It’s a historic landmark that’s been around for nearly 70 years, but St. Pete’s Beach Theater got a new lease on life this year when the place was purchased by local-boy-made-good, screenwriter Michael France (Fantastic Four, The Hulk). France clearly loves the movies as much as he loves this grand old movie palace and has reconfigured The Beach with utmost respect, care and creativity. Over the past year, we’ve been treated to shark sandwiches during a screening of Jaws, a family-oriented “1939 Day” (honoring the year the theater was built), complete with free showings of The Wizard of Oz and 1939 prices on concessions and some fantastic theme-based programming that has included music projects such as Monterey Pop and the wonderful, rarely seen Wattstax (both copromoted by WMNF). The Beach mixes things up to fine effect, offering us Pirates of the Caribbean-style popcorn flicks along with sophisticated indie projects like La Vie en Rose and Sicko, and, just for good measure, spicing things up with revivals of cult curiosities like The Big Lebowski and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Can’t wait to see what’s next.
315 Corey Ave, St Pete Beach, 727-360-6697, beachtheater.com.
