Calendar: July 24-30, 2026
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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CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History
50 Years Ago … Thursday, July 15, 1976: Beverly Hills, CA-based distributor Crown International Pictures opens the film DEATH RIDERS on 100 screens in the Kansas City-Omaha region of the Midwest, according to the exhibition trade magazine Boxoffice. One of the only non-fiction titles in the company’s catalog and the rare documentary to play the drive-in circuit, DEATH RIDERS is directed by James Wilson of Hallmark Entertainment and provides a behind-the-scenes look at the Death Riders Motorcycle Thrill Show, a traveling stunt team founded in the early Seventies by Floyd Reed, Sr., and featuring his teenage son Danny as “Mr. T.N.T.” Two weeks prior to this roll out, the film’s world premiere took place at the North Drive-In of Terre Haute, IN, on Friday, July 2, a live Death Riders exhibition providing additional impact at the start of the show. Booking agent T.N.T. Productions is based in the Reed family’s hometown of Danville, IL, while the crew’s practice stadium is 25 miles away in Cayuga, IN; a memorable scene in DEATH RIDERS finds Danny’s grandmother Clara fainting in the Cayuga grandstand after watching him crash in front of the hometown crowd. Additional thrills performed for camera by the Death Riders would appear a year later in the fictional action-comedy DEATH DRIVER, produced and self-distributed by prolific North Carolina independent filmmaker Earl Owensby. [R]
LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers
@ The Literary, Champaign, IL
Film-Fanatic.Club presents AMERICAN PSYCHO (7/25,10:30 p.m.)
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
Chambana Film Society presents “2026 CineSonic Music Film Festival” feat. JACK JOHNSON: SURFILMUSIC (documentary) (7/26, 2 p.m.), “Art House Theater Day” presentation of SORRY TO BOTHER YOU w/introduction by director Boots Riley (7/30, 7 p.m.)
@ WEFT 90.1 FM, Champaign, IL
“Frame Noise” film music program hosted by Przemek (7/29, 7-8 p.m.) Streaming | Archive
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
CHENNAI LOVE STORY* (in Telugu with English sub), HADESTOWN: THE MUSICAL (filmed stage musical), HER PRIVATE HELL, JANA NAYAGAN* (in Tamil with English sub), MOTOR CITY, EVIL DEAD BURN, THE INVITE, MINIONS & MONSTERS (animation), MOANA, THE ODYSSEY, TOY STORY 5 (animation), YOUNG WASHINGTON* (faith film) (7/17 on), Fan Faves: THE BAD GUYS 2 (animation) (7/27, 7/29, 11 a.m. & 2 p.m.), AMC “Screen Unseen” (mystery movie) (7/27, 7 p.m.), I WANT YOUR SEX, SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY (7/30 on) *single screenings daily
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
CHENNAI LOVE STORY (in Telugu with English sub), HADESTOWN: THE MUSICAL (filmed stage musical), HER PRIVATE HELL, JANA NAYAGAN (in Tamil with English sub), MOTOR CITY, BACKROOMS extended cut, DISCLOSURE DAY*, EVIL DEAD BURN, THE INVITE, MINIONS & MONSTERS (animation), MOANA, OBSESSION, THE ODYSSEY, SUPERGIRL, TOY STORY 5 (animation), YOUNG WASHINGTON (faith film) (7/17 on), BAD COUNSELORS (7/24-7/27, 7 p.m.), THE FIFTH ELEMENT (7/26, 4 & 7 p.m.; 7/27, 7 p.m.), TREMORS (7/26, 3 & 7 p.m.; 7/29, 7 p.m.), SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY (7/30 on) *single screenings daily
@ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Summer Films on the Quad” feat. POWER BALLAD (7/30, 9 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
@ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL
JURASSIC PARK (Screen 1), THE ODYSSEY (Screen 2) (7/24-7/29), SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY (Screen 1), THE ODYSSEY (Screen 2) (7/30)
@ The Lorraine Theatre, Hoopeston, IL
MOANA (7/24-7/26), SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY (7/30 on)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
THE WILD BUNCH (7/24, 7/26, 7 p.m.; 7/25, 3 p.m.), TOMBSTONE (7/25, 7 p.m.; 7/26, 3 p.m.), ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (7/27, 1 p.m.; 7/29, 7 p.m.), I SAW THE TV GLOW (7/28, 7 p.m.), THE BIG CHILL (7/30, 7 p.m.)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
YOUNG WASHINGTON (faith film) (7/24-7/26)
@ The Route 66 Drive-in Theater, Springfield, IL
THE ODYSSEY (Screen 1), MOANA, TOY STORY 5 (animation) (Screen 2) (7/24-7/26, 7/29-7/30)
NOW PLAYING | Midwest
@ Living Room Theaters/Indy Arts Center, etc., Indianapolis, IN
Heartland Film and TQL Wealth Management present
9th Indy Shorts Film Festival (through 7/26) Information
@ Ramova Theatre, Chicago, IL
Midwest Film Festival presents “Midwest Royale”
feat. “Best of the Midwest” Film Festival (7/23-7/25) Information
COMING SOON | Area-wide Events
8/15
Pens to Lens* gala 2026
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 3 p.m.
8/22
Halloran Family Foundation presents
FischerFest* “Big Stories, Short Films”
@ Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL, 3-10 p.m., free
9/7-9/17
44th Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival
@ Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema + Chicago Filmmakers, Chicago, IL
9/23-9/27
33rd Chicago Underground Film Festival
@ ACX Harper Theater – Hyde Park, etc., Chicago, IL
10/8-10/18
35th Heartland Film Festival
@ various venues, Indianapolis, IN
10/23
“Behind the ‘Scream’: A Live Conversation with David Arquette”
feat. 30th anniversary screening of SCREAM (1996)
@ Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts, Bloomington, IL, 7 p.m.
10/27
An evening with ‘Partially Devoured’ author Daniel Kraus
feat. screening of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
11/5-11/15
Cinema St. Louis presents
35th Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival
@ The Hi-Pointe Theatre, St. Louis, MO
11/20-11/22
25th anniversary Route 66 Film Festival*
@ Hoogland Center for the Arts, Springfield, IL
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
Chambana Film Society presents “2026 CineSonic Music Film Festival”
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL, 2 p.m.
8/2: THE LAST CRITIC; 8/9: BROTHER VERSUS BROTHER; 8/16: “Shorts: Music Documentary”; 8/23: WE ARE FUGAZI FROM WASHINGTON D.C.; 8/30: RADIOHEART: THE DRIVE & TIMES OF DJ KEVIN COLE
Illini Union Board presents “Summer Films on the Quad”
@ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 9 p.m. Thursdays, free
8/6: PROJECT HAIL MARY; 8/13: STAR WARS: THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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“Calendar du C-U”
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