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Ever been to a Hipster Theater?

No…seriously…have you been? Yes, you say? Where? What’d you watch? Why would you say its hipster status? I bet I can top wherever you’ve been, but we can get to that later.

The movie theater experience has evolved much over time wouldn’t you say? Remember when Drive-Thru theaters were a big hit? Now those spaces are used for swapmeets. Remember when there was no stadium seating? Yea, that sucked as a kid, there was a big dome-ish dark spot that covered half the screen thanks to the guy sitting in front of you. When was the last time you appreciated the clarity of a movie? You’ve probably forgotten the imperfections from an actual movie reel.

As time has gone by, theaters became bigger and better; they took on strategies to differentiate themselves from their competition. Regals vs AMC, do you really care which one you go to? I do, but would the majority of the moviegoer population care? Probably not. So then how does a Theater intentionally differentiate themselves from another?  How about psychographic segmentation, specifically focusing on the “experiencers”.  People want variety, they want to experience something different and sometimes be out of the norm.  If you want to experience a different way of watching a movie, I’ve listed a few hip and cool places to try out.

Want to watch a silent movie? Check out Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax.

Cinefamily

http://www.cinefamily.org/

 

When’s the last time you visited the beautiful LACMA? Set a date night, visit the museum, take your photos and walk on over to Bing Theatre to catch an Indie film screened on 35mm.

Bing

http://www.lacma.org/programs/film/listings

 

Missed experiencing a drive in movie theater? Did you know that Downtown LA has one? Set aside a Saturday evening to visit the Electric Dusk Drive-In and experience the nostalgia.

L.A. drive-in movie theaters

http://www.electricduskdrivein.com/

 

Trying to plan something out with your friends on a weekend night? Grab some blankets, snacks, and drinks and check out the schedule for Eat See Hear. They are a pop up movie theatre around the LA area accompanied by food trucks and good times.

ESH_slider_outdoormovies

http://eatseehear.com/

 

So where do I feel is the most hipster place to watch a movie? At a cemetery…yes, with tombstones and all. Cinespia at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a place to go at least once to watch a film. It’s a bit weird, but it works.

cinespia1

http://cinespia.org/news/

 

The norm may be going to a Regals or AMC to watch the opening of a blockbuster film, but with so many young, enthusiastic variety-seeking individuals, entertainment doesn’t have to be so boxed in these days. Take a weekend and go experience the difference 🙂

10 replies on “Ever been to a Hipster Theater?”

Portland has a bunch of movie theaters that serve beer. Wouldn’t necessary call them hipster but I’ve been to those. There are usually 2nd run movies but still good or so bad they’re good.

The city of Lake Forest puts on Movies in the Park every summer using the large portable screens and projectors. It’s always free to the residents and the movie choices are “family friendly” aka: G or PG ratings. I’ve even hosted a few of my own backyard movie parties…always fun to hang by the fire pit and eat a little BBQ with the latest blockbuster hit playing!

Completely agree with you Crystal, love to veggie out and watch a good movie at home 🙂

While I probably can’t imagine going to a movie in a cemetery, I enjoy going to different venues, they each have their own charm. My favorite is probably the drive-in (there’s one in Riverside), but those shows tend to be very late. I like Cinnepolis, but they tend to be very expensive. The dollar theater in Irvine is very handy for a family last-minute movie take. I like the small independent theaters that run international and limited distribution movies and I try to go to the school movie nights with my kids as often as possible. However, Regal probably cashes in on most of my movie nights.

Didn’t know you were such a moviegoer Miruna 🙂
Occasionally I go to a Dollar theater as well, but the one in Brea because it’s the cleanest

There is an interesting story behind the Hollywood Forever cemetery. It went bankrupt due to some fraud and it fell into disrepair (even though there were some pretty famous people buried there). New management came in and saved it by commercializing it as much as possible – tours, movies, Halloween events, etc. Some have been offended by having such things in a cemetery, but in this case it would have been a disaster without the revenue those activities generate.

wow! that’s great background info Chris! thank you for sharing; I’m definitely going to tell my friends about it the next time I go!

Thanks for the excursion tips for when I want to be an “experiencer” 🙂

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