The show must go on

When owner Bruce Stone made the tough decision over the summer to close the Varsity Theater, he had more than just the loss of a landmark weighing on his mind.

Having owned the Varsity for a mere nine years, and his other, larger Chapel Hill theater, the Chelsea, for 19, experience told him that the Chelsea stood a better chance in the changing economy of art-house cinema, despite the fact that the Varsity was actually a far older institution.

“That was the decision we made,” Stone said. “We had to go with one or the other.”

It was a decision few welcomed, though all had to accept it in the end. The Chelsea stayed while the Varsity closed up.

The sad reality is that art-house, or “specialty” cinema, is a sector of the economy in a state of dramatic and destructive flux.

A host of problems, mostly caused by the closing of specialty distributors and the withholding of potentially popular independent films until the winter awards season, has created a kind of annual boom and bust cycle in smaller specialty theaters, which often have only two to four screens.

In this cycle, theaters eke out slight ticket sales during a slow summer movie season, and then don’t have enough screens to run all the myriad award contenders in late fall and winter. This makes it hard to support multiple small independent theaters in a town the size of Chapel Hill.

“It’s thin in the summer,” Stone said. “The issue was that there were fewer movies available. Closing one theater is a way to keep all your eggs in one basket.”

When asked if this summer’s crop of independent films drew bigger crowds, Stone’s assessment was measured, listing bigger drawers such as “(500) Days of Summer,” “Away We Go,” and “Whatever Works.” However, he also acknowledged the reality of summer syndrome.

“We’ve had a couple of slow weeks recently.”

As for one of the other big problems that crippled the Varsity, the notoriously inconsistent, inconvenient and unappealing parking situation on Franklin Street, Stone says that the Chelsea remains immune to such a problem.

“The parking there has always been free, abundant and clean.”

While the Chelsea continues precariously on its own path, mainstream multiplexes in the area are doing strong business as usual. Possibly even stronger now that the Varsity is closed, says Jason Barker, a manager at the Lumina Theater in Southern Village.

“It’s been more of a help than a hindrance,” Barker said on the Varsity’s closing, adding that even during the general economic downturn “there hasn’t been much of a change.”

Jennifer Gallinari, another manager at the Lumina, expanded on their drawing power with students, which was also a major cause of the Varsity’s closing.

“With the close proximity of campus, they’re coming out more often,” she said. “They’ve even been coming out more in recent years.”

Gallinari added that she has noticed students coming to the Lumina even from Duke and N.C. State, which is curious given the Varsity’s inability simply to draw crowds from UNC.

It was this lack of patronage from college students that ultimately doomed the Varsity. Where an off-campus, independent theater like the Chelsea, in a comfortable, geriatric location like a shopping center, can bet on sufficient patronage from older movie-goers, a Franklin Street theater is unlikely to succeed without strong student attendance.

Meanwhile, multiplexes virtually have their work done for them once a spacious parking lot has been paved, and, as the Lumina’s situation has shown, when the competition of art-house cinema shuts down.

But despite the difficulty of running an independent movie house, Bruce Stone is stoic in discussing the Chelsea’s future prospects.

“It’s promising when you hunker down,” he said. “We always worry. We worry everyday.

“But we’ve been at it for 19 years, and we think it works pretty well.”


Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.