Continuing to thrive
Milwaukee’s Garfield Theatre showed movies, newsreels and short films from 1927 to 1965. It was a prominent neighborhood icon, with a large back-lit marquee. Now the building is home to a church, its theater history still evident in the architecture.
The Garfield, 2947 N. King Drive, is not unlike most other neighborhood theaters that populated Milwaukee decades ago. During the 1930s and ’40s, dozens of theaters were showing films in the city.
Today, all but a handful of the Milwaukee area’s classic cinemas have been abandoned, demolished or repurposed, reflecting a nationwide trend.
The movie-theater industry, and small neighborhood theaters in particular, have long faced threats from the increasingly home-based entertainment experience. First, it was television. Then, when VHS tapes and then DVDs were introduced, they provided movie viewers another
alternative to going out.
In the broadband era, home theater systems with bigscreen TVs linked to online streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu have added to industry concerns.
But cinema advocates contend that small independent theaters still have a place in the entertainment landscape.
Lee Barczak, a Milwaukee businessman and self-proclaimed movie buff, is betting on it. Barczak owns three of the area’s remaining independents: the Avalon At-
Independent neighborhood theaters endure even as their competition from Netflix, Hulu grows
mospheric Theatre, 2473 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.; the Rosebud Cinema Drafthouse, 6823 W. North Ave. in Wauwatosa; and the Times Cinema, 5906 W. Vliet St.
Barczak says there’s always going to be a trade-off between the convenience of staying at home and the communal experience of watching a film in a unique location with an audience.
Ultimately, he said, people still want that group experience, even if the theater business isn’t the same as it once was.
“When this place was first built,” Barczak said, gesturing to the Avalon, “people were lined up around the block for movies.”
The Avalon, which opened in 1929, was the first theater in Wisconsin specifically built to show talking pictures.
It closed in 2001 and sat dormant for more than a decade before Barczak reopened it in January 2015.
The Avalon’s ceiling is reminiscent of a rural night sky, covered in hundreds of small lights. When guests look up, they’re engrossed in something otherworldly — hence the “atmospheric” part of the name.
Built in 1950, the FoxBay Cinema Grill at 334 E. Silver Spring Drive in Whitefish Bay provides a similar atmospheric feel, with stars painted on the ceiling of its main auditorium.
Patrick Corcoran, vice president and chief communications officer for the National Association of Theatre Owners, said theaters have been seeing consistent admissions, and that isn’t likely to change.
“We’re going to see production studios getting larger, consolidating, but we’re also going to see locally based theaters continue to thrive,” Corcoran said.
Data suggest the industry is growing, at least by one important metric. Since 2012, more than 700 screens have opened nationally, and growth in the number of screens has been the norm since at least the late 1980s, according to Corcoran’s group.
But while the number of screens has increased as more large multiplexes have opened in recent years, the number of theater sites has decreased.
In 2017, there were just under 5,400 theaters in the United States, down from more than 7,000 in the 1990s.
Still, while that would suggest that the longterm trend is not promising for small theater owners, Milwaukee’s independent cinema circuit has actually nudged higher in the last decade.
Compared with four comparably sized metro areas, Milwaukee has the most open independent theaters. Oklahoma City; Providence, R.I.; Virginia Beach, Va.; and Jacksonville, Fla.; each have no more than three.
Barczak’s restoration of the Avalon has contributed to this increase. The Modjeska Theatre, at 1134 W. Historic Mitchell St., has also attracted hopefuls looking to breathe new life into the building, but that process is still underway.
There have been other theater restoration efforts in the area, such as Cedarburg’s community rescue of the singlescreen Rivoli after it was jettisoned by Marcus Corp. in 2006.
In addition, some former movie houses have been or are being converted for other uses, such as the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s acquisition of the Warner Grand Theatre, which will serve as its future home at 212 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Jonathan Jackson, executive and artistic director of Milwaukee Film — the nonprofit organization responsible for the Milwaukee Film Festival — said the success of small theaters in Milwaukee is partly because they don’t face much competition from the multiplexes on the outskirts and in the suburbs.
“Most people go to the movies within five miles of where they live,” Jackson said. “If a multiplex opened in downtown Milwaukee, that would be a game-changer.”
Marcus Corp. has expressed interest in developing a theater downtown, as part of a large multi-use facility that would overlook the Milwaukee River. Marcus Theatres has been hoping for a downtown location since 2014, but no formal plans for the development have been announced yet.
While Barczak and Jackson say they are pleased with the state of the industry locally, small theaters still face challenges that large corporate theaters don’t.
Matthew Sampon manages the Towne Cinema in Watertown, and he said his theater was nearly forced to close because of changing technology.
Prior to 2011, the Towne was still showing movies on film.
This wasn’t uncommon for theaters in the early aughts, but after a decade of living in the 21st century, movie studios began transitioning to digital. By 2014, virtually no major movie studio produced movies on film.
This meant if a theater wanted to show a movie, it would need a digital projector, which typically costs around $150,000.
In 2011, Sampon said the studios gave the Towne Cinema a choice: convert or die.
“Those were their actual words,” Sampon said with a laugh. He finds it funny now, but at the time, it almost spelled the end for the now-105year-old theater.
The theater’s management started a crowdsourcing campaign with Kickstarter and raised $70,000 in just two months, with owners John and Barb Bendall paying the difference. But Sampon said the Towne was lucky: A lot of independent theaters that couldn’t afford the transition from film to digital closed.
Technological changes aren’t the only hurdle smaller theaters need to overcome.
Tim Massett operates a two-screen independent theater in Jacksonville, Fla., called Sun-Ray Cinema. The Sun-Ray began with only one screen, but Massett said that was a challenge.
“To keep your doors open, you have to show blockbusters in addition to the art house and independent films, so it’s a struggle for that reason,” Massett said. “You can only play that one film.”
He said it can be difficult if a movie doesn’t do well, because studios are not sympathetic to low turnout. If he signs a contract to run a movie, he has to run it for the agreed-upon length of time, even if the movie isn’t selling seats.
Jackson said despite these obstacles, cinema in Milwaukee is safe.
In 2014, the film industry in greater Milwaukee had more than $1.5 billion in sales, according to tax data compiled in a report commissioned by Milwaukee Film. The number includes ticket sales, concessions, distribution and related advertising in the industry.
The research also found that Milwaukee’s film industry provided more than 14,000 jobs in the area, including acting, production, sound engineering, set design, advertising and other related occupations.
Milwaukee Film has been investing in the city’s film community for the past decade, most recently signing on to lease the three-screen Oriental Theatre beginning July 1.
Once that lease takes effect, the only independent theater in Milwaukee not locally owned will be the Downer Theatre, which is run by Los Angeles-based art house chain Landmark Theatres.
Jackson said the success of the festival proves that the community is interested in adventurous, unorthodox content, and that Milwaukee Film is providing something that was lacking in the area previously.
“We’ve seen our audience grow massively,” Jackson said. “Originally, we had 30,000 attendees; now we have 80,000.”
Linda Corbin-Pardee, senior student services coordinator at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee Student Union, manages the UWM Union Cinema. She said she was worried when Milwaukee Film announced it would be taking over the Oriental’s lease because she thought it might detract from the UWM Cinema’s content. But she has come around to recognize it as beneficial for all of Milwaukee’s film community.
“Everyone wants everyone’s boat to rise,” she said. “More good film in the community is good for everybody.”