Our Walt Disney Studies series is headed down the rabbit hole as present a brand new 4K restoration of the original 1951 classic Alice in Wonderland! And make sure to get their early as our host for the evening, Jeff Kurtti, will be giving a very special presentation before the film!
In this beloved and oft-filmed story, bored young schoolgirl Alice falls down a rabbit hole and lands in a strange world where nonsense rules. She encounters “curiouser and curiouser” characters as she travels through Wonderland, trying to learn the logic of the place and find her way out.
Made under the supervision of Walt Disney himself, Alice in Wonderland and its animation are often regarded as some of the finest work in Disney Studio history, despite the lackluster, even hostile, reviews it originally received, though it did receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score!
In the presentation “Walt in Wonderland”, Jeff Kurtti tells the story of Walt Disney’s lifelong affection for the Lewis Carroll heroine, and how the stories wove a pathway through a lifetime of Disney projects, from the 1923 Disney “Alice in Cartoonland” shorts to coming to life in Disneyland.
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Board the submarine Nautilus and plunge into a strange undersea world of spellbinding adventure as we kick off our Walt Disney Studies series with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea! This evening’s event will be hosted by Jeff Kurtti with a post-screening presentation by Disney Historian Kevin Kidney!
Kirk Douglas, Paul Lukas, and Peter Lorre star as shipwrecked survivors taken captive by the mysterious Captain Nemo, brilliantly portrayed by James Mason. Wavering between genius and madness, Nemo has launched a deadly crusade across the seven seas. But can the captive crew expose his evil plan before he destroys the world?
Disney’s brilliant Academy Award®-winning (Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects) adaptation of Jules Verne’s gripping tale makes 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea a truly mesmerizing masterpiece, his first feature in the widescreen CinemaScope process!
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“Get the funk up!” Our Unsung 80’s Soundtracks series continues with Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman – or what happens when a movie studio also owns the recording contract of a pop superstar!
One of the defining films of its decade, Batman stars Michael Keaton as billionaire Bruce Wayne, who secretly spends his nights stalking the streets of Gotham City as the costumed vigilante Batman. As Batman closes in on dastardly villain Joker (Jack Nicholson, oozing charismatic menace), he also finds himself drawn to photojournalist Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger). With Burton’s gothic visual style, Danny Elfman’s soaring score, and Oscar-winning Art Direction-Set Decoration by Anton Furst and Peter Young,
Batman proved that a comic-book movie could be dark, stylish, and strange, while also humorous and wildly entertaining.
Batman is something of an unusual entry in the soundtrack canon, with two very different albums coming out of the film. Danny Elfman’s orchestral score became one of the most recognizable superhero themes ever written, while Prince was brought in to create a separate album of songs inspired by the film. The resulting Batman soundtrack became a massive commercial success, spending six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and spawning hits including “Batdance,” “Partyman,” and “Scandalous.” The album was conceived around the Joker and Vicki Vale, with Burton reportedly giving Prince a rough cut of the film to inspire the songs. Elfman’s score and Prince’s album rarely appear together in the film, but both became essential parts of the movie’s identity, making Batman one of the biggest soundtrack phenomena of the 1980s.
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Based on the beloved fantasy novel by Peter S. Beagle, 1982’s The Last Unicorn is a beautiful – and beautifully strange – animated fantasy. The film follows a solitary unicorn (Mia Farrow) who learns that she may be the last of her kind. Setting out to find other surviving unicorns, she encounters bumbling magician Schmendrick (Alan Arkin) and spirited Molly Grue (Tammy Grimes), who join her on a journey that leads to the castle of the sinister King Haggard (Christopher Lee). Featuring iconic storybook animation by Rankin/Bass, The Last Unicorn has endured as a singular cult classic, equally beloved as a cherished family favorite and a genuinely strange piece of 1980s fantasy.
Part of our Unsung 80’s Soundtracks series, The Last Unicorn’s is built around an unlikely collaboration between composer Jimmy Webb and the the harmony-rich folk-rock of America, who perform the film’s songs. Webb wrote the score as well as the songs, including the haunting title track, “The Last Unicorn,” which became one of America’s most enduring songs from the film. America also performs “Now That I’m a Woman,” “In the Sea,” and “That’s All I’ve Got to Say,” while Webb’s orchestral score gives the film much of its wistful, dreamlike quality. A ’70s soft-rock trio scoring an animated medieval fantasy may seem like an unlikely pairing, but somehow, it works perfectly.
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Nosferatu has been The Invincible Czars’ most popular silent film score since it debuted in 2015. The show is ear and eye candy for fans of horror movies from all eras.
Nosferatu is most certainly the most important horror film of the silent era and one of the first vampire movies. Directed by F. W. Murnau and released in 1922, it’s an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel “Dracula.” The film follows Thomas Hutter as he journeys to Transylvania to sell property to the eerie Count Orlok, a vampire played by Max Schreck. Orlok travels to Germany, terrorizing the village of Wisborg and preying on its inhabitants. His obsession with Thomas’ wife, young Ellen Hutter, leads to a climactic showdown as she attempts to thwart his evil plans.
The film is celebrated for its atmospheric cinematography, haunting performances, and enduring influence on the horror genre. Many consider it to be the pinnacle of German Expressionist film and it has been remade by directors Werner Herzog and Robert Eggers. (Count Orlok even shows up in an episode of Spongebob Squarepants!)
About the band: The Invincible Czars have made a name for themselves among horror and classic film lovers in the US and Canada with their original, tastefully modern live soundtracks for silent films which they started creating for the original Alamo Drafthouse in their hometown of Austin, TX in 2007, though they began making their whacky brand of cinematic rock in 2003. They are great at using music and sound to transform century-old movies into immersive and engaging experiences that allow audiences to approach, appreciate, and enjoy the depth and innovation of classic silent film. Czars shows are a lot of fun with opportunities for audience participation and costumery.
Doors open at 8:45pM and the show begins at 9:15PM! Frida Cinema member discounts and comp passes do not apply!
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In 2026, The Invincible Czars are celebrating 100 years of the silent masterpiece Faust by performing their tastefully modern soundtrack live with the movie at theaters in the US and Canada. Their brand new electrifying score marries new and old elements of classical music, bossa nova and even a touch of heavy metal to bring the movie to life for contemporary audiences and incorporates a mix of instruments like flute, violin and electric guitar.
An elderly alchemist named Faust (Gösta Ekman) makes a pact with the demon Mephisto (Emil Jannings) to gain the power to protect his village from plague. Faust soon succumbs to temptation and asks Mephisto to restore his youth and help him acquire all the hedonistic pleasures that earth can offer. Eventually, his love affair with a young woman named Gretchen (Camilla Horn) leads to tragic and devastating consequences for them both.
About the band: The Invincible Czars have made a name for themselves among horror and classic film lovers in the US and Canada with their original, tastefully modern live soundtracks for silent films which they started creating for the original Alamo Drafthouse in their hometown of Austin, TX in 2007, though they began making their whacky brand of cinematic rock in 2003. They are great at using music and sound to transform century-old movies into immersive and engaging experiences that allow audiences to approach, appreciate, and enjoy the depth and innovation of classic silent film. Czars shows are a lot of fun with opportunities for audience participation and costumery.
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This time the terror doesn’t stop at the screen.
The second film in our Sunday Scaries lineup for August is Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, presented by Play It By Fear!
Partially a sequel and partially a satire, New Nightmare follows Heather Langenkamp as a fictionalized version of herself as she discovers that Freddy Krueger has escaped the world of movies and entered our own. What unfolds is one of the smartest and most ambitious horror films of the 1990s about the monsters we create for ourselves.
Only two years after the release of this movie, Craven would make Scream, which is where Hollywood really became obsessed with meta-horror. But New Nightmare is a much more unsettling beast that deserves to be re-discovered on the big screen!
Enhanced Accessibility: this film has closed captioning capability!
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For our final screening in our Broadway Thursdays: Segerstrom Center at The Frida series, we’re dying to bring you the wickedly funny cult classic Death Becomes Her!
Longtime rivals Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp will stop at nothing to outshine one another, until a mysterious potion promises youth and beauty forever. But immortality comes with a few unexpected side effects, and their decades-long feud quickly descends into increasingly outrageous acts of revenge, all while their bewildered plastic surgeon Ernest Menville is caught in the middle.
Years ahead of its time, Death Becomes Her blends razor-sharp satire with groundbreaking visual effects and gloriously camp performances from Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis, and Isabella Rossellini. It’s the kind of deliciously over-the-top crowd-pleaser that only gets better with age.
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Our Broadway Thursdays: Segerstrom Center at The Frida kicks off with the greatest love story ever told…the original 1991 Beauty and the Beast!
When the bright and bookish Belle takes her father’s place as the prisoner of a mysterious Beast, she discovers that the fearsome creature and his enchanted household are hiding a heartbreaking secret. As Belle and the Beast slowly learn to look beyond appearances, an unlikely friendship blossoms into one of Disney’s most enduring love stories.
A landmark in animation storytelling, Beauty and the Beast remains every bit as magical as it was upon its original release. Featuring unforgettable songs by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman and breathtaking hand-drawn animation, it’s a timeless reminder that some fairy tales are simply meant to be experienced together in a movie theater.
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Virgilio Villoresi’s hand-crafted and entrancing take on the myth of Orpheus, Orfeo is our new release pick for Art House Theater Day 2026!
Since he was a child, Orpheus has imagined stories about an abandoned villa across the street from his house. A solitary and visionary pianist, during an evening at the Polypus, the club where he plays, he meets Eura’s gaze. An unconditional love blossoms between them, but she’s concealing a secret. Then she disappears. One evening, Orpheus sees her enter a small door on Via Saterna, in front of the villa. He follows her. Before the threshold, he encounters the Green Man, an enigmatic figure who seems to know the mysteries of that passageway. Once through the door, Orpheus enters a visionary afterlife…
Art House Theater Day (AHTD) is an annual program of AHC that brings audiences together to celebrate all that art house theaters, and independent film, contribute to our cultural landscape: ambitious and innovative art that provokes, challenges, entertains, and inspires.
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