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Cinema Chat: The Michigan Theater will screen the Wolverines in Monday's National Championship Game!

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SEE U-M WOLVERINES vs WASHINGTON HUSKIES AT MICHIGAN THEATER JANUARY 8 AT 7:30

The University of Michigan Wolverines will once again be on the big screen in Ann Arbor as they compete for the national college football championship. The historic Michigan Theater downtown is now selling tickets for a live showing of the big game against the No. 2-ranked University of Washington Huskies. It’s scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 8, with doors to the Liberty Street venue opening at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $20.

Link to get tickets click http://tinyurl.com/GetMiTheaterTix

The theater hosted a free “sold out” live showing of the Rose Bowl game between Michigan and Alabama on Jan. 1, while offering beer, wine, soft drinks and snacks for sale. The Rose Bowl showing had a great atmosphere, said Michigan Theater Executive Director Russ Collins. “With the university folks all in town, the National Championship Game should be an even more exciting atmosphere!” he said in an email. “We are very excited about this opportunity. "ESPN wanted the theater to license the championship game screening, which is why it’s charging admission now,” he said.

The Wolverines are ranked No. 1 for the first time since 1997 following a perfect 13-0 season before winning the Rose Bowl semifinal game in Pasadena, California. Washington is ranked No. 2 and will face off with Michigan at NRG Stadium in Houston.

OPENING THIS WEEK

"Night Swim" — OPENS FRIDAY, JANUARY 5 AT THE MULTIPLEX

Based on the acclaimed 2014 short film by Rod Blackhurst and Bryce McGuire, the film stars Wyatt Russell ("The Falcon and the Winter Soldier") as Ray Waller, a former major league baseball player forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness, who moves into a new home with his concerned wife Eve (Oscar® nominee Kerry Condon, "The Banshees of Inisherin"), teenage daughter Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle, this fall's "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes") and young son Elliot (Gavin Warren, "Fear the Walking Dead"). Secretly hoping, against the odds, to return to pro ball, Ray persuades Eve that the new home's shimmering backyard swimming pool will be fun for the kids and provide physical therapy for him. But a dark secret in the home's past will unleash a malevolent force that will drag the family under, into the depths of inescapable terror.

SPECIAL SCREENINGS DOWNTOWN

"The Thing" — PLAYS TONIGHT AT 7:30 PM AT THE STATE

Part of the Late Nights at the State series

In remote Antarctica, a group of American research scientists are disturbed at their base camp by a helicopter shooting at a sled dog. When they take in the dog, it brutally attacks both human beings and canines in the camp and they discover that the beast can assume the shape of its victims. A resourceful helicopter pilot (Kurt Russell) and the camp doctor (Richard Dysart) lead the camp crew in a desperate, gory battle against the vicious creature before it picks them all off, one by one. From director John Carpenter.

"Pulp Fiction" — PLAYS FRIDAY, JANUARY 5 AT 9:30 PM AND THURSDAY, JANUARY 11 AT 7:30 PM AT THE STATE

Part of the Late Nights at the State series

Celebrating its 30th anniversary! Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) are hitmen with a penchant for philosophical discussions. In this ultra-hip, multi-strand crime movie, their storyline is interwoven with those of their boss, gangster Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames); his actress wife, Mia (Uma Thurman); struggling boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis); master fixer Winston Wolfe (Harvey Keitel) and a nervous pair of armed robbers, "Pumpkin" (Tim Roth) and "Honey Bunny" (Amanda Plummer). From writer/director Quentin Tarantino.

"The Princess Bride" — PLAYS SATURDAY, JANUARY 6 AT 7 PM AND SUNDAY, JANUARY 7 AT 1:30 PM AT THE MICHIGAN

Kids 12 & under free on January 7!!!

A fairy tale adventure about a beautiful young woman and her one true love. He must find her after a long separation and save her. They must battle the evils of the mythical kingdom of Florin to be reunited with each other. Directed by Rob Reiner, based on William Goldman's novel "The Princess Bride", and starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright and Mandy Patinkin.

COMING FEBRUARY 6: MANDY PATINKIN LIVE ON STAGE AT THE MICHIGAN THEATER!!!

Before he was a movie star, ("The Princess Bride," "Yentl," "Ragtime"), Emmy-winning TV star ("Homeland," "Chicago Hope"), and TikTok phenom, Mandy Patinkin was a Tony-winning Broadway legend ("Evita," "Sunday in the Park With George," "The Secret Garden"). He will be live-on-stage at the Michigan Theater in concert for his musical show BEING ALIVE. “Mandy Patinkin is in the business of showstopping,” raves The New Yorker, and that’s exactly what he does in this powerful, passionate evening of song. BEING ALIVE is a collection of many of Mandy’s favorite Broadway and classic American tunes. From Irving Berlin to Stephen Sondheim, from Cole Porter to Harry Chapin, Mandy Patinkin takes you on a dazzling musical journey you’ll never forget.

CONTINUING DOWNTOWN

"Poor Things" 

From director Yorgos Lanthimos ("The Favourite," 2018) and starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe. Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, a young woman runs off with a lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

"The Boys in the Boat"

A sports drama based on the #1 New York Times bestselling non-fiction novel written by Daniel James Brown. The film, directed by George Clooney, is about the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. This inspirational true story follows a group of underdogs at the height of the Great Depression as they are thrust into the spotlight and take on elite rivals from around the world. Starring Joel Edgerton.

"Ferrari"

A 2023 American biographical sports based on the 1991 biography "Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine" by motorsport journalist Brock Yates. The film follows the personal and professional struggles of Enzo Ferrari, the Italian founder of the car manufacturer Ferrari S.p.A.. Adam Driver portrays the titular subject, and co-stars Penélope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Sarah Gadon, Gabriel Leone, Jack O'Connell, and Patrick Dempsey. Ferrari was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival.

The film is set during the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle and danger of 1950's Formula 1, ex-racer, Enzo Ferrari, is in crisis. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for their one son. Ferrari struggles with the acknowledgement of another. His driver's lust to win pushes them out to the edge. He wagers all in a roll of the dice on one race, the treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia.

"The Color Purple"

A musical adaptation of Alice Walker's novel about the life-long struggles of an African American woman living in the south during the early 1900s. From director Blitz Bazawule, aka Blitz the Ambassador, and starring Fantasia Barrino ("American Idol"), Taraji P. Henson ("Hidden Figures"), Halle Bailey ("The Little Mermaid"), Danielle Brooks ("Orange is the New Black"), Colman Domingo ("Selma," "If Beale Street Could Talk," "Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom"), Corey Hawkins ("In the Heights"), H.E.R. and producers Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, and Quincy Jones.

"Wonka" 

Based on the extraordinary character at the center of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," Roald Dahl’s most iconic children's book and one of the best-selling children's books of all time, "Wonka" tells the wondrous story of how the world's greatest inventor, magician and chocolate-maker became the beloved Willy Wonka we know today. From director Paul King ("Paddington") and starring Timothée Chalamet and Hugh Grant.

"The Boy and the Heron"

Has screenings of both the subtitled and dubbed versions of the film.

A 2023 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Produced by Studio Ghibli, loosely based on the 1937 novel of the same name by Genzaburō Yoshino, but the film has an original story that is not connected to the novel. Described as a "big fantastical film", it follows a boy named Mahito Maki (Soma Santoki) during the Pacific War who discovers an abandoned tower in his new town after his mother's death and enters a fantastical world with a talking grey heron.

Miyazaki announced his retirement in September 2013 but later reversed this decision. Production spanned approximately seven years, facing delays as it navigated challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic and Miyazaki's slowed animation pace. According to producer Toshio Suzuki, this is the most expensive film ever produced in Japan. The screenplay draws heavily from Miyazaki's childhood and explores themes of coming of age and coping with a world marked by conflict and loss. Joe Hisaishi composed the film's score, while Kenshi Yonezu wrote and sang the film's theme song, "Spinning Globe".

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