The first act of film vandalism in 10 years of operation at Princeton’s Capitol Cinemas occurred during a showing of “The Da Vinci Code” Saturday, causing the controversial box-office smash to be unavailable locally for the remainder of the weekend.
At some time during the movie’s 1 p.m. showing Saturday, some chewing gum or bubble gum was tossed or placed into the film’s take-up platter, one of two large metal platters involved in the theater’s projection system, said theater owner Mike Cherry.
The entire film stock is fed through the projector from a feed platter onto the take-up platter. Then, when the movie is over, the take-up platter becomes the feed platter for the next showing.
The gum, Cherry said, showed up as the film was being taken up. As the film filled up the take-up platter, the gum at the bottom was compressed and spread.
“There really wasn’t any way to notice it until the next showing when it ran through the projector,” he said.
During the next showing, which began at 3:45 p.m. Saturday, the film projector encountered stickiness on the film and shut down.
Cherry and theater manager Heidi Boyd were called in and attempted to clean the film, but the sticky residue left by the gum in the platter made the task impossible.
“The equipment is so sensitive that any little stickiness will shut it down,” Cherry said.
After several unsuccessful attempts to clean the film, Cherry declared the print unusable and pulled it from further screenings.
“To me, it’s a smack in the face,” said Boyd, who has been with the theater for 10 years. “It really bothers me that somebody would do something like that out of spite.”
“R.V.” was shown in the movie’s place for the remainder of the weekend.
Cherry reported the damage to the movie’s distributor, Sony Pictures, Monday morning, and Sony arranged to have a new copy of the film delivered Tuesday morning.
By Tuesday evening, “The Da Vinci Code” was back on the local theater’s screen.
Cherry would not speculate on whether the vandalism was related to the content of the film, based on the best-selling novel by Dan Brown, a mystery thriller that postulates the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
In its opening weekend, the film, directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou and Ian McKellen, earned more than $77 million in box office revenues.
Locally, though, the film was not the theater’s top draw; “Over the Hedge,” an animated family feature, did twice as much business, said Cherry.
The theater owner said he was aware of a couple of viewers walking out of a “Da Vinci Code” showing, but walkouts happen occasionally, he said.
The fact most audiences understand, he said, is that the film and novel are works of fiction.
“It’s pure fiction, and anyone coming to see it, I hope, understands that,” he said.
The film’s PG-13 rating is being strictly enforced; anyone younger than a teenager will not be admitted alone, he added.
Cherry said he tried to steer clear of controversial movies: “Brokeback Mountain,” which detailed a romantic relationship between two male sheep herders, was not shown locally, for example.
But the star power of “The Da Vinci Code,” combined with the novel’s widespread readership, made showing the film a certainty.
“The people coming to see it understand the background of the movie,” Cherry said. “I didn’t consider myself in a position to censor.”
The film, he added, should take nothing away from a viewer’s opinions about Jesus.
“I think it could be said to play a role in making people think more about Christ,” said Cherry, who read the novel but has not yet seen the movie. “In my coming away from it, it in no way shakes my faith in Christ as our savior. I don’t think a person of faith would come away with that opinion.”
After Saturday’s incident, Cherry’s major concern was that the projector had been damaged. Luckily, no damage was detected.
Projector damage would have caused the theater major financial problems, he said, since technicians would be required to come in from Memphis to make repairs.
Saturday’s incident will probably lead to the projection rooms being locked from now on. Otherwise, little action is being planned.
“I have no intention of trying to pursue any investigation,” Cherry said. “I’m just thankful that major damage wasn’t done.”
The loss of Saturday’s and Sunday’s showings cost the theater some customers and lost revenue, but the amount was not great, he said.
“If (the perpetrator) would send the theater an anonymous couple hundred bucks, in my opinion all would be forgiven and forgotten.”
Approximately 40 people attended the 1 p.m. screening when the incident took place, Cherry said.
