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Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday\/Saturday on <\/em>C-U Blogfidential<\/span><\/strong> and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.<\/em><\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n MILESTONES | Happy Birthday to You!<\/strong><\/p>\n 7\/9: Ben Harroun (co-owner, Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL) \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n PASSINGS | You Will Be Missed<\/strong><\/p>\n 7\/3: Nora Garcia Harroun, 35 (staff, Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said<\/strong><\/p>\n Theater-relevant news is what we have for this week\u2019s Report<\/strong> and, given how the Calendar<\/strong> begins, we\u2019ll address first what matters most. The operators of the Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in<\/strong> in Gibson City<\/strong> may be working on autopilot for the short term<\/a><\/span> as they mourn the loss of Nora Harroun<\/strong>, wife of co-owner Ben Harroun<\/strong>, who passed away on July 3<\/strong> 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<\/a><\/span> at the Harvest Moon on Sunday, July 27<\/strong>, 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<\/strong> with Keira Knightley<\/strong> and Matthew Macfadyen<\/strong>. One day earlier on Saturday, July 26<\/strong>, starting at 12 p.m.<\/strong>, a separate celebration will take place at the VFW Post #10302<\/strong> in Springfield<\/strong> for the late Joyce I. Williams<\/strong>, who died on June 20<\/strong> at age 82; she was retired from working for the Illinois State Police<\/strong> and married to Dean Williams<\/strong>, the veteran stills photographer and founder of the Central Illinois Film Commission<\/strong>. Joyce\u2019s services were conducted last week.<\/a><\/span> We offer our condolences to both families and their respective communities in this time. Please take good care of each other.<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n Now, we\u2019re going to course-correct our presumptions a bit<\/a><\/span> about how programmers at both the Virginia Theatre<\/strong> in Champaign<\/strong> and Fischer Theatre<\/strong> in Danville<\/strong> may be catering to the movie-going public in the future. We did not know until listing the Virginia\u2019s revival of THE SANDLOT<\/strong><\/a><\/span> 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<\/strong><\/a><\/span> cosponsored the 1993 kid flick and set up a \u201cbatting practice\u201d activity on Park Avenue<\/strong> 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<\/strong><\/a><\/span> when a farmers market sponsored by the Central Illinois Young Farmers Coalition<\/strong> will complement a showing of THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM<\/strong>, a documentary presented by Illinois Public Media<\/strong>. And just two days ago, the News-Gazette<\/span> broke news of \u201cFischerFest<\/strong>,\u201d<\/a><\/span> a first-year film showcase that will debut on August 16-17<\/strong> with five classic film showings to honor the late Hollywood<\/strong> actor Gene Hackman<\/strong>, who grew up in part in Danville, and a closing discussion session to be hosted by the critics Chuck Koplinski<\/strong> and Pamela Powell<\/strong>. Together with Pens to Lens<\/strong>, which returns to the Virginia on August 16<\/strong> and is regaining its strength as a family friendly, red-carpet spectacle, the renewed focus on both fronts is certainly favoring a \u201cgo big with a broad appeal\u201d approach.<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n If you want to see a movie just<\/em> to see a movie (and maybe be crafty in minimizing how much advertising and on-screen flotsam you have to sit through<\/a><\/span> before the movie actually begins), the regular array of venues as seen weekly on the Calendar<\/strong> is there to serve you. An announcement along these lines did<\/em> break in the spring and it involves a dormant location that was purchased with plans to reopen it. Luckily, WGLT<\/strong> radio covered the transaction back in May<\/a><\/span>. A multiplex formerly known as the Ovation Cinema Grill<\/strong> by New Vision Theatres<\/strong>, tucked away on Detroit Drive<\/strong> in the southwestern corner of Bloomington<\/strong> and adjacent to the Central Illinois Regional Airport<\/strong>, will soon become the Golden Ticket Cinemas Ale House Bloomington<\/strong>. A Facebook<\/strong> account dedicated to this location was created in May as well and promises it is \u201dcoming soon\u201d with special perks like bottomless popcorn and a \u201cself-pour beer wall\u201d along with a total remodel of the space<\/a><\/span>, but there have been no updates posted ever since. Hopefully, their status changes soon. Once the Golden Ticket is up and running, we\u2019ll have four exhibition brands to choose from between B-N, C-U, and Decatur<\/strong> including Phoenix Theatres, Marcus Theatres<\/strong>, and the three AMC<\/strong> 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<\/strong> and other single-screen, small-town delights.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n IMAGERY DU C-U | Picturing Our Scene on the Screen<\/strong><\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n In this space, we were<\/em> going to start a series on local cinematic ephemera<\/a><\/span> 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<\/strong>\u2019s three theater documentaries. Today, we instead bring up GOING ATTRACTIONS<\/strong> and BACK TO THE DRIVE-IN<\/strong> due to their connections with the Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in<\/strong> and in honor of the late Nora Harroun<\/strong>. Ye Ed<\/strong> decided this was a proper week to revisit GOING ATTRACTIONS<\/strong>, which made reference to the Harvest Moon in passing and had its first proper theatrical engagement at the Gibson City<\/strong> ozoner<\/a><\/span> back in 2013, and finally take in BACK TO THE DRIVE-IN<\/strong>, which instead has a \u201cnight in the life\u201d approach in showing the operations and talking about the concerns of the Harvest Moon and ten other venues across America. We\u2019re 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<\/a><\/span>, you can also visit with Nora via the film on Tubi<\/strong><\/a><\/span>. 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<\/strong> now serves as both a timely look at their community fixture and a time capsule that preserves a sliver of Nora\u2019s life. We do hope everyone will take a night to offer your respects and enjoy the Harvest Moon in person<\/a><\/span> at some point between now and the end of the current season, especially if you miss the July 27<\/strong> memorial. Peace.<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area<\/strong><\/p>\n @ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL<\/strong> @ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL<\/strong> @ The Canopy Club, Urbana, IL<\/strong> @ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL<\/strong> @ Prairie Farm\/Centennial Park, Champaign, IL<\/strong> Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional \u201cNow Playing\u201d and \u201cComing Soon\u201d listings appear after the jump!<\/em><\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n <\/p>\n NOW PLAYING | The Cities Beyond<\/strong><\/p>\n @ Clintonia Eagle Theater, Clinton, IL<\/strong> @ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL<\/strong> @ The Lorraine Theatre, Hoopeston, IL<\/strong> @ Marcus Bloomington Cinema + IMAX, Bloomington, IL<\/strong> @ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL<\/strong> @ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL<\/strong> @ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL<\/strong> @ The Route 66 Drive-in Theater, Springfield, IL<\/strong> @ VIP Lincoln Grand 6, Lincoln, IL<\/strong> \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n NOW PLAYING | Midwest<\/strong><\/p>\n For detailed and curated listings of Chicago-area film presentations and related events, please visit the fine folks at<\/em> Cine-File<\/strong> and subscribe to their definitive \u201cCine-List\u201d weekly blast<\/a><\/span>. And for northern Illinois industry news, be sure to read<\/em> Reel Chicago<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/span> and<\/em> Screen Magazine<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n COMING SOON | Area-wide Events<\/strong><\/p>\n 8\/16<\/strong> NEW! 8\/16-8\/17<\/strong> 9\/17-9\/21<\/strong> 9\/20-9\/22<\/strong> 11\/8-11\/9<\/strong> 4\/23-4\/26, 2026<\/strong> \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area<\/strong><\/p>\n Champaign Park District presents \u201cMoo-vie Nights at Prairie Farm\u201d<\/strong> Illini Union Board presents \u201cSummer Films on the Quad\u201d<\/strong> ~~~~~<\/p>\n Compiled by Jason Pankoke.<\/em><\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n \u201cCalendar du C-U\u201d Select movie listings for July 11-17, 2025 in Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond! Don\u2019t forget to peruse this week\u2019s Field Report! And, did you take a peek at the Images of the week? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,14,869,2144,2489,19,15,13,119,26,20],"tags":[1065,2560,1082,870,525,3026,781,3025,985,564],"class_list":["post-16595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alums-done-good","category-area-festivals","category-calendar-du-c-u","category-documentary","category-films-in-retrospect","category-images-du-cu","category-media-coverage","category-public-events","category-sad-places","category-theatres-venues","category-videos-du-c-u","tag-april-wright","tag-back-to-the-drive-in","tag-bloomington-illinois","tag-cinema-calendar","tag-gene-hackman","tag-golden-ticket-cinemas-ale-house","tag-harvest-moon-twin-drive-in","tag-nora-harroun","tag-the-fischer-theatre","tag-the-virginia-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16595"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16615,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16595\/revisions\/16615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n7\/15: Jill Van Voorst (owner, LIX, Savoy, IL)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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\nABRAHAM\u2019S 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)<\/p>\n
\nSKILLHOUSE, 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 \u2013 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.)<\/p>\n
\nThe Dispensary presents \u2018Reefer Madness the Musical\u2019 (7\/11, 7 p.m.; 7\/12, 2 & 7 p.m.; 7\/13, 2 p.m.) Information + Tickets<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\nIllini Union Board presents \u201cSummer Films on the Quad\u201d feat. THE LEGEND OF OCHI (7\/17, 9 p.m., free)<\/p>\n
\nChampaign Park District presents \u201cMoo-vie Nights at Prairie Farm\u201d feat. BABE (7\/11, 8 p.m., free)<\/p>\n
\nSUPERMAN, ELIO (animation), F1 THE MOVIE, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH (7\/11 on), CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS (animation) (7\/15-7\/16, 10 a.m., free)<\/p>\n
\nSUPERMAN (Screen 1), JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH (Screen 2) (7\/11 on)<\/p>\n
\nJURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH (7\/11-7\/13), SUPERMAN (7\/16 on)<\/p>\n
\nSUPERMAN, 28 YEARS LATER, ELIO (animation), F1 THE MOVIE, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH, LILO & STITCH, ME3AN 2.0, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE \u2013 THE FINAL RECKONING (7\/11 on), KUNG FU PANDA 4 (animation) (7\/13-7\/17, 11 a.m.), ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO\u2019S 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 (anim\u00e9) (7\/16-7\/17, 7 p.m. (Eng dub), 9:30 p.m. (Japanese w\/Eng sub)<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe Summer of Bond\u201d series feat. LICENCE TO KILL (7\/11-7\/13) and THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (7\/12-7\/13), the Normal and the Children\u2019s Discovery Museum present JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH (animation) (7\/14, 1 p.m.; 7\/16, 7 p.m.)<\/p>\n
\nJURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH (7\/11-7\/13)<\/p>\n
\nF1 THE MOVIE (7\/11-7\/13)<\/p>\n
\nSUPERMAN, F1 THE MOVIE (Screen 1), JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (Screen 2) (7\/11-7\/13, 7\/16-7\/17)<\/p>\n
\nSUPERMAN, 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\u2019S 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.)<\/p>\n
\nPens to Lens Gala 2025*
\n@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 3 p.m.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cFischerFest\u201d celebrating Gene Hackman
\n@ The Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL<\/p>\n
\n32nd Chicago Underground Film Festival
\n@ ACX Harper Theater \u2013 Hyde Park, Chicago, IL<\/p>\n
\nChampaign Film Society presents
\nthe first CineSonic* music film festival
\n@ TBA, Champaign-Urbana, IL<\/p>\n
\nDark History & Horror Con 2025
\nfeat. Screaming Mad Film Festival
\n@ The Orpheum Theatre, Champaign, IL<\/p>\n
\nRoger Ebert\u2019s Film Festival*
\n@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL<\/p>\n
\n@ Prairie Farm\/Centennial Park, Champaign, IL, 8 p.m., free<\/strong>
\n7\/25: HOME ON THE RANGE; 8\/8: CHARLOTTE\u2019S WEB (2006)<\/p>\n
\n@ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 9 p.m. Thursdays, free<\/strong>
\n7\/24: DROP; 7\/31: THUNDERBOLTS*; 8\/7: LILO & STITCH; 8\/14: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE \u2013 THE FINAL RECKONING<\/p>\n
\n\u00a9 2025 Jason Pankoke\/C-U Blogfidential<\/span>
\n[T \u2212110]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"