"The Bijou closing was something that I had expected was going to happen sooner or later," said Nathan Cone, vice president of cultural and community engagement at Texas Public Radio and the curator of the Cinema Tuesdays series, which screened at the Bijou pre-pandemic. Not only was there low attendance at the Bijou, Santikos began booking tentpole movies alongside the few independent films that had the prospect of pulling bigger audiences.
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The writing had been on the wall for years suggesting movie theaters could be left behind as technology advanced.Īs theaters slowly began to reopen when COVID numbers declined, it was evident that arthouse venues like the Bijou were in trouble. While a global pandemic became the impetus for studios adjusting the way they released projects, the health crisis didn't create the shift, merely accelerated it. When the spread of COVID-19 forced theaters to temporarily shut down two years ago, the movie-watching landscape was reshaped forever. The industry was still a couple of decades away from watching a studio and a platform such as HBO Max or Disney+ cut a deal to release a movie on a streaming service the same day as its theatrical release. Today, you can catch the film with a subscription to Amazon Prime. At that time, going to the Bijou was the only option for a young cinephile to see the critically acclaimed, coming-of-age drama before it ended up on VHS months later. The first film I ever saw at the Bijou was the Academy Award-nominated 2001 Mexican film Y tu mamá también by director and co-writer Alfonso Cuarón. But understanding the nature of that change doesn't make the Bijou's closure any easier for local cinema buffs. shores in early 2020, it was evident that the way audiences were watching movies had changed amid the boom in streaming platforms.
Theater owner Santikos didn't respond to the Current's request for comment, but Andrew Brooks, executive director of sales and marketing for the Alamo City-based chain, told KSAT News a "changing dynamic of art films and our lease coming up for renewal" prompted the closure.Įven before the COVID-19 pandemic reached U.S. The Bijou, located in the Wonderland of the Americas mall, shut its doors early this month, ending the 35-year stretch during which it served as San Antonio's primary arthouse cinema. The Bijou is located inside Wonderland of the Americas mall.
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