It's My Theater and I'll Show What I Want to

I was walking in my neighborhood the other day and I passed a recently closed movie theater on Broadway between 61st and 62nd Street. I suddenly had a fantasy of owning a movie theater. I'd have only the best, freshest popcorn and real melted butter. One large screen, stadium seating. I would not have a slide show with quizzes about movie stars before the screening and I'd limit the number of previews to two. Oh, and this was very important, there would be a flowing, plush curtain in front of the screen and it would open before the previews began, close after the previews ended, and then be drawn again before the film started. After this fantasizing ended, I came to the big question: "What would I show?"

Since my taste is all over the map, everything. It would be a repertoire and a new film theater, similar to the Walter Reade Theater or Film Forum. I'd show double features, too, why not a classic film with a newly released one? And short films before, between and after the features. And newsreels to put an older film in historical context. I'd invite the directors to present their work and discuss it with the audience. And maybe I'd invite local musicians to pay a song or two before hand, why not? Terrific! I was on a roll, I was figuring it out.

The next questions was, "What would be the first film to screen at my theater?" And that's when my brain seized. Good god, where to begin? Will this one selection set the tone for everything to come? Do I start with what I think is the greatest film ever made (Citizen Kane)? Would that send the right message or is it too safe? Do I start with a film that is a benchmark of modern cinema (D.W. Griffiths' Birth of Nation, or Abel Gance's Napoleon)? Do I have a retrospective of one of the giant auteurs--Truffaut? Hitchcock? Kurosawa? Maybe I could start with something off-the-wall and modern, maybe a Saturday matinee,  something for my friends who have kids, maybe Cars or Wall-e, make it an all-ages party? Or maybe show a blockbuster, something guaranteed to get butts in the seats, keep the ushers and concession people busy and hopeful that the theater will survive and they'll have jobs as long as they want and as long as they're capable.  It occurred to me then that I was really asking one question, "Who do movie theaters serves?" Filmmakers? The community? The theater's shareholders and employees? Me?

 
Do you have an answer to that big question?And what would be the first film you'd screen in your theater?