GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Celebration Cinema has announced that it will be offering open captioned showtimes at all of its theatre locations. The open captioned presentations will be available for select films on Sunday afternoons and Wednesday evenings, starting this weekend.
Open captioned presentations of movies features dialogue captioning showing up directly on the screen for everyone in the audience to read. A single open-captioned presentation of the top five movies of the week will be available on Sundays and Wednesdays. In March, Celebration Cinema began offering open captioned presentations of films at two of its theatre locations. The movie theatre chain partnered with the regional organizations Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services and Kalamazoo Deaf Night Out for the initial March pilot stage and expansion. They are also looking for additional regional partners to help spread the word.
According to Celebration Cinema’s website, one of the movies that will be shown with open captioning starting on Sunday will Top Gun: Maverick, a sequel to the 1986 film that stars Tom Cruise as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. The Bob’s Burgers Movie will also be available with open captioning. The movie is based on the Fox animated series that premiered in 2011. The comedy film Family Camp, which stars Tommy Woodward and Eddie James, will also be available in the format. There will also be open captioning presentations of Downtown Abbey: A New Era, the second film continuation of the television series that ran from 2010-2015. The latest film in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will also be available in the format. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Stephen Strange, reprising the role from the 2016 original film, as well as 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, and 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. The horror film The Black Phone will have open captioning presentations starting on June 26. The film was directed by Scott Derrickson and stars Ethan Hawke.
“We have heard so many express appreciation for this accessible option for the movies,” said Erica Chapin, Community & Partnership Managers for Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services. “Some have even said this has brought them back to the movie theatre for the first time in 30 years!”
“We knew this was a viewing preference for the Deaf community and some for whom English is a second language, but have found that a number of film avids love catching the nuances, subtle asides, and clarity of dialogue one can get from captioning,” said Emily Loeks, Director of Community Affairs.
The open-captioned film presentations will be available on Sunday afternoons and Wednesday evenings.
