Small Crowds Make Theater A Cool Refuge

When people talk about summertime moviegoing, there’s a tendency to think of blockbusters and packed theaters.

And there’s something to be said for that experience.

But there’s another way. There’s the single-digit plan.

Put simply, that’s choosing movies and times almost guaranteed to attract crowds numbering fewer than 10 people.

The appeal should be obvious. Smaller can be better.

It’s not so much that people aren’t going to talk, pass gas and kick the seat-backs. It’s just that you’ll be so far away from them, it won’t matter.

You still get to spend a couple of hours in a cool, dark haven. You just don’t have to listen to someone sucking on ice during a key scene.

You don’t have to engage in a scorched-earth elbow war.

You don’t have to be reminded what someone in sandals and a tank top smells like after a long day.

With a little planning, you can find yourself enjoying what will feel like a private screening.

Thursday afternoon, I caught the 3 o’clock “Moon Over Broadway” at the Lincoln Heights cinemas on Spokane’s South Hill.

There were four other people.

Sunday, I went back to the same theater for the 12:25 p.m. showing of “The Last Days of Disco.”

Nine others had the same idea.

The audience was spaced out as if everyone had been fired into the theater from a confetti cannon.

With maybe 500 empty seats, there was plenty of room for generous buffer zones.

There in the dark, the other moviegoers were just vaguely discernible murky shapes.

From near the back of the theater, the scattered audience looked like far-flung islands or planets.

As it happened, the other people at Sunday’s movie seemed like men and women who knew how to behave in public. They seemed like people who actually wanted to watch the movie.

That’s one of the nice things about the single-digit crowd. Lots of times, these are people who elect to see a certain movie because of a particular interest in that film.

They aren’t herd animals.

Of course, this isn’t for everybody.

The idea of not engaging in water sports on a summer Sunday afternoon would doubtless strike some people around here as dangerously un-American.

But they say it takes all kinds.

OK, going to see movies hardly anyone else in Spokane wants to see doesn’t necessarily mean a person deserves a medal for culture and taste.

But sometimes it’s fun to feel like a member of an exclusive club that only costs $3.25 to join.