A recent weekend screening of “The Children Act” at the Kiggins Theatre in downtown Vancouver drew a small audience that was thinly scattered around the mostly empty, 340-seat auditorium. “The Children Act” is a serious, grown-up, issue-oriented drama about disease and faith. Hardly anybody came to see it on a Saturday night.
Ten days later, Kiggins programming director Richard Beer posted a statement that acknowledged empty seats and announced a change in the theater’s mission. The Kiggins has presented 90 feature films so far this year, Beer pointed out — some of them regional premieres or exclusive showings you couldn’t catch anywhere else — and occasionally those have scored big. The recent documentaries “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” and “RBG,” about unlikely media darlings Fred Rogers and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, have both been hits; the latter even turned out to be the Kiggins’ longest-running film ever, Beer said.
“But sadly,” Beer continued, “it seems that our current model is not proving sustainable. … Too many of our films often play to just a handful of appreciative die hard film fans.”
That’s what Kiggins owner Dan Wyatt has been saying ever since he bought the place in 2012: Everybody loves the idea of a grand old independent cinema anchoring their downtown. But very few actually show up and buy tickets. For most people, the Kiggins Theatre is more a Vancouver symbol than an actual destination.
Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Regal’s City Center 12 multiplex is a corporate juggernaut of feature film screenings and industry muscle. Wyatt recalled an ongoing lawsuit by Portland’s independent Living Room Theaters, which claimed early this year that Regal illegally pressured distributor Sony Pictures Classics to pull the popular film “Call Me By Your Name” from Living Room screens, even after tickets had been sold.
That’s the kind of hard-knuckle brawling that goes on in the movie theater industry, Wyatt said. The Kiggins simply can’t compete.
Is the Kiggins in any danger of failing completely?
“Things are financially tough, but I’m not a pessimistic kind of guy, I don’t think in those terms,” Wyatt said. “We do this because we’re dreamers and hopefuls. If we wanted to make a lot of money, we’d be in a different industry.”
Wyatt wouldn’t speak directly to rumors that he’s fallen behind paying Kiggins employees. The Kiggins has a staff of four part-timers and two full-timers — movie programmer Beer and an events coordinator.
“No comment,” Wyatt said. “I’m doing the best I can. Business is always a juggle but I never intend to not pay my bills. It’s the top of my priority list.”
Classics and events
From now on, Wyatt said, the Kiggins will take “fewer risks” on first-run, independent, offbeat films that cost a lot to book but don’t sell many tickets.
Instead, he will orient the business even more toward the special screenings and live events that do draw audiences. Over the past few years, the Kiggins has done well hosting “Science on Tap” and “Comedy on Tap” lectures and stand-up comedy performances; “Noir Nights,” monthly screenings of film noir classics with servings of noir varietals, in partnership with the Niche wine bar next door; and old-fashioned radio-drama performances of seasonal favorites like “The War of the Worlds” (coming up on Oct. 30) and “A Radio Christmas Carol” (Dec. 20).
Wyatt even joined the troupe that puts those radio plays on as a Foley sound-effects artist because it helps him reconnect with his creative side, he said — rather than just being a stressed-out businessman.
Anime films have found a dedicated audience in Vancouver too, he added, so those will stay. Ditto literary films like “A Quiet Passion,” about American poet Emily Dickinson, and “Neither Wolf Nor Dog,” an American Indian story based on a popular novel. Both did well at the Kiggins. “Vancouver seems to be full of readers,” Wyatt said.
We love animals too. Whenever the Kiggins shows “dogs, cats, horses,” Wyatt said, an eager audience appears. And outdoorsy locals always swamp the traveling Banff Mountain Film Festival, which features stunning photography and storytelling about daredevil rock climbers, ocean rowers, wingsuit jumpers and other amazing true-life adventurers.
There’s no formula for what flies and what doesn’t at the Kiggins, Wyatt said, and he and Beer will continue trying to thread an ever-tighter needle. “It’s a wild card,” Wyatt said.
‘Make time for a movie’
Given the city of Vancouver’s ongoing search for a performing-arts space, couldn’t the Kiggins — which already hosts those live lectures and small-group classical concerts — find new life and support by filling that bill completely?
“Not to my knowledge,” Wyatt said. “This facility was built as a movie theater.” Its stage isn’t deep enough for theatrical sets and concerts, he said, and there’s literally no backstage nor a green room for performers. “We do some live entertainment, but it’s minimal,” he said.
“I get requests here and there, but it’s difficult with this facility. We’d need to do more building development. I’m sort of at my limit.”
Underlying the Kiggins’ predicament, he said, is audiences who stay home with Netflix and other streaming services more than they go out anymore. That’s why Wyatt’s motto for the Kiggins is “Make time for a movie.” It’s easy to stay home, Wyatt said; it takes a commitment and a trip downtown to view a film in a theater.
When people do go to the movies, what’s dominant nowadays is thrillers, superheroes and special effects. “We live in a franchise era. Everything’s based on content that everyone is already familiar with,” Wyatt said.
What that means to the Kiggins: Yes to Harry Potter festivals, Noir Nights and continued midnight screenings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
“People like seeing old content in a vintage space,” Wyatt said. And definitely yes to live radio plays and more special events that fit — although Wyatt still isn’t exactly sure what those might be, he said.
But more fare like “Memoir of War, ” a recent French film about occupied Paris, or “Hal,” a current movie-insider documentary about a director you might have heard of?
“If it’s an unknown quantity, ” Wyatt said, “probably not.”
