CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — After months of work, City Cinema was all set to come into December with a full slate of films and a return to a seven-day schedule since the COVID-19 pandemic first shut down movie theatres earlier in the year.
Since taking over as the cinema’s manager in the summer, Marshall Harrington had seen a steady buildup of momentum and increasing turnout to a shortened Thursday-Sunday schedule. By the end of November, he was putting up posters and getting the bookings live for a full seven days.
“We were in a great position for December. We had a great lineup of a mix of our own distributors we’re in contact with, but mostly Netflix titles," said Harrington.
Those titles were The Prom, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Midnight Sky.
On Nov. 26, he learned Netflix was suspending the release of all three films. With only a handful of days left in November, the City Cinema manager worked in a frenzy to fill the empty spots.
By noon on Nov. 27, he had.
“It was at the end of a long day already and it was an unforeseen extension to the day trying to scramble and get the new titles in place," he said.
Replacing the Netflix flicks are the Canadian movie Kid Detective, archeological love story Ammonite — originally scheduled to run in January — and another opportunity to catch the documentary Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President. Even with the replacements, City Cinema will be staying with its Thursday-Sunday schedule.
In the email, Netflix told Harrington the movies were being suspended because so many theatres across the country had been closed.
A troublesome first
Even with the pandemic, it was an unprecedented cancellation, Harrington said.
“I was talking with the old director and he said it had happened before where a title has been pulled, but never almost a whole month of films.”
The theatre was able to keep Netflix’s Mank, about the writer of Citizen Kane, because it already had its theatrical release, something Harrington was thankful for.
“It was really lucky and personally, for myself, it was one of the movies I’m the most excited for this year.”
On the marquee
City Cinema's December films include:
- Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., Dec. 5-6
- National Lampoon's Christmas 2 p.m. Dec. 6
- The Kid Detective 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., Dec. 10-13
- Ammonite 7 p.m. Dec. 17-20
Looking ahead
Going forward, Harrington doesn’t know if the theatre will change how it books movies or if it will try to avoid relying so heavily on a single distributor.
He does know he’ll be keeping a more watchful eye.
“We’re really lucky here to be able to continue relatively close to how we have before with the new protocols and stuff, but going forward, I think a lot of it will have to do with monitoring how theatres are doing across Canada.”
