With all the national fervor surrounding the second part of the blockbuster musical hit “Wicked,” Red River Theatres became quite the destination for the Concord community.
On Thursday evening, a group of resident assistants at NHTI ventured to Red River together, ready to discover the fates of Elphaba and Glinda, two best friends pitted against each other by their magical society in the reimagined story of the Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz.”
“A lot of people love this movie,” said Momo Sanyang, one of the residential assistants, “so we all decided, ‘Hey, let’s just grab a few tickets, get a van and let’s all come together and go see the movie.'”
The group, which enjoys connecting around films, organized a social event around the screening and arrived early on Thursday evening on purpose.
“We’ll listen to music relating to the movie on our way. We like to talk about our interests together, and then, when we get to do it in movie settings, it’s really nice,” Sanyang said.
“Wicked: For Good” is based on the second act of the hit Broadway show, inspired by a novel written by Gregory McGuire.
For Red River Theatres, an indie cinema and small local nonprofit, the large crowds provide an opportunity to remind people about the magic of the movies, said Executive Director Angie Lane. She appreciates how movie-going creates a communal experience for all who venture through the doors.
“I absolutely guarantee that folks that walk out of ‘Wicked’ in our lobby will linger,” said Lane. “They’ll talk about it. They will recognize their neighbor, or talk to strangers because they have this shared experience together.”
When the first “Wicked” film came to the big screen last November, the number of people who flocked to the theater was so large that Red River ran out of butter for its popcorn.
Needless to say, the cinema came prepared for the spike in crowds this time around. Red River even has “Wicked” popcorn buckets, homemade themed cookies and some Oz-related merchandise in partnership with Gibson’s Bookstore.
“Wicked” has drawn in many audiences with its themes of self-love, authenticity, redemption and friendship.
“I liked how Elphaba was pushed out of all the social circles, and then how she came into it, and she was included more,” said NHTI Residential Assistant Mary Cadreact, referring to the first film. “But regardless, she was always okay with herself as a person.”
For Red River Operations Manager Sam Doyon, who began in his role at the start of the month, cinematic phenomena like “Wicked” create a sense of “shared community empathy.”
“These moments can be kind of fleeting, and we should take advantage of them as shared moments of cultural connectedness,” Doyon said.
He finds that when people watch a movie in a group, they’re able to collectively walk in someone else’s shoes.
The last time Red River experienced such blockbuster success was with “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” which many viewers went to see back-to-back.
“When we had Barbenhimer, it was our first big triumph coming back from COVID,” Lane said. “We had a drag queen Barbie night, which was fantastic. People really loved that. It was such a wonderful return in some ways. We had been closed for so long. We reopened a few days a week. We expanded a little. It took a while to get back to 365 days a year, and there were some bumps in the road.”
Even with high ticket sales, the cinema still has to give a large percentage of the proceeds back to the distributor. For “Wicked: For Good,” Red River only retains 36% of the profit.
Concessions and memberships, for which 100% of the proceeds stay at the cinema, are the true sustaining factors for Red River, Lane said.
“These ticket sales will generate a significant amount of revenue for us but it’s not necessarily how we’re going to be sustainable, because we can’t guarantee a ‘Wicked’ will come every year,” she said.
Red River, which has made a name for itself as a center of cinematic culture in Concord, screens a combination of new releases, classics and everything in between, in addition to hosting film discussions and other community-oriented events.
It’s important to Lane and her team that the small indie character of the cinema remain even as Red River adapts to the shifting landscape of film with the rise of streaming and other challenges. Adding Doyon as the first full-time operations manager is one step in that direction.
For Lane, nothing beats the experience of seeing a movie on the big screen while sitting amongst others laughing and crying beside you.
“For a moment in time, you’re connected with each other,” she said.