Enjoy the Show

While filmmakers have turned to 3-D and special effects extravaganzas to draw audiences to their pictures, the stale popcorn smell and sticky floors of many movie theaters may be one of the factors discouraging movie lovers from getting off the couch for a night out more often. Now, though, experimental cinemas are developing alternative offerings that aim to build attendance by making the theater experience feel special again.

Science Lecture Series: A fascination with science is making the right side of the brain cool, pushing physics, chemistry, geology, and biology into unlikely cultural arenas, from fashion to food and, most recently, film. The Science on Screen series—which started at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Boston, but will be expanding to art house theaters nationwide—pairs screenings of classic, cult and documentary films with lectures by notable experts in fields relevant to the pictures being shown. For example, Fight Club was preceded by a lecture from Richard Wrangham, a Harvard anthropologist who’s spent decades studying chimpanzee social behavior. The series gives inquisitive moviegoers deeper insight through which to critique films and discuss their cultural relevance. Who ever said screen-time rots the brain?

Gastropub Theaters: While in-theater dining has long been appreciated in the few cities where it exists, the culinary cinema model is set to become more widespread as theaters provide menus replete with gourmet meals, table service, and cocktail-permitting 21+ viewings. Take for example, Brooklyn’s new reRun Theater, which touts a full bar and gourmet snacks prepared down the hall at parent eatery reBar. Regal Entertainment Group has introduced an independently branded dining concept, Cinebarre. And, according to a recent WSJ article, AMC and Gold Class Cinemas will also soon expand their in-theater dining offerings. Of course, the privilege of not having to sneak meals into the multiplex sometimes comes with a cost: the dining experience can inflate ticket prices by up to $15, not counting the actual food.

Rarities and Oddities: The Internet can make it feel like every nanosecond of content ever captured on film is literally at one’s fingertips. And while the curious may be able to view Jennifer Connelly’s early work on YouTube, such rarities are not always available from Netflix. Lucky for film lovers, hardcore cinephiles have preserved many obscure cinematic works that remain outside the realm of streaming distribution. Spectacle Theater in Brooklyn shows such “rarities and oddities on the screen,” even sometimes accompanying an out-of-print film with a live musical performance to create a truly unique screening. Films that aren’t widely distributed carry a certain cache, especially when the opportunity exists to view them on the big screen and not in serialized bytes on one’s phone.