Brookfield Parking Lot Cinema Extension Denied

BROOKFIELD,WI— The Marcus Majestic of Brookfield's request to extend its parking lot cinema permit was denied during the Aug. 18 Town of Brookfield Board meeting. Supervisor John Schatzman moved to deny the request "due to violations of conditions" in the original permit approval".

The drive-in movie theater opened in Brookfield on May 29. Brookfield Town officials approved a request by Marcus Majestic Cinema, 770 N. Springdale Road to set up a temporary theater on their grounds in late spring.

Schatzman told Patch, Marcus indicated by "direct statements" to the Town Board and their Plan of Operation submitted regarding the type of movies. The only type of movies allowed was a double feature of titles rated G, PG, or PG-13 only. The town approved a temporary use of the exterior wall of the theatre to be used for a drive-in theatre.

"Unfortunately, they failed to honor their agreement and showed not one but two R rated movies almost immediately which were fully viewable from I-94. "Because of their failure to honor their agreement their temporary permit extension application was denied," Schatzman told Patch.

Marcus Theatres director of marketing Mari Randa said in an email,

"During a time when our traditional theatres were closed, we launched a handful of Parking Lot Cinemas, our small-scale version of a drive-in theatre. It was a way for guests to ease back into the moviegoing process since the viewing of these films was from the privacy of their vehicle. Movies started at sundown (around 9 p.m.), and we could only host approximately 100 cars. Continuing this concept would be dependent on the interest in the community, weather and an extension of the permit, which for the Majestic was declined by the Town of Brookfield at the August 18 meeting.

"We are appreciative that we could bring some outdoor entertainment at a time when the community was pretty tethered to home and are now focusing on the reopening of our traditional indoor theatres, including in Brookfield. We are featuring “Tenet” this weekend at all our Parking Lot Cinemas and have additional new movies playing at our indoor facilities," Randa said.

The Majestic reopened its indoor location on Aug. 21.