Michael Lamont, owner of the Bijou Art Cinemas at 492 E. 13th Ave., depicted the entertainment world’s response to the tragedy of Sept. 11 when he said that Eugene felt “little ripples” of the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.
Out of sensitivity for the country’s mood, many movies and leisure events were altered, delayed or just scrapped, according to industry representatives.
The first showing of “The Deep End” was delayed Sept. 14 due to the late arrival of the film, Lamont said. Paramount Classics has also delayed the release date of “Sidewalks of New York,” a film the Bijou was slated to receive.
As shown by the actions of Hollywood, bigger-budget movies were also affected. The “Spider-Man” trailer and all posters have been pulled from theaters across the country after the demolition of the World Trade Center because of prominent imagery of the towers. The Web site (spiderman.sonypictures.com) remains down without a restart date.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s film “Collateral Damage” has been pushed back to 2002 by Warner Bros. Pictures “out of respect for victims and their families,” according to an online press release (http://collateraldamage.warnerbros.com). Touchstone Pictures recalled their film “Big Trouble,” which was scheduled to open Friday, until 2002. The film revolves around a bomb and how it travels through the lives of many characters played by big-name actors.
Cinemark 17 had trailers and promotional materials for “Big Trouble,” “Spider-Man” and “Collateral Damage,” which have since been pulled, said Marketing Vice President Terrell Falk. In addition, posters for the film “The Last Castle” were taken down because they contained an image of an upside-down flag.
Sophomore Evan Gandy had heard of “Big Trouble,” but was not aware of when the movie was scheduled to be released. He had seen the “Spider-Man” trailer, but did not even register the image of the World Trade Center.
“What was really going through my head was, ‘Can the guy from ‘Pleasantville’ really pull this off?’” Gandy said.
Gandy didn’t personally see a problem with maintaining images of the World Trade Center towers in promotions: It is a way of preserving the memory.
“If my Grandpa dies, I’m not going to burn all the pictures of him,” he said.
Senior Andrew Belches said he didn’t know any promotional materials had been withdrawn from movie theaters, though he had heard that some television schedules had been altered after the attacks.
“I think it’s important; I’m just not that plugged-in to movie dates,” Belches said.
Other entertainment events also felt a small ripple after the attacks. The Eugene Celebration was scheduled to begin Friday, Sept. 14, but spokeswoman Britt Tvenge said there was a somber change in mood during the week. All Friday events were canceled, and a candlelight vigil was held instead. Some of Friday’s performers were placed in the schedule over the weekend, Tvenge said, but headliner They Might Be Giants canceled because they couldn’t catch a flight to Eugene.
The Hult Center canceled the performance of “Les Misérables” on Sept. 11 and is still waiting for straggling ticket holders to reschedule for another performance. But Hult Center Ticket Office Manager Marcia James said sales for “Les Misérables” have been significantly down, and most people are not yet buying tickets for upcoming shows.