Calendar: July 11-17, 2025
Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.
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MILESTONES | Happy Birthday to You!
7/9: Ben Harroun (co-owner, Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL)
7/15: Jill Van Voorst (owner, LIX, Savoy, IL)
PASSINGS | You Will Be Missed
7/3: Nora Garcia Harroun, 35 (staff, Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL)
FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said
Theater-relevant news is what we have for this week’s Report and, given how the Calendar begins, we’ll address first what matters most. The operators of the Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in in Gibson City may be working on autopilot for the short term as they mourn the loss of Nora Harroun, wife of co-owner Ben Harroun, who passed away on July 3 due to complications from open heart surgery at the very young age of 35. A constant presence on the theater grounds, Nora will surely be missed by many; devoted husband Ben is organizing a Celebration of Life in her memory at the Harvest Moon on Sunday, July 27, which will be free to attend and involve slideshow memories and a showing of her all-time favorite movie, the 2005 rendition of PRIDE & PREJUDICE with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. One day earlier on Saturday, July 26, starting at 12 p.m., a separate celebration will take place at the VFW Post #10302 in Springfield for the late Joyce I. Williams, who died on June 20 at age 82; she was retired from working for the Illinois State Police and married to Dean Williams, the veteran stills photographer and founder of the Central Illinois Film Commission. Joyce’s services were conducted last week. We offer our condolences to both families and their respective communities in this time. Please take good care of each other.
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Now, we’re going to course-correct our presumptions a bit about how programmers at both the Virginia Theatre in Champaign and Fischer Theatre in Danville may be catering to the movie-going public in the future. We did not know until listing the Virginia’s revival of THE SANDLOT last week that it would be staged as more of a community event and not just a straight-up screening; the indoor sports training facility D-BAT Champaign cosponsored the 1993 kid flick and set up a “batting practice” activity on Park Avenue to go along with onsite diversions involving baseball cards, a hot dog stand, and the like. A similar indoor-outdoor conceit is arranged for August 9 when a farmers market sponsored by the Central Illinois Young Farmers Coalition will complement a showing of THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM, a documentary presented by Illinois Public Media. And just two days ago, the News-Gazette broke news of “FischerFest,” a first-year film showcase that will debut on August 16-17 with five classic film showings to honor the late Hollywood actor Gene Hackman, who grew up in part in Danville, and a closing discussion session to be hosted by the critics Chuck Koplinski and Pamela Powell. Together with Pens to Lens, which returns to the Virginia on August 16 and is regaining its strength as a family friendly, red-carpet spectacle, the renewed focus on both fronts is certainly favoring a “go big with a broad appeal” approach.
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If you want to see a movie just to see a movie (and maybe be crafty in minimizing how much advertising and on-screen flotsam you have to sit through before the movie actually begins), the regular array of venues as seen weekly on the Calendar is there to serve you. An announcement along these lines did break in the spring and it involves a dormant location that was purchased with plans to reopen it. Luckily, WGLT radio covered the transaction back in May. A multiplex formerly known as the Ovation Cinema Grill by New Vision Theatres, tucked away on Detroit Drive in the southwestern corner of Bloomington and adjacent to the Central Illinois Regional Airport, will soon become the Golden Ticket Cinemas Ale House Bloomington. A Facebook account dedicated to this location was created in May as well and promises it is ”coming soon” with special perks like bottomless popcorn and a “self-pour beer wall” along with a total remodel of the space, but there have been no updates posted ever since. Hopefully, their status changes soon. Once the Golden Ticket is up and running, we’ll have four exhibition brands to choose from between B-N, C-U, and Decatur including Phoenix Theatres, Marcus Theatres, and the three AMC branches. Still, keep an eye on the Fischer and Virginia schedules to see if film frequency improves at either venue, venture out to the Harvest Moon for first-run flicks, fresh air, and friends while the weather allows, and pay visits to the Normal Theater and other single-screen, small-town delights.
IMAGERY DU C-U | Picturing Our Scene on the Screen
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In this space, we were going to start a series on local cinematic ephemera and the items first up on the photography block, originally to be timed with the start of the drive-in season, were to be copies of April Wright’s three theater documentaries. Today, we instead bring up GOING ATTRACTIONS and BACK TO THE DRIVE-IN due to their connections with the Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in and in honor of the late Nora Harroun. Ye Ed decided this was a proper week to revisit GOING ATTRACTIONS, which made reference to the Harvest Moon in passing and had its first proper theatrical engagement at the Gibson City ozoner back in 2013, and finally take in BACK TO THE DRIVE-IN, which instead has a “night in the life” approach in showing the operations and talking about the concerns of the Harvest Moon and ten other venues across America. We’re pointing out the latter for the obvious reason in that Nora appears both alongside family and coworkers as well as solo in conversation with Wright; although Ye Ed had the DVDs on hand, available directly from the filmmaker, you can also visit with Nora via the film on Tubi. Each drive-in is featured in four or five segments throughout and the first two appearances of Nora and the Harvest Moon begin at the 21:45 and 46-minute marks. (We encourage you to watch the entire thing, of course.) For the sake of the Harvest Moon faithful, BACK TO THE DRIVE-IN now serves as both a timely look at their community fixture and a time capsule that preserves a sliver of Nora’s life. We do hope everyone will take a night to offer your respects and enjoy the Harvest Moon in person at some point between now and the end of the current season, especially if you miss the July 27 memorial. Peace.
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NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
ABRAHAM’S BOYS: A DRACULA STORY, SKILLHOUSE, SUPERMAN, 28 YEARS LATER, ELIO (animation), F1 THE MOVIE, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH, ME3AN 2.0 (7/11 on), EDDINGTON, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (7/17 on)
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
SKILLHOUSE, SOVERIGN, SUPERMAN, 28 YEARS LATER, ELIO (animation), F1 THE MOVIE, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH, LILO & STITCH, ME3AN 2.0, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING, THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME (7/11 on), THE MUPPET MOVIE (7/12, 2:15 & 7 p.m.; 7/13, 3 & 7 p.m.; 7/16, 7 p.m.)
@ The Canopy Club, Urbana, IL
The Dispensary presents ‘Reefer Madness the Musical’ (7/11, 7 p.m.; 7/12, 2 & 7 p.m.; 7/13, 2 p.m.) Information + Tickets
@ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Summer Films on the Quad” feat. THE LEGEND OF OCHI (7/17, 9 p.m., free)
@ Prairie Farm/Centennial Park, Champaign, IL
Champaign Park District presents “Moo-vie Nights at Prairie Farm” feat. BABE (7/11, 8 p.m., free)
Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!
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NOW PLAYING | The Cities Beyond
@ Clintonia Eagle Theater, Clinton, IL
SUPERMAN, ELIO (animation), F1 THE MOVIE, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH (7/11 on), CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALL (animation) (7/15-7/16, 10 a.m., free)
@ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL
SUPERMAN (Screen 1), JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH (Screen 2) (7/11 on)
@ The Lorraine Theatre, Hoopeston, IL
JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH (7/11-7/13), SUPERMAN (7/16 on)
@ Marcus Bloomington Cinema + IMAX, Bloomington, IL
SUPERMAN, 28 YEARS LATER, ELIO (animation), F1 THE MOVIE, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH, LILO & STITCH, ME3AN 2.0, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING (7/11 on), KUNG FU PANDA 4 (animation) (7/13-7/17, 11 a.m.), ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST 50th anniversary (7/13, 3 p.m.; 7/16, 6:50 p.m.), SKILLHOUSE (7/13, 7 p.m.; 7/14, 8 p.m.; 7/16, 7 p.m., 7;17, 8 p.m.), JUJUTSU KAIDEN: HIDDEN INVENTORY/PREMATURE DEATH (animé) (7/16-7/17, 7 p.m. (Eng dub), 9:30 p.m. (Japanese w/Eng sub)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
“The Summer of Bond” series feat. LICENCE TO KILL (7/11-7/13) and THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (7/12-7/13), the Normal and the Children’s Discovery Museum present JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH (animation) (7/14, 1 p.m.; 7/16, 7 p.m.)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH (7/11-7/13)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
F1 THE MOVIE (7/11-7/13)
@ The Route 66 Drive-in Theater, Springfield, IL
SUPERMAN, F1 THE MOVIE (Screen 1), JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (Screen 2) (7/11-7/13, 7/16-7/17)
@ VIP Lincoln Grand 6, Lincoln, IL
SUPERMAN, F1 THE MOVIE, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH, LILO & STITCH, ME3AN 2.0, SINGING IN YOUR SLEEP* (7/11 on), ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST 50th anniversary (7/13, 4 & 7:10 p.m.; 7/16, 7:10 p.m.),TRANSFORMERS ONE (animation) (7/16-7/17, 10 a.m.)
NOW PLAYING | Midwest
For detailed and curated listings of Chicago-area film presentations and related events, please visit the fine folks at Cine-File and subscribe to their definitive “Cine-List” weekly blast. And for northern Illinois industry news, be sure to read Reel Chicago and Screen Magazine.
COMING SOON | Area-wide Events
8/16
Pens to Lens Gala 2025*
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 3 p.m.
NEW! 8/16-8/17
“FischerFest” celebrating Gene Hackman
@ The Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL
9/17-9/21
32nd Chicago Underground Film Festival
@ ACX Harper Theater – Hyde Park, Chicago, IL
9/20-9/22
Champaign Film Society presents
the first CineSonic* music film festival
@ TBA, Champaign-Urbana, IL
11/8-11/9
Dark History & Horror Con 2025
feat. Screaming Mad Film Festival
@ The Orpheum Theatre, Champaign, IL
4/23-4/26, 2026
Roger Ebert’s Film Festival*
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
Champaign Park District presents “Moo-vie Nights at Prairie Farm”
@ Prairie Farm/Centennial Park, Champaign, IL, 8 p.m., free
7/25: HOME ON THE RANGE; 8/8: CHARLOTTE’S WEB (2006)
Illini Union Board presents “Summer Films on the Quad”
@ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 9 p.m. Thursdays, free
7/24: DROP; 7/31: THUNDERBOLTS*; 8/7: LILO & STITCH; 8/14: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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“Calendar du C-U”
© 2025 Jason Pankoke/C-U Blogfidential
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