Whatever “Muppet Mania” is, Madison’s east side probably isn’t getting it. Marcus Theatres’ questionably-dubbed early summer series, which runs across four weekends (Fri, Sat, Sun), looks back at three of the franchise’s films produced during Jim Henson’s lifetime while wedging 1999’s Muppets from Space in the middle.
The program begins on May 15 with the 1979 classic (and Orson Welles vehicle!) The Muppet Movie. 1981’s Charles Grodin ham-fest The Great Muppet Caper follows with the aforementioned Muppets from Space and then The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) rounding things off.
“Muppet Mania” will make a nice prelude to the summer’s Kids Dream lineup, the chain’s quarterly $3 family program. Like usual, matinees begin at the crack of 10:00a to accommodate babysitters and strung-out parents. As of publication, the chain has yet to announce their final “Too exciting to announce!” selections but really, anything’s better than Penguins of Madagascar. You can see (most of) the lineup below:
- Penguins of Madagascar (Jun 14-15, 17)
- Paddington (Jun 21-22, 24)
- Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (Jun 28-29, Jul 1)
- How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Jul 5-6, 8)
- Curious George (Jul 12-13, 15)
- The Spongebob Movie (Jul 19-20, 22)
- Horton Hears a Who (Jul 26-27, 29)
- TBA (Aug 2-3, 5)
- TBA (Aug 9-10, 12)
Kids Dream will also play at Point Cinema though like “Muppet Mania,” any listings of times for Eastgate are absent at marcustheatres.com. Even with a shifting, nebulously-defined date of closure, the writing’s been on the wall for Eastgate for sometime courtesy of Sun Prairie’s Palace Cinema. Marcus doesn’t have the most sterling reputation for updating their showtimes, but this is probably not a good sign. In the meantime, we can all “keep believing” and “keep pretending.”