Watching a movie instead of advertisements when waiting for your flight seems too good to be true, but Hollywood has done it. America's only airport cinema can be found at Oregon's Portland International Airport with its free microcinema on Concourse C. The Hollywood Theatre at PDX has a 1920s-themed neon pavilion and a seating arrangement good for 49 people and a $200,000 state-of-the-art technology that awaits moviegoers.
PDX donated a business service center in the airport to have a microcinema for passengers waiting for their flight. Doug Whyte, executive director of the Hollywood Theater, told USA Today: "The airport theater isn't just for travelers, we expect many people who work at the airport to use it too."
It was under construction for three years and now is open for passenger's viewing. The team behind the project plans to have an hour of looped film programming brought by local filmmakers. These will be G-rated short films to be enjoyed by people of all ages and will run all day long.
Films and videos will include fiction, documentary, and animated short films, and well as music videos. The group is looking for other partnerships to include future programming and the possibility of having live streaming.
Oregon Public Broadcasting has interviewed a couple of travelers who had positive reviews of the initiative. They concluded that the cinema fits in with the artisanal atmosphere the city has and that has helped them cope up with their delayed flights. Whyte said he and his team might bring in filmmakers and possible film festivals and other celebrations.
Cinema viewing in airports is not new, especially when the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport had its screening room, "See 18" opened in 2014. But, it's the microcinema at PDX that has established the only airport cinema in the country.
