While theaters are struggling, many independent theaters in Los Angeles are finding their audience

A1 Digital India News: Villalon, 36, already has tickets to a double feature of 1976’s Watergate-themed “All the President’s Men” and 1999’s “Dick.” But Villalon braved Los Angeles’ notoriously rush-hour traffic to get a front-row seat at Quentin Tarantino’s landmark theater.

This level of dedication is common among Starbucks baristas and aspiring moviegoers, who typically see six movies a week in theaters, and almost exclusively at independently owned theaters in and around Los Angeles.

“I always say it feels like church,” he said. “When I go to AMC, I sit right there. And I can’t really experience that community thing that we have here, where we all just worship at the celluloid altar.”

Streaming and the pandemic have fundamentally changed film consumption, but Villalon is part of a growing number of mostly young people contributing to a renaissance of Los Angeles’ independent theater scene. The city's enduring machismo as a film industry, if diminished, still shapes its residents and their entertainment preferences, often with renewed appreciation in the wake of the pandemic.

One of the city's unique features is the large number of historic theaters that have been rescued or revived in recent years by people connected to the film industry after they closed. Experts see a pattern of success in Los Angeles of a one-size-fits-all theater experience.

Tarantino started the trend when he purchased the New Beverly in 2007. After Netflix bought and restored the nearby Egyptian Theatre, which opened its doors as a silent movie theater in 1922, the company reopened it to the public in November in partnership with the nonprofit American Cinematheque. It's now a bustling hub that frequently draws A-list celebrities premiering their projects as well as film lovers willing to stop by for hour-long marathons, such as a recent screening of four Paul Thomas Anderson films.

Further east is VideoTube. There was a VideoTube store in Santa Monica before it closed in 2017. VideoTube reopened five years later with a 271-seat theater, bar and a new crop of devotees throughout the city. "It's literally my favorite place to be outside of my house," said filmmaker and actor Mark Duplass, who has been VideoTube's financial backer along with dozens of other high-profile names, including Aubrey Plaza and Lily Collins.

What draws people to independent theaters can range from older shows to great food and drink offerings to affordable prices. But many agree that, above all, there's a community aspect that chains can't match.

Dr. A.S. Michael Hook, who attended a matinee of "Seven Samurai" at VideoTube with a colleague at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, said: "The bigger places obviously have premium formats and things like that. But I think there's very little community bond." "You're just not hanging out with people who also like to watch a three-hour-long 1950s Japanese film."

While the pandemic is a blow to the box office that has yet to recover, it has also dealt a blow that will make the movie landscape more sustainable for the streaming era, according to Comscore senior vice president Janice O'Brien.

"COVID has removed things that needed to be closed anyway," O'Brien said of the more than 500 movie theaters that have closed across the country. "I think that's all been healthy." Living Theaters makes accommodations, sometimes intentionally forgoing 4DX chains, reclining seats and food service.

"With the kind of movies we're showing, I certainly don't want waiters walking around, bringing things to people and hearing the clatter of cutlery on plates," laughs Greg Laemmle, co-owner of Laemmle Theatres-operations. Independent cinema has been a part of Los Angeles for nearly a century.