When 12 people show up for a Saturday-evening movie, what does that say about the future of art-house cinema? Nothing good, says Terrence Youk, owner of Montpelier’s Savoy Theater.
Of course, gorgeous weather like last weekend’s is always bad news for movie theaters. But at the Savoy, the low turnout reflects a pattern. On September 24, Youk sent out a press release headed “Drastic Cuts at the Savoy Theater.” He got quickly to the meat of the matter: “In a direct comparison of the ?rst nine months of 2012 to 2013, the Savoy has sold 3,900 fewer tickets with an overall $61,000 downturn for the entire business from last year.”
The result? Youk has laid off seven of his staff of 20, he tells Seven Days in a phone interview. He and employee Eric Reynolds now handle all the projection duties. Youk has considered and, for now, rejected the idea of screening movies just three days a week. And he’s cut business hours at the companion video-rental business, Downstairs Video.
“It was a hard decision,” Youk says. “Several of our projectionists had been working there well before I bought the theater.” Former owners Rick Winston and Andrea Serota opened the Savoy in 1980; Youk purchased the one-screen theater in 2009 and added a second screening room in the basement.
This is not the first time Youk has appealed to the community to keep the Savoy alive. In May 2012, he sent the theater’s membership a message lamenting a $12,000 shortfall and warning that the theater was “Too Culturally ‘Big’ to Fail.” That year, ticket sales rebounded and ended up reaching a record high, Youk says, thanks to summer successes such as Moonrise Kingdom and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
But 2013 has seen no such dramatic reversal. “We usually have about four hits a year. We’ve had no hits this year,” Youk says. The situation has left him “just scratching my head,” he adds. “I’ve talked to a film buyer, and she assures me we’re not alone. A lot of art houses are having the same kind of downturn.”
Youk thinks a combination of factors worked against the Savoy this past summer, from good weather to demographics: The older people in its core audience aren’t going out as much, while “younger folk are watching media on their phones.”
But there’s a broader institutional problem he finds particularly troubling, Youk writes in an editorial he drafted for Montpelier’s the Bridge. “Now that the six major studios have their digital pipeline laid in the vast network of multiplex theaters, the art-house contingency … [is] being excluded from film offerings that once were exclusively theirs. The upshot is that theaters like the Savoy are being locked out from independent films that typically have been most likely to be a hit for us.”
His example is Silver Linings Playbook, which went to the nearby Capitol Showplace instead of the Savoy. “Distributors seem to be sending out films to who’s got the most seats,” Youk says. “If it’s an Oscar hopeful, they’re shuttling it into the multiplex.”
That’s where moviegoers seem to be shuttling, too. Youk says he’s experiencing a disconnect: “When I run into people, they say, ‘You can’t close the Savoy; it’s an important part of Montpelier.’ And there’s the numbers we see every day … there’s nobody coming.”
Is time the problem? Money? Motivation? To test the waters, Youk plans an experiment called Quid Pro Tuesdays. Every Tuesday, he’ll let people watch a flick at the Savoy for free, “with the caveat that you pay us upon your exit whatever you think the movie was worth.”
“I think we’ve done everything that we can do to let people know what’s going on with the Savoy, and they have to make a choice,” Youk concludes. “People have to not just talk about how it’s a great place; they have to come support it and make it happen.”
For the week beginning on Friday, October 4, the Savoy Theater will play “GMO OMG,” “Haute Cuisine” and “Populaire.” It will screen Jay Craven’s “Northern Borders” on Monday, October 14, at 6:30 p.m.
Related Stories
This article appears in Oct 2-8, 2013.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
Get rid of the video rental. It is a dead business. You want the latest GoT? Get Hulu. Or Netflix. Or ask at 14-year old. There’s a reason why Blockbuster is closed almost all over.
I wish the Almodovar had made it here to Burlington. Montpelier is just too far away, esp. if you rely on public transport or have to watch your fuel usage. For me, it is cheaper to rent it off OnDemand than to schedule busses or plan a rideshare that falls through.
I don’t link going to films much anymore. The theatres are often dirty. The audience is all aglow with smartphones texting or Facebooking. Couples bring infants and small children to films like The Avengers or the latest slasher film. Last film I went to this summer at a megaplex in the BTV area, a woman six rows ahead changed her baby’s diaper while Metropolis was falling apart.
Not the answer you were looking for. I don’t have any suggestions for bumping up audience numbers.
Just a technical point, but watching HBO/Showtime shows isn’t that easy if you don’t want to shell out for a big cable package. As far as I know, the only options are 1. Make an expensive monthly commitment to Netflix’s disc plan, which Netflix has been trying to phase out for years. 2. Pirate or borrow somebody’s HBO Go password. 3. Just buy all the discs. You cannot get these shows on Hulu or iTunes.
Piracy seems like the only rational course, and yes, any kid can do it. But it’s not a sustainable model if we want cable networks to keep producing good shows. Something has to give. (If somebody has a better legal recourse, let me know — seriously. I’d like to catch up on “Girls” and “GoT” and see the new season of “Homeland.”)
I go to Burlington-area theaters weekly and have experienced very little misbehavior compared with what I hear happens in big cities. When it happens, no doubt, it’s extremely annoying. But there’s also something cool about witnessing the collective response to a movie.
Unfortunately for the Savoy, human laziness does extend to the artsy community. Why travel, especially from parts less central, when the same movie will appear on Netflix or Hulu or another probably soon to be named film rental site?
Don’t get me wrong, I love going to the Savoy, especially for a movie I KNOW will never appear in a theater around here otherwise. But the problem is that not all movies are The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Some are ok, but not really worth the trouble or cost of travel, or price of a ticket especially when that cost translates to a months rental at Netflix.
Perhaps the Savoy’s attendance could be bolstered by making the community better aware of it’s continued existence…I have been guilty myself of totally forgetting it’s there. Also, participating in some other entertainment other than a movie might bring some business..perhaps poetry or a reading or other experience that would benefit from the acoustics of the theater instead of a school gym. I once went to the Savoy when a Marx Brothers marathon was going on..the place was packed for the day. Couple that with some support from the local dinner establishments and we have an entire evening of dinner, drinks and a movie..or any combination of the 2 or 3. I know that J Morgans has a package with the Capitol Theater that does exactly that…
The Savoy’s day isn’t gone yet..but a tweak is in order and perhaps a survey of perhaps unnoticed community needs.
I wonder if the SAVOY could also have an online on demand service to also market its niche films? This surely would help sustain the theatre.
I attend the Savoy fairly regularly and would really miss it. I do think that some community awareness is needed. I rarely know what is playing or anything about the movies unless I physically walk by the theater or a friend lets me know.
Well, actually, a good film is not just “freaking entertainment”. that is part of the problem, that cinema is seen as such, even by film journalists. that is why there is very little about films in the arts section of our local papers, that is why there aren’t serious articles about film events that do create an added value to the cinema experience. Take, for example, the Vermont International Film Festival coming up in a couple of weeks in Burlington. There You won’t find popcorn and you will find filmmakers to talk to after and between screenings. serious papers like the New York Times write about films in the Arts section. they are treated with the respect that other arts get. But here, barely a mention, and when it happens, it’s hidden away in a corner of an inner page. Or the films that get reviewed in listings are the main stream schlock. If you want people to go and have a cinematic experience (and for people not to forget that cinemas like the Savoy exist) then it is partly the role of film reviewers to educate and treat this medium appropriately.