Crowds returning to theaters as new movies roll out
Apr. 26—CHIPPEWA FALLS — A screening of "Mortal Kombat" was a near sellout Saturday afternoon at Micon Cinemas Stadium Eight in Chippewa Falls, with patrons lining up for concessions, and removing their masks once they reached their seats.
Between "Mortal Kombat" ($22.5 million) and the adult anime hit "Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train" ($19.5 million), it was one of the stronger weekends at the box office in the past year. Along with those new films, "Godzilla vs. Kong" has generated $86 million since it opened March 31, giving theaters a long-waited boost in sales.
Mike Olson, Micon Cinemas general manager, was thrilled to see the good turnout over the weekend.
"It's finally starting to come around," Olson said Monday. "People feel assured we are doing what we can to make it a safe environment. And Hollywood is finally giving us movies that people want to see."
It has been a difficult winter for area theaters. While they were allowed to reopen in mid-summer, there were few new movies for film-goers to watch.
"Eau Claire was closed for two months," Olson said. "There just were no movies. We did a lot of projects and housekeeping."
Over the winter, the Chippewa Falls' theater reduced to being open just four nights a week, as they were closed entirely on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. However, three weeks ago, they went back to being open daily. Olson recently held a job fair to get back to normal staffing levels. The theater chain leaves an open seat on either side of groups, but groups can sit together.
Olson said he recently hosted a huge crowd of 100 children from the Independence School District for a showing of "Raya and the Last Dragon," which also has done excellent business since it opened March 5.
The Chippewa Falls theater was remodeled in spring 2020 to add stadium-style seating and recliners, so that was always planned to be shuttered a few months, even before the pandemic hit. Olson thanked his lending partners for helping them get through the year.
"We borrowed $1 million for renovations," he said. "We've been paying interest-only on those loans."
Connie Olson, Micon Cinemas vice president, recently said revenues were down between 80% and 90% from past years. The state created a movie theater grant program in November to help; their Chippewa Falls theater received $116,959, and their two Eau Claire theaters received $131,578.
Most of the big hits planned for last summer and fall are now scheduled to come to theaters soon. Olson said he's optimistic people will be back.
"We had a good weekend. We are al excited about the future, and moving forward," Olson said. "It just goes to show, people love going to movies. People are saying, 'we need to get out of the living room.'"
