Addams Family Values in 35mm

Forget your typical summer camp: for the Thornberry family, every day is a camping trip! For five seasons on Nickelodeon, television nature show host Nigel Thornberry and his filmmaker wife, Marianne, traveled the globe with their family. In this feature-length film adaptation, the Thornberrys are on safari in Kenya when precocious daughter Eliza finds she can suddenly communicate with animals. None of the spunk of the series is lost by carrying the maximalist Klasky-Csupo character design into the feature film format, and this action-packed story proved to be a critical darling, earning an Oscar nomination for Original Song with “Father And Daughter” by Paul Simon.

When Charlie Hinton (Eddie Murphy) loses his high-powered marketing job and is forced to pull his son from an expensive private school, he decides to open a daycare center with the help of other unemployed fathers. Continuing Murphy’s successful string of family-friendly comedies—Dr. Dolittle (1998), Shrek (2001)—this super silly project convenes an incredible supporting cast including Jeff Garlin, Steve Zahn, Regina King, Anjelica Huston, and Kevin Nealon, and ultimately promotes a student-centered learning model for early childhood education. And if you’ve ever wondered what Eddie Murphy looks like dressed as a stalk of broccoli, this movie makes that dream come true.

Nominated for an Oscar for Original Screenplay, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola’s quirky tale finds 12-year-olds Sam and Suzy escaping from Camp Ivanhoe and absconding into the wilderness off the New England coast. The pair fall too deep into their cute courtship to care that every adult in their lives is trying to locate them before a dangerous storm makes landfall. Featuring first-time actors Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the charming tweens in a budding romance, this off-kilter camp story hints at the Andersonian magic that would follow in films like The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and Asteroid City (2023).

Captain Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson), a merry jokester, gets roped into an entertaining adventure with gutsy botanist Dr. Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) and her fashionable brother, MacGregor (Jack Whitehall), as the fearless trio embarks on an ambitious journey to find a healing tree along the Amazon River. Jungle Cruise is an action-filled fantasy film based on Disneyland’s classic theme park ride, which will take filmgoers of all ages through a supernatural jungle experience on-screen full of excitement, humor, and animals galore!

Seeing his days of stardom fading away, screen actor Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire) pivots his talents to Broadway. Teaming up with songwriter friends Lester and Lily Marton (Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray) and classical ballerina Gabrielle Gerard (Cyd Charisse), the highs and lows of live theater production make for a dynamic, hilarious snapshot of the business of entertainment. Thrice nominated at the 26th Oscars, including for Costume Design (Color), Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture), and Writing (Story and Screenplay), this backstage musical has endured as a classic thanks to its vivid Technicolor cinematography, playful dance numbers, and catchy tunes like the perennial “That’s Entertainment!”

The incomparable Gene Kelly’s outstanding performance turned the 1928 George Gershwin symphonic poem into a spectacular musical film of the same name, one that garnered eight Oscar nominations and six wins including Best Picture. Three renowned designers—Orry-Kelly, Walter Plunkett, and Irene Sharaff—won an Oscar for Costume Design (Color) for the film. The dreamy love story, set in Paris, is told through vibrant dance numbers choreographed by Kelly. Amplified by the elaborate hues of the set design, costumes, and props, these numbers become truly magical moments through the synergy of motion, color, and sound.

One of the most beloved movie musicals of all time is also one of the greatest films about moviemaking ever made. Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds star as a trio of performers who weather the transition from silent cinema to talking pictures with humor and a wealth of dazzling musical numbers. Kelly teamed up with Stanley Donen to direct the witty script by Adolph Green and Betty Comden; with dialogue as memorable as the classic songs, it is a delight for all ages.

Accessible Screening

Attention, please! This adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical sees a sensational Robert Preston reprise his role as “Professor” Harold Hill, a silver-tongued con artist whose moneymaking scheme brings him to River City, Iowa. His get-rich-quick concept includes collecting money to develop a youth marching band and disappearing with the cash before the instruments arrive—but, as in any wholesome American tale, the call of his heart wins out over the pull of his purse strings. Composed by the prolific Ray Heindorf (Yankee Doodle Dandy), who won the film’s only Oscar (out of six nominations) for Music (Scoring), The Music Man will find first-timers and longtime fans alike charmed by earworms like “Gary, Indiana,” “Ya Got Trouble,” and “Seventy-Six Trombones.”

Nearly a decade after the success of Mary Poppins (1964), Disney hoped some of the same enchantment would transfer to their newest musical fantasy. Bedknobs and Broomsticks is also a period piece set London, this time with World War II as the backdrop for a tale of the magical Miss Eglantine Price (Angela Lansbury) and the three orphan children under her care who are swept up in the life of the deceptive Emelius Browne (David Tomlinson, Mr. Banks of Mary Poppins fame). The film’s whimsical blend of live action and animation, specifically a spectacular underwater dance sequence, helped nab the film an Oscar for Special Visual Effects.

Accessible Screening

This beloved Motown musical version of L. Frank Baum’s classic fantasy book is an adaptation of the popular Tony Award–winning stage musical that originated on Broadway in 1975. Noted for its lively score and all-Black cast, director Sidney Lumet’s film features a stellar array of iconic entertainers including Diana Ross as Dorothy (reconceived for the film as a shy Harlem schoolteacher), Michael Jackson as Scarecrow, Lena Horne as Glinda, and Richard Pryor as The Wiz. Embraced by generations, The Wiz was nominated for its art direction, cinematography, costume design, and adapted score at the 51st Oscars.

Produced for Touchstone Pictures, a Disney offshoot offering slightly more mature fare, this smash-hit musical comedy stars Whoopi Goldberg as Reno lounge singer Deloris Wilson, who, on the run from the mob, joins a cloister of nuns in San Francisco. Unsure how best to apply her real-world skills, Deloris—now called Sister Mary Clarence—starts leading the choir, whose overnight success brings her unwanted attention. With an uplifting message of sisterhood, chosen family, and the importance of art in everyone’s life, Sister Act became one of the highest-grossing films of 1992 and was eventually adapted for the stage in 2006.

Inspired by actual events, this New York–set film refashions the eight-month newsboys’ strike of 1899 as a rollicking musical. Featuring early performances from teenaged Christian Bale (The Dark Knight) and David Moscow (Big), choreography designed in part by the film’s director, Kenny Ortega, and original tunes by Alan Menken—celebrated for his collaboration with lyricist Howard Ashman on animated Disney films—Newsies has been embraced in revival screenings and is now considered a cult classic.

Adapted from the 1977 Tony Award–winning Broadway musical by director John Huston (The Maltese Falcon), this Depression-era story finds iconic Little Orphan Annie on the big screen for the first time. As realized by newcomer Aileen Quinn, Annie’s indefatigable gumption is put to the test as she navigates daily insults from the cruel Miss Hannigan (Carol Burnett) and works her way into the heart of Daddy Warbucks (Albert Finney). Nominated for its art direction and adapted score, the enduring classic brings songs like “It’s The Hard Knock Life” and “Tomorrow” to vivid life, planting them firmly in the popular American consciousness.

Accessible Screening