Coolidge Corner Theater's Katherine Tallman On Reopening, Getting 'Lost' At The Movies Once More

On May 13, it will have been a full 425 days since Brookline’s iconic Coolidge Corner Theater was forced to shut its doors to the public in response to the pandemic

Now, the independently-operated film hub is priming for its partial reopen with a series of what CEO and executive director Katherine Tallman is calling “repertory classics.” They include films like “Do The Right Thing,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the 1958 psychological thriller “Vertigo.”

During a Tuesday conversation on Boston Public Radio, Tallman admitted to getting teary-eyed when she first returned to her theater and said expects that other Boston cinefiles might feel a similar emotional tug as they sit down to experience classics in their full, 35-millimeter glory.

“After you’re in there and the curtain opens and the sound starts ... you just kind of do what you do with the movie,” she said. “You get lost.”

Of course, things won’t be entirely as they were pre-pandemic. For one, they’ll only be admitting 15% of their full capacity, or 68 people spread out amongst the 440 seats inside Moviehouse 1. An usher will also escort moviegoers to pre-assigned seats, which are selected on their website in advance.

And when it comes to tickets, at least for now, don’t expect to be able to buy them at the door.

“All the ticket sales will be online,” Tallman explained. “We’re really focused on safety. We’re really focused on everything touchless. We’ve installed a lot of equipment in the theaters to make everything as safe as possible.”

A COVID-19 vaccine, however, will not be a prerequisite for ticket sales.

“We’ll just take it carefully,” she said, explaining the theater's questionable legal ability to enfore such a mandate.

Still, Tallman isn't not worried. “Right now, we have a half percent infection rate in Brookline. We have absolutely every safety precaution that you could possibly have,” she said.

Though it’s been slow process getting things rolling, Tallman told hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan that she’s keeping a vision in her mind of where we could be come holiday-time in December.

"My small dream is that in December — which is traditionally the big month when people go to the movies — that we’ll have big-time films, and we’ll have big-time audiences," she said.

"Popcorn’ll be popping, and things will look pretty good, and we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief," Tallman added, "and wonder if what we just went through really happened, or if it was a movie too."

WATCH: Coolidge Corner Theater's Katherine Tallman on returning to the movies