From Rebecca Keegan's article in today's L.A. Times:
Returning old movies to theaters has become a surprisingly robust business
in recent years, even in an era of jumbo home TVs and easy access to studio
catalogs on DVD and Blu-ray. TCM's festival draws fans paying up to $1,599
for four-day passes that allow them to meet film idols and fellow movie buffs
and see films rarely exhibited on the big screen. Seventy percent of the
festival passes sell to attendees from outside California, but the event, which
draws about 25,000 people, also does a solid walk-up business for individual
films, said TCM's senior vice president of programming Charlie Tabesh.
The same week in Hollywood, the American Film Institute, in a partnership with
Target, is screening 13 films it considers classics, with celebrity guests including
Samuel L. Jackson presenting "Pulp Fiction," Demi Moore with and an
entry from the current century — Mike Myers with a screening of "Shrek." Also
featured will be stars representing older films such as Sidney Poitier with
"In the Heat of the Night" and Peter Fonda with "Easy Rider."
A movie's popularity over time, its critical commendation and Academy Awards
all play a role in earning a spot on TCM, as does its place in the career of a
particular director, star or era of filmmaking.
"Some people think we shouldn't show anything after 1970," said Tabesh,
a kind of human Internet Movie Database who selects the films for the festival.
"Some people say 1960. Some people say 'Jaws' and the blockbuster era
should be the cutoff. But we don't put any sort of hard definition on it, it all
comes down to context."
By context, Tabesh means the story the network can tell around a film. For
instance, Jane Fonda will be getting her handprints and footprints enshrined
at the Chinese Theatre beside her father's during this year's festival — in
conjunction, organizers will screen the only movie father and daughter
ever co-starred in, the 1981 drama "On Golden Pond."
Like an enthusiastic children's party planner, TCM also loves its themes.
This year's festival theme is travel in the movies — hence "Airplane!," with
its jive-speaking stewardesses and control tower mayhem, fits alongside
"The African Queen," with Bogart and Katharine Hepburn bickering their
way up a reed-filled river during World War I.
For the entire article, follow this handy link:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/mo ... 0149.story