By Bob Mackin. Image: TeeRoar / Shutterstock.com
Less than four hours until the December 17 premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Dunbar Theatre owner Ken Charko is walking the sidewalk in the rain, with a smile on his face.
“The Force is with this one,” he says, nodding to the fans sitting on sleeping bags and portable chairs outside the 1935-built movie house.
The 350-seat Dunbar Theatre is the only single-screen independent theatre showing the year’s biggest blockbuster in Metro Vancouver. He called it a coup to get the seventh installment in the Star Wars saga.
“A painful, exacting process. Disney was the hardest company to deal with, we had to meet the standard… to be able to present the film,” Charko said. “They didn’t give it to me cheap. Every chance they could exact a little bit out of me they could.”
It also comes at a key time for the theatre industry. Last year, it saw a $500 million decline in U.S. and Canada box office receipts, to $10.4 billion. The 1.27 billion tickets sold was 6% less than were sold in 2013. Fewer blockbusters that capture the attention of the masses and the proliferation of direct-to-home services like Netflix have changed the industry and made theatres like Charko’s an endangered species.
On Vancouver’s west side, the Varsity and Ridge were both demolished for condo developments. The Hollywood is dark, but the non-profit Broadway Hollywood Theatre Arts Centre Association hopes to save it and turn it into a public arts and culture venue. Charko says his neighbourhood cinema is still sustainable, but it is hard work.
“I care about the money, care about the dimes, care about the nickels, care about the pennies,” Charko said. “Virtually all of the independents have changed to not be (a full-time movie) theatre, like the Rio, or are connected to a major chain.”
Charko estimates the Force Awakens will run for six weeks at the Dunbar and help reinforce the theatre’s brand as a community asset. Thanks to advance ticket sales, opening weekend is nearly sold out. Charko took over in 1998 and, unlike other independent movie houses that have come and gone, his focus has been programming mainstream, franchise hits — such as 007, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter — rather than art films. His mission is to sell the Dunbar as “just as good, if not better than” the multiplexes.
“I put the Dunbar up against any other screen.”
Star Wars fan Michelle Kunimoto joined two friends at the front of the line. A third went to find toe warmers at a nearby store to endure the final hours until show time, after spending two nights camped out on the sidewalk.
“It’s like a community atmosphere,” Kunimoto said. “The Scotiabank Theatre (downtown) might have a bigger screen, but I came to the Dunbar for the last Harry Potter movie, lined up.”
Disney bought the Star Wars franchise when it took over Lucasfilm in 2012 for US$4.1 billion. The transaction included the Industrial Light and Magic special effects house that has a Vancouver studio.
Charko predicts Disney will recoup its investment on the back of the $200 million Force Reawakens.
“It’s going to be one of the best investments they’ve ever done,” he said.
Market researcher NPD Group estimated Star Wars has sold US$32 billion of merchandise, from action figures to video games, since its 1977 launch.
@bobmackin
