IN MY SHOES: Gotta Draw The Line Somewhere
Greg Boardman, who owns the 84-year-old, 500-seat Lorraine Theatre in downtown Hoopeston, IL, shut down for two weeks rather than show box-office leader "Jackass 2, "Beerfest" and other new releases that he calls "drivel," reports The Associated Press:
"Jackass" features Johnny Knoxville and his gang performing crazy stunts often involving self-inflicted pain; "Beerfest" revolves around fictional siblings who participate in an Olympics-style drinking competition.
The theater reopened Friday, showing Disney's football biopic "Invincible," while an 85-seat sister theater down the street relit its screen with Sony's animated kids movie "Open Season." …
Boardman says he's sorry that darkened screens cut into the town's limited entertainment options. But he says he'll shut down again if faced with a similar batch of films, adding that contractual issues with the studios - such as guarantees on first-week receipts - sometimes limit his options.
"The movies are so bad and I don't need the money ... I just didn't think I should use my high-quality facilities to show people vomiting on screen," said Boardman, whose theaters boast a high-tech, eight-channel digital sound system. …
"There are enough theaters carrying movies like "Jackass" that if people want to see them they can. ... The problem now is that there are too few good movies, movies that transplant you to another place," Boardman said in a telephone interview. …
Boardman said the shutdown wasn't a veiled message to moviemakers and he doubts studios will take notice, despite national media attention that followed the temporary closing.
"I think I'm way too small to make any kind of statement to Hollywood," Boardman said.
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