for midnight movies, it's also showing some fun classics like the Adam West "Batman" movie, "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure," and the 80's classic, "Pretty in Pink." For families, they are playing "The Little Mermaid" daily, but also having sing-a-longs, with the song lyrics showing on the screen during the movie. During the day, they not only show kids movies in the morning, but in the matinees they show classic movie musicals.
All this in a two-screen (formerly one screen) theater. Amazing! And programming like that would make the Detroit or Hilliard utterly unique in Cleveland, and that would draw people from around the area, not just folks from Lakewood.
It could be done.
Another great idea to steal from would be the Westwood Theater in Johnstown, PA. Just a standard, run-of-the-mill strip shopping center theater, until a guy named Andy Lasky bought it and decided to compete with the home video experience ... he ripped out rows of seats, and installed long tabletops behind seats, so that you could buy food (sandwiches, pizza, etc) and eat them while you sat in your seat. And he also programmed like the Music Box, though not only did he show independent films and classics, but also "modern classics" from the 80s, that people just couldn't see anymore, except on the small screen of television.
And that worked, too. And Johnstown's a small city. People came from all over the region, because no one else was programming that way.
All sorts of fun programming could be done ... How about a John Belushi film festival? I'd love to see Animal House or Blues Brothers on the big screen ... or a Mel Brooks retrospective. Or show classic westerns, and see John Wayne back on the big screen. Or a Monty Python film fest. How about the Marx Brothers? Or every saturday before the main matinee, run Three Stooges shorts and Bugs Bunny cartoons! Or anime films for teens ... you name it, you can try it!
Maybe stuff like this might possibly be shown at the Cleveland Cinematheque, but rarely ... and yet, people travel from all over the area, to a small, not terribly comfortable theater, with limited parking, in an area you don't always want to be walking around at night ... and they fill the theater.
It could work in Lakewood. Sure, you may have to program the occasional blockbuster or second-run popular film, but go for the pop culture stuff, the classics, the fun movies that NO ONE else shows, and you'll have an audience. Show kids and family movies every morning, let there be singing ... show all sorts of midnight movies for the college kids and urban hipsters ... I saw at the LA film festival just a few weeks ago they were playing Al Pacino's "Scarface," and having a "curse-a-long" with the movie. What a great idea! Make films fun, make them communal events again ... NO dvr/DVD/netflicks/iTunes movie can top that experience.
It could work. And Lakewood could be the right place to do it. Think of how many people live in Lakewood, Rocky River, Westlake, Bay, Avon, Fairview Park, and the western edges of Cleveland. That's a LOT of people ... all potential audience. Would they come? You clean up the theater and do some aggressive marketing and fun programming, and I bet they would come, no question about it. If you give them something they can't get ANYWHERE else, and that's the shared communal experience of seeing something amazing on the big screen ... they will come. Add in some good food and drink, and tables to eat it on while they watch their movie, and it'll be a great entertainment experience, all local, and it'll attract people.