ON WITH THE SHOW:
Movie theaters set up watch parties
There are 44 people in the Social Distance Movie Club’s Slack channel, where co-workers at Crooked Media have had discussions about everything from a Dwayne Johnson earthquake film to
Faye Dunaway’s turn as Joan Crawford in “Mommie Dearest.”
It doesn’t have anything to do with the work that’s done at the Los Angeles company, which produces podcasts like Pod Save America (it’s also helped raise over $1 million for coronavirus relief ). But for the past few weeks of working from home, it’s become a way for the staff to pause the news and escape into the world of film together.
With theaters closed and most of the country staying home, virtual viewing parties are surging in popularity. They simulate the experience of going out to the movies, and you don’t even have to pass the popcorn.
Michael Martinez, Crooked Media’s executive producer for news and politics, got the Social Distance Movie Club going with The Rock in “San Andreas.” Since then, they’ve viewed “National Treasure” and “Road House.”
“It started as a funny thing to do,” Martinez said. “But it’s preserved part of the experience of being at the office when you talk to someone in the kitchen about, say, the Keanu Reeves movie you watched the weekend before.”
It’s not just friends and co-workers, either. Movie studios, actors and even some publications are bringing people together online around the shared viewing of a film through Twitter hashtags, long a staple of appointment television.
MGM Studios two weeks ago held a “Legally
Blonde” watch party, streaming the beloved Reese Witherspoon comedy for free on Facebook on a Friday morning.
Stephen Bruno, the chief marketing officer at MGM, said they were looking for ways to entertain and decided to mine their library for joyous titles. “Legally Blonde” was an obvious choice.
When they reached out to Witherspoon to see if she’d be on board, Bruno paraphrased the star: “She said something to the effect of, ‘Everybody could use a little Elle Woods positivity right now.’ ” Witherspoon and her co-star Victor Garber helped views spike with social media mentions.
And people turned out, with as many as 1.1 million tuning in over the course of the film, with a peak of 22,300 simultaneous views.
Focus Features tried it out with “Emma,” enlisting Turner Classic Movies host Alicia Malone to lead a discussion on Twitter at a designated time. But viewers had to rent that title for $19.99 if they wanted to follow along. The studio is also starting Movie Mondays, a free series, on Facebook, with links to donate to the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Fund. Movies include “Moonrise Kingdom,” on April 13.
Not everyone is putting pressure on watching together, though. The American Film Institute started the AFI Movie Club that is curating daily selections with high-profile introductions, from Steven Spielberg to Brad Pitt.
Availability of movies online can be an issue. It’s one thing for a group of people to agree on a film. It’s another find one that’s also streaming on a site where everyone is signed up with an account.