As a child growing up having spent many summers on Elk Lake, Michigan, I became familiar with the downtown Traverse City area and my only go to places for film in the upper peninsula seemed to be the locally owned and managed Elk Rapids Cinema or the GKC (nor Carmike) mall cinema chain. To my chagrin, I quickly learned the GKC theaters often played their films in the incorrect aspect ratio with 2.35:1 panoramic films like Apollo 13 and Mr. Holland’s Opus cropped on the sides improperly to 1.85:1 and although 1.85:1 films didn’t suffer much, widescreen films were pretty much ruined by the GKC. Passing through downtown Traverse City was an abandoned movie house that was occasionally rented out to live stage shows while mostly remaining a derelict called the State Theater. Owned by the local Rotary foundation, the 1916 built theater then called The Lyric burned down and was rebuilt in 1923 before showing Michigan’s first talkie in 1929 and was in operation for much of the century before closing down in 1991 under pressure from GKC cinema chain executives who placed a deed restricting the theater from exhibiting mainstream releases. It wasn’t until Michigan resident and filmmaker Michael Moore began a concerted effort to restore not only it but many movie houses within the Traverse City area and on November 17, 2007, the long dormant movie house reopened with the highly successful Traverse City Film Festival as a brand new elite theater and was named by the Motion Picture Association of America as the number one movie theater in the world!
Inside the new theater is a
single auditorium with new balcony seating, red curtains, a twinkling starfield
lit ceiling, state of the art sound and 584 made-in-Michigan new theater seats. As you enter the theater by the concession
stands, there are two old fashioned theater murals celebrating cinematic icons
of the 1940s, red couches and a memorabilia stand consisting of souvenirs of
the theater and the Traverse City Film Festival. In addition to being the central attraction
spot for the Traverse City Film Festival, the State Theater is also home to
many terrific and startlingly low priced revival movie showings including kids
movie matinees on Tuesdays and grown up movie matinees on Wednesdays for as low
as 25 cents a ticket! Earlier this year
ala Spring Break, the State Theater and nearby Bijou by the Bay theater hosted
free movies all day on the last week of March, playing a total of 35 movies all
for free! Moreover, on select screenings
such as a revival showing of David Lynch’s adaptation of Dune, the theater gave away free gummi worms and other screenings
gave out free candy bars, soda and popcorn!
I thought the Cinemark at Universal Mall for $1 was a bargain in spite
of the once inferior image quality and low light levels, but try to imagine one
of the finest theaters in the state of Michigan letting you see your favorite
movies in 4K DCP digital masters for free!
While I’m always going to prefer film projection in general, if the
State Theater is booking your favorite movie it’s a good chance they will have
a real 4K DCP master and not resort to blu-ray projection like the Main Art
Theater does. 
While the lack of
authentic celluloid film projection capabilities take the theater down just a
notch for me, in every other area from the aura, the look and feel of the
theater and the incredible price range for classic movies shown in the best
image and sound quality currently possible for DCP, the Traverse City State
Theater excels in virtually every area related to the theater experience. Simply put, this is one of the best movie
theaters in the country hands down and one more than worth going out of your
way for if you get the opportunity. After
being dormant for so long, it’s really exciting to see it back in operation and
special thanks must be given to Michael Moore for giving so much back to the
Traverse City and Elk Rapids community, effectively making the upper peninsula
of Michigan one of the hottest spots to show and see movies! The Traverse City Film Festival itself is
also a hot spot for celebrity participation and attendances, including a
Stanley Kubrick retrospective where Malcolm McDowell was present for a Q&A
following A Clockwork Orange. If you look on the extras of your Borat DVD, chances are you will see
footage of Sacha Baron Cohen on the center stage of the Traverse City State
Theater alongside Michael Moore, as it had an early pre-wide release premiere
at the theater. What’s more, the
Traverse City Film Festival Board of Directors itself is managed not just by
Moore but by directors Terry George, Mark Cousins and Tia Lessin in addition to
actors Jeff Daniels and Christine Lahti, in short providing a smorgasbord of
unique Hollywood talents overseeing the prestigious programming and rollout of
the festival. All in all, this is one of
the very best movie theaters you’ll ever set foot in and an experience every
Michigan based filmgoer needs to have once in their lifetime.
- Andrew Kotwicki
