Malco, Indie Memphis partner on 'art house' cinema

John Beifuss | Memphis Commercial Appeal

Indie Memphis has partnered with Malco to control a screen full-time at the Studio on the Square starting in the spring of 2020, a move that will effectively create the first real "art house" cinema in Memphis in decades.

With its own inside box office and with exterior signage bearing the Indie Memphis clapboard logo, the theater-within-the-theater will be known as the "Indie Memphis Cinema" and will feature art films, foreign films, independent films, documentaries, classic revivals and other specialty fare all day long, seven days a week, according to Indie Memphis executive director Ryan Watt.

“Our audience is always asking for more Indie Memphis screenings, and we have long hoped to operate in a space year-round," said Watt, who called the arrangement "maybe the most important Indie Memphis announcement, ever."

Although participants would not discuss the finances, Indie Memphis is essentially renting the space from Malco in a deal that enables the nonprofit film organization to have what amounts to its own theater without having to raise millions of dollars on design, construction, maintenance and so on.

"We've looked all around for a model, but this kind of relationship with a big chain, we haven't seen that anywhere else," said Indie Memphis artistic director Miriam Bale. "We're so grateful for Malco's support."

For Malco, the deal should create some buzz around the Studio on the Square, which is not quite as popular as it was when it opened on May 4, 2000, with five screens and much ballyhoo as the first movie theater in Midtown since the Memphian — now the Circuit Playhouse — stopped showing films in 1980.

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The Studio's opening-day lineup included two foreign films ("The Cup," from Bhutan, and "Mifune," a "Dogme 95" release from Denmark); an American independent (Sofia Coppola's "The Virgin Suicides"); a classic reissue (Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window"); and a Hollywood blockbuster, albeit from a respected director (Ridley Scott's "Gladiator").

To the disappointment of cinephiles who hoped the theater's Overton Square address would make it a regular "art film" destination, the Studio in the years since its opening has given more room to the commercial releases than to art films. The week of Sept. 6, for example, four of the theater's five screens were devoted to the horror sequel, "It: Chapter Two." Currently, the documentary "Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins" gives Screen 2 an indie feel, but the other screens feature "Joker," "Gemini Man," "Zombieland 2" and "Downton Abbey." (In something of a move in the direction of the Indie Memphis effort, Malco recently launched a weekly "Throwback Thursdays" series of cult films at the Studio, booking the likes of "Pulp Fiction" and "The Big Lebowski.")

At the same time, the Studio and Malco in general have given been major supporters of indie film by giving week-long runs to many Memphis-made and otherwise undistributed movies, including "Strange Cargo," "Important of Being Russell," "OMG/HaHaHa," "Daylight Fades," "The Romance of Loneliness," "Tennessee Queer" and "Cigarette Girl," to name just a few.

Malco location to undergo renovation

Bale will program the Indie Memphis Cinema, which will occupy Screen 1 of the Studio. The partnership likely will start in the early spring or perhaps a bit sooner, after Malco renovates the auditorium and the west side of the multiplex. This upgrade will mark the start of a full renovation of the Studio, according to David Tashie, president and chief operating officer of the 104-year-old Memphis-based cinema chain. Among other changes, the small outdoor patio near the west side of the building will be enclosed, and a more purposeful bar will be built at that end of the cinema.

Watt said multiple films will screen per week at the Indie Memphis Cinema. A model for the Indie Memphis Cinema might be Nashville's Belcourt Theatre, which hosts a regular mix of new movies, classics and cult films, while also organizing special series and seminars focusing on genre, directors and other themes.

"It's really a chance for growth for what we're already doing," said Bale, referring in part to the twice-weekly "Indie Memphis Nights" series, which generally screens movies on a rotating basis at the Studio on the Square and the Ridgeway Cinema Grill.

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Bale said she plans to program "thematic series," along with "more older films in general, repertory films — classic films are a huge passion of mine."

Memphis film fans for years have talked about organizing an independent theater — and sometimes even faced opposition to their plans from Malco, which controls the local movie-exhibition market with the exceptions of the Palace Cinema on Old Summer Road, the Hollywood 20 in Bartlett and the Cinema Showcase in Atoka.

In previous decades, Memphis was home to a few "art," revival or offbeat specialty theaters, such as the Studio on Highland (home to "midnight movie" fare), the Bristol on Summer (for enthusiasts of Westerns) and the Guild Art Theatre (now the Evergreen Theatre) on Poplar. The Guild specialized in European and Asian cinema by such celebrated auteurs as Ingmar Bergman and Akira Kurosawa, mixed with classics featuring the likes of Chaplin and W.C. Fields and the occasional controversial "adult" film.

The Indie Memphis Cinema news was announced Monday at the Paradiso before a screening of "Just Mercy," the final film on the official last day of the 22nd Indie Memphis Film Festival. (Encore screenings continue Tuesday through Thursday at the Ridgeway and Powerhouse.) The festival screened a record 260-plus films (including features and shorts), and is on pace to sell a record 12,00-plus tickets, according to Watt.

"Part of programming is developing the audience," Bale said. "We think we're in a good position to grow."