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New Beverly Reopens With Promises Of Film Over Digital, Plus Great And 'Pretty Mediocre' Movies
The closed marquee from the New Beverly, which visitors saw before the announcement of the grand reopening. (New Beverly)
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The beloved New Beverly Cinema, closed since January for renovations, officially reopens Saturday. The revival house, owned by Quentin Tarantino, has a full slate scheduled for December.
They promise improved picture and sound, while avoiding the digital projection takeover of most theaters and continuing to show all movies on 35 millimeter film. Tarantino's been outspoken about the power of 35 millimeter, with many of the theater's movies being screened coming from his own private collection.
"I want the New Beverly to be a bastion for 35mm films," Tarantino said. "I want it to stand for something. When you see a film on the New Beverly calendar, you don't have to ask whether it's going to be shown in DCP or in 35mm. You know it's playing in 35 because it's the New Beverly."
The theater that Tarantino's owned since 2007 and has programmed since 2014 kicks off its new run of films Saturday afternoon with a screening of Tim Burton's Batman Returns. It's part of the theater's "Kiddee Matinee" series -- a dark one, for the dark child in your life. Batman Returns also runs Sunday.
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On Saturday evening, it's a Butch/Sundance double header, with Butch and Sundance: The Early Days at 6:30 followed by the acclaimed Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid at 8:50. Those films will also be screened Dec. 2-3.
Finally, the New Bev's midnight screenings are back -- the first one in the revised revival theater is Richard Linklater's comedy classic Dazed and Confused.
The theater's offering a wide variety of selections this month, hitting all of its sweet spots -- critically acclaimed films, cult classics, Quentin Tarantino's own movies, and holiday selections. Those Kiddee Matinees for dark kids continue Dec. 8-9 with The Nightmare Before Christmas, followed by some lighter fare before Gremlins arrives Dec. 29-30.
The midnight movies include one non-holiday film, Death Race 2000, but after that you'll get some Christmas horror with Christmas Evil, Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2, and New Year's Evil.
“The best seasonal film of all time. I wish I had kids. I’d make them watch it every year and, if they didn’t like it, they’d be punished!” – John Waters
— New Beverly Cinema (@newbeverly) November 29, 2018
CHRISTMAS EVIL screens December 15th! Tickets: https://t.co/YxV7S0E5hA pic.twitter.com/2QgK3TVBlf
Midnight Friday screenings of Tarantino's own movies return Dec. 7 with Reservoir Dogs, which will be screening each Friday for the rest of the month. So check that out if you want to have "Stuck In The Middle With You" stuck in your head for the foreseeable future.
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The theater is also expanding into the podcast world, partnering with Pure Cinema. That includes a new monthly feature with the podcast running down next month's schedule. You can hear their analysis of the December lineup here:
It's a big week for Tarantino. Along with reopening his theater, he married fiancée Daniella Pick on Thursday. He's also already back to nerding out over films -- he wrote a short piece on the 1971 film Shoot Out for the New Beverly's blog that published earlier this week. He's also not sugar-coating things, calling the movie "pretty mediocre." You can see that pretty mediocre movie, along with a lot of great ones, at the revamped New Beverly.
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