Act Iii Theatres Takes Alternative Route; Lincoln Heights To Show Specialty Films

Blame it on Billy Bob Thornton.

Roger Paulson does.

Not that the writer/director/star of “Sling Blade” is directly involved in the format change that will take place at the Lincoln Heights Cinemas beginning Aug. 15.

But Thornton and his alternative-film peers definitely will benefit from the fact the four-screen complex at Lincoln Heights - the only movie house on Spokane’s South Hill - no longer will show first-run mainstream films.

Instead of, say, “Spawn,” “Air Bud” and “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” the Lincoln Heights will show a varied schedule of alternative films - art and/or foreign product - such as “Dream With the Fishes” (which opens Friday), “The Van,” “Career Girls” and “In the Company of Men” (directed by former Spokane resident Neil LaBute).

Paulson, a Portland-based freelance film booker, has been hired by Act III to schedule films for the Lincoln Heights. He sees the change in format as an opportunity for Spokane moviegoers.

“It’s kind of like starting over,” he says. “If you have a new venue, or a venue that’s new to specialized programming, then it’s kind of a reawakening for the community.”

Until now, Spokane moviegoers who prefer alternative films to summer blockbusters have been at a disadvantage.

The only theater that regularly screened art and/ or foreign films was the three-screen Magic Lantern Cinemas. And even the Lantern, a Spokane landmark for two decades, couldn’t keep up with all the films that were available.

And then the Magic Lantern lost its lease.

(Don’t mourn its passing too quickly, though. Magic Lantern co-owners Larry Blair and Kathryn Graham continue to screen films - they open “Children of the Revolution” and “Temptress Moon” on Friday - and they’re looking for a new location.)

Meanwhile, Act III Theatres plans to take up the slack.

The company owns 55 of the 69 movie screens that will exist in the Spokane-Post Falls-Coeur d’Alene area when the much-anticipated Spokane Valley 12 opens on Aug. 15.

Most of those screens specialize in first-run movies. The two-screen Eastside Cinemas and the Fox Tri-Cinemas are bargain houses that show second-run mainstream films at discount prices.

Company insiders say the Lincoln Heights’ switch to alternative films is occurring for a couple of reasons.

One, with the opening of the new 12-screen Valley complex, there aren’t enough first-run Hollywood-type films to go around. Instead, Act III will concentrate on booking new mainstream films in its three northside complexes (Newport, North Division, Lyons Ave.), the Valley (East Sprague, Valley 12) and in Coeur d’Alene (Coeur d’Alene Cinemas, Showboat).

Second, and here we return to Billy Bob Thornton, Paulson points to the increasing popularity of such alternative-type films as “The English Patient,” “Secrets & Lies” and Thornton’s “Sling Blade.” Act III, he says, is convinced that a market exists in Spokane for films that appeal to the mind instead of just the senses.

“The encouraging thing is that independent film is no longer scratchy black-and-white films with subtitles,” Paulson says. “There are a lot of films out there that are very accessible. They just don’t have a lot of cars crashing and buildings blowing up.”

Having booked films for 20 years, the Portland-based Paulson is a walking promotion for alternative cinema. He admits that films such as “Dream With the Fishes,” which is his first booking for the Lincoln Heights, aren’t for everyone.

Still, he believes that “it’s a good exercise for people to see films of, for example, varying tempos so that they’re not locked into ‘What’s next? What’s next?’ expectations.”

And he thinks it helps for them to do it in comfort.

“The audiences of the ‘60s and ‘70s would sit on a wooden floor, on folding chairs, whatever, to see unusual film,” Paulson says. “But that era’s over. People today expect comfort whatever kind of film they’re seeing.”

No doubt. But two questions remain: Is Spokane ready to embrace alternative cinema, no matter how comfortable the venue? And if it doesn’t, how long will Act III play such a format to empty houses?

One Act III insider wouldn’t venture any answers.

“I’m just willing this thing to work,” he said.

, DataTimes