For years the Music Box has been the premier venue for art films in Chicago. With its passionate, sophisticated audience and its prime location at the north end of the Southport strip, the beautifully restored 1929 movie palace is coveted by national distributors, and programmer Brian Andreotti wields considerable influence over the local exhibition of independent and foreign films. But the commercial landscape for art films could be radically different by the end of 2000. Landmark Theatre Corp., a Los Angeles-based company that operates art houses in 18 markets, plans to turn the top two floors of the Century mall, near Clark and Diversey, into a state-of-the-art, seven-theater multiplex by April of next year. And next fall the Film Center, which has given the Music Box some of its stiffest competition, will move from its home in the School of the Art Institute, at Columbus and Jackson, to a two-screen facility with a cafe and concession stand at State and Randolph, across the street from the Chicago Theatre.
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“We’ve been very spoiled,” admits Andreotti, a former programmer for the Chicago International Film Festival who’s booked the Music Box for the past four years. “I think we’re all concerned. I believe there’s room for us and Landmark, but this business is about getting the titles. I know we’re going to get fewer of the higher profile films, like those from Good Machine.” Todd Solondz’s Happiness, which was produced and distributed by Good Machine, came to Chicago with strong word-of-mouth and played at the Music Box for four weeks, but many smaller films lack the name recognition or advertising budgets to draw that large an audience. According to Andreotti, the arrival of Landmark “could mean we’re going to have to spend a lot more money to promote these films.”
Barry Schain, president of the Chicago-based theater consultant Wabash Associates, thinks Landmark’s arrival will increase the competition for bookings and patrons. He says it will rupture the Music Box’s audience and drive up film costs, the percentage of the box office given back to the distributor. “There aren’t enough movies to support all of these screens,” says Schain. “People go to see movies, they don’t go to theaters. Art and specialized films are basically word-of-mouth. You’re increasing the number of locations and screens, but you’re not increasing the size of the audience that goes to see these films.” Marc Pascucci, vice president of advertising and publicity for Loews Entertainment, acknowledged last year that Landmark’s arrival in Chicago would affect the booking of its art houses, the Fine Arts and Pipers Alley. But Marcus Hu, copresident of the Santa Monica distributor Strand Releasing, thinks Landmark will only diversify the Chicago market. “Landmark is good for everyone,” says Hu. “Right now it’s hard for Brian to program everything. The Music Box can’t accommodate every film. They’ll still be able to get a lot of films. Landmark came into San Francisco and it didn’t diminish [independent art house] the Castro in any way.”
