Pandemic an existential threat to theaters like the Sierra
By ANDREW MCGINN
If your video-on-demand experience during the COVID-19 pandemic has been lacking, Sarah Nicholson couldn’t be happier.
The manager of the Sierra Community Theatre, who filed for unemployment about as soon as Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered the closure of all theaters in Iowa to mitigate the spread, is keeping a wary eye on Hollywood’s response to the pandemic.
Universal Pictures was the first studio to announce it would make new releases available for streaming rather than delay them.
That means families, who ordinarily might have shown up en masse to the Sierra with candy-hungry kids in tow, will now be able to watch “Trolls World Tour” beginning April 10 without having to leave the house.
“The scary part about that is, what if they like that?” Nicholson said, referring to the movie studios. “What does that mean for us once the closure is over?”
The challenges of operating a single-screen movie theater in the age of 20-screen megaplexes and multiplying streaming services are many. The Sierra, which has been operated as a community-owned nonprofit since 2012, has the added responsibility of caring for a building that’s now 135 years old, making it one of the oldest, continuously operated entertainment venues in the state.
The local theater survived the Spanish flu, two world wars, the Great Depression and 9/11 — but the threat of COVID-19 is different, because for the first time, technology exists that can render a movie theater obsolete.
“Showing up will be the thing that helps us survive this,” Nicholson said.
That’s the catch — no one can say when the theater will be allowed to resume operations.
Reynolds last week continued the state’s public health emergency declaration to 11:59 p.m. April 7, and it would come as no surprise if it extends even further. The order closed theaters and restaurants, but gave the latter the option to remain open for carryout and delivery.
“She didn’t give us the carryout option,” Nicholson said, adding that people have inquired about purchasing popcorn. “For us, it’s been particularly arresting.”
Never before has the Sierra’s annual fundraiser — still technically set for the week of April 24 — seemed so critical. Once a year, the theater plays a week of classics that are free to attend. Donations are encouraged.
This year’s slate of classics — Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest,” George Stevens’ “Giant” and “The Music Man,” along with a Templeton Rye documentary and tasting — may be pushed to fall, or may have to be screened on immediate reopening.
“We may not have anything else to play,” Nicholson confessed.
Before the closure, the Sierra was to have premiered Disney’s live-action remake of “Mulan” on March 27, but Disney, sensing the brewing crisis, pulled the film from release on March 13.
This year’s fundraiser, “Facing Our Future,” was to have helped kick off a multiphase restoration of the building, beginning with repair of the Sierra’s upper-story windows. One already fell out.
The fundraiser is now a lifeline.
“Donations are so terribly important right now,” Nicholson said. “The loss of income is pretty immediate.”
Canceled in March by COVID-19 were two showings for teens of “The Call of the Wild,” one presented by the Jefferson Public Library and another for Paton-Churdan middle schoolers. The movie is based on the immortal Jack London novel.
In those situations, the organization pays for the tickets and kids, with money to burn and no parents, buy concessions.
Nicholson is trying her best to remain positive.
“Don’t count us out yet,” she said.
But there’s no denying that this is strange new ground for all theaters.
“Historically,” Nicholson explained, “through wars and depression, people have been able to go to a movie theater and check out for two hours and not worry about what’s going on. This feels a little unprecedented. This is unfamiliar territory.”
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