The Big Picture

The partnership between American Cinematheque and Netflix has allowed the historic Egyptian Theatre to be preserved and revived, providing new opportunities for the community. The renovation of the Egyptian Theatre includes state-of-the-art capabilities and the ability to show rare film formats such as nitrate film, making it one of only five theaters in the U.S. with this capability. The American Cinematheque programs the theater every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with membership tiers available for LA residents. Special screenings and festivals, including a nitrate festival, are being planned for the future.

To celebrate the renowned Egyptian Theatre opening its doors once again, the American Cinematheque and Netflix marked the theater’s 101st anniversary with a screening of David Fincher’s The Killer and Q&A. Ahead of the event, Collider’s Steve Weintraub was able to speak with American Cinematheque Chairman Rick Nicita about this legendary venue and all the new opportunities the renovation provides for the community.

Three years ago, the nonprofit American Cinematheque joined forces with Netflix to preserve the Hollywood treasure and revive the Egyptian Theatre back to its Golden Age. The location has stood the test of time since Hollywood’s first-ever red carpet premiere, but through natural aging, a world-altering pandemic, and changes within the industry, such as streaming, the theater fell on hard times. The restoration will allow Netflix to utilize the space for special events and screenings while the American Cinematheque will continue to independently program the theatre.

During their discussion, Nicita explains the programming schedule for the American Cinematheque every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, as well as the available membership tiers for LA residents. We learn more about The Egyptian Theatre’s new state-of-the-art capabilities, the film projector formats including 35mm, 70mm, and nitrate film, making the theatre one of only five in the U.S. with the ability to show the rare format, and upcoming festivals they’re planning. Grant Moninger, their programmer and artistic director, joins the conversation to explain how they plan in advance, and sometimes by the seat of their pants, and they talk showtime flexibilities. Finally, Nicita, who worked with the CAA from the ‘80s to the early 2000s, discusses how the industry has evolved, what’s remained the same, and which Steven Spielberg film he still views as his miracle success while with the agency. You can check out the full interview in the transcript below.

COLLIDER: The most important question is going to be upfront: what is the best seat in the new Egyptian?

RICK NICITA: [Laughs] I think G-14.

Are you being serious?

NICITA: No. You know what? We’ll find that out later. Why don’t you put a pause there, and you and I will decide that later?

Sure. In the new Chinese theater, there are two seats where [Christopher] Nolan sits; they are the best seats in the theater.

NICITA: I’ve heard that.

They are the best seats.

NICITA: We’re gonna have to find out because if you think about it, this has not been tested out. We’ll be able to answer that question in a moment.

Half the reason I am here is I wanted to see the size of the screen in relation to the theater to figure out when I book tickets to see things, “Where do I wanna sit?” Because if the screen is too small for the size of the theater, if you’re sitting all the way in the back…you know what I mean?

NICITA: I like your style. It’s a great question. I’m gonna be able to answer that the next time somebody else asks.

I could give you a whole thing on this, but anyway. How do you decide which theater is gonna show what now that you have three venues?

NICITA: Well, frankly, Grant Moninger, our programmer, he can literally answer that because he’s the one who deals them out like cards. I think a lot of it is dependent on the anticipated size of the audience and the kind of demographic appeal of them. But it is a decision. We haven’t had the good fortune of dealing with the Egyptian for two years, almost three, so we haven’t had to face that. That’s a question you should ask but ask Grant. He’ll give you a real answer.

Netflix Partners With the American Cinematheque

What are you most excited about this partnership with Netflix at the Egyptian for audiences to get out of this?

NICITA: Well, the partnership with the Egyptian allowed us to fulfill our mission to the community, which is to preserve the moviegoing experience and appreciation of movies. Their purchase of the theater in partnership with us—because we contributed to the renovation, but Netflix owns the theater—the deal right off the bat was for the American Cinematheque to be able to retain Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Every Friday, Saturday, Sunday, which is the bulk of our program. I mean, the days of the week are fine. We often had to rent them out; those aren’t big moviegoing days. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And so retaining that allowed us to continue our mission in a place that enhances the experience and makes the audience appreciate the movies even more.

When they come in, they’re not only going to be seeing state-of-the-art technology and hearing state-of-the-art technology, they’re gonna be experiencing a new thing for them because it’s a brand-new old movie palace, and there just aren’t any of them. There are old movie palaces; there are some left, but they’re old movie palaces. This is a brand-new old movie palace renovated with the intent of not replicating, it’s not a replication of the old Egyptian, but it is the feel of the old Egyptian. Our architect can explain that.

I walked around. It’s great. One of the things that I’m really excited about is you’re going to be one of five theaters that can show nitrates.

NICITA: Yes.

So, I want to know how many nitrate prints are actually available and are they safe to show?

NICITA: Yes, they are safe to show, but yes, there is a certain volatility to it. Standards have to be met in the showing of them, the booth, all aspects of the showing. I think “dangerous” is too much a word, but volatile. Your question comes from the right place, and the answer is we have adhered and then some to all the specifications, so there is no problem. You’re safe. When you find that favorite seat, you can watch a nitrate. You’ll be good.

The Egyptian Theatre Is One of Five Theaters That Show Nitrate

The concept of being able to see nitrate print is fantastic. How much are you guys thinking about that in terms of celebrating some of those nitrate movies?

NICITA: We have a nitrate festival, this nitrate festival that we are in the process of planning. I don’t know if there are dates for it yet. We gotta work out the kinks, but yeah. And there aren’t many prints. Have you seen a nitrate film?

I don’t know if I have seen a nitrate film, which is one of the reasons why I’m so curious about this.

NICITA: It’s a different color. You’ll know. You’ll kind of look at it and go, “It’s a little different.” It’s not off-putting at all, but it’s different. It’s a different visual.

One of the things that I’m so excited about is this theater will be able to do 35mm, 70mm, nitrate – it will be able to show everything. My question is, 70 is like the holy grail, but how much are you thinking about 70-millimeter playing, like, three festivals a year in terms of 70? You have three days a week, and it goes pretty quickly, so how are you guys gonna decide what to show?

NICITA: Yeah, I do. Three times 52 is 156. That’s a lot of nights. We feel that we have access to the 70-millimeters. We’re coming up with a 70-millimeter mini-festival. We have Jacques Tati’s Playtime, we have James Cameron’s Aliens, Lawrence of Arabia, several others coming. We’ll be able to program them.

Image via 20th Century Fox

One of the things I noticed about the schedule is that you show a lot of movies at, like, 6 or 7pm. Sometimes on the weekend there’s something at like two or three, but you don’t go later than that and you don’t go earlier. I’m curious if this ends up becoming something where people love coming to this theater because it’s state of the art and everything, have you discussed, “Maybe we want to do 11:00 movies or noon movies?”

NICITA: You know, I think that will come as a result of demand. It’s capitalism at its finest. You know, if you build it, they will come, and if they come, we’ll satisfy them. What we don’t want to do is program something, a wonderful film, and then have an empty house because it was too late or it was too early, or we misjudged that Taylor Swift is at SoFi or something. But we’re open. I mean, we are programming for the community, not for ourselves. We’re programming to satisfy the audience, so entirely possible.

Yeah, I’m just wondering about late nights, you know, like a horror fest at midnight or 11 p.m., these kinds of things.

NICITA: The answer is yes. Everything’s under discussion. Now that we’re back at the Egyptian, we have a lot more – an extra venue, a new venue, a bigger venue. We can really play around. There’s a lot being discussed.

How Far Out Is the Egyptian Programmed?

How far are you guys planning into the future at this moment? For example, we’re in November, are you already thinking about February and March? How far ahead do you guys plan?

NICITA: Grant, who’s our artistic director, describes our process like a newsroom. We don’t program long-term, with some exceptions.

GRANT MONINGER: It could be as much as a few months and as much as, like, two days.

I am familiar with that, actually.

MONINGER: Yeah, we did Irréversible, Gaspar Noé. I think it was probably 30 hours…So originally, we were gonna do some nitrate earlier in the year…but we’re gonna push it just in case there was any glitch in the booth because they’re highly flammable.

I mean, it’s exciting because there’s no ability really to see these movies in that format, but at the same time, there’s an element of danger, like no smoking at this theater.

MONINGER: We feel there will be a limited danger once the projectors are up and running.

Oh, I’ll be sitting in the front. Don’t worry. [To Nicita] You worked at CAA from 1980 to 2008. I am very curious if you could talk a little bit about what it was like being there during that time and how it was when you arrived versus how it was when you left in terms of the way the industry worked? If it was kind of similar or if it radically changed during your time there?

NICITA: When I joined CAA in 1980, the entire company—everyone—could sit around a round table in a conference room, and we did. Now, can you imagine the size of the round table? And the business has completely changed to a huge degree. I mean, it’s unrecognizable in its process and its machinations, but the result is the same: two hours, more or less, of flickering images on the screen. How we got there, the route, has changed completely. And I’m not even gonna say– It’s not for the better, it’s not for the worse. It’s just quite different. Just quite different. And I was there long enough to experience various changes and memorable [changes].

Well, you were also there during the CAA’s juggernaut rise.

NICITA: Yeah, I was fortunate.

I can’t even imagine the stories. But I’m curious, when you were there or even now or after, was there a project that you always wanted to get made that, for some reason, could never come together?

NICITA: I wish I had a glib answer to that, but I don’t. I don’t really remember. I spent too much time trying to get things made that ended up getting made. [Laughs] But yeah, a lot of times things would fall apart for one reason or another, but I don’t really remember. I choose to remember the ones that got made.

Well, let me ask you this question: which is the project that you really had to work your ass off to make it happen, and you are still, to this day, like, “I am so thankful that that all worked out?”

NICITA: Minority Report. There were just a lot of problems with getting Minority Report on – financial, and there just were problems. There were times when we just thought, “This movie just isn’t gonna happen. Just not gonna happen.” But there were so many people who wanted it to happen that we all overcame those problems. That’s one that comes to mind.

Image via 20th Century Studios

Jumping back into why I get to talk to you today, you have a few different membership tiers. If someone is not a member yet, which is the membership tier that you recommend for people? I know there’s one that’s $85. Is that the one that you recommend? Some of the upper tiers have more special screenings, and I’m curious how many of those do you typically do a year, and do you think you’ll be doing more?

NICITA: All bets are off in the sense that now that we have this venue, we are able to expand all the programming. I couldn’t tell you the number, but it’s gonna be a lot more. People are gonna have to trust us when we say special screenings. There’ll be an ample amount of special screenings.

MONINGER: There’s $85, and then there’s $150.

So the $150 one is the one you recommend? What I’m trying to figure out is, is it the one that’s $85 that you think that the average Collider person should go for, or do you think the $150 is one that you’re like, “If you live in LA, you’re a cinephile, you want to do the $150?”

MONINGER: The reason that’s the cut-off is there are so many in the $85 that there’s no way we could do a 400-seat Spielberg/John Williams night. So, we have to do the math, and that starts from $150 for us. I’m saying if you want to have exposure to things that we do beyond the normal run, start at $150.

For you guys, what’s an event from the past that you still can’t believe you pulled off here or something you guys are really proud of?

MONINGER: Survival. [Laughs]

NICITA: Yeah. We are a nonprofit – a very apt word, by the way, nonprofit. Think about it. between the pandemic and call it the gradual deterioration of the Egyptian, plus the change in technology, meaning streaming, et cetera, we were facing some rough wins, to put it mildly. The Netflix deal came at the perfect time. We were in trouble. It’s just the way it was. With all the good intentions and more than competent leadership, we were in trouble, and timing worked out for us.

Temple of Film: 100 Years of the Egyptian Theatre is available to stream on Netflix.

Watch on Netflix