Not enough kids in city to sustain PG business

By Matthew McLaughlin

When Renee Anderson speaks of the Somerville Theatre of her childhood, memories of eating popcorn and watching cartoons come to mind. So she was surprised when her two sons came home early after being denied entrance to the movies.

The early evening was due to the Somerville Theatre’s policy that children under 12 are not permitted to enter the theatre past 6 p.m. – another example of citywide anti-youth sentiments, according to some parents. But the theatre believes this policy protects the majority of customers who want to see a movie in peace.

Ian Judge, Director of Operations for F.E.I. Theatres, the company that owns the Somerville Theatre, said he instituted the policy 18 months ago after he had to give refunds to customers due to complaints about children’s noise.

“Basically I noted that children only comprised about five percent of our customers, but were causing like 50 percent of the problems. So, in order to make the other 95 percent of the customers happy, I removed the children,” he said. “This sends a message to our audience that if you want to avoid the noise and bother of kids that is so commonly found at Showcase Revere or downtown, you can see your movie at our theater.”

Anderson said her children – Robbie, 14, and Tyler, 13, – were accompanied by a uniformed police officer and other friends. The theatre does not allow children to see movies even when adults accompany them: parents sneaking their children into a movie and leaving has been a problem, he said.

But Anderson and other parents say the theatre policy is symptomatic of a troubling trend against youth in Somerville. She cited the city’s inability to make a skate park due to community efforts against the idea. Robbie Anderson said he and his friends are sometimes kicked out of playgrounds by police before the park curfew begins. Renee Anderson believes this is due to adults calling the police when they see a gathering of kids at the park.

‚ÄúWhat do they want them to do? They can’t go to the parks. They can’t go to the movies. They’re leaving them with no options,‚Äù she said. ‚ÄúYou would think people would want something better for the kids.‚Äù

Judge said the theatre’s policy is a matter of viewer maturity as well as dollars and cents. He said most movies played past 6 p.m. are rated PG-13 or R and are not suitable for children. Anderson admits that her kids were going to see ‚ÄúPineapple Express,‚Äù an R-rated comedy, but feels adult supervision should be enough to see the movie.

The theatre does not book many children’s movies because they are not as profitable as they used to be, Judge said. While the Capitol Theatre in Arlington does get revenue from G and PG movies, Judge said there are simply not as many kids in the city or in Davis Square to make the theatre profitable.

‚ÄúThere just aren’t enough kids in the west end of the city who go to movies to make it viable,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúWe just played ‘Kung Fu Panda’ for two weeks as a matinee and did no business on it, even with a rainy weekend on the first week‚Äù

Anderson said she sees the change in demographics as a contributor to the theatre’s policy, but does not believe her kids should suffer as a result.

“I can see if they are making noise, then they should kick them out,” she said.

Judge agreed that for better or worse, the policy is a reflection of a changing and older Somerville community.

‚ÄúYou look at Somerville when my parents grew up here and there were kids everywhere,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúAll the theaters in town would have been full on matinees, and even when I was a kid growing up here, there were still some families left. But now, very few traditional families live in the Davis Square area. It’s all young professionals, singles and college kids, so that is who I have to appeal to, to keep the theater going.‚Äù