#FROZEN SING ALONG ANN ARBOR MOVIE#

Our sing-along audiences grow every year. Plus, they bring in a multigenerational audience. We pay more to the distributor, but we earn more. Michigan Theater: The sing-alongs do really well for us.

#FROZEN SING ALONG ANN ARBOR MOVIE#

The digital conversion of movie theaters has made this evolution possible.

We believe what is currently called “event cinema” is the natural evolution of the contemporary movie theater. Historically movie theaters have been the community “campfire,” where people gathered to experience the pleasure of the shared experience incorporating the cultural events into our programming has further enhanced the concept of the theater as the community gathering place. In time, it has led to an increase of approximately 14 percent in gross revenue without putting a dent into movie attendance. Moviehouse: Event cinema has had a positive impact on our revenue and has broadened the audience to include people who might have diverse interests other than films. People are really appreciative that we bring this kind of programming here, making these one-of-a-kind productions accessible both geographically and financially. And it’s more than just a financial win-sometimes we are so focused on right-fitting an audience to a movie that we forget that what we’re selling is a communal experience. We live in a very diverse town, so when you can have an event that touches lots of different audiences, I think that’s a huge win for us. Michigan Theater: The impact has been huge on our box office. I highly recommend seeking out other like-minded organizations to work with, if at all possible. We are in a fortunate position to have a partner organization to help offset the costs and to market the event. Michigan Theater: Our first event screening was All’s Well That Ends Well 450 people attended.

In time, with marketing and exposure to this new art form, the audience gradually became familiar with National Theatre today it is one of our strongest programs. We also used the key time during intermission to interact with our audience and create that sense of community and shared experience that event cinema offers. We made flyers with detailed information about the production, actors, plot, runtime, etc. In the beginning the audience was very small because event cinema was relatively new and most people were unsure of what to expect: Was it a movie? What does “live” mean? The talk-backs during intermission helped engage the audience in the experience, and we made a concerted effort to educate and explain the nuances of what we were offering. The play is a tribute to the Eastern European immigrants who became major players in Hollywood’s golden age-the experience was interesting because the audience was in a movie theater watching a play from London about the inception of film. It was a fascinating experience screening Travelling Light, which is a play by Nicholas Wright, directed by the talented theater and film director Nicholas Hytner, (he also directed last year’s film The Lady in the Van). Moviehouse: Our first event screening was from NT Live via satellite. For what it’s worth, we don’t do broadcast opera-our market is saturated. We’ve only done a handful of programs without UMS, primarily what we call “eventized” film screenings, including having live director’s commentary from John Cameron Mitchell during a screening of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and a lot of sing-alongs. Michigan Theater: We started National Theatre Live in fall 2009 with UMS, the University of Michigan’s University Musical Society, as a partner from the start. We invested in satellite equipment to access the Met Opera Live in HD, the National Theatre Live, and the Bolshoi Ballet with the digital access in place we now could market content beyond movies-concerts, plays, ballet, opera, and exhibitions.

The Met Opera was a pioneer in the digital delivery of opera in HD, and we felt we would have success with this type of cultural programming, which was slowly coming into the marketplace. We are fortunate to be in an interesting region populated by artists, writers, celebrities, and people in the performing and creative arts. Moviehouse: The Moviehouse is located in Dutchess County, a beautiful, pristine area two hours north of Manhattan on the boarder of Litchfield County, Connecticut. Sarah Erlewine, the Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MichiganĬarol & Robert Sadlon, the Moviehouse, Millerton, New York

Frozen sing along ann arbor