Movie Madness Debuts State-of-the-Art Screening Room
A haven for Portland cinephiles since 1981, Movie Madness was injected with new life when the Hollywood Theatre capped a successful fundraiser to save the store from extinction in 2017. It’s been a fitting partnership in many senses: curated Movie Madness shelves inflect Hollywood screenings; there’s the MM dropbox outside the theater; plus the keen sense of synergy between two Portland film institutions.
Now, the partnership has yielded tangible new dividends in the form of a screening room at Movie Madness, a cozy 18-seat micro-cinema that boasts a plethora of potential uses in the years to come.
Programming is still in its nascent stages, says Hollywood and MM Marketing Manager Joe Bolenbaugh, and screenings will likely ramp up into 2020. The room is also rentable for private screenings by HT and MM VIP members at a rate of about $300 per three hours. Currently, in the vein of the Hollywood outpost at the PDX airport, trailers for upcoming films and new releases at Movie Madness run on a loop. Lest we forget, MM employees have also been showcasing their favorite cartoons in the room on Saturday mornings.
From a technical standpoint, Steve Colburn of Portland’s Triad Speakers spearheaded the AV outfitting of the room. He laid out and designed the space and then procured donations of over $100,000 worth of equipment and services. That’s not a common ask in his industry.
“They wanted to support the Hollywood’s acquring the archived legacy videos. If [Movie Madness] were to have gotten sold, that collection would have been broken up.”
Below, brush up on some assorted specs of the room, and feel free to peek your head in the next time you swing by Movie Madness. The room features:
- Barco Medea 5500-lumen 4K laser projector
- ATI Amplifiers
- Dolby Atmos audio, which adds an overhead layer to Dolby Labs’ standard surround sound
- Marantz audio/video processor, outfitted for DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, and VHS, plus 16mm film projection
- Installation by Portland’s Evolved Home
