SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – If you take a car ride down East Seneca Street in Manlius, New York, you will see a variety of restaurants and stores. But if you drive too quickly, you might miss an establishment that has been in existence since 1918. Crammed in between the pottery store Feats of Clay and the custom bakery Mrs. Kelder’s Cakes, you will find the Manlius Art Cinema movie theater.
As you enter the building you will find Nat Tobin, who has owned the theater for 29 years, at the ticket stand. He runs the single-screen with his wife Eileen Lowell. Tobin describes running the theater not just as a moderate money-making endeavor but as his passion.
“It’s an honor to be able to have people respond the way that they have to the theater,” Tobin said. “And it’s something that I take a lot of pride in.”
Tobin will give you a red “admit one” ticket and then you can get your popcorn from Lowell. She previously worked as a teacher at Seneca Falls High School but is now the “chief popcorn maker” and meeter-and-greeter at Manlius Art Cinema. While the couple loves the theater, their relationship with the audience remains crucial. The couple has gotten very close with several of the patrons and it now feels like a family.
“We survive on our relationship with the audience,” Tobin said.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that relationship was nearly non-existent in 2020 like it was for nearly every movie theater in the United States. According to Box Office Mojo, 2021 is still far behind 2019 in total gross. That year, films made $11.3 billion dollars. This year, the figure is at $3.6 billion. Syracuse University Communications professor Kendall Phillips says that streaming plays a crucial role in this lack of box office as well. While streaming was prominent before the pandemic, COVID-19 has made it the new normal.
“And once something is normal, it’s gonna be a struggle for Hollywood to get people back in,” Phillips said. “I think this will be a long-standing, maybe even permanent change in the way we go see motion pictures.”
Along with streaming, the abundance of movie theaters proves to be an issue as well. According to the National Association of Theater Owners, there were 40,998 movie theaters in the United States in 2020. Within the Syracuse area, there are plenty of options.
One particular venue is at Destiny USA shopping complex. It is home to 17 screens owned by Regal Cinemas, a popular movie theater chain that has 514 theaters according to its website. Unlike at Manlius Art Cinema, you go up an elevator and then visit the giant concession stands. Adam Walton goes to Destiny USA to not just see movies like Ridley Scott’s new film, “House of Gucci”, but also to have an experience at the mall.
“Well it’s the only local mall that has everything you need,” Walton said.
However, Destiny USA is not the only movie-going experience in the area. In Camillus, New York, is Movie Tavern Syracuse. It is a dine-in movie theater, where employees would serve you food as you watched the film. But this has changed since the start of the pandemic. Now, moviegoers will order the food from an app on their phone.
Kip Wotanowicz, the General Manager at Movie Tavern Syracuse, finds the app to be simpler for both moviegoers and servers. This is one of the many aspects of the moviegoing experience that Wotanowicz looks to experiment with.
“We have a lot of alternative content from different fads and events,” Wotanowicz said. “Religious-based movies that bring in a different audience. There’s talk about having live sports in one of the theaters.”
While these are new innovations that could change the moviegoing experience, some moviegoers, like Rick Jones, likes a more personal touch at the theater. He appreciates Manlius Art Cinema for the experience it creates, which is what matters most at Manlius.
“I like when they get up in front and describe the movie we’re going to see and a little bit of the history, the direction, and the acting,” Jones said.
