Paramount to play holiday movies
Published 11:26 pm Saturday, December 8, 2012
Remember when the Paramount Theatre showed movies? You’ll have the chance to experience it once again.
Paramount officials are unveiling plans to show second-run movies every month, starting with several Christmas movies later in December.
“A lot of people remember seeing movies at the Paramount, and we wanted to recreate the experience,” said Jennie Knoebel, Paramount executive director.
Knoebel said the Paramount hopes to show two to three Christmas movies the weekend of Dec. 21, as soon as the Paramount obtains all proper film rights. After that, she plans to show several movies on or around the second weekend of each month through May. Paramount officials are putting together a film schedule and encourage people to submit ideas for films they’d like to see.
The Paramount would charge $5 tickets for the film, which would be shown on DVD via a projector, similar to previous movie events at the Paramount. This initiative isn’t the first time movies have been shown, as the Austin Human Rights Commission has held a film festival for the past two years inside the theater.
“Once it hits DVD, we can show it,” Knoebel said. “It’s just a matter of securing the rights.”
That could be a challenge, as some studios like Disney may not grant Paramount officials to show movies from the company’s extensive film catalog. Yet once rights are secured, the film will be ready to go.
Knoebel said she plans to re-evaluate the film schedule as summer nears, and the Paramount may follow other regional theaters in holding a film festival or film series depending on how well these movie weekends are received. In addition, as more first-run films switch to digital projection next year, the Paramount may follow suit if people show enough interest.
“If this is really successful, we can start looking at whether we’d want to start other things,” Knoebel said.