The Dark Knight is filling quite a few seats...

Seems like every cinema in the country is selling out shows for The Dark Knight, the new Batman movie with Christian Bale and Heath Ledger. But the Roxy has had seats available for every show. What gives?

Well, we've had just a tad bit of competition, namely the Rosebud-Treasure County Fair, which draws just about everyone in the county and beyond. They ramped up the action this year, with not one but TWO big concerts - Sawyer Brown, and Charley Pride. And of course the demolition derby on Sunday is always good for softening the crowds at the ol' movie palace.

Not to worry though -- actually it makes things a little better for us, because it tends to spread the movie crowds out a bit. We look for our Dark Knight numbers to improve this weekend, which will please the film's distributor. However, it could make things a little busier than is normal for the second week of a major film. To make sure you get the seat you want, we suggest you arrive at least 20 minutes before show time (which, by the way, is 7:00 every night this week).

WALL-E hits the Roxy's screen

It wouldn't be summer without some kind of a Disney movie.
Last year it was "Pirates of the Caribbean 3," and this
year it's the latest Pixar film, "WALL-E."

It's the story of a robot who is left behind to clean up
the earth after it becomes uninhabitable for humans (700
years in the future, that is). But WALL-E is no ordinary
robot -- he's got a personality, and that's where the plot
thickens.

The visuals in this movie are going to be absolutely great,
I think. This is one you really need to see on the big screen.

WALL-E will be playing for 2 weeks, June 27 - July 9.
Our doors will open approximately 40 minutes before the
first showtime. We're also having a matinee on Saturday
the 28th, at 2:00.

We will be open on the 4th of July, but we will only have
one show that night, at 7:00, so you'll still have plenty
of time to get to the fireworks.

We love NEW movies!

It happens anywhere from 6 to 12 times a year: The Roxy presents a brand new film, on its national opening day.

The first movie we had "on the break" was MISSION IMPOSSIBLE II, which came out in 2000. Of course we'd been wanting to play brand-new movies for years and were willing to pay the higher prices to play them; but it took a change in movie-company attitudes to make it happen.

By the late '90s, boxoffice results had become a huge Monday-morning water-cooler topic. Every studio was determined to wind up on top of the charts with the latest blockbuster. This led to an ever-increasing desire to break opening weekend records.

After years of requests from small theatres to make movies available faster, the film companies finally decided that if they put their films onto as many screens as possible on the opening weekend (including small ones), they'd increase their boxoffice sales. Seems like elementary math, but it only took them 105 years to come up with it.

So far this year, we've already had three films on the break: Nim's Island, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and Horton Hears a Who. Upcoming opening-day titles include Wall-E, The Dark Knight, Madagascar II and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And probably a few surprises we don't know about yet!

By the way, you can tell if we hope to open a movie on the break by looking at its poster in our lobby. If the release date is showing on the poster, the movie will probably be here on that date. If the date is blanked out, it means we'll still probably play the film, but it'll be two or three weeks after the national release.

Indiana Jones is gone! (Almost)

OK, folks, just ONE more day to see Indiana Jones on the Roxy's big screen. After that he will be banished to the awful world of video forever. (Or until they make another one, which we're betting will happen.)

Indiana Jones is here! (Almost)

Well it's not QUITE on opening weekend, but Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be at the Roxy this Friday. The movie opened nationally on May 22, but the studio didn't make enough film prints to satisfy the demand, so we had to wait a while. But we're sure the wait will be worth it! We thank all our local moviegoers for their patience.

We keep reaching for more "firsts"

It's happened again...another "first" at the Roxy. Although this isn't one of our prouder moments.

This one is my fault. We usually change our marquee on Wednesday nights, because we're closed Thursdays...usually. This week, Dylan the marquee changer showed up right on schedule on Wednesday night and put "Iron Man," which starts Friday, on the marquee.

The problem? "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" didn't end Wednesday...it has one more night to run. I forgot to explain that fact to Dylan, and he changed the marquee a day early.

So mark the date -- May 29, 2008 -- for the first time ever, the Roxy will be playing a movie that's different from the one listed on the marquee.

A sign in the front window explains things, and we should be back to normal by Friday the 30th. We hope.

The upcoming schedule: (A guess)

OK, folks, here is what's coming up in the next few weeks. The usual advisory: Almost none of this is set in stone -- it's always SUBJECT TO CHANGE. With that in mind, here we go:

May 30 Iron Man

June 6 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
June 20 What Happens In Vegas + You Don't Mess with the Zohan
June 27 Wall-E

July 11 The Incredible Hulk -or- Kung Fu Panda -or- The Happening
July 18 The Dark Knight