movie

Life, death, crime, kitsch, nostalgia, immigrant aspirations and witty design — all of these elements converge in the world of motels, which didn’t exist before 1925.

Here are five facts and phenomena from the century of history.

The motel turns 100. Explore the state’s best roadside havens — and the coolest stops along the way.

Where Magic Fingers are found

From the late 1950s into the ’80s, thousands of motels proudly advertised their Magic Fingers — a little collection of vibrating electric nodes under your mattress that would give you a 15-minute “massage” for 25 cents, inspiring creators from Kurt Vonnegut to Frank Zappa. Alas, their moment passed. But not everywhere. Morro Bay’s Sundown Inn, which gets two diamonds from the Auto Club and charges about $70 and up per night, is one of the last motels in the West that still features working Magic Fingers, offered (at the original price) in most of its 17 rooms. “We’ve owned the hotel for 41 years, and the Magic Fingers was here when we started. We just kept them,” said co-owner Ann Lin. Ann’s mother- and father-in-law immigrated from Taiwan and bought the property in 1983.

Motels, hotels and Patels

Many motels and small hotels are longtime family operations. Sometimes it’s the original owner’s family, and quite often it’s a family named Patel with roots in India’s Gujarat state. A recent study by the Asian American Hotel Owners Assn. found that 60% of U.S. hotels — and 61% of those in California — are owned by Asian Americans. By one estimate, people named Patel own 80% to 90% of the motels in small-town America. The beginnings of this trend aren’t certain, but many believe that one of the first Indians to acquire a hotel in the U.S. was Kanjibhai Desai, buyer of the Goldfield Hotel in downtown San Francisco in the early 1940s.

Motels, media and murders

There’s no escaping the motel in American pop culture. Humbert Humbert, the deeply creepy narrator of Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel “Lolita,” road-tripped from motel to motel with his under-age victim. Edward Hopper gave us the disquieting 1957 oil painting “Western Motel.” In the film “Psycho” (1960), Alfred Hitchcock brought to life the murderous motel manager Norman Bates. When Frank Zappa made a movie about the squalid misadventures of a rock band on tour, he called it “200 Motels” (1971). When the writers of TV’s “Schitt’s Creek” (2015-2020) wanted to disrupt a rich, cosmopolitan family, they came up with the Rosebud Motel and its blue brick interior walls. And when executives at A&E went looking for a true-crime series in 2024, they came up with “Murder at the Motel,” which covered a killing at a different motel in every episode.

The Lorraine Motel, before and after

The 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made the Lorraine Motel in Memphis globally notorious. But before and after that day, the Lorraine played a very different role. Built as a small hotel in 1925 and segregated in its early years, the property sold to Black businessman Walter Bailey in 1945. He expanded it to become a motel, attracting many prominent African American guests. In the 1950s and ’60s, the Lorraine was known for housing guests such as Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Roy Campanella, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Aretha Franklin, Lionel Hampton, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding and the Staples Singers. After King’s assassination, the motel struggled, closed, then reemerged in 1991 as the National Civil Rights Museum, now widely praised. Guests follow civil rights history through the building, ending at Room 306 and its balcony where King was standing when he was shot.

The man upstairs in the Manor House

In 1980, a Colorado motel owner named Gerald Foos confided to journalist Gay Talese that he had installed fake ceiling vents in the Manor House Motel in Aurora, Colo., and for years had been peeping from the attic at guests in bed. The man had started this in the 1960s and continued into the ’90s. Finally, in 2016, Talese spun the story into a New Yorker article and a book, “The Voyeur’s Motel,” sparking many charges that he had violated journalistic ethics.

As the box office improves, will a steep discount on tickets bring more people to the multiplex this summer?

That’s what AMC Theatres is betting.

The Leawood, Kan.-based chain said this week that members of its AMC Stubs loyalty program, which has a free tier, will get 50% off adult evening-priced movie tickets all day long Wednesdays, starting July 9.

The move comes as the studios and theater owners have struggled to bring audiences back to the movies after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Box-office revenue improved in fits and starts as the pandemic waned, though the number of films released was greatly affected by the dual writers and actors strikes in 2023.

As of this past weekend, domestic ticket sales this year are down about 30% compared with the same time period in 2019, according to Comscore. Even before the pandemic, attendance numbers were declining.

But there is some hope on the horizon.

Total North American box-office grosses this year are expected to reach about 80% of 2019’s totals, with 2026 predicted to reach 86%, said Alicia Reese, senior vice president of equity research for media and entertainment at Wedbush Securities.

“The post-pandemic recovery has been pretty bumpy,” she said. “That said, the strikes really challenged the box-office volume for a while, but that’s now in the rear-view mirror.”

Theatrical attendance and flexible ticket pricing were frequent topics of conversation at the CinemaCon trade conference earlier this year in Las Vegas, where studio executives and exhibitors alike mused about how to bring audiences back to theaters.

A more diverse lineup of films would help, some said. Others, like Paramount domestic distribution president Chris Aronson, argued that an improved experience in the theaters, including fewer ads, limited trailers, extended matinee pricing or daily deals could lure customers back.

He highlighted the “Discount Tuesday” promotion available at many theaters.

“Why not ‘Discount Wednesdays’? Unless, of course, you’re already at full capacity on Wednesday, in which case, don’t do it,” he said during his on-stage presentation, to laughter from the audience of theater owners and industry executives.

That’s now exactly what’s happening at AMC, as theater operators consider ways to improve traffic on less-attended weekdays.

In explaining the decision, AMC Chief Executive Adam Aron touted the improved box-office results in the fiscal second quarter.

Just a few months ago, the industry was collectively wringing its hands over the poor performance in the first quarter, including underwhelming showings from films such as Disney’s troubled live-action “Snow White” and a general lack of blockbusters.

The bleak first quarter at the box office took a toll on AMC’s earnings, which the chain reported last week.

The company reported revenue of $862.5 million, down 9.3% from the $951.4 million it logged during the first quarter of 2024. Net loss for the first quarter was $202.1 million, compared with a loss of $163.5 million during the previous year. AMC also reported lower attendance for the first quarter with 41,903 admissions, a decrease of 10.1% from the same time period a year ago.

Aron cautioned in a statement at the time that the first-quarter domestic box office was “a distorting anomaly” and that anyone trying to draw conclusions about the movie theater business from those results was “likely to be mistaken.”

So far this spring, films like Warner Bros. Pictures’ “A Minecraft Movie” and Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” have jolted the box office back to life.

And with several new movies on the horizon, including Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch” and the Tom Cruise-led “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” analysts and theaters feel optimistic about the potential box office trajectory. As of last weekend, the year’s box-office grosses are up 16% compared with the same time period last year, according to Comscore.

“Realistically, we could not afford to have made this change to our ticket pricing strategy until the box office showed true signs of sustained recovery,” Aron said in a statement. “But in April and now in May, the box office has been booming, and the remainder of 2025 appears poised to continue that upward box office trend.”

Already, Tuesdays have emerged as the biggest non-weekend moviegoing day, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. Adding another lower-priced day to the mix could help drive attendance, increase concession sales and expose audiences to trailers for new films, he said.

“When consumers feel like they’re getting something more, the loyalty developed there is very important,” Dergarabedian said. “Having one of the bigger chains commit to this is a big deal.”

The initiative will likely be a test to whether it cannibalizes higher-priced attendance on other days, Reese said.

“Overall, I think it’s a strong strategy with a lot of really good content available over the summer to get people who wouldn’t otherwise go to the movies to come back to the movie theater,” she said. “Either way, it gets attention, it gets far more people onto their loyalty programs that they can communicate with directly, it opens their eyes to AMC’s paid subscription program.”

Dynamic ticket pricing, similar to hotels and concerts, has long been discussed as a potential attendance booster but hasn’t been fully embraced for movies.

Nonetheless, AMC has experimented with different kinds of discounts. The company a couple years ago introduced modestly lower-priced tickets for less in-demand front row seats, but later backed away from the idea.

“Selena y Los Dinos,” the latest documentary film about the life of Tejano music icon Selena Quintanilla, has been acquired by Netflix. The film is currently scheduled to begin streaming in winter 2025.

The movie, directed by Isabel Castro, features original VHS footage taken by Selena’s older sister, Suzette, and is interspersed with present-day interviews with family and friends.

Netflix announced its acquisition in a Tuesday press release.

“Through personal archive and intimate interviews with her family, the film reveals new dimensions of her journey that have never been seen before,” Castro shared in the release. “I am deeply grateful to her family for their trust and support throughout this journey, and I can’t wait for a global audience to experience the magic, heart and community that Selena gave to all of us.”

Suzette also shared her enthusiasm about the scope of the partnership with Netflix in the Tuesday announcement, stating, “Grateful to have a platform that helps bring Selena’s story to fans around the world.”

This is not the first time that the Quintanilla family has collaborated with the streaming giant. They worked with Netflix to help create “Selena: The Series” — a scripted retelling of Selena’s childhood, rise to fame and death starring Christian Serratos as the Texas singer.

It was after working as an executive producer on the Netflix series that Suzette consulted her lawyer about making her own documentary.

“There’s some things that you just want to hold on to and not share with everyone,” Suzette said at the documentary’s 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere. “I was always taking the pictures, always with the camera. And look how crazy it is, that I’m sharing it with all of you so many years later.”

The documentary surfaces footage from performances in which Selena subverts the idea of the well-manicured image that the Quintanilla family has constantly put out of the singer in the 30 years since her death. It also captures, in real time, the evolution of a bold new identity growing among Latino youth in the 1980s, encapsulated in Los Dinos’ cultural hybridity.

The film was awarded with a special jury prize for archival storytelling at the renowned movie gathering at Sundance. The jury made note of how the feature “transported us to a specific time and place, evoking themes of family, heritage, love and adolescence.”

So badly were people clamoring to view the movie that the organizers of Sundance pulled it from its online platform. The film had fallen victim to a number of copyright infringements as eager fans were uploading clips from it to social media platforms. This was the first time that Sundance had removed a feature during the festival.

De Los assistant editor Suzy Exposito and Times staff writer Mark Olsen contributed to this report.

Rams owner Stan Kroenke will build a movie studio next to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood that will serve as the international broadcast center for the 2028 Olympic Games.

Construction will start by summer on the studio and production facility that will house hundreds of broadcasters from around the world that have acquired rights to cover the Summer Games in Los Angeles, Kroenke’s company said Tuesday.

After the Games, the facility known as Hollywood Park Studios will be used to make movies, television shows and other productions and perhaps host live broadcasts.

The development is part of Hollywood Park, a multibillion-dollar complex built on the site of a former horse racing track also known as Hollywood Park that includes the stadium, apartments, theaters, offices, shops and restaurants.

A luxury hotel is under construction there, and more development including a grocery store and medical offices is being considered.

Kroenke’s organization hopes that attention from the Olympics will boost Hollywood Park Studios’ appeal as a future entertainment production center.

“We want it to be recognized around the world,” said Alan Bornstein, who is overseeing development of the studio for Kroenke.

The studio is part of Hollywood Park’s master development plan focusing on media, entertainment and technology, Bornstein said, anchored by SoFi Stadium, YouTube Theater and the NFL Media office building.

“There has been an increasing convergence of media and technology and sports, all under the notion of entertainment that is now distributed in in multiple channels,” Bornstein said, “whether it’s through streaming or whether through broadcast television or movies in theaters,”

The first phase of Hollywood Park Studios will occupy 12 acres and will consist of five soundstages, each 18,000 square feet, two of which may be opened to a single 36,000-square-foot stage.

The complex will have a three-story, 80,000-square-foot office building to support stage, production and postproduction activities. The studios will have a dedicated open base camp where trucks, equipment and actors’ trailers could be placed, along with a parking structure for 1,100 cars. Future development could include as many as 20 stages and 200,000 square feet of related office space.

The additional stages would be built to suit for future tenants as demand emerges, Bornstein said, who declined to estimate how much the studio complex will cost.

Although demand for soundstages outstripped supply a few years ago, production has recently slowed and dampened the current need for them.

A rendering of the Hollywood Park Studios broadcast center and movie production facility.

(Gensler)

Last year, the average annual occupancy rate dropped to 63%, a further indication of Hollywood’s sustained production slowdown, according to a recent report by FilmLA, a nonprofit organization that tracks on-location shoot days in the Greater Los Angeles area.

That was a decline from 2023, which saw an average regional occupancy rate of 69%. That was the year when dual strikes by writers and actors crippled the local production economy for months.

The foray into Hollywood-level production facilities is part of Kroenke’s goal to combine sports, entertainment and media from around the world, Bornstein said.

In addition to the Rams, Kroenke is owner of the Denver Nuggets basketball team, the Colorado Avalanche hockey team, the Colorado Rapids soccer team, the Colorado Mammoth lacrosse team and Arsenal Football Club, the Premier League soccer team based in London.

SoFi Stadium, where the Chargers also play football, will be converted into the largest Olympic swimming venue in history during the Games in 2028. It will host the Olympic opening ceremony with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, as well as the opening ceremony for the Paralympic Games.

Kroenke is also a major real estate developer and landlord. The 300-acre Hollywood Park project is one of the largest mixed-use developments under construction in the western United States. SoFi Stadium alone cost $5 billion to build.

Last month, he also unveiled plans for a new Rams headquarters on a 100-acre site at Warner Center in Woodland Hills that would include a residential and retail community intended to be the centerpiece of the San Fernando Valley. It could cost more than the total price of Hollywood Park, which has been valued by outside observers at more than $10 billion.

Creating a second epicenter in Woodland Hills allows the Rams to significantly increase the size of their footprint in the Southern California market.

“When you’re looking to do a practice facility, you don’t need to be right in the middle of everything, and typically that real estate is very expensive,” Kroenke told The Times. “We built an identity in the Valley, with Cal Lutheran, and a lot of our players and families are up there. Our experience was really good.”

Architecture firm Gensler spearheaded the design for the Warner Center headquarters and Hollywood Park Studios. Clayco will be the general contractor for the studio, with Pacific Edge acting as project manager. Financing was arranged by Guggenheim Investments.

Times staff writer Sam Farmer contributed to this report.