Blockbusters a boon for Eltrym Theater

Jun. 24—Fighter planes, dinosaurs and a space ranger have helped bring the Eltrym Theater out of the pandemic doldrums.

A trio of recently released blockbusters — "Top Gun: Maverick," "Jurassic World: Dominion," and "Lightyear" — have attracted big audiences to Baker City's historic moviehouse over the past month.

"We've been having our busiest June since 2004," said Terry McQuisten, who with her husband, Dan, owns the Eltrym. "We were hoping to get to 80% of our sales projections, but we're far over that for the month of June. It's been really uplifting for everybody."

"Top Gun: Maverick," the sequel to the 1986 Tom Cruise film, has been a boon for the theater industry nationwide, bringing in more than $900 million worldwide.

The movie, which opened May 27, remains in the rotation at the Eltrym almost a month later.

"We've been so busy with 'Top Gun,' which we knew was going to be big but at the same time got pushed off three or four years," McQuisten said. " 'Top Gun' is kind of different because it's a throwback, it brought a lot of varied and different people to the same space together, it brought back that escapism."

The film was originally scheduled to be released in the summer of 2020.

It was one of several major movies postponed due to the pandemic. The lack of new releases, combined with extended closures of theaters and occupancy limits even when they reopened, devastated the industry.

The Eltrym was closed for much of 2020, and it had to limit the number of patrons for a few months after reopening in March 2021.

McQuisten said in July 2021 that the theater's reveue had dropped 94% during the pandemic.

That made the Eltrym eligible for a federal grant.

McQuisten also submitted written testimony in support of a bill in the Oregon Legislature that would have offered grants to theaters. That bill didn't pass, however.

In her letter to the Legislature, McQuisten wrote: "We are determined to survive this pandemic. It has been a year, though, and we are now beginning to make payments on (loans). In effect, we've taken out loans to pay loans. All the while, we've been doing our best to adapt to provide a safe environment for our guests by investing in air scrubbers for our HVAC and devoting more staff time to cleaning."

A little more than a year later, buoyed by the blockbusters and the prospect of more to come, McQuisten is seeing the industry turn from diving to thriving, even with competition from online streaming services.

"I've always had confidence in the industry, we saw what happened with streaming and it never really hurt us," McQuisten said. "What people get out of the theater is getting out of the house and getting an experience."

McQuisten said she was concerned about whether the movie industry, after shifting to streaming services during the first stage of the pandemic, would return to a more traditional release schedule.

"What I didn't have confidence in is what the movie studios would do with their streaming, like Disney+," she said.

McQuisten's business isn't immune to inflation, but thanks to the grant and to the recent influx of moviegoers, she hasn't had to raise ticket prices.

"We haven't changed prices since before the pandemic," she said, although she noted that supply chain issues have been a problem.

"It has me chasing down popcorn bags online, they're actually pretty difficult to find," she said.

McQuisten said her next move might involve lending space for public art.

She'd like to have custom posters installed in the showcase displays on the south side of the building, and she's also interested in having a mural painted by a local artist.

The art would likely complement the Banksy "Movie Mouse" anonymously stenciled on the alley wall on the west side of the Eltrym 13 years ago.