Sarkisian/nuart//mike1st/mark2nd
By NOLA L. SARKISIAN
Staff Reporter
The multiplex world still has room for a quirky, single-screen theater on Santa Monica Blvd.
The Nuart, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, remains about as old-fashioned a movie house as they come: phone-booth-sized ticket office, standard seating, and no cafe lattes. Yet the basics have worked out fine these days, especially with a cult smash like “The Blair Witch Project,” which has been routinely filling the 450-seat house for the last two weeks.
The movie has shattered Nuart attendance records, grossing $148,916 in box-office receipts its first week nearly double the $78,900 gross from the popular movie “Kids” four years ago.
“It’s been crazy,” said Cary Jones, vice president of marketing for West Los Angles-based Landmark Theatre Corp., which owns the Nuart. “Sometimes you get lucky when a movie has instant appeal and already has drawn a following before it’s even been viewed.”
Steve Rothenberg, head of distribution for Artisan Entertainment, producer of “Blair Witch,” said, “When your movie screens there, it gives the box office great upside potential. It’s their very selective programming that takes chances that has been their winning formula for success.”
Indeed, the Nuart has played a pivotal role in launching the careers of David Lynch (“Eraserhead”), John Walters (“Pink Flamingos”), John Woo (“The Killer”) and Gus Van Sant (“Drugstore Cowboy”).
“Independent distributors are always looking to the Nuart to have films shown there,” said Dennis O’Connor, senior vice president of the theatrical division of Santa Monica-based Trimark Pictures. “It’s a seal of approval for the movie to be at the Nuart. It’s easier to create a buzz and sensation around the movie and then expand elsewhere.”
The theater’s origins date back to the 1930s, when it featured studio releases after they debuted at the ornate movie halls on Hollywood Boulevard. In the ’50s and ’60s, the fare switched to high-brow foreign films from directors like Ingmar Bergman.
The ’60s were a tough time as major studios began releasing bolder, edgier films that competed head-on with foreign films. The Nuart and other art cinemas turned to soft-core pornography and classics to eke out a living.
When Landmark bought the operation in 1974, cable and video were just starting to siphon off audiences. So the theater chain mixed up the offerings (including showing “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” Saturday at midnight for the past 15 years).
It’s also developed a reputation for offbeat publicity stunts. When the Nuart debuted “Flamenco” last year, the theater hired flamenco dancers and guitarists to perform. The Nuart was among one of the first theaters to provide midnight runs of the first Austin Powers movie and hosted a lookalike contest for the lead character. Prizes ranged from movie soundtracks to promotional mock martini glasses.
Also notable are the quarterly calendars packed with boxes of photos and movie blurbs. The theater distributes 50,000 of the guides to 250 locations throughout Los Angeles, from coffeehouses to bookstores. It’s a promotion that Landmark provides in San Diego, Seattle, Berkeley, San Francisco and will begin in Austin, Texas this September.
What really counts, of course, is what’s on screen that’s the province of Mark Valen, the theater’s booking agent.
Valen says that distributors inundate him with three times as many movies as he can accommodate. While Nuart chose a winner by being one of 27 theaters nationwide to show “Blair Witch” in its limited early release, Valen concedes more than the occasional misstep.
“I initially didn’t care much for the ‘Buena Vista Social Club,’ which fared quite well. I didn’t pick it up until a week after its release, and that kills you,” he said.
At times, the crowds are quite vocal about what they see.
“After watching ‘Limbo,’ a John Sayles film, people called and said they wanted their money back,” Jones said. “If they stay for the whole film, we won’t refund their money, but we’ll accommodate them if they leave after five minutes.”
Over the years, the Nuart has maintained a loyal following especially among the movie lovers not looking for typical Hollywood fare.
“They’ve played the independent and foreign films which most venues won’t screen,” said West Hollywood resident Linda Lee, 28. “We’re talking two- to three-hour films in black and white, with subtitles. You can’t turn a huge profit on that. It’s for those who went to cinema school and never grew up.”
Waiting in line for “Blair Witch,” Grant Rickard agrees with Lee.
“I don’t go to mainstream movies. I have an aversion to hype, which usually comes from big-budget films with huge stars,” said the 25-year-old. “The buzz about this movie is about the story and nothing else.”
