With the city’s New Malibu Theater still under construction after the April 17 Cross Creek Plaza fire, the city has developed CineMalibu-an outdoor theater event which will screen at least four family-oriented films at Bluffs Park.
By Kevin Connelly/ Special to The Malibu Times
What do Thousand Oaks, Santa Monica, Westlake Village and Calabasas all have in common? Since an April 17 fire that destroyed the New Malibu Theater, along with a third of the Cross Creek Shopping Plaza, they are places to which a Malibu resident has had to travel to watch a movie on the silver screen.
With the latest reports pointing to December as the most likely return date of Malibu’s sole movie theater, the city has created what it calls CineMalibu-an outdoor movie series that will screen at Bluffs Park beginning July 29 and lasting through August. The screenings, which will be free to the public, will utilize state-of-the-art projection and surround sound, said volunteer coordinator David Lyons.
“[CineMalibu] will be a great outdoor experience for members of the community as well as their family and friends,” Lyons said in a telephone interview. “The screenings will provide a window to the outside world. [The event] will be a safe and fun experience that [some] will remember for the rest of their lives.”
Lyons, the former vice president of concessions and marketing and current consultant of Wallace Theaters, which owns the New Malibu Theater, said the coordinators of the event have a list of 12 family-orientated movies from which they will choose the final four, with the possibility of an additional two screenings spanning into September. Lyons could not mention the discussed titles at the time of this report, but said the event will screen non-first-run movies already released on DVD.
One of the strongest advocates of CineMalibu has been Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich, who proposed the idea at a June City Council meeting when a plan by Wallace Theaters to screen the movies at Bluffs Park fell through due to concerns of financial feasibility. Conley Ulich, in turn, suggested that the city involve itself in making outdoor movie screenings possible because of the importance of having things to do for the Malibu youth. The council member said she was inspired to make the outdoor movies a reality after reading an article by local student Jerry Wolf Duff Sellers, who wrote that there wasn’t much for 14- to 20-year-olds to do after the sun goes down in Malibu.
“It is my sincere hope that movies will be a step toward addressing the issue raised by Jerry,” Conley Ulich said. “The movies are by no means a cure all, but movies, like books, can take an audience to places they may never go. I am hopeful that the movie series in Malibu will entertain, educate, empower and enrich our community.”
The City Council voted to spend $35,000 toward purchasing the $50,000 of theater equipment deemed necessary to stage CineMalibu. Lyons said progress has been made in acquiring sponsors to make up the $15,000 difference, listing Cross Creek Plaza owner Steve Soboroff and The Malibu Times as two prominent contributors.
Lyons urges moviegoers to bring their own beach chairs and picnic blankets to the event as no seating will be provided, and he lists 750 as CineMalibu’s maximum capacity. Moviegoers will be allowed to bring their own refreshments, but the Kiwanis Club will sell food at the event as well. Sales will benefit the local AYSO and the city’s parks and recreation programs.
In addition, Lyons did not rule out future CineMalibu events once the New Malibu Theater is rebuilt.
“The possibilities are endless [for CineMalibu],” Lyons said. “The city now owns their own high-quality equipment, which they can use themselves or rent out in Malibu. [CineMalibu] could continue in a different form that is educational in nature and they may eventually screen [something like] first-run foreign films.”
The CineMalibu movie screening will begin July 29 with “Shark Tale” at 8 p.m.
Further screenings will take place Aug. 6, Aug. 13 and Aug. 20 at 8 p.m. Movie titles to be screened during August will be announced at a later time.
More information about the movie screenings can be obtained by calling 310.456.2489 ext. 225.