I love skipping work to go to the movies — ditching responsibility, grabbing some brunch on a weekday when the crowds are slim at my favorite spot, and disappearing into the recliner of a dark matinee. I love it so much that I don’t even care if my boss reads this.
I’d argue this feeling is as good as sex, or hearing your name called from the McDonald’s counter because your Egg McMuffin is ready when you’re criminally hungover.
But that’s getting harder to do.
Not to skip work (although my daily radio show does make this difficult), but to find something actually worth my time to watch for two hours.
And even right there, another problem — why is every movie at least two hours? I feel a rush of exhilaration when I see a 90-minute run time, and I haven’t felt that rush in a long time.
And the number of solid places to watch has been on the decline for a long time. Blame the streaming services, blame the plethora of bad content shoved down our throats … but I still place a premium on the experience of the big screen.
Maybe it’s because of where I’m from.
Detroit used to be the land of movie palaces: old performing arts theaters converted into gorgeous places to see movies that, like a lot of Detroit’s architectural lore, only exist in old black-and-white photos.
What’s left is grim. Around 1994, there were close to 8,000 movie theaters around the country. I’d brag here about how good the movies were in 1994, but it was actually a radically weak year for major releases.
Today, we’ve got about 3,000 theaters around the country. Good luck finding how many of those are in metro Detroit, but what is here feels stuck in the early 1990s.
And no spoilers here — major releases sucked this year, too!
Sure, we got Despicable Me 4, Kung Fu Panda 4, the fourth installment of the Bad Boys series with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, and Twisters (which was admittedly fun but a nostalgic cash grab).
But if you wanted to see anything out of the mainstream, good luck.
The big-time theaters that do play independent films keep the length of runs on their screens so short that I doubt you’ll find the time to make it or even realize they landed at a theater near you, because anything that’s not coming from a major distributor doesn’t have the cash flow for that kind of promotion.
This all means that the reward of ditching life responsibilities to catch a flick just isn’t worth the risk anymore.
But there is still hope around here.
And I think it’s a hope that we really need to support if we want it to stick around.
For one, we’ve still got one of the best theaters in the country in terms of size, design, and offerings — and that’s the Detroit Film Theatre. I was so pumped to see Hour Detroit highlight its 50th anniversary and its longtime curator, Elliot Wilhelm, over the summer.
Sure, the theater tucked inside the Detroit Institute of Arts has short engagements, but it’s bringing movies here that don’t get played anywhere else in the area. Much love to the dedicated volunteers who make that place flourish.
Speaking of Twisters, I watched it at the Ford-Wyoming drive-in movie theater in Dearborn, just outside of Detroit’s borders.
There are only about 300 drive-ins left in the country, and Ford-Wyoming is an absolute gem. You can’t rival the experience here, and yes, it’s an option even in the cooler months.
In terms of traditional fare, I’ve got to show love to a duo of Michigan-based chains in the movie business, starting with Emagine for keeping the Birmingham 8 afloat. I feel like I grew up in this theater, and I’d hate to see something of this size and feel disappear from the landscape. And then there’s MJR Theatres, which has added things like $5 movie nights on Tuesdays and heated recliners in private booths to its theaters to lure people back to the big screen.
And there’s more to look forward to: We’re so close to chilly temperatures bringing us Oscar-nominated titles, which means theaters will add a more varied selection to their screens. It won’t be just Despicable Me 5.
Some of it will be amazing. Some of it will be the worst thing you’ve ever seen.
Regardless, there are still some joints around here that are making the moviegoing experience worth your time.
Or, if you’re like me … your boss’s time. Which is really the best way to spend your day.
Ryan Patrick Hooper is the host of In the Groove on 101.9 WDET, Detroit’s NPR station (weekdays from noon to 3 p.m.).
This story originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our digital edition will be available on Sept. 6.
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