OPINION: Service to culture

On Tuesday I published an article about the Princess Theater, the movie theater in Mount Ayr that has been facing some financial trouble. It’s a theater that I hadn’t seen a movie in, in a town I visited for the first time the day of my interview and in an area I’ve only recently started to feel comfortable in. Despite all of this, I feel a connection to this theater.

I grew up around big movie theater chains, with Fridley Theatres owning the Springwood 9 theater in Ankeny, the place where I watched my first movies, and the AMC Classic Johnston 16 being the first place I ever binged multiple screenings in a row. Cinemark is the modern day equivalent to luxury cinemas, with multiple scattered in the Des Moines metro area as the bastion of multiplex cinemas.

I never grew up in a town with a movie theater with only one screen. My overindulgent brain when I entered college didn’t comprehend the idea that, for those theaters, whatever was showing that week was what you got that week. One movie for the weekend and that was it.

The content of the screening was not as valuable as the social experience it provided. I talked with my grandfather at length for a college project about some of the theaters he grew up with, and to see him describe a part of history that seems lost to the corporate business of today was beautiful to me. Things like drive-ins, the local theater, meeting with friends and dates; all of these still exist today, but in a more niche environment.

I learned the names and locations of local theaters in the Creston area soon after I moved in, although not having one in town was disappointing. In regards to the Strand’s construction, I unfortunately predict that it won’t open for at least another six months, although you don’t want to open a theater in January, when the box office is at its worst.

The Iowa Theater in Winterset was the one I attempted to get to the most, but things like my car breaking down and late work nights prevented me from seeing a screening yet. I tried to see a screening of “Civil War” at the Lyric Theater in Osceola, but my schedule had other plans. The closest theater proximity-wise (from my home in Afton) is The Princess, but for one reason or another, I never took the charge to head down.

When I visited The Princess, I was blown away by it. Operating as a theater since 1914 (When they showed silent films), The Princess has been screening movies way before any member of my immediate family was born. Parked on the town square, it’s a vital part to both Mount Ayr’s history, and the movie industry in general.

Karen Bender, the manager for the theater, and Martha Landphair, the head of the board, were exceptionally kind to me as they gave me a tour of the building. For the first time I got to see how a theater functioned with my own eyes, seeing the projector, the screen which could be wheeled away to convert the theater into a live stage and countless items and props that were a part of the theater’s history, both old and new.

But something else occurred to me as I was walking up a flight of stairs to a small office room; this was exactly the type of theater my grandfather described to me. This was the place in Mount Ayr where people went to socialize. This was a theater where it didn’t matter what was showing that week as long as you got to see it with friends. It’s an artifact of real history, of old ideas revived. It’s magical.

Last week, I talked about the theater in the Jordan Creek Mall. I know how this looks where I’m praising both the corporate multiplex and the small-town home theater, but I do sincerely hope that there’s a way where both can exist, and more importantly where it’s encouraged for both to exist.

Ankeny had already decided against the small theater when it started growing rapidly, and the theater there is the B&B Ankeny 12, with 12 screens and up to $16 a ticket. The curse for the urban areas is that there isn’t a chance for the small theater to exist when a competing theater will have a dozen screens and still boost ticket prices anyways. Going above the average ticket price is a death sentence for smaller theaters, which is why you’ll see places like The Princess have ticket costs as low as $7, with the Lyric Theater scraping by on prices as low as $5.

Distributors have been raising their ticket share percentage and reserving screens for multiple weeks, forcing smaller screens to make a choice between the biggest film of the year soaking up screening times or facing the wrath of a community that is more aware of incoming movies than ever. “Star Wars” movies today have some of the most restrictions, with some theaters being forced to hold them for four weeks, even if it’s the only screen available.

What do you choose when your local community only needs one weekend to see a new movie? Do you have a great opening weekend and eat the costs on three additional weeks of middling performance? Or do you go for a lesser-known but lower-cost movie, forcing moviegoers to question why the biggest movie of the year isn’t playing at their local theater, driving away customers to the city? For the local theaters, this is a lose-lose environment.

I’ve been pretty negative on the movie industry in the last month, talking about streaming services versus the magic of the theater, but the trends of decreasing attention have existed pre-pandemic. From 2005-2019, the box office was growing. However, the amount of tickets being sold were not, they were going down.

In 2001, the year I was born, the average ticket price was $5.66, with 1.5 billion tickets sold, for $7.5 billion in box office. In 2019, average price was $9.16, with 1.2 billion tickets sold, for $11 billion in box office. In 2023, it was $10.78, with 829,000 tickets sold for $9 billion in box office. Almost half the tickets for double the money.

As the multiplex focuses more on luxury and options, the costs for entry raise as well. I’m lucky to be able to have nothing else to do but watch movies on the weekend. I don’t have a family to care for or pets to feed, so I’ve spent a lot of time and money on this hobby. However, the movies shouldn’t be reserved for someone like me who was lucky enough to reach these circumstances, they should be for anyone who just wants to see a movie.

That’s why local theaters, Princess Theater included, need to be supported. Tickets at $7 is an unbeatable price. Reminder that most theaters make more money on concessions than tickets.

The Princess will be screening “Inside Out 2,” for the next three weekends. It’s not ideal for them, but it’s the reality of their situation. If you’re dying to see a fun family movie this summer, please take the time to go see it. Then, check out all of the theaters in the local area. Mount Ayr, Corning, Winterset, Osceola, Greenfield, Stuart. All of these places are screening movies every week to their local communities. Please support them.