DSM's Fleur Cinema to remain closed for months

The Fleur Cinema and Café won’t reopen until mid-summer or early fall because not enough movies are currently available for theater distribution, owner Michael Coppola told Axios this week.

Why it matters: The four-theater cinema, which shut down a year ago due to the pandemic, is the prime place for DSM to catch new indie and foreign films on the big screen.

Driving the news: Fewer movies have come to theaters since the pandemic and sales were down 80% in 2020. (Hollywood Reporter)

• While most other area movie theaters have reopened in recent months, some theaters are holding releases longer or are offering "on demand" services for you to watch at home.

Yes, but: Don’t write the movie theater industry out of the picture just yet.

• The new "Godzilla vs. Kong" earned $48.5 million in its first five days in theaters even though it was simultaneously available on HBO Max.

Locally, a $3 million campaign launched in February to renovate art house cinema The Varsity has gotten off to a far better-than-expected start, Des Moines Film Society Director Ben Godar told Jason Tuesday.

• The campaign has raised more than $1.1 million so far, with more than 600 donors in the first week. Construction will begin this summer with an early 2022 reopening.

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