Calendar: December 5-11, 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!
12/6: Andy Due (producer/performer, Rubber Chicken Films/RL3 Productions, Charleston, IL)
12/8: Britten Traughber (photographer, Britten Traughber Photography, Tucson, AZ)
12/10: Sidney Taiko (editor/publisher, Storm Cellar, San Diego, CA)
CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History
55 Years Ago … November 1970: Location filming commences in the Champaign and Vermilion counties of east central Illinois on BAD CHARLESTON CHARLIE, an independent action-comedy feature derived from the exploits of Prohibition-era gangster and dubious local legend Charlie Birger (1881-1928). Bad Charleston Charlie Associates and Studio 9 Productions are partnering on this motion picture, having set up a central office in Champaign and received investment funds from local businesses, while the main architect of the operation is producer, co-writer, and star Ross Hagen, who recently appeared in the television show DAKTARI and the theatrical Elvis Presley vehicle SPEEDWAY. Industry professionals that Hagen is welcoming from Los Angeles include director Ivan Nagy, cinematographer Michael Neyman, assistant directors Eric Lidberg and A.J. Lorea, and performers Kelly Thordsen, Hoke Howell, Dal Jenkins, Carmen Zapata, and John Carradine. Community members and University of Illinois students are also playing roles on both sides of the camera, according to articles in the November 7 and 11 editions of the Daily Illini, in scenes being photographed at Kickapoo State Park near Danville, the tiny town of Fairmount located between Danville and Champaign, and coal mining country in southern Illinois to depict Birger’s exploits before his turn to crime. Interior segments will be completed on sound stages once the visitors return to California. Word is that CHARLESTON takes a lighthearted approach to the Birger saga, making him out as a bumbling Al Capone idolizer instead of a Robin Hood type with a mean streak as he is described in scholarship; the screen story retains his real-life row with the Ku Klux Klan while it downplays his scuffles with the law and omits his clashes against the rival Shelton brothers gang that involved airplane bombings and assassinations. It is unclear what distributor will release CHARLESTON in the near future or what is next for Studio 9, which local participants Martin D. Wright and Charlie Lo Bue formed with the help of Hagen and Lidberg based on the latter’s experience as partners in a Hollywood entertainment company, Triforum, Inc. [R]
LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
Chambana Film Society* presents “The Savoy Arthouse” feat. HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS (12/7, 3 p.m.)
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
100 NIGHTS OF HERO*, DHURANDHAR (in Hindi with English sub), FACKHAM HALL*, FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, JUJUTSU KAISEN: EXECUTION (animé) (in Japanese with English sub or English dub), KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR (re-release), SENTIMENTAL VALUE (in Norwegian and English), ETERNITY, NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T,WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/5 on), ELLA MCCAY (12/11 on) *single screenings daily
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
DHURANDHAR (in Hindi with English sub), FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, JUJUTSU KAISEN: EXECUTION (animé) (in Japanese with English sub or English dub), MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG (filmed stage musical), ETERNITY, NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T, NUREMBERG, RENTAL FAMILY, THE RUNNING MAN, WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/5 on), The Metropolitan Opera: The Magic Flute (12/6, 1 p.m., recorded), UFC 323: Merab Dvalishvili vs. Petr Yan, more (mixed martial arts) (12/6, 9 p.m., simulcast), ELF (12/6, 4 & 6:30 p.m.; 12/7, 3 & 7 p.m.; 12/10, 7 p.m.), “Andre Rieu: Merry Christmas” (concert film) (12/7, 3 p.m.; 12/10, 7 p.m.), WEDDING CRASHERS (12/11, 4 & 7 p.m.)
@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents CAUGHT STEALING (12/5-12/6, 7 p.m., free w/i-card)
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
The News-Gazette Film Series presents IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (12/6, 1 & 7 p.m.), “Holiday in Whoville” annual event feat. HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS (1966) (12/7, 12 p.m. doors, cartoon at 1, 2, 3, and 4 p.m.)
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
@ The Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL
FischerFest presents “Celebrating the Life & Legacy of Dick Van Dyke” feat. national premiere of DICK VAN DYKE: 100 CELEBRATION (documentary) (12/6, 5 p.m. doors, 6:30 p.m. program; sold out), FischerFest presents “Celebrating the Life & Legacy of Dick Van Dyke” feat. BYE BYE BIRDIE, THE COMIC, MARY POPPINS w/Chuck Koplinski (12/7, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.)
@ Golden Ticket Cinemas Ale House, Bloomington, IL
FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG (filmed stage musical), WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY, WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/5 on), ELF (12/6-12/7, 10 & 10:15 a.m.)
@ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL
ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (Screen 1), THE POLAR EXPRESS (animation) (Screen 2) (12/5-12/6)
@ The Lorraine Theatre, Hoopeston, IL
WICKED: FOR GOOD (12/5-12/7), HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS 25th anniversary (12/11 on)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
WHITE CHRISTMAS, “Queering Horror” feat. CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS (12/5), ELF, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, KILLER RACCOONS! 2! DARK CHRISTMAS IN THE DARK! (12/6), IT HAPPENED ON 5TH AVENUE, THE POLAR EXPRESS (animation), THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (12/7), IN BRUGES (12/8), DIE HARD (12/9), A CHRISTMAS STORY (12/10), ELF (12/11)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/5-12/7)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/5-12/7)
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, Screen Magazine, and the Chicago Reader.
COMING SOON | Area-wide Events
NEW! 12/15
Champaign Movie Makers* meeting
@ Esquire Lounge, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
NEW! 12/18
Film Fanatic Movie Nights* presents THE FALL
@ Gallery Art Bar, Urbana, IL, 6:30 & 9:30 p.m.
NEW! 12/20
Chicago Filmmakers presents “Picture ReStart” short film series
feat. final program, “Bringing It All Back Home”
@ Chicago Filmmakers Firehouse Cinema, Chicago, IL, 6 p.m.
NEW! 1/16-1/18, 2026
Champaign Movie Makers* “48-Hour Film Competition”
@ Lincoln Square, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m.
4/3-4/10, 2026
28th annual Wisconsin Film Festival, Madison, WI
4/9-4/12, 2026
36th Onion City Experimental Film Festival, Chicago, IL
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
Chambana Film Society presents “The Savoy Arthouse”
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL, 3 p.m. unless noted otherwise
12/14: SONG SUNG BLUE (2008); 12/21: LOCKE; 12/28: “Short Docs” program
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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“Calendar du C-U”
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