Landmark Theatres

Side Bar: Landmark Theatres
Sidebar Dedicated to: Meera P. of Seattle, WA


Yesterday, it occurred to me that I should be separating my sidebars from the movie reviews. This will make them easier to locate and keep track of. Therefore, all future sidebars will be separate posts and cataloged. All previous sidebars will be pulled from their previous posts and made into separate posts.

This sidebar focuses on the Landmark Theatre chain. If you are unfamiliar with the chain or you are not fortunate enough to live in a city with Landmark Theatres, check out their website (click here) for the former or move right away to a different city that does for the latter. Billed as the nation’s largest chain of theatres specializing in bringing good independent films to mass markets, I would say they deserve credit for a bit more than that. In most markets, Landmark has worked also to preserve the classic art house movie theaters such as The Mayan in Denver, The Lagoon in Minneapolis, and The Egyptian in Seattle. Moreover, they serve a full range of unusual delicacies in the concession stand including Vegan cookies and several flavors of ice cream (concessions vary by location) as well as using a more real tasting form of buttery topping on their very delicious popcorn. I try to make a point of going to as many of their theatres as possible where ever I am. You might not always get stadium seating and huge screens, but you cannot beat the charm. Denver’s Mayan theater, for example, is amazing in its decor.

More than this though, the main reason I wanted to pay tribute to Landmark Theatres is for their mission to bring the best of independent film to the masses. This they do well and they deserve a lot of credit for it. It is not easy to make money off showing feature films these days with all of the competition from video stores, on-line DVD rentals, etc let alone small, eclectic, sometimes artsy films. So, I offer my thanks to the entire Landmark Theatre chain for its valiant efforts to keep independent cinema alive and well in the USA.

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