Was it Mrs. Scarlett in the billiard room with the revolver? Or was it Mrs. Peacock in the kitchen with a lead pipe? Or did Tim Curry just drop in out of nowhere in a butler suit to kill a singing telegram girl? Or could it have been all of the above? To find out, you’ll have to visit the Orpheum on July 10th when Clue screens as a part of the theater’s popular summer film series.
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The John Landis-directed film version of a mystery-based board game was a risky proposition to begin with, and some bad decisions resulted in a box office disaster. In keeping with the spirit of the game, Landis filmed three different endings with three different murderers, but each print that shipped out to theaters featured one outcome, spoiling all the fun. Critics hated it. Audiences stayed home. Then the film was released on home video with all endings stacked up consecutively, and out of a certifiable dud, a cult movie was born.
“It’s my favorite,” says Orpheum Special Projects Coordinator Christina Torres, who has planned a number of Clue-related activities leading up to the screening including a Twitter-based Clue game with prizes for the winners. “Beginning the Monday before the screening, we’ll tweet two clues a day,” Torres says. There will also be an interactive live action Clue game in the Orpheum lobby the night of the show. The Orpheum is also setting up “selfie stations” where fans can take pictures with Clue-related props.
“I told my husband there was no way we were going to have an actual wrench,” Torres says, explaining that she needed to fabricate some of the game’s famous murder weapons. “I don’t want anybody actually getting hit in the head.”
