{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-article-tsx","path":"/primefoxpresents","webpackCompilationHash":"fd74fdbb38aa2eda4a30","result":{"data":{"primeArticle":{"headline":"Once Upon a Time at the Fox","author":"Juliette Regier","authorbio":"","authoremail":"","authortwitter":"","coverimg":"http://oink.dailybruin.com/packages/prime.foxpresents/image/15MzMWMzDGAxu4SapvoOcmZc4RKGAOd4T/","covercred":"Illustrations by DESIREE GONZALEZ","coveralt":"Two red cars, one vintage and one modern, drive in the foreground of an illustration of the Westwood Village Theater surrounded by a crowd of people","articleType":"article","updated":"","content":[{"type":"text","value":"I’ll never forget the first time I watched the scene in \"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood\" where Sharon Tate pulls into a mystical 1960s Westwood."},{"type":"text","value":"The camera pans up to the Westwood Village Theater, colloquially referred to as the Fox Village Theater, depicted like it was in 1969. Tate steps out of her classic black Porsche 911 with her go-go boots on full display as she crosses the vibrant and crowded streets of Westwood Village. Every shop, theater and restaurant was overflowing with color. At that moment, it felt like the place where Hollywood dreams came true – and it was in UCLA’s backyard."},{"type":"text","value":"Today, the Fox Village Theater stands with shutters over its windows."},{"type":"text","value":"While interest in the historic theater has resurged with the news of its 2024 acquisition by the Village Directors Circle, I wondered how it even came to this state in the first place. Through memories of movie premieres, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television professors and alumni reflected on the stories of the Westwood Village Theater since its opening in 1931."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"You could bounce like a pinball from one movie theater to the next.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"The design for the Village stood out for a city dependent on cars, alumnus Ross Melnick said. Residents did not have to leave the neighborhood and could instead walk to the movies or the grocery store in the 1920s and 1930s. George Huang, a TFT professor, spent his Saturday nights in high school in the ‘80s driving into the Village, stopping to get a burger from Original Tommy’s World Famous Hamburgers before catching a movie."},{"type":"text","value":"\"You could bounce like a pinball from one movie theater to the next, punctuated by video game arcades and retail stores and restaurants,\" Melnick said. \"It was a mecca for young people. It was a place where it was built for a young person’s night out, and it stayed like that for decades.\""},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"An illustration of cars parked behind the Westwood Village Theater at sunset.\",\"url\":\"http://oink.dailybruin.com/packages/prime.foxpresents/image/14W6kCArfFyHcqcMZCVZeiLw5Kxu00-vw/\",\"credit\":\"Desiree Gonzalez/Daily Bruin staff\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"TFT Distinguished Professor Chon Noriega said part of the allure of catching movies at the Fox Village Theater was never knowing who might be in the audience. Once, he turned around and saw actress Mimi Rogers seated a few rows behind him. He was shocked to realize that in Westwood, he could be sharing the same theater as the actors he saw onscreen. Though not an actor, alumnus and director Brad Silberling premiered his 1998 film \"City of Angels\" at the Fox Village Theater, which was followed by his friend’s premiere."},{"type":"text","value":"But long before his professional debut, Silberling frequented the theater as an audience member."},{"type":"text","value":"\"I remember going to the premiere of ‘Top Gun’ just as I was getting out of film school,\" Silberling said. \"There was Jerry Bruckheimer sitting on a little bench in the lobby, watching everybody’s reactions and quizzing everybody.\""},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"It was like a political rally and a community event all at once.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Melnick, a professor of film and media studies at UC Santa Barbara, said the opening weekend of \"Independence Day\" in 1996 was his first experience with the Fox Village Theater. Melnick had moved to UCLA that summer for a TFT producing program. He would go on to research movie theaters as a TFT graduate student because of that experience. He said lines stretched three blocks down from the Fox Village Theater almost every night as people sought to secure seats for one of the biggest movies that summer. Noriega was among those able to snag tickets. As the final bombs went off in the film, the audience cheered."},{"type":"text","value":"\"It wasn’t like going to a movie,\" Noriega said. \"It was like a political rally and a community event all at once.\""},{"type":"text","value":"However, the audience’s energy eventually dissipated."},{"type":"text","value":"The theater was mostly quiet the last time Huang visited in 2017. Trash bags covered broken seats that had not been fixed, and the ceiling was leaking. Surrounded by mostly empty rows for the showing of \"Blade Runner 2049,\" he figured his only consolation was that, at least, the theater was still open."},{"type":"text","value":"\"There’s something about stories – and especially movies – that release these dopamine hits that help us remember things that help us, that instill moral values in us, that instill culture, empathy for other people,\" Huang said."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"An illustration of a sunset view of the Westwood skyline.\",\"url\":\"http://oink.dailybruin.com/packages/prime.foxpresents/image/1eJj0iIRkiqiZDcQQKApKJdIlbs-xsUWB/\",\"credit\":\"Desiree Gonzalez/Daily Bruin staff\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"After adding to the history of Los Angeles’ film culture, the Fox Village Theater did not close suddenly. Instead, it slowly fizzled out of relevance. In July 2024, the Fox Village Theater dimmed its projectors for the last time after almost a century of service. It seemed too easy to simply label its demise as a product of the greater death of film culture."},{"type":"text","value":"Though they are increasing, North American ticket sales still had not reached pre-COVID-19 numbers as of early 2025, according to NPR. Melnick said that, after moviegoing was lost as a habit during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was difficult to break the cycle."},{"type":"text","value":"Noriega said the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes added to Hollywood’s limited capacity to produce works in the first half of the 2020s, which created an opportunity for streaming service to step up."},{"type":"text","value":"But even though the lights went out on the Fox Village Theater, that didn’t mean it couldn’t be revived."},{"type":"text","value":"In February 2024, news broke that the theater had been acquired by the newly formed Village Directors Circle, which included directors such as Silberling, Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan. Silberling said Jason Reitman, who is known for directing \"Juno\" and \"Up in the Air,\" formed the group out of concerns that the Fox Village Theater’s development would be mismanaged if it were placed for sale."},{"type":"text","value":"Like Silberling, Reitman’s investment in the Fox Village Theater was personal."},{"type":"text","value":"\"Understandably, he was suddenly in a spin,\" Silberling said. \"So he picked up the phone and started calling his friends, mostly within the Directors Guild (of America).\""},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"He (Reitman) just picked up the phone and started calling his friends, mostly within the Director’s Guild.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"After buying the property, the group needed to make a decision as to which company would manage the theater. Silberling said the American Cinematheque aligned with the priorities the directors felt were nonnegotiables. The nonprofit organization currently operates several historic theaters in LA, including the Egyptian and Aero Theatres. Silberling laid out what his and the other directors’ vision for the theater would be – a space that preserved the historic feel and enhanced its beauty."},{"type":"text","value":"\"Hopefully, everybody will go in and feel like, ‘This is what I remember – but at its best,’\" Silberling said."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"An illustration of the interior of the Westwood Village Theater.\",\"url\":\"http://oink.dailybruin.com/packages/prime.foxpresents/image/1HQF10iqFc6mrh22j9BLDAYme-AIGIZdA/\",\"credit\":\"Desiree Gonzalez/Daily Bruin staff\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"The layout of the original theater will be maintained, and a public bar will be put in with the hope that socializing will continue after the film has ended. Stadium seating and tall-backed seats were popular in the ‘90s, but Silberling said the theater will have low-backed continental seating. In doing so, he hopes to foster the communal experience that goes hand in hand with the film screenings."},{"type":"text","value":"\"It may seem strange to connect with people in the dark, silently, but there is a kind of biorhythm going on in the theater,\" Melnick said."},{"type":"text","value":"Huang said filmmaking is not only important but also essential to developing our understanding of the world around us. While the visuals from \"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood\" will continue to fuel my appreciation of Westwood cinema history, it’s that very history that makes me excited for the future. The new era of the Fox Village Theater may not be the same as the ‘30s or ‘80s, but perhaps it will give rise to something different – something that embodies the power of cinema in its own distinct manner."},{"type":"text","value":"\"I’m confident you will see success follow success,\" Silberling said. \"That was why it was great there wasn’t a lot of time to think, and we just had to jump. Because then you get to help lead the charge and encourage others to believe again.\""}]}},"pageContext":{"isCreatedByStatefulCreatePages":false,"term":"winter26","slug":"prime.foxpresents"}}}