ATLANTA (AP) — The lost holiday harvest “It’s A Wonderful Life” made an unlikely comeback in the 1970s and 1980s, when it became a television staple in December after underperforming at the box office and failing to score major awards at the Oscars in its feature debut. . 1940.
Ubiquitous every December on the small screen, it has also been a staple for the past two decades in a select organization of independent art theaters across the United States aimed at giving moviegoers the ultimate holiday experience: watching George Bailey’s “pivotal night” broadcast in a theater similar to the one seen in the film.
Cinema is a culture for many.
The annual screenings of “It’s a Wonderful Life” have taken their place, along with holiday shopping and cookie swapping, as must-see traditions, and are a testament to the enduring appeal of the film, which tells the story of a small-town savings and credit manager – George Bailey (Stewart) – who decides, on the fateful Christmas Eve, that life is worth living.
“There are other people who have made it a key component of their holiday traditions,” said Toby Leonard, director of programming at Nashville’s Belcourt Theatre, which has screened the film in each and every holiday season since 2001.
At Cinestudio, the site of a Trinity College theater in Hartford, Connecticut, buyers like to mark annual screenings ahead of time on their calendars.
“It’s a holiday culture that consumers come to the Cinestudio to see the movie, and in early September I get calls from other people asking, ‘What are your dates for ‘It’s a Wonderful Life?'” Lew Michaels, executive director, told CNN, while seated in the theater, a switched chemistry amphitheater.
Jessica Montano, a human resources manager who lives in Manchester, Connecticut, is one of the sponsors. She attends a screening every year with her husband. Montano, 48, said she started watching the film when she was a young woman on TV. , like most American fans. But she’s been attending screenings at Cinestudio for several years and says that makes a big difference.
“In theater, I feel like you’re going back in time,” he told CNN. “I get to enjoy the good looks of the theater, come back, get away from it all and take a moment from the crazy Christmas season to just enjoy it. “
Jennifer Eberle has been a fan and now watches the film in Belcourt every year with a group of friends. They attend a late screening so they can have dinner after the film, screened in the original black-and-white version, which Eberle, 46, says complements the experience.
“It’s a story of loss and failure followed by joy and redemption,” the Nashville attorney told CNN, explaining his appeal.
The film, which was released shortly before Christmas 1946 to qualify for the 1947 Oscars, has long been a cult hit.
There’s a “collective” feeling about seeing it in the theater
There are at least two “It’s A Wonderful Life” festivals: one in Seneca Falls, New York, where there is a museum dedicated to the film, and another in Indiana, Pennsylvania, for Stewart, the actor who played George Bailey.
The festival in Seneca Falls brings together the actors who played the Bailey children and members of Capra’s family.
Anwei Law, one of the museum’s founders, told CNN that Capra always stressed “the value of each individual person,” which she said renders the film’s message endlessly relevant.
It is this timeless appeal that Fathom Events hopes to capitalize on with the event’s two-day screenings.
The company, which is owned by theater chains Cinemark, AMC and Regal Cinemas, distributes content to theaters and organizes limited-engagement event screenings of older films.
“There’s a collective feeling that you can’t sit on the couch at home,” said Michaels of Hartford’s Cinestudio.
‘We’re all George Baileys’
Although it is considered a sentimental and maudlin film, there is an obviously dark aspect to the film. After all, Bailey travels to a bridge in his fictional little town, Bedford Falls, to end his life in a tragic scene.
“At its core, it’s about the ongoing fight,” Leonard du Belcourt told CNN in Nashville.
For many fans, the film’s darker side deepens its appeal.
Montano, for example, likes Lionel Barrymore’s character, Henry F. Potter, “the richest man in town,” as he’s described in the film, and the person who pockets $8,000 of Bailey’s company’s money, sending the main character into a suicidal tailspin.
“I know he’s a villain, but he adds intensity to the movie,” he said.
Eberle, of Nashville, agrees. It’s necessarily a lighthearted film,” he said, adding that the film captivates because of the diversity of feelings it inspires in viewers.
The actions of the Potter character also add a layer of realism. Some fans wished for a different ending so that the film’s villain would be punished. But in real life, sometimes the bad guys get away with it.
In a 1956 letter to a fan who said the film struck his heart, Capra said the movie “has probably touched … more people than any of the others I’ve made.”
“You see,” he wrote in the letter, “we are all George Baileys in one way or another. “