The Johnson Center Cinema provides the George Mason University community with quality thematic entertainment every weekend. Free for Mason students and only a dollar for everyone else, the JC Cinema specializes in showing recently out-of-theaters hit films like Killers and Grown Ups Thursday through Sunday nights.
Unfortunately, the cinema has never really been known to fill all its seats during the weekend. Program Board Film Committee Chair Emily Mulherin is looking to change that.
“We’re going for a much broader appeal for the JC Cinema this time around,” said Mulherin. “Killers was a great success we hope to repeat.” This year, the film committee is bringing students bigger and more commercial films in the vein of Avatar and Inception.
“Many movies don’t cross cultural boundaries anymore and I would like to bring more movies that all people can relate to,” Mulherin said.
In addition to movies with a broader appeal, the JC Cinema is making a lot of changes to how it will be advertising itself to the university.
Schedules will be posted all over campus featuring upcoming movies. Posters will also be placed around campus so students can know at a glance what is coming up. Schedules for show times are also readily available all over, including handy pocket cards for quick reference.
While it certainly is one thing to remind students that there are movies on the weekends. It is a completely different game actually getting them to the cinema.
“We want to do something to get people into seats and that involves reaching out and having events that appeal to students.”
The film committee is planning movie-centric events such as a Tyler Perry movie weekend or a Harry Potter movie weekend leading up to the November release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I.
Additionally, there will be giveaways on many weekends that include movie posters, screenings of upcoming movies and T-shirts. Recently, the film committee even raffled off Kid Cudi and Seth Meyers tickets.
Along with the weekly giveaways, patrons will be given a JC Cinema loyalty card which merits a free soda for every five visits in addition to the already-free popcorn that comes with every admission.
Mason’s student organizations can reserve the cinema on Sunday afternoons for private screenings of movies. Students will also be treated with occasional 3-D movies for no extra charge.
“3-D movies are so expensive now and we’re really excited to be able to show them to students for free,” Mulherin said. “We’re trying really hard to get Avatar in 3-D but in the meantime, there are still a lot of great movies we have available.”
For more information, check out the redesigned http://pb.gmu.edu/cmfilm for upcoming movies and trailers and contact pbfilm@gmu.edu to get involved.
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