Forbidden love often yields tragedy, but not only is the romance between small-town girl Bella and 104-year-old vampire Edward in “Twilight” an exception to the rule, but it may also inspire a real-life happy ending where a local theater is granted another lifeline.
Laemmle Claremont 5 is nestled in the heart of Claremont Village’s restaurants, boutiques, art galleries and other community cornerstones. Its lobby is decorated with shelves displaying the work of local artists, giving the theater an edge that fits with Claremont’s creative identity. Yet despite its beloved history in the community since opening in 2007, the 18,743-square-foot single-story theater has been on its last legs in recent years.
Declining foot traffic has been steady, leaving managers and staff to brainstorm creative ways to boost attendance. A kiss from a vampire might lead to death or eternal life, and Laemmle is poised to gamble.
Enter their latest stint: A “Twilight” screening alongside a character lookalike contest slated for Thursday, Feb. 13. The event, mostly advertised on TikTok, as well as with amateurish flyers taped haphazardly to power poles and windows around Claremont Village, quickly sold out its 7 p.m. showing. TikTok comments flooded their channel with Twi-hards pleading for an additional showing, and as of Friday, Jan. 31, the newly added 10 p.m. show has only a handful of tickets left.
“If you’re Edward, you’re gonna have to have the hair gel ready to nail that 2008 Robert Pattinson hair—it’s just perfect—which is a tough hill to climb,” said Laemmle Claremont 5 manager Chris Valverde in a phone interview. “If you can nail the hair, you’ve got a great chance to win, and if you’re coming for Charlie Swan (the dad), that’s just going to be whoever has the best mustache. The Bella impression might need that kind of stuttering, stumbling, weird, awkward, but also cool persona to win.”
Valverde added that there will be “Twilight”-themed snacks, including three different themed ICEEs: “Vampire’s Blood,” “Edward Cullen’s Dazzling Blue Eyes,” and “Bella Where The Hell Have You Been Loca Cola?” The theater will also sell other tasty bites and blood-red wine for fans to enjoy while they watch Edward and Jacob battle it out for Bella’s love. The lookalike contest will then judge those best dressed like the film’s fanged (and unfanged) characters for a chance to earn prizes.
The Claremont 5 is one of eight theaters under the Los Angeles-based arthouse movie theater chain Laemmle Theatres. Additional locations operated and owned by Greg Laemmle, son of the late Robert Laemmle, include the Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles, Glendale 5 in Glendale, Monica Film Center in Santa Monica and NoHo 7 in North Hollywood.
Claremont 5 has faced issues not exclusive to other industries and theaters, mainly led by the market disruption of the coronavirus pandemic. However, being a smaller-scale operation, it has struggled twofold. In 2023, Greg Laemmle told Inland Valley Daily Bulletin columnist David Allen that as far as the numbers were concerned, “We’re about half of where we need to be as far as revenue.” The theater has been auctioned twice in the last five years but has failed to find a buyer, including in December. According to a report in the Claremont-Courier, it failed to reach the reserve price, which was somewhere below its previous asking price of $4.25 million. A sigh of relief for the community, but the theater remains in limbo.
SEE ALSO: Laemmle calls off sale of Claremont 5 theater but needs more moviegoers
Carlos Casillas, who’s been a manager at the theater since it opened, said that community protests ensued in 2021 when plans to sell the theater and turn it into a structure equipped with an organic market, two restaurants on the second floor, and a rooftop bar were floated.
“The city would not let the theater be turned into anything else, so it pretty much demolished the plans of the buyers,” Casillas said in a phone interview. “They said it had to remain a theater because the community wanted that. Every time something like that happens, the community ensures that the theater doesn’t disappear.”
Among those in the community who have an affinity for the Claremont theater was Valverde, who had experience with Regal and AMC chains but longed to be a Laemmle employee. He worked intermittently at Buffalo Wild Wings until a busy Super Bowl Sunday when he got a call offering him a job at Claremont 5. Spoiler: He quit his cooking gig on the spot and joined the Laemmle team.
“The Laemmle has always had just a different aura to it than other theaters,” he said. “Everybody in and after high school wanted to work there. It has this cool art house vibe and wasn’t like the chains. You walk in there, and there’s somebody selling tickets who’s always dressed cool and knows about movies. It’s just a different feel and kind of like walking into a coffee shop.”
Valverde developed the idea for the “Twilight” contest. He was initially thinking of hosting a lookalike contest for Timothée Chalamet for the release of “A Complete Unknown.” Although the idea had potential, the film was released when local college students, a substantial part of the theater’s clientele, would be absent due to their winter breaks.
“So I put that idea in my back pocket, and then about a month ago, we started to think about doing special screenings, and I thought ‘Twilight’ would be this perfect opportunity to bring that idea back,” he said in a phone interview. “Everyone has been in a dorm room or your friend’s house, and you’ve put it on and laughed or said your favorite lines. That’s the feeling we want to recreate with this showing; we want it to be like 200 friends surrounding you.”
Valverde said most of the theater’s clientele base is supported by seniors who come in and watch films throughout the day. The theater staff and the seniors are on a first-name basis, with some regulars even bringing staff Christmas presents. However, Laemmle is missing a returning younger customer base, which has been challenging for them to maintain. Staff is working on establishing this in the long term.
The building blocks of appealing to younger audiences involve meeting them where they are, which is online for Gen Z and younger. The theater’s team advertised the “Twilight” screening and lookalike contest on TikTok, where they knew they could reach an audience who wasn’t as moved by traditional ads.
SEE ALSO: Movies in 2024: Lessons from a turbulent year at the box office
“They need a reason to put down TikTok and come out, so we have to have fun ways to engage with them,” he said. “Your average movie isn’t going to bring them in, so having these lookalike contests is the thing that will bring young people back. I do think movie theaters are going to be big again. In 2019, it was massive; everybody went to movies all the time. We just need to get back in the rhythm of going to the movies again.”
Returning to that rhythm means getting a more online group away from rival pastimes such as streaming services. Casillas attributes streaming as one of the leading factors in the theater’s ongoing struggle with attendance.
“All those big streaming companies like Netflix and Hulu buy the movies as soon as they come out,” he said. “It used to be a big movie studio that would buy it and put it into the market for months before it made it out to streaming and DVD or Blu-Ray. It’s hard for us to compete with something as big as Netflix, especially when we’re an independent movie theater, not as mainstream as AMC or Regal.”
A May 2024 report by Advan, showed that movie theater attendance is still below pre-pandemic levels but is slowly increasing, thanks in part to Gen Z audiences. According to the December report of the National Association of Theatre Owners, “The Strength of Theatrical Moviegoing,” 10-24 year-olds listed seeing a movie on opening weekend as their No. 1 preferred activity, regardless of time and money.
Dr. Alicia Kozma, director of Indiana University Cinema, attributes part of Gen Z’s increased enthusiasm as a reaction to the social distancing requirements that upended their social lives and the effects that linger.
“People go to the movies, not just for the content, but for the experience with other people,” Kozma said in a phone interview. “They are tired of watching things alone in their home and want to be out together. They don’t want to feel constrained by the algorithm because, oftentimes, that means they’re missing many things. They want to experience that same community, pleasure, joy and entertainment in person.”
Going to the movies together can feel like a solution to help combat a loneliness epidemic at a time when people between the ages of 15-24 spend 70% less time in person with friends than those of the same age did in 2003. Screening a movie like “Twilight” with a contest is a good way to boost that in-person engagement and get new people into the theater.
“Eventizing is really great for generating new audiences, but once they get in the door, that’s when you really want to use your programming to turn them into repeat customers, community members and supporters,” she said.
Kozma added that versatility is key for an arthouse to stay competitive, especially when it comes to funneling people away from more dominant theater chains at a time when all theaters don’t make much profit on ticket sales alone.
“A good theater and a good programming team understand that at any given time, your theater is four things to four different people, and really clear and consistent programming can take advantage of that so you can have the type of sustained audience community that you need to keep your doors open,” she said. “That doesn’t mean that you disregard or forget the audiences that have been there in the past, but it should have multiple audiences who all have their different needs met.”
Casillas said the theater is focusing on working with Claremont Colleges and their professors to set up some long-term programs where students and faculty can utilize the theater by hosting events. He added that special showings such as the “Twilight” screening and contest help boost appeal to those who may not usually come in.
The Laemmles also started World Wide Wednesdays, where they show foreign films. “Ma Mère,” “Blond Boy for the Casbah,” “Amal,” and “The Importance of Being Earnest” will be shown in the middle of the week and early on Saturdays and Sundays in February. This kind of programming also speaks to Claremont’s roots, where cinephiles in the “City of Trees and Ph.Ds” are able to catch flick out of indie and foreign studios.
“I love this place,” he said. “I’ve always appreciated that they were a family-owned business that tried to show these types of movies to the community, where otherwise there wouldn’t be a place to watch them. The fact that they’ve done it for so long and they’re still family-owned is something to be prideful about.”