Gateway Film Center to reopen as other movie theaters to broaden offerings
Until the pandemic hit, Weinland Park resident Deborah Brannigan spent a good chunk of her time at the movies.
A library associate at the Bexley Public Library, Brannigan was a weekly attendee of screenings at the Gateway Film Center, which prides itself on an eclectic mixture of mainstream new releases, offbeat independent films and retrospective programming.
“They have such a great mix,” said Brannigan, 52, who trusted the judgment of the staff at the film center to separate the cinematic wheat from the chaff.
“There’s such a wealth of films out there,” she said. “It’s great to have people who love films who curate it for you. You know when you go to one of the midnight movies or these small indie films, it might not be my cup of tea, but there’s always something about it that’s interesting.”
Brannigan has had to do without the Gateway Film Center, 1550 N. High St., for much of the past 13 months: After closing last March, the film center reopened in late August but, citing rising coronavirus cases, closed again in mid-November. Since then, the venue has twice opened its doors for specific, limited programs: In January, films from the Sundance Film Festival were shown; and late last month, Oscar-nominated films were screened.
And, just before Memorial Day weekend, the film center plans to reopen — this time for good, leaders say — on May 27.
“Most of the movie theaters are open in central Ohio and the United States,” said Gateway Film Center President Chris Hamel. “But we didn’t want to rush. We wanted to wait until we felt like we could responsibly be open.”
Hamel cites what he calls the “positive trajectory” of the pandemic — namely, coronavirus case numbers that are lower than wintertime peaks and vaccination numbers that are ever-increasing — as reasons to reopen now.
“We think the timing is right for the film center to return to normal programming,” he said.
The Gateway Film Center reports healthy attendance during its periodic reopenings, including more than 450 tickets sold during the four-day Oscar-weekend programming (though, due to capacity limitations, those sales represent just 15 percent of a comparable Oscar weekend, which would have included other, non-Oscar films being shown, officials said).
Pandemic-era restrictions will remain in place: Each of the film center’s eight screens will admit no more than 30 percent of total capacity, resulting in as many as 60 ticket-buyers in the largest screening room and as few as 10 in its smallest. Masking will still be mandatory except when consuming food or beverages (the Torpedo Room will also reopen along with the theater).
Virtual screenings on the film center’s website, which have proven popular during the pandemic, will continue, with some films that open in-person switching to on-demand viewing at some point after their theatrical run.
In all other ways, though, the film center intends this reopening to be something like a return to business as usual.
“This looks more like what people have come to expect from the film center,” Hamel said.
At press time, the opening weekend will feature a four-film retrospective of the Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, including the features “The Breadwinner,” “The Secret of Kells,” “Song of the Sea” and the recent Oscar nominee for best animated feature film, “Wolfwalkers.”
“We’ll also be screening all of (Cartoon Saloon’s) short films,” Hamel said. “We think this is the first time they’ve been presented in a program like that, ever.”
Films by acclaimed director Chloe Zhao — including the Oscar-winning “Nomadland,” plus “Songs My Brothers Taught Me,” from 2015, and “The Rider,” from 2017 — will also be shown, as will a 4K restored version of Jonathan Demme’s Oscar-winning thriller “The Silence of the Lambs,” starring Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster.
Plus, if studio release dates hold firm, the film center intends to be among the central Ohio theaters to play the horror film “A Quiet Place Part II,” opening May 28 from Paramount Pictures.
“Assuming that the date does not move again, we are planning to bring ‘Quiet Place Part II’ to Columbus,” Hamel said, referring to the film that had a planned March 2020 opening but has since been rescheduled multiple times.
Brannigan, who resumed moviegoing each time the film center opened up, couldn’t be happier with the anticipated permanent reopening.
“They show fantastic movies,” she said. “Even more than that, they have such a great crew over there — everybody from the person who takes the tickets up to Chris Hamel.”
The Gateway Film Center is one of a number of locally owned and operated movie theaters in central Ohio. Both the Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse in Clintonville and the Grandview Theater & Drafthouse in Grandview Heights reopened to limited-capacity screenings since last summer. (Major chains, including AMC Theatres, have also long been reopened.)
“People do want to go out,” said Eric Brembeck, who owns both Studio 35 and Grandview. “They’ve been coming the whole time and (say), ‘This is great, you guys are doing it right, this is the only place we come to.’ We’re starting to see more and more people like that. We’re getting to the point where we almost have to turn people away right now because of capacity restrictions.”
Brembeck said that, while audience interest hasn’t been an issue, getting access to some small- and medium-sized first-run releases was a challenge for independently owned cinema operators before the pandemic and remains so.
“We want content, and we’ve shown people will come to the theater, but they (movie distributors) won’t give us the movie to play,” Brembeck said. “They (say), ‘We already have enough runs in Columbus’ — whatever that means.”
“Mortal Kombat” opened at Studio 35 on opening day, but Brembeck attributed the availability of that title to the fact that the studio, Warner Bros., was releasing it simultaneously on HBO Max.
“(Warner Bros.) will give us anything they want, because they’re doing it at the same time on HBO Max,” he said.
On the whole, though, Brembeck remains optimistic that his theaters will continue to deliver an experience that audiences will want to seek out.
“We’re competing with a Friday night,” said Brembeck, who recently resumed having beer tastings at the theaters. “Everybody has been in their house; nobody wants to be in their house.”
Despite audience interest perking up, other notable moviegoing venues in the area remain closed for now.
Although the Wexner Center for the Arts on the campus of Ohio State University is open for in-person exhibitions, its film/video theater, the site of cutting-edge new releases, international offerings, visiting filmmakers and content supported by the Wexner Center — has yet to reopen. Wexner Center officials say that in-person screenings could resume in late September or early October.
Meanwhile, the 84-year-old Drexel Theatre art-house cinema in Bexley closed its doors at the beginning of the pandemic and has yet to reopen, due both to ongoing concerns about coronavirus numbers and the limited number of movies trickling out from distributors.
“Everyone is at the whim of studios in terms of what product they are putting out,” said Jeremy Henthorn, Drexel Theatre director.
As more movies come down the pipeline, however, the Drexel will be ready.
“We’re in the process right now of completely redoing the HVAC system to have different filters and ionization fans,” Henthorn said. “Even post-pandemic, having better filtration is something that every business could learn from.”
Henthorn, who anticipates limiting capacity for individual screens and staggering showtimes to avoid overcrowding the lobby area, isn’t ready to announce a reopening date, but the odds are it will be this year.
“We know that nobody knows anything for sure, but if you were to today take a look at the late summer and fall schedules for films, I think that it actually could be an amazing year for theaters,” Henthorn said.
In the meantime, the reopening of the Gateway Film Center represents a welcome return to normal for area film buffs. Hamel assures longtime fans that even the popcorn remains the same.
“We’re the only place I know of that serves only Ohio-grown popcorn,” Hamel said. “We’re excited about Memorial Day.”
At a glance
If you or your family are interested in going back to the movies this spring or summer, visit the websites of individual theaters for the latest coronavirus-related policies, procedures and safety protocols.
• Gateway Film Center (reopening May 27): gatewayfilmcenter.org
• Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse (open now): studio35.com
• Grandview Theater & Drafthouse (open now): grandviewtheater.com
• Drexel Theatre (not currently open; no reopening date yet announced): drexel.net
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