Christmas may be a big day for family outings to blockbuster first-run films such as “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” but for Clark County’s smaller theaters, it’s a very different story.
In fact, for both Kiggins Theatre in downtown Vancouver and the Liberty Theatre of Camas and Washougal, Christmas showings are unprofitable at best, owners and managers said.
“We’re kind of opposite from the multiplex,” said Dan Wyatt, owner of Kiggins. “Christmas Day doesn’t work all that well because we aren’t showing big films like ‘The Hobbit.’ It ends up being just very, very slow.”
It’s the same story at the Liberty Theatre, which closed on Christmas last year and will again this year, said managing director Rand Thornsley.
“We just found there weren’t a lot of people interested in coming on Christmas,” Thornsley said. “If they do, they want to see the big blockbusters, not second-run films.”
The blockbusters, which can cost upwards of $100 for a family of four to see, are more of a special holiday treat. But in the week following Christmas, as families settle in to the winter break, things pick up for theaters like Liberty and Kiggins, Thornsley said.
“Most people have time off then, and so on the 26th we start to get a lot of people in, and that actually continues through the break,” Thornsley said.
His theater adds two extra screenings a day, including matinees, over that week, which is actually comparable to the busy summer season, he said.
Kiggins, at least last year, also had a decent upswing between Christmas and New Year’s, Wyatt said.
“We did have ‘Blue is the Warmest Color’ at that time which … did well since it was winner of the Palme d’Or (the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival) and had some controversy around it,” Wyatt said.
This year, Kiggins will show “Gone with the Wind” from Friday to Tuesday, in honor of the 75th anniversary of the film’s premiere in December 1939. Wyatt hopes it will bring some much-needed business during the season.
“We thought it would be a good week to try it and see how it does for us,” Wyatt said.
Liberty has seven films showing over the week, including “Fury,” “John Wick” and “The Babadook.”
And even though it’s a slow day, Kiggins will be open on Christmas night for a free showing of the “Doctor Who Christmas Special.” The theater is closed the rest of the day.
“We love our Whoovians, they’re great and very loyal,” Wyatt said. “We open for them, but other than that it’s not really worth it for us on that day.”
The days leading up to Christmas are also not very good, business-wise, at the two theaters. People are more focused on the ramp-up to the holiday. Gift certificate purchases often help theaters get through the slow period, though, Thornsley said.
“We see some cash flow in early December from that, and then the week after Christmas sometimes people come in to use them,” Thornsley said.
After New Year’s, things slow down again for both theaters. The next uptick comes in late January, as buzz builds for the Oscars, the two said.
“That’s when we’ll start getting those films that are in first-run theaters now,” Thornsley said.
