Pittsburgh cinemas cope with delayed movie releases amid Hollywood strikes

Pittsburgh’s movie theaters spent a lot of this summer riding high on the combined box-office might of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” However, that is now giving way to some anxiety on how the continuing labor disputes between SAG-AFTRA, the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will affect buzzy fall and winter titles.

“The film release calendar is never etched in stone,” said The Lindsay CEO Carolina Thor. “We’ve become accustomed to this increased fluidity, especially during the pandemic. Since then, we have become very nimble and are always looking at the forecast and planning alternative programming that could be needed, or not.”

Thor said that everything The Lindsay is up to over the next few months, from a Sept. 14 performance by comedian Nicole Travolta to its participation in both the Pittsburgh Silent and Three Rivers film festivals, is “a result of a forecast for a tenuous fall and winter season.”

The Lindsay tends to “become more inclined to curate special programs” in uncertain situations like the one presented by these strikes in an effort “to keep people coming to the cinema,” according to Thor.