It is a very busy weekend for Landmark Cinemas as the company celebrates its 50th anniversary this weekend. On Saturday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., you can take part in the celebration with cake, prizes and fun at the Grand 10 and Paramount in Kelowna and Xtreme and Encore in West Kelowna. There are also special screenings of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial at noon at all theatres except the Paramount (an extra 11 a.m. showing has been added at Xtreme; the Paramount’s celebration runs from 1-4 p.m.). Admission price for E.T. is just $1, 50 cents of which goes to support Kids Help Phone. For more information, go to www.landmarkcinemas.com.
Adding to the excitement are four new movies opening this weekend with the sequel to Hotel Transylvania leading the pack. The first one was a monster hit (pun intended) grossing almost $400 million worldwide and Hotel Transylvania 2 is expected to do the same. Returning are the voices of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Fran Drescher and Molly Shannon with the great Mel Brooks joining the voice cast.
After a strong opening in IMAX theatres last weekend, Everest is now being released to regular theatres. It is based on the events of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, when a number of simultaneous expeditions up Mount Everest resulted in the deaths of eight climbers. The stellar cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, John Hawkes, Josh Brolin, Robin Wright and Keira Knightley and is directed by Baltasar Kormakur (2 Guns). For the adventurous, it is presented in Xtreme 3D at Landmark Cinemas Xtreme and, for those who fear heights, in regular 3D and 2D at Xtreme and Grand 10.
Academy Award-winners Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro team up for the comedy The Intern, from writer-director Nancy Meyers (It’s Complicated, Something’s Gotta Give). De Niro plays a retired widower who is looking to keep himself busy and ends up getting an internship at a successful fashion e-business founded by Hathaway. Although he is a generation away from when he was a successful entrepreneur, he still has a few tricks to teach her.
And last but certainly not least is Pawn Sacrifice, another true story centred around the life of American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer. Set during the Cold War, Fisher (Tobey Maguire) finds himself caught between two superpowers when he challenges the Soviet Empire and its greatest player, Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber). Pawn Sacrifice dramatizes Fischer’s struggles with genius and madness and the rise and fall of a kid from Brooklyn whose chess playing grabbed the attention of the world.
And the Paramount Theatre has two special presentations this week. The first is a ballet version of Romeo and Juliet on Sunday, September 27 at 10 a.m. The other is for Pink Floyd fans who get a chance to see Roger Waters The Wall, filmed during Waters’ sold-out 2010-2013 The Wall Livetour. The state-of-the-art show is an intensely personal road trip that serves not only as entertainment but also an anti-war film about the human cost of conflict. It shows Wednesday, September 29 at 8 p.m.