PHOTOS BY DANIEL LIPPITT

Elliott Wilhelm:
The Detroit Film Theatre selects quality.

B

The movie business
is undergoing
dramatic changes,
with baby boomers
and multiplexes
leading the way.

FRANK PROVENZANO

SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

efore Michael Mihalich re- developing boutique distribution
opened the Main Art The- venues, and of course, the in-
atre in Royal Oak three creasing number of theater
years ago, he faced a tough screens at multiplexes.
decision: either walk away, or
In 1993, when the Star John
renovate the theater to accom- R was being built and the
modate the sensibilities of an "art AMC Abbey was being ex-
film" audience.
panded, Mr. Mihalich saw
That consumer segment has an opening. At the time, both
been called upscale and educat- theaters were making in-
ed, with sophisticated taste. It is roads in attracting audiences
the moviegoer not intimidated by for commercial, mainstream
subtitles or serious themes, who movies. Mr. Mihalich, own-
sticks around after the
er of MJM The-
film to read the credits.
aters, identified a
Until recently, the art Julie Ann Trutiano: market niche for
Maple
III
has
film audience was the
his multi-screen
one s creen
sole purview of theaters
art film theater.
dedicat ed to art.
such as the Main, the
Today, the Main
Maple in Birmingham
Art Theatre in
and the Detroit Film Theatre. Royal Oak is arguably the
That's changing as rapidly as the most attended — and re-
latest box office hit. Multiplexes spected — for-profit art film
— mainstream theaters that have house in metro Detroit. Since
upwards of 30 screens — are tak- it reopened in October of
ing aim at the upscale art film pa- 1993, box office receipts have
trons. -
more than doubled, reaching
In three years, the market for $1.5 million during the last
movie audiences has undergone fiscal year.
fundamental changes due to
"Many specialty films are
the popularity of specialty films, nurtured based on audience
major studios producing more response," said Mr. Mihalich.
noncommercial movies and How much of that nurturing

can continue, however, depends
on whether art film theaters can
withstand the David versus Go-
liath challenge.
"Multiplexes offer consumers

a range of products, not only
mainstream movies, but inde-
pendent and foreign films that
before may not have been shown
in some communities," said Mar-
ianne Grasso, vice president
of the National Association
of Theater Owners in Los
Angeles. 'The biggest chal-
lenge for multiplexes right
now is to develop an audi-
ence for art films. That's the
nature of the beast."
Yet there's a stark differ-
ence between the two types
of theaters, regardless of
whether they show the
same art films, said Mr. Mi-
halich, who also operates
several mainstream, multi-
screen theaters in south- co
eastern Michigan, including 0,
0,
the state-of-the-art Water-
ford Cinema-11.
C
"People who go see Sense c`i
and Sensibility might not cc
,
want to stand next to the au- co
dience piling in to see Die
Hard III," he said. The
gamut of independent, lim-
ited release and foreign
films, Mr. Mihalich realized, oi

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