BoxOffice® Pro - May 2012

MARQUEE AWARD
Located in New Orleans’ Uptown neighborhood, the Prytania
was built on the site of an earlier air-dome, or openair
theater, which handed out the first rain checks in the
motion picture industry when the city’s notorious weather
descended upon spectators. Built by United Theatres in 1914, the
Prytania was operated continuously until 1968 when a concurrent projectionist
union strike and renovation closed the theater. A subsequent
fire delayed its reopening for months. The theater finally relaunched in
1969 but struggled during the 1970s under United Theatres and then
Trans-Lux. Landmark Theatres took over in the ’80s and operated the
theater until 1996, when the Brunets renovated and reopened the 300-
seat, single-screen movie house.
RENE
BRUNET,
RIGHT, AND
HIS SECOND-IN-
COMMAND (AND
SON) ROBERT
The Brunet family has been operating theaters throughout New
Orleans for a century. Rene’s father was born into the business in 1921
when his parents were already exhibiting films at classic—and longsince
demolished—theaters like the Imperial. “I literally grew up in
the theater business,” says Rene. “As a child, I used to go to the theater
with my father almost every night. I more or less learned to read
looking at the titles on the silent pictures.” Brunet worked behind the
scenes until his father passed away suddenly in 1946. At the age of 25,
Rene took over the Imperial and continued to operate many singlescreen
theaters throughout the city in the half-century between 1946
and the takeover of the Prytania in 1996, including the Joy and the
famous Loew’s State on Canal Street, which was converted into a live
theater in 1989.
In 1978 at the age of 15, Rene’s own son Robert joined the family
business and has worked side-by-side with his father ever since. Rene
now affectionately refers to him as his “number one assistant.” And
now Robert’s son—Rene’s grandson and the great-grandson of that first
founder—also works at the Prytania. “At almost any given time, you
can find three generations of Brunets here,” says Robert. “It truly is a
family neighborhood theater.”
The Brunets share their love of film and exhibition with their audiences.
On any given day, Rene Brunet—even at 91—can be found
in the lobby, greeting patrons and collecting information for future
bookings. “I have a very personal relationship with the people who
come to the theater,” says Rene. “I spend as much time in
the lobby of the theater as I possibly can—it’s my pleasure
to entertain the people and to answer their questions so I
know what type of pictures people want to see here at the
Prytania, and those are the pictures that I play.” The theater
is located near both Tulane University and Loyola
University, and the theater has always catered, describes
Rene, to audiences in the “very uptown, sophisticated
part of the city. We do enjoy business from a lot of the
students from colleges and the general uptown trade.”
In addition to first-run Hollywood product like The
Hunger Games, the Prytania has found great success
showing crossover art-house films like The King’s Speech
and The Artist. To further cater to the collegiate market,
the Prytania also mixes in classic films and midnight
screenings. “It’s very difficult to run a single-screen
theater because the film distributors more or less lean
towards the theater circuits that can offer them hundreds
of bookings where I can only offer them one screen,” says
Rene. “But fortunately, I’ve built a reputation of doing
a good job on my one screen.” Adds Robert, the Prytania
is “all about the presentation—it’s all about showmanship.”
Unlike more regimented multiplexes, the Brunets wait until
customers have filtered out of the lobby and into their seats before
starting the show. “We hold movies five, ten minutes sometimes
until everyone gets seated.” And their efforts to cultivate customer
loyalty through these kinds of small but significant details are appreciated.
“It can be challenging to program this theater sometimes,”
says Robert, “but, knock on wood, we have the support of
the community in New Orleans. People appreciate it.”
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina rattled the city’s infrastructure and
psyche. The Uptown area was one of the few that did not flood, but
the strength of the hurricane caused significant roof damage to the
Prytania. And whether it was the wind or residents seeking shelter
from the storm, several doors blew or were forced open, making the
interior vulnerable to wind and water damage. After the storm, the
city was without electricity or water for a month, and, according to
Robert Brunet, the situation “took a huge toll on everything.” Still,
even in its rather beleaguered state, the theater rallied to reopen a
month later to show the 35mm prints it had on hand before the
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BOXOFFICE PRO MAY 2012