NO TEARJERKER
NYC indie cinema scene just fine, thanks
Big Apple cinephiles have never had it so good.
A slew of independent movie theaters — many serving craft cocktails and artisanal foods — are springing up around the city.
The boomlet follows several years that saw many indie movie houses close.
In just the past year, Texasbased Alamo Drafthouse has opened in Brooklyn with plans for another in the Financial District next year.
At Alamo, moviegoers can catch current releases like “Baywatch” or the 1987 classic “Full Metal Jacket.”
Billionaire Mark Cuban is soon to open The Landmark at Via 57 West, a location on 57th Street, with plans to serve up both indie and mainstream movies — plus filmmaker Q&As.
The Hell’s Kitchen complex will serve up sliders, popcorn shrimp and draft beer, according to reports.
In Brooklyn, Nitehawk Cinema is opening a second location, in Park Slope.
Chinatown hotspot Metrograph is just a year old and opened up its restaurant this month so indie film fans can hang out all day sipping cocktails between binge-watching its six-week-plus, 11-film Marlene Dietrich series.
“Marlene Dietrich is our ‘Wonder Woman,’ ” says fashion designer Alexander Olch, founder of Metrograph. “To see all of her work in 35mm prints is stunning.”
Still, he adds, “This is a forprofit business and we are very excited by the results.”
The a screening of a documentary movie about cats, “Kedi,” was huge, Olch said.
The movie took in $40,500 on its release, the biggest pertheater average in the US, making it one of the highestgrossing screens in the country
Meanwhile, billionaire movie buff Charles Cohen reopened the Quad in Greenwich Village in April after two years of construction.
“A lot of people talk about streamers Netflix and Amazon as the death knell for movie theaters but if anything it’s been helpful for theatrical exhibition,” said C. Mason Wells, programming director at the Quad. “There are more audiences seeing the movie. Netflix is a gateway drug.”
The executive also suggests that for kids who have grown up on home entertainment and watching movies on phones, art-house theaters are something of a novelty.
“It’s a bit like music streaming that helped vinyl sales — it’s an experience,” Wells said.
Population shifts may be another reason for the boom, says Robert Marich, author of “Marketing to Moviegoers.”
Marich says downtown Manhattan simply has a huge influx of new residential buildings that is fueling the openings.
“Exhibitors are the canaries in the coal mine for the future of movies, and it’s favorable when they are willing to keep investing,” Marich said.
Independently owned upscale iPic Theaters, which shows mainstream movies and offers seat-side food, opened up in October 2016 at South Street Seaport.
Tribeca Film Festival cofounder Jane Rosenthal, who is working on the Netflix movie “The Irishman,” with Robert De Niro, told The Post: “It’s clear they are selling another experience plus a movie. What the audience craves is new experiences. It’s about the whole event — good food and something worth seeing together. It’s not about sitting in a broken seat and seeing a movie projected.”