An Update Regarding Hiway Programming and Previews Brochure
We’ve learned a few things after five years of running the single-screen Hiway and we’re making some changes to the way we run things behind-the-scenes. We will still strive to bring you new films and classic titles to keep this independently run cinema alive for another 100 years.
Our goal in operating the Hiway is to make sure that the theater serves as a resource to the Jenkintown community today and for years to come. We want the Hiway to be vibrant, relevant, and a destination—not only for Jenkintown residents, but one that will bring people into town as well. To do that though, we need to be nimble. Read about some of our updates below:
Replacing our Previews Brochure
The Hiway will no longer be putting out a Previews brochure. It just doesn’t make the most sense with how we book our films and how we share the word about our movies. We are updating our marketing and outreach to a new format that will allow us to be more in line with how we book films for our single screen theater.
This past year, we looked back and noticed that of all the films we promoted in Previews, we ended up only playing half of them. In fact, some of our biggest hits of the year — RBG, Incredibles 2, Three Identical Strangers, BlacKkKlansman — were not in our Previews brochure at all.
Additionally, slotting in special events with Main Attractions — especially those put out by the bigger studios — is a combination juggling act and jigsaw puzzle, as we are often forbidden to cancel any screenings of our Main Attractions in the first couple weeks of a films run. Without knowing which movies we are going to have weeks or months in advance, our scheduling has been guesswork at best. We aim to change that.
Running a Single-Screen Theater
Running a single screen theater in 2019 is an experiment, and we know that it is not always perfect. Do we wish we had more screens — sure! Do we wish we could show more movies — absolutely! But, the Hiway is special and a rare piece of history, and, as such, we have to do things a little differently.
Being a single screen is hard enough with the multiplexes around, but now in the age of Netflix and AmazonPrime, it is even more challenging. This just means that we need to be creative and clever in order to keep our historic, nonprofit, community-based theater running.
Strangely enough, despite it being 2019, the Hiway still runs on the handshake rules of the movie industry that were established in the Golden Age of Hollywood. To make a simple point, we don’t always have control over when we get new movies. If a movie is performing well, we are obligated to hold on to it. So, in Oscar season, with only one screen and a big hit (like A Star is Born or Green Book this past year), we can end up holding those films for a month or more. For more about our programming practices, read this handy FAQ we put together.
What Will Replace the Previews Brochure?
We are transitioning from Previews to new materials that will better reflect the programming at the Hiway and be more honest in terms of which films we anticipate, when they will open, and when we will have special events.
Here are our plans for how we will handle programming and announcements going forward:
- Website: We’ve updated our website, condensing Coming Attractions and Special Events into “Coming Soon.” This page will show which movies we have confirmed and also share some that we are considering as our next option. We really do not know what is coming next until about a week in advance — release schedules change, we have obligations to hold movies if they do well, and we need the flexibility to jump on big films and not lock ourselves in in advance.
- Weekly Email: The best way to stay on top of what is happening at the Hiway is to sign up for our weekly email. We will keep you posted on any upcoming film changes and events.
- Special Programs: We ended up cancelling or postponing too many films when we scheduled them too far in advance. We want to make sure that we can honor our promises. We will now announce special events a couple weeks in advance, when we know that we are able to fit them into the schedule.
- Special Event Pairings: Since we are not picking our special events so far in advance, we are going to experiment more with pairing our special events to complement the main attraction playing. We expect that this will open new doors for what we choose to play, allowing for exciting new ways to view the movies we program. We will also continue to have special events that showcase and partner with members of our local community as well.
We are starting this new program with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. We thought this would be a fun compliment to our current Main Attraction, Apollo 11, as the Star Trek franchise was born of the space race fervor and adds a narrative spin on space exploration. It is scheduled for Thursday, March 21st at 7:30pm.
What comes next? We are not 100% sure, but we look forward to taking each new step and doing what we can to keep the Hiway fun and vibrant together.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.
