Sound Cinema: Bainbridge Cinemas

Neon sign for Bainbridge Cinemas

The Evergreen Echo

The mall multiplex is a staple of American life. It is often an anchor of the experience. You hit up the sales, get some chili fries at the food court, then sit down, purchases between your legs, and become immersed in what is playing on screen. It’s rare that the mall was built around the idea of the multiplex. 

In 1997, entrepreneurs Jeff Brien and Sam Granato decided to build the Bainbridge Island Pavilion with the Bainbridge Cinemas at the heart of it. They used that as their launching pad for their company Far Away Entertainment, which currently operates five theaters in the Puget Sound region.

The Pavilion is not quite the same as a large, corporate mall, but it is a hub of community life. There are restaurants and businesses run by, and catering to, locals. It feels like an indoor promenade. The businesses have their own unique storefronts, and even under the ceiling of Bainbridge Cinemas with its beautiful neon sign, the tables of the Green Pot Deli are next to the movie posters of coming attractions and across from the cinema snack bar. This melding and weaving of different aspects of life makes the space cozy and inviting.

The lobby of the theater is completely outside of the screening area. It’s all walk-up service before entering the main attraction. The restrooms are also outside of that just across from the concessions stand. Bainbridge Cinemas has five screens, each showing a different film. The inner area housing the screens is lined with posters showing either coming attractions or what's currently showing at the doors of each auditorium. 

The auditoriums have gentle slopes rather than the stairs to climb like stadium seating. This could be a problem if someone very tall sits in front of you, but there is plenty of seating if you want to avoid this type of distraction. The seats have a nice recline and there's plenty of leg room in the aisle.

While there were many people flocking to the mid-afternoon showing of Project Hail Mary, I chose Pixar's latest original, Hoppers. The animation, like all of Pixar's films, is superb. This story, while taking a chance on a pro-environmental stance, does not go far enough toward discussing the impact humans have been having on wildlife. While one could argue that the film is meant to appeal to a broad audience, including younger viewers, the counterargument that Pixar has included mature subject matter to much success before makes that argument moot. The simplicity of the story does not prevent anyone at a screening of Hoppers from having a silly, good time, though. The few dozen seagulls holding up a great white shark in order for it to "squish" the human antagonist is a particularly delightful sequence.

Auditorium at Bainbridge Cinemas

The Evergreen Echo

Bainbridge Cinemas caters to a wide demographic. It is meant to be a theater that offers broad audience fare so that those that live on Bainbridge Island do not have to make a trek to the mainland if they want to see the latest releases on the big screen. Like most theaters, the theatrical window can be a bit tricky to manage, but in the old sense of the theater experience, if it plays, it stays.

There are occasional special showings as well as community events, but Bainbridge Cinemas is meant to be the alternative to sitting on the couch and streaming. It shows the films that will get people out into the world to see them on the biggest screen possible. There’s a sense of community service in that.

Even as our culture slips further from a truly broad zeitgeist and into cloistered niches, big budget films, whether we see them or not, are often the pieces of culture that evoke discussion. These films that play on thousands of screens and hold space for weeks on end are still special because of the big screen. In spite of those who may prefer to watch on their televisions—or even worse for their necks and arms, their phones—wide-release movies keep the theater experience alive. For a company like Far Away Entertainment, which also operates Bainbridge Island's older, single screen theater, the Historic Lynwood Theatre, the profits from the films shown at Bainbridge Cinemas allow for the Lynwood to create an art house aesthetic without having to fill every seat.

It is films with broad appeal that keep the cinema ecosystem alive. The problem, as many have pointed out over the last few years, is the product offered by the large studios. People will go to the theater for the spectacle and community, but they want something that will keep themselves, and everyone else, from deciding to take out their annoyingly bright phones that ruin the experience. 

The Bainbridge Cinemas is an excellent place to catch the latest releases. It is warm, inviting, and can evoke a bit of nostalgia for the mall cineplex. Most cineplexes still exist, but the experience around them has changed far too much to capture that same feeling. The Bainbridge Cinemas keeps us in mind of the Americana community hub that we once had.