audience member

A grainy circle flashes on the top-right corner of the screen at the Eagle Theater. The single-screen repertory cinema, run by the nonprofit organization Vidiots, was showing a 35-millimeter print of Paul Thomas Anderson’s psychological drama “The Master.”

The faint warning is easily missed by most viewers, but it appears every 10 minutes, alerting the projectionist to change the reel.

The auditorium was sold out. Audience members clapped as the film title appeared onscreen. There was a buzz in the air even before the lights faded to black with the standby line filled with hopefuls trying to grab a last-minute ticket. The stakes were high for the person manning the reel exchange.

Guests wait to enter the Vidiots movie theater for a movie night in Los Angeles.

Michael Rousselet, a projectionist at the Eagle Rock theater, often drinks a lot of coffee to stay alert during late-night screenings.

“If we do a good job, no one knows we exist,” Rousselet quipped as he showed off the projection booth. “If we mess up, everyone knows we exist.”

The carefully curated communal experience offered by repertory theaters is enduring the hardships of the box office, even after the pandemic, which led to the demise of some well-known cinemas. The famed Cinerama Dome and adjoining former Arclight theater on Sunset Boulevard have still not reopened, despite popular demand.

A Monday screening of a 35-millimeter copy of the 2007 film “Michael Clayton” by American Cinematheque sold out. Independent cinema has captured a niche population that has helped it prevail in a time when box office revenue is tumbling down.

Guests enter the movie theater at Vidiots in Los Angeles.

The summer box office season, which stretches from early May through Labor Day, grossed $3.67 billion in the U.S. and Canada, down slightly from last year and significantly less than the pre-pandemic norm of $4 billion. Some new films with major stars struggle to get anyone to show up. “Americana,” starring Sydney Sweeney, one of Hollywood’s top young stars, earned $500,000 during its opening weekend last month.

The unique cinematic experiences crafted by the different repertory theaters play a pivotal role in revitalizing the film industry in Los Angeles, according to Maggie Mackay, executive director of Vidiots.

“I don’t think you can [raise the next generation of film lovers] through one platform,” Mackay said, sitting down in her auditorium. “I don’t think you can fall in love with an art form by clicking a few times and observing it by yourself.”

Patrons at the bar of the Vidiots’ cinema in Los Angeles.

A 2024 study by Art House Convergence showed that between 2019 and 2024, audiences became younger and more diverse. The number of wide releases have also made the independent industry healthier, according to Rich Daughtridge, president of Independent Cinema Alliance.

Independent theaters “are still down compared to 2019, but the momentum attraction is going up,” he said.

Netflix bought the Egyptian Theatre from American Cinematheque for an undisclosed amount in 2020. The influx of money helped the organization grow the brand and host more screenings — the total jump from 500 screenings to 1,600 with 350,000 patrons visiting their theaters, according to Grant Moninger, artistic director at American Cinematheque.

Part of the reason audiences are choosing smaller theaters over multiplexes is the care and attention staff members put into each showing. The viewing experience at these revival theaters always starts with a crew member reminding the audience to stay away from their phones — they want everyone to enjoy the tiny scratches, dust specks and vibrant colors of the print they are showing.

Patrons watch a movie at Vidiots movie theater in Los Angeles.

“I think people are desperately in search of community right now and of feeling closer to other people and sharing things and not feeling disconnected by technology,” Sean Fennessey, the host of the podcast “The Big Picture,” said after the “Michael Clayton” screening.

“We’re very lucky in Los Angeles that we have so many great spaces … that are encouraging people to come together and hang out and laugh and cry and feel chills,” he added.

Each location offers Hollywood cinephiles and casual viewers alike options to catch a variety of movies based on their niche. Independent cinema has had the least trouble recruiting an audience post-pandemic, according to Art House Convergence.

The Vista Theater and the New Beverly show personal copies from the private collection of Quentin Tarantino, who saved the theaters from extinction. Its recent run of “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair” sold out and warranted the Vista announcing a new run of it.

American Cinematheque hosted a festival of films handpicked by different podcasters, which sold out screenings in the middle of the week.

Guests wait to enter the Vidiots movie theater in Los Angeles.

Vidiots hosted a discussion with American Cinema Editors member Leslie Jones after a screening of 2012’s “The Master,” a filmed she worked on. The showing sold out and most of its audience stayed late for a Q&A discussion with her.

Regardless of the inspiration these repertory theaters provide with, say, retrospectives of Akira Kurosawa, the model is not bulletproof to the punches theaters have taken. Organizations like Vidiots and American Cinematheque still rely on their nonprofit status.

These organizations count on donations and memberships. Access to directors, actors, prints and people in the industry also plays an important role in keeping afloat, according to Moninger.

“Our job is to get everybody in [the theater]. You can’t just say, ‘Hey, we’re a nonprofit,’” he said.

The uncertainty of the model does leave room for growth, according to Roger Durling, the executive director of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Vidiots technical director Boris Ibanez sets up a section of the film in a projector in the projection booth of Vidiots movie theater.

The nonprofit organization recently purchased the Film Center, a five-screen multiplex, in the downtown Santa Barbara area. It is the second five-screen theater they have purchased, and it will also screen films during the festival every winter.

Throughout the year, when the theaters aren’t showing movies for the festival, the organization will maintain its existence through a repertory model.

“The nonprofit aspect allows you to concentrate more on the artistic side as opposed to thinking, ‘I just need to make money,’” Durling said.

But the thought is still on his mind.

“The more you concentrate on the artistic side of it, the money will take care of itself.”

Attending a BTS member’s solo show is probably the best way to understand the power of the group beyond Western conceptions of boy bands and the limitations of the K-pop idol system.

Jin, the eldest member of the group, has become the third bandmate to solo headline a world tour with his #RUNSEOKJIN_EP. Tour, which brought him to Anaheim’s Honda Center on Thursday and Friday night.

At the outset of the septet’s 2022 break, Jin was on a time crunch. South Korea had raised the mandatory age of military enlistment from 28 to 30 years old (with legislation nicknamed the BTS law), and it was his time to go.

Without time for a bigger project before heading off, he debuted the soaring single “The Astronaut,” co-written by his favorite band, Coldplay, and paired with a nostalgia-tinged sci-fi music video.

Jin plays piano during his two-night run at Honda Center

(Bright Music)

After he was discharged from the military in June of last year, he got straight to work releasing the upbeat pop-rock EP “Happy,” followed six months later by his latest release, “Echo,” which veered in a more indie direction. Much of the songs on the tour’s 18-song set list come from both of these releases, sprinkled with a few of his earlier stand-alone singles.

On Thursday’s show, the over-18,000-capacity arena appeared nearly sold out, so far proving the group’s famous fandom will show up for each member.

Jin’s particular brand of quirky, humorous and suave energy was on full display at both shows, drawing out an element of the group’s alchemy that helps explain its broad appeal and devoted fans, while also showing how the group is a world unto itself.

Perhaps more than any other BTS member, Jin seems to want to deliver to existing fans rather than reaching for more. The tour is designed as an exclusive love letter to the fandom with nearly every element of its design.

Jin is especially skilled at merging elements of his personality and interests into an integrated intellectual property that transcends visuals, merchandising and format while remaining firmly in on the joke, as well as sincere and engaging.

The name of the tour references his solo variety show called “Run Seokjin,” which itself is an iteration of the group’s variety show, “Run BTS.” (Seok-jin is his birth name.) It provides a framework for the structure of the concert, as classic Korean variety-show elements are employed during the nearly two-hour-long set list.

Preshow, concertgoers could be found in either official or fan-made merch with a dizzying array of references to either the artist’s music, aspects of his personality or both.

A cute alien figure, the character created for the space-themed “The Astronaut,” graced headbands, while tuna hats and various fishing-related outfits nodded to the viral “Super Tuna,” an EDM-meets-trot love anthem to a tuna fish and his love for fishing in general. There are even a few ramen-themed outfits, as he is now the face of a famous Korean ramen brand that coincidentally shares his name.

A known gamer (some fans could also be seen in “Super Mario” costumes), he began the show sauntering onstage in silence only to slam on a game-show buzzer that launched both a blast of confetti and the first strains of “Running Wild,” the all-English-language pop-rock lead track off of “Happy.”

Jin changes into a country-western look during the song “Rope It” at the Honda Center

Within BTS’ vocal line, Jin’s ability to hit clear, clean high notes added to the group’s reputation for songs in a high register, with the lower tenor work picked up by bandmates V and Jungkook.

“Running Wild,” however, begins with a beautifully low resonant tone that Jin has been able to explore more on his solo efforts.

Throughout the show, he was anchored by guitarist Park Shin-won, bass player Yoo Hyun-wook, drummer Kim Dong-hyun, and keytar/keyboardist Kim Chang-hyun, all veteran players in the Korean music industry. But for the first half of the show, the band remained obscured by screens as the focus was on Jin, who cuts an almost young Elvis-like figure with his famously swoon-worthy good looks.

In a later rock segment of the set, the band took on more visible prominence but remained as supportive figures. Clad in a glittery Gucci jean suit (he is a brand ambassador), Jin then exuberantly launched “I’ll Be There for You,” an uptempo rockabilly-tinged pop song with a sing-a-long chorus, a style that seems to be his rock ’n’ roll safe space.

The orchestrated madcap structure takes hold when backed by a running instrumental. Relatively early in the show, he announced that a short break was in order. A giant clock appeared, counting down the minute and a half onstage while he sipped water, vibed with his band and exchanged “woofs” with the crowd.

Jin sporting his baseball jersey merch onstage at Honda Center

(Bright Music)

He transitioned into the lushly melancholy “With the Clouds” off of “Echo” — an interesting track with a cool “backpedal” transition that highlights his softer midrange tone. But before the audience members got too deep in their feelings, at its conclusion, he offered them his best Zoolander stare and blew kisses — which they loudly ate up.

“Every show is a challenge,” he said in English, referring to the game-show format, “And you and I have to do it together,” making it clear participation was expected going forward.

He was not joking. He read out the rules for what was essentially an arena-scale game of charades between him and the audience, in which his number of wins determined which costume he donned for the next act. “I have nine seconds to change my clothes, so be good and talk to the person next to you,” he quipped, leaving the stage with a countdown clock, popping up dutifully on time in a large fishing hat and boots.

After the insanely campy “Super Tuna,” he spun a “Price Is Right”-style wheel to determine what song the audience will karaoke to as he changes again. The audience chose “Anpanman,” a punchy BTS classic that played with lyrics as hilarious Y2K low-fi graphics of him singing bumps on the screen.

Upon his return, clad in black, he accompanied himself on the longing ballad “I Will Return to You” and transitions into “Abyss.” Credited as a songwriter on almost all of his solo songs, “Abyss,” a single released in 2020, delves into especially early feelings of self-doubt that are jarringly in contrast with his later confident demeanor. Both songs were not accompanied by subtitles, allowing the listener to focus on the particular beauty and comfort he embodies while singing in Korean and further underlining a focus on the fandom.

After the fan chants of “Kim Seokjin” died down, he switched back to rock mode with the gorgeous “The Background.” Whether or not he has experienced real-life heartbreak is unknown — BTS members keep their lives private — but he makes you believe he has: “Even if I call you / It echoes back and hurts me again / Even waiting / I try to convince myself it’s love.”

The massive Army crowd gathers for Jin at Honda Center

The campiness wasn’t completely over as he thrilled fans again with “Rope It,” a quirky, pop-country ditty where he gamely hip-swiveled and hat-tilted, channeling his inner Clint Black. A medley of BTS hits including “Dynamite” and “Butter” followed, where he danced a bit. Sexy frontman, variety-show host, rock star, comedian, he was everything for every fan.

With all of its wacky charm and big confetti budget, the show remained remarkably minimalist; no fancy choreography or set pieces. Jin is comfortable onstage and at his most charming when going off script and speaking freely to the audience in Korean through a translator.

It will be interesting to see where he takes his incredible vocal prowess as a solo performer in years to come — it’s exciting to think of the possibilities of even a harder-edged sound or a full country album.

But as the show slowly wound down, and after one last talk with the crowd, amid his trio of encore songs, perhaps lies the most compelling version of him. “Epiphany,” off the 2018 BTS album “Love Yourself: Answer,” offers both a sonic and mental self-actualization that has as he has transitioned from his 20s into his 30s: “The real myself inside the smiling mask / I reveal it entirely / I’m the one I should love in this world / shining me, precious soul of mine.”

The version of “Elio” that hit theaters on June 20 is not the same movie that Adrian Molina, the film’s original director, intended to put out.

Pixar removed LGBTQ+ elements from the animated feature after receiving negative feedback from test screenings with audience members and executives, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The film follows an 11-year-old boy named Elio who is mistaken for Earth’s ambassador by aliens and is beamed up to the Communiverse — an intergalactic organization — to represent the planet.

Trouble began in the summer of 2023 during a test screening in Arizona. After the film was over, audience members were asked to raise their hand if the movies was something they’d pay to see in theaters. No one did, causing Pixar executives to worry.

According to THR, Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter informed Molina after a separate screening for company executives that storyboard artist Madeline Sharafian would be promoted to co-director. Molina, who is gay, was given the option to co-direct the film with Sharafian but chose to exit the project instead after his original vision was changed. Shortly after, Docter announced internally that “Turning Red” director and co-writer Domee Shi would join “Elio” as co-director.

Changes to the film included getting rid of a scene in which Elio shows off a pink tank top made out of beach litter to a hermit crab, as well as removing picture frames from Elio’s bedroom wall that displayed a male crush. Executives also asked him to make the main character more “masculine.”

“I was deeply saddened and aggrieved by the changes that were made,” former Pixar assistant editor Sarah Ligatich, who was a member of the company’s internal LGBTQ+ group and provided feedback during the production of “Elio,” told THR.

Ligatich added that a number of creatives working behind the scenes left after the new directors went in a different direction.

“The exodus of talent after that cut was really indicative of how unhappy a lot of people were that they had changed and destroyed this beautiful work,” she said.

Actor America Ferrera was originally attached to the project as the voice of Elio’s mother, Olga. Following Molina’s departure, the “Barbie” actor left the production because the film lacked “Latinx representation in the leadership.” The character was later changed to be Elio’s aunt and was voiced by Zoe Saldaña.

In March 2025, Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger announced Molina would return as co-director for “Coco 2,” a follow-up to the 2017 film he co-wrote and co-directed.

“Elio” earned Pixar its worst domestic opening after it premiered on June 20. he film made $21 million at the box office and currently holds a “fresh” 83% critics rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes.

“The Elio that is in theaters right now is far worse than Adrian’s best version of the original,” a former Pixar staffer who worked on the film told THR.

“[The character] Elio was just so cute and so much fun and had so much personality, and now he feels much more generic to me,” added another Pixar staffer.

In a 2018 interview with the Huffington Post, Molina said he was “all for it” when asked what it would take for an animated studio to green light a story with a queer protagonist.

The Times reached out to Pixar for comment, but the studio did not respond.