Tag: Kentucky

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Malco Theatres Begins Phased Reopening

After three months of shutdown, Memphis-based Malco Theatres has announced a plan to reopen all of its movie theaters. Malco owns 33 theaters with more than 340 screens across six states in the Mid-South.

Beginning on Monday, June 15th, Malco will reopen four locations in Mississippi: The Desoto Cinema Grill in Southaven, the Olive Branch Cinema Grill, the Tupelo Commons Cinema Grill, and the Renaissance Cinema Grill in Ridgeland. In Tennessee, the initial wave of reopening includes the Smyrna Cinema; while in Kentucky the Owensboro Cinema Grill will begin screenings on June 15th. In Memphis, the Malco Summer Drive-In remains open seven days a week with a slate of double features across its four screens.

“Malco is very excited to re-open theaters and welcome our customers back,” says Malco President/COO David Tashie. “We have been diligently working on implementing new measures and protocols to ensure the safety of our guests and employees, and we cannot wait for everyone to enjoy a night out experiencing movies on the big screen again.”

At this point in the year, we should be seeing mainline Hollywood studios rolling out their big guns for the summer season, But since the coronavirus pandemic shut down public gatherings in March, the studios have either rescheduled releases or shunted films into streaming services or video on demand. A handful of drive-in theaters across the country have been the only outlet for new releases. The current box office leader is The Wretched, a low-budget horror from IFC that became the first film to sit at number one for more than five weeks since 2017’s Black Panther. The Wretched has brought in $1.1 million since its release on May 1st. For comparison, Black Panther earned $700 million domestically and $1.1 billion worldwide.

Malco Theatres Begins Phased Reopening (2)

The initial offerings include new releases The King of Staten Island, starring SNL alum Peter Davidson and directed by comedy auteur Judd Apatow, and The High Note, a musical comedy featuring Dakota Johnson and Black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross. There will also be summer classics such as Jaws, Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, Madagascar, and the Indiana Jones trilogy, as well as pre-COVID 2020 releases The Invisible Man, Trolls: World Tour, and I Still Believe.

Malco Theatres Begins Phased Reopening

Malco plans to reopen a new batch of theaters every week, with the goal of having the entire network operational by July 14th for the release of Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated, sci fi spy film Tenet.

You can purchase tickets for reserved seating in advance and review the newly implemented pandemic safety measures on the Malco website. 

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From My Seat Sports

Memphis: Hoop City, Indeed

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

Perspective can be challenging when it comes to basketball in Memphis, Tennessee. That talented team at East High School aside, you’d think soul-crushing roundballs were falling from the sky these days, at least from FedExForum to the Larry Finch Center on the University of Memphis campus.

The Memphis Tigers lost six of their last eight games, the last two by 41 and 30 points, to finish the season 19-13 and shut out of postseason play a third straight year. The honeymoon for Hall of Fame-bound coach Tubby Smith ended around Valentine’s Day. Can he recruit? Can he manage a game? Can he fill empty seats at FedExForum?

A recent five-game losing streak had followers of the Memphis Grizzlies questioning everything from rotation dysfunction to Chandler Parsons’ social life. When Parsons’ on-court struggles came to an end with the announcement last week he requires knee surgery, the loss of a starter seemed like a blessing. Related or not, the Grizzlies now find themselves on a four-game winning streak, the latest a takedown of the mighty San Antonio Spurs Saturday night. Exhale.

However trying this winter has been in our fair city, this week should prove palliative, and considerably so. Three other cities may be hosting regional finals in the NCAA tournament, but make no mistake: Memphis will be playing in the center ring.

Larry Kuzniewski

Headed to FedExForum for games this Friday are three of the top eight teams in the country (according to the AP rankings): 8th-ranked UCLA (31-4), 6th-ranked North Carolina (29-7, the region’s top seed), and 5th-ranked Kentucky (31-5, coached by one John Vincent Calipari). The Ringo Starr of the South’s foursome is Butler (25-8), a team that has been to the championship game twice this very decade. With Memphis transfer Avery Woodson a key member of the Bulldogs’ rotation, this is the closest the Tigers have gotten to the Sweet 16 since 2009 (when, yes, Calipari called FedExForum his home arena).

But pull back for the broad perspective of this weekend’s three games. North Carolina is seeking its 20th trip to the Final Four and sixth national championship. UCLA is aiming for a 19th Final Four appearance and 12th crown. Calipari’s Wildcats are clawing their way toward an 18th Final Four slot (fifth under Calipari) and hope to raise their ninth championship banner at Rupp Arena in Lexington. If college basketball teams were Avengers, Memphis will host Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor this weekend.

Phoenix hosts the actual Final Four next weekend and won’t come close to the historical weight under FedExForum’s roof come Friday. A confluence of this magnitude is extraordinarily rare. We saw a similar gathering at the 2008 Final Four (remember that one, Memphis fans?), when UCLA, North Carolina, and Kansas were all there. You have to go back to 2005 to find a regional (hosted that year by Austin, Texas) that approximates what we’ll have in Memphis this week. Duke, Kentucky, and Michigan State played that weekend in Texas. The Spartans have been championship contenders for most of Tom Izzo’s tenure in East Lansing, but they’d be in the Falcon category on our team of Avengers.

On top of all the history, we have Calipari’s return to Memphis. (Has it really been eight years?) Do Memphians celebrate the Kentucky coach for the remarkable heights his Tigers reached under his watch for nine years? Or do Memphis basketball fans curse Calipari for setting a standard that cannot be matched, whatever the expectations or hopes? Even when you subtract his 38 wins from the 2007-08 Final Four season (those vacated for the Derrick Rose test-taking affair), Calipari is one of two Memphis coaches to win 200 games here. He would not be Kentucky’s coach were it not for the success he enjoyed in the Bluff City.

Enjoy this week of basketball, Memphis. Cheer and jeer like it matters (because it does). UCLA’s Lonzo Ball will be a top-three pick in this year’s NBA draft and he may play his final college game at FedExForum (as Blake Griffin did in the 2009 South Regional). Malik Monk (Kentucky) and Justin Jackson (North Carolina) will soon be wearing pro uniforms, too. So relish this chance sighting. And go ahead and let the rest of the country know where Hoop City can be found this Friday.

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Sports Tiger Blue

[UPDATED] University of Memphis Hires Tubby Smith as New Basketball Coach

CREDIT: Tubby Smith at UM Press Conference

“Today the University of Memphis has hired the most accomplished [basketball] coach in our history. He is precisely the right coach at the right time for the University of Memphis.” — U of M president David Rudd

Josh Pastner was 14 years old when Tubby Smith presided over his first college basketball game as a head coach. The more telling number is Smith’s age (40) when he first walked the sideline — in 1991 —  as coach of the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.

In naming Smith the 18th men’s basketball coach in Memphis history today, the powers that be at the university chose a career profile that couldn’t be more different from that of Smith’s predecessor. Whereas Pastner had no head-coaching experience when he was given the job (in 2009) at age 31, Smith has 25 seasons of Division I head-coaching experience on his resume and has taken five programs — Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Texas Tech — to the NCAA tournament. He won a national championship at Kentucky in 1998, his first of 10 seasons at the helm in Lexington. (Smith’s departure from Kentucky in 2007 led to the departure of John Calipari from Memphis two years later). At age 64, Smith becomes the oldest basketball coach in Tiger history. 

Tubby Smith at UM Press Conference

Frank Murtaugh

Smith won the 2003 Naismith Coach of the Year award at Kentucky and was named SEC Coach of the Year three times. He earned Big 12 Coach of the Year honors this year for having led Texas Tech to a 19-13 season in the nation’s toughest conference. (The Red Raiders lost to Butler in the first round of the NCAA tournament.) Smith’s overall record is 557-276. He was an assistant coach for the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team in 2000.

Some highlights from Smith’s remarks at his introductory press conference:

“Our philosophy has always been big on love, family, and discipline. You can imagine, growing up in a household with [15] siblings, that was a focal point. You can’t survive, prosper, and grow without love.”

“Everyone I’ve coached and taught as a teacher, I love them all. I may not have liked everything they did, but I’ve loved them all. I was blessed to have parents who made me go to Sunday school. You have to have some values.”

“You don’t become successful without surrounding yourself with people whose goals are at least equal to yours, or greater. I’m a blue-collar worker. We put on our practice gear and we work with these young men. I just got to meet our present players, and they’re fine young men. We talked about goals: our basketball goals, our social goals, our academic goals, our spiritual goals. There’s a lot of pride in this program and university.”

“My dad told me that if you cut grass the right way, you’ll always have grass to cut. You’ll have a job.”

“When you see this team play, you’ll leave saying they played hard, played together, and played smart. That’s what we preach and teach. The fundamentals of the game are critical.”