Billionaire to open movie theater in Highland Park featuring films that ‘unite and inspire’: ‘We want to put something positive in the air’
By Gavid Good
Chicago Tribune, February 1, 2023
Chicago Tribune, February 1, 2023
Highland Park’s lone movie theater has a new operator, a new opening date and a lot of change on the horizon.
Billionaire businessman Steve Sarowitz is crossing from the production side of the film industry into the commercial side with Wayfarer Theaters, set for a soft opening of Feb. 10 at the former site of Landmark’s Renaissance Place Cinema in downtown Highland Park.
Landmark’s decision to close up shop at the Renaissance Place site in downtown Highland Park follows the closings of hundreds of movie theaters in the United States, even before the pandemic. Lake County is set to lose Regal movie theaters in Round Lake Beach and Lincolnshire this year.
But Sarowitz, who founded the software company Paylocity before venturing into filmmaking, isn’t worried about jumping into a declining field.
As he walked through the five-theater complex with general manager Clay Stamper on Tuesday, Sarowitz pointed out [an] old concession space where he plans [to] bring in filmmakers to speak about their movies, traded creative and logistical ideas with Stamper and spoke of playing films to “unite and inspire” visitors, rather than those which display “the violence and the lust and the greed” found in some films.
“If you look at most films, the horror films or even the superhero films, there’s so much violence, there’s so much negative energy,” Sarowitz said. “Society has all that in social media, and we want to put something positive in the air.”
The emphasis will be on showing films that show off the “spiritual part” of humanity, like love, kindness, mercy, compassion and justice, he said.
“Right now, Highland Park is reeling from both COVID and (violence),” Sarowitz said. “We’ve had multiple incidences of violence, with the worst being the July Fourth shooting, and I want to do something that would contribute to the betterment of the community itself and be a gathering place for the community.”
Sarowitz said another goal is making the theater accessible to people of all incomes, adding that movie tickets will cost $10 after tax. The logistics around concession stands and what to offer are still being worked out, he noted, but the prices will be lower than under past operators.
“The whole idea is we want to make movies good and affordable, and make the theater into more of a community center,” Sarowitz said.
Sarowitz founded his TV and film company, Wayfarer Studios, with actor-turned-filmmaker Justin Baldoni in 2019. He and Baldoni also run the nonprofit Wayfarer Foundation, which according to Sarowitz, “funds and supports spiritually rooted and justice-oriented nonprofits” to create a more hopeful world.
In addition to Sarowitz’s hope to provide a safe space for the community to enjoy movies and good company, he said he wants to provide engaging children’s programming and use his connections to have directors and others involved in filmmaking say, “Here’s what I did and here’s why I did it.”
For Stamper, the chance to work with Sarowitz on the venture was a chance to curate a moviegoing experience that differentiates from competing with the “big tent pole” productions at other theaters, though Wayfarer Theaters will likely play some big budget dramas and comedies.
“The first three months that we’re going to be in operation, we’re very much inviting our guests to tell us ... what they personally want to be seeing and experiencing in our theater,” Stamper said. “What stories matter to them?”
Stamper said he wants to bring back residents and visitors who have previously enjoyed attending movies in downtown Highland Park, but haven’t been recently.
Sarowitz said the theater is in the process of hiring its staff and selecting the first films it would play. He said he might like to play movies such as “Coda,” which humanized the experiences of deaf people, and other films such as “Good Will Hunting” and “The Shawshank Redemption.”
The move to acquire his own theater comes as Sarowitz’s film studio is developing an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s hit 2016 romance novel “It Ends With Us” with Sony Pictures, starring Blake Lively and Baldoni; an action-comedy called “Code 3″ featuring Rainn Wilson and Lil Rel Howery, and a live-action Pac-Man film.
Billionaire businessman Steve Sarowitz is crossing from the production side of the film industry into the commercial side with Wayfarer Theaters, set for a soft opening of Feb. 10 at the former site of Landmark’s Renaissance Place Cinema in downtown Highland Park.
Landmark’s decision to close up shop at the Renaissance Place site in downtown Highland Park follows the closings of hundreds of movie theaters in the United States, even before the pandemic. Lake County is set to lose Regal movie theaters in Round Lake Beach and Lincolnshire this year.
But Sarowitz, who founded the software company Paylocity before venturing into filmmaking, isn’t worried about jumping into a declining field.
As he walked through the five-theater complex with general manager Clay Stamper on Tuesday, Sarowitz pointed out [an] old concession space where he plans [to] bring in filmmakers to speak about their movies, traded creative and logistical ideas with Stamper and spoke of playing films to “unite and inspire” visitors, rather than those which display “the violence and the lust and the greed” found in some films.
“If you look at most films, the horror films or even the superhero films, there’s so much violence, there’s so much negative energy,” Sarowitz said. “Society has all that in social media, and we want to put something positive in the air.”
The emphasis will be on showing films that show off the “spiritual part” of humanity, like love, kindness, mercy, compassion and justice, he said.
“Right now, Highland Park is reeling from both COVID and (violence),” Sarowitz said. “We’ve had multiple incidences of violence, with the worst being the July Fourth shooting, and I want to do something that would contribute to the betterment of the community itself and be a gathering place for the community.”
Sarowitz said another goal is making the theater accessible to people of all incomes, adding that movie tickets will cost $10 after tax. The logistics around concession stands and what to offer are still being worked out, he noted, but the prices will be lower than under past operators.
“The whole idea is we want to make movies good and affordable, and make the theater into more of a community center,” Sarowitz said.
Sarowitz founded his TV and film company, Wayfarer Studios, with actor-turned-filmmaker Justin Baldoni in 2019. He and Baldoni also run the nonprofit Wayfarer Foundation, which according to Sarowitz, “funds and supports spiritually rooted and justice-oriented nonprofits” to create a more hopeful world.
In addition to Sarowitz’s hope to provide a safe space for the community to enjoy movies and good company, he said he wants to provide engaging children’s programming and use his connections to have directors and others involved in filmmaking say, “Here’s what I did and here’s why I did it.”
For Stamper, the chance to work with Sarowitz on the venture was a chance to curate a moviegoing experience that differentiates from competing with the “big tent pole” productions at other theaters, though Wayfarer Theaters will likely play some big budget dramas and comedies.
“The first three months that we’re going to be in operation, we’re very much inviting our guests to tell us ... what they personally want to be seeing and experiencing in our theater,” Stamper said. “What stories matter to them?”
Stamper said he wants to bring back residents and visitors who have previously enjoyed attending movies in downtown Highland Park, but haven’t been recently.
Sarowitz said the theater is in the process of hiring its staff and selecting the first films it would play. He said he might like to play movies such as “Coda,” which humanized the experiences of deaf people, and other films such as “Good Will Hunting” and “The Shawshank Redemption.”
The move to acquire his own theater comes as Sarowitz’s film studio is developing an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s hit 2016 romance novel “It Ends With Us” with Sony Pictures, starring Blake Lively and Baldoni; an action-comedy called “Code 3″ featuring Rainn Wilson and Lil Rel Howery, and a live-action Pac-Man film.
Clay Stamper, left, and Steve Sarowitz sit in one of five theaters at Wayfarer Theaters in downtown Highland Park. The new venture will have its soft opening on Feb. 10. (Gavin Good (Lake County News-Sun))
