I’ve been involved with a film award group for several years now. My activity with them as dropped due to all my involvement elsewhere in my life, but back in June of 2004 I wrote an article for their newsletter about Denver’s movie houses and the screen boom that was going on at the time. I thought I’d share it with you especially people like Hubs who does research like this for a living. Enjoy some of Denver’s history!

Chlotrudis Country
Denver, Colorado

Most still think of Denver, Colorado as a big, glorified cow town and while there are still the activities that are traditionally Denver, many have tried to bring a little more to the mix. One of those things was the recent moviehouse boom that more than doubled the number of screens in our poor cow town. The majority of the screens were for the multiplex, but a few others had a more noble aspiration - bringing the concept of the smaller, independent film to the residents here.

First, however, we have to step back and talk about three independents that are still here from before the boom. Those three theaters are now owned by one company, Landmark Theatres, and include two of the oldest theaters in Denver.

The most prestigious of the three is the Mayan Theater (110 Broadway). It was built in 1930 and nearly destroyed in the mid-80s at the lowest point in its history. A local group calling themselves “Friends of the Mayan” helped saved this beautiful theater at the last moment. In 1986, Landmark restored the theater to its past glory at the cost of $2 million. It is now one of only three theaters in the Art Deco Mayan Revival style left in the country.

Currently, the Mayan has three screens. There is a larger auditorium downstairs and two smaller screens upstairs. It is located in a great “Old Town” section of Denver that adds to its appeal, plus on Saturday nights they show classic films at midnight. These midnight movies can range anywhere from the cheesiest cult classic, to highly acclaimed black-and-white classics. Plus the audience is always fun at that time of night.

Even older is the Esquire Theater (590 Downing Street). The Mayan’s lesser-known sister theater was built in 1928 as the Hiawatha Theater, which included a full balcony. Over the years, the balcony was enclosed and made into a second screen. It used to be Denver’s official Rocky Horror Picture Show weekly show as well. Today the interior has a 60s feel to it, but the sound system was updated a few years ago making it a worthy companion to the Mayan. Landmark has been running it since 1980.

In 1992, Landmark took over a small theater in a more suburban area south of the city center and dubbed it Chez Artiste (2800 South Colorado Boulevard). Featuring three screens, Chez Artiste has a rare, very cozy “press screening theater” that sits only 40 - 50 people and truly makes you feel as if you are a member of the press.

During the beginning of the theater boom, an old brewing company called Tivoli Brewing (established in 1866), added on some theater screens as part of a small shopping mall. The original owners of those theaters left this cinema with no one to run them for several years. Later the Denver Film Society and the University of Colorado at Denver’s College of Arts And Media, with the help of the Starz Encore Group, opened them back up in an attempt to give Denver some true cinematic experiences. Thus the Starz Filmcenter (900 Auraria Parkway) opened in 2002.

They gave the original Tivoli space a sprucing up and reopened its six theaters in order to show film that wasn’t readily available on bigger screens. They also hold several film festivals during the year and cycle through 600 - 700 films a year — the largest amount of films shown in any of Denver’s theaters. The theaters themselves are smaller, but intimate, and are a nice place to experience art of moviemaking.

The last theater of note in Denver is also the most fancy. Madstone Theaters (7777 East Hampden Avenue) came to town around the same time Starz opened, but they had a gimmick. They opened a six-screen theater in suburbia that showed independent and Hollywood films, made the building as posh as possible and threw in a café to serve food and other higher quality theater snacks.

It seems that Denver has grown big enough to have specialized in- dependent film centers; however, that growth has stopped for the moment due to the economy, but you can bet the next growth spurt in the country Den- ver will soon see additional independent film venues. Starz Filmcenter claims that over 200,000 Denver Film Society members and guests alone visit their theater every year. The demand is there, but are distributors listening?

Listening to: Under The Milky Way - The Church