Premier Pop C Pop Culture News – Movies, Comics, Television, Books, Toys, Games, and More 
Film fans can take a yearlong journey through Hollywood history in 2019 when Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) come together for the fourth annual “TCM Big Screen Classics,” presenting 14 film favorites throughout the year, spanning seven decades.
From the Golden Age of Hollywood to groundbreaking movies from the seventies, eighties and nineties, the “TCM Big Screen Classics” series combines each film with little-known facts and insight provided by TCM Primetime Host Ben Mankiewicz. In addition, every film is presented in its original aspect ratio, offering audiences the chance to see these movies on the big screen just as they were originally enjoyed.
The lineup for the 2019 “TCM Big Screen Classics” includes:
- The Wizard of Oz – 1/27, 29 & 30
- My Fair Lady – 2/17 & 20
- To Kill a Mockingbird – 3/24 & 27
- Ben-Hur – 4/14 & 17
- True Grit – 5/5 & 8
- Steel Magnolias – 5/19, 21 & 22
- Field of Dreams – 6/16 & 18
- Glory – 7/21 & 24
- Hello, Dolly! – 8/11 & 14
- Lawrence of Arabia – 9/1 & 4
- The Shawshank Redemption –9/22, 24 & 25
- Alien – 10/13, 15 & 16
- The Godfather Part II – 11/10, 12 & 13
- When Harry Met Sally – 12/1 & 3
“Every year, more and more film fans have flocked to the TCM Big Screen Classics series, proving the lasting appeal of these movies and the thrill of seeing them in a movie theater,” said Fathom Events Vice President of Studio Relations Tom Lucas. “From spectacular musicals and grand Westerns to epic adventures, we are tremendously proud of this year’s lineup and our continuing partnership with TCM.”
“This series brings film lovers of all ages together to experience the magic of the movies on the big screen and allows TCM to be the ultimate gathering point for fans of classic cinema,” said Genevieve McGillicuddy, Vice President of Enterprises and Strategic Partnerships, TCM. “Through our relationship with Fathom Events and each of our studio partners, we are able to continue our mission to share and celebrate the entire spectrum of film history with audiences everywhere.”
Tickets for all films in the 2019 “TCM Big Screen Classics“series can be purchased beginning Friday, December 7 online by visiting www.FathomEvents.com, or at participating theater box offices. A complete list of theater locations will be available December 7 on the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).
A detailed schedule for the 2019 “TCM Big Screen Classics” series includes:
The Wizard of Oz (1939) – 80th Anniversary from Warner Bros.
Sunday, January 27 – 2:00 and 5:00 p.m. local time
Tuesday, January 29 – 7:00 p.m. local time
Wednesday, January 30 – 7:00 p.m. local time
Journey over the rainbow and down the yellow brick road with Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion … and Toto, too. One of the crowning achievements of classic Hollywood, The Wizard of Oz stands apart from almost any other movie for its black-and-white-to-color cinematography, its standout songs by Harold Arlen and E.Y. “Yip” Harburg (who won an Oscar® for “Over the Rainbow”), and for its perfect cast: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Charlie Grapewin, Clara Blandick and “The Munchkins.”
My Fair Lady (1964) – 55th Anniversary from CBS
Sunday, February 17 – 1:00 and 5:00 p.m. local time
Wednesday, February 20 – 3:00 and 7:00 p.m. local time
Audrey Hepburn is willful, self-aware and ultimately self-reliant Eliza Doolittle and Rex Harrison is Professor Henry Higgins in this splendid widescreen adaptation of the smash Broadway musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. My Fair Lady won the Academy Award® as Best Picture of 1964 and seven additional Oscars®, including Best Director (George Cukor), Best Actor (Harrison), and Best Art Direction. Based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, My Fair Lady still dazzles thanks to indelible performances, gorgeous cinematography, and songs like “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “The Rain in Spain,” “On the Street Where You Live” and “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.”
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) from Universal Pictures
Sunday, March 24 – 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. local time
Wednesday, March 27 – 12:00 and 7:00 p.m. local time
Based on Harper Lee‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the spare and eloquent To Kill a Mockingbird captures a time, place and mood with astonishing precision. Its Oscar®-winning screenplay by Horton Foote and direction by Robert Mulligan led to enormous critical acclaim, and the luminous central performance by Gregory Peck led not only to the Academy Award® for Best Actor, but to Atticus Finch being named the single greatest hero of all time in the American Film Institute’s “100 Heroes & Villains” poll. To Kill a Mockingbird also launched the career of Robert Duvall, who plays “Boo” Radley in this evocative, nostalgic look at American ideals through the eyes of a child.
Ben-Hur (1959) – 60th Anniversaryfrom Warner Bros.
Sunday, April 14 – 1:00 and 6:00 p.m. local time
Wednesday, April 17 – 1:00 and 6:00 p.m. local time
A monumental epic, Ben-Hur is very rarely experienced in the way it was intended, as a massive feat of motion-picture craftsmanship. The production encompassed 300 sets, nine sound stages, an eight-month production and thousands of actors, including more than 365 speaking parts. More than 1.1 million feet of film were shot, and the result was an unrivaled spectacle from director William Wyler. Starring Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet and Stephen Boyd, Ben-Hur went on to become a film legend, with a box-office gross that would equal nearly $1 billion in today’s dollars, in addition to 11 Academy Awards® — a record-breaking feat no film would match for nearly 40 years.
True Grit (1969) – 50th Anniversaryfrom Paramount Pictures
Sunday, May 5 – 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. local time
Wednesday, May 8 – 12:00 and 7:00 p.m. local time
The towering and eminently entertaining Western True Grit celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2019. Called “a masterpiece” and “one of the most delightful, joyous, scary movies of all time” by Roger Ebert, the film stars Hollywood legend John Wayne as the unforgettable U.S. Marshal Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn, a role that won him the Academy Award® for Best Actor in a Leading Role and his only Oscar® after 40 years on the big screen. Directed by Henry Hathaway, True Grit pays homage not only to the great Westerns that came before it, but also to Wayne’s larger-than-life film presence.
Steel Magnolias (1989) – 30th Anniversary from Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sunday, May 19 – 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. local time
Tuesday, May 21 – 7:00 p.m. local time
Wednesday, May 22 – 7:00 p.m. local time
Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts star in this gem of a comedy that was not only a box-office hit, but helped rocket Roberts into the stratosphere of Hollywood super-stardom in just her third major role – for which she received her first Oscar® nomination. She plays one of the residents of a fictional Louisiana town, based on Natchitoches, the hometown of screenwriter Robert Harling who wrote the play on which the film is based. Directed by Herbert Ross and produced by Ray Stark, Steel Magnolias generates laughter and tears in equal amounts, celebrating the strength and bonds of unforgettable women who unite in the face of tragedy to provide unconditional love and support.
Field of Dreams (1989) – 30th Anniversary from Universal Pictures
Sunday, June 16 – 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. local time
Tuesday, June 18 – 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. local time
“If you build it, he will come,” a disembodied voice whispers to farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) in this classic film fantasy. The meaning is unclear, and his wife (Amy Madigan) has doubts; but the words push Ray to make an extraordinary gamble before leading him on a journey that connects him with three unlikely allies: reclusive author Terence Mann (James Earl Jones), baseball player Archibald “Moonlight” Graham (Burt Lancaster, in his penultimate role) and notorious “Shoeless” Joe Jackson(Ray Liotta). Director Phil Alden Robinson‘s film has become synonymous not only with baseball, but with the power of unwavering belief and long-sought forgiveness.
Glory (1989) – 30th Anniversary from Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sunday, July 21 – 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. local time
Wednesday, July 24 – 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. local time
Denzel Washington received his first Academy Award® — a Best Supporting Actor Oscar® — for his performance as Pvt. Trip, the intense and passionate former slave who is part of the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first Union regiment of all-black soldiers. By law, the troops could be led only by a white man, and Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick) assumes command. Also starring Cary Elwes and Morgan Freeman, the spectacular heroism of the soldiers in the regiment is vividly captured by director Edward Zwick, from a screenplay by Kevin Jarre, and three decades after its release, Glory remains one of the most intelligent and gripping movies ever made about the American Civil War.
Hello, Dolly! (1969) – 50th Anniversary from Twentieth Century Fox
Sunday, August 11 – 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. local time
Wednesday, August 14 – 12:00 and 7:00 p.m. local time
After 50 years, it’s so nice to have Hello, Dolly! back where she belongs: on the big screen, in this spare-no-expense adaptation of the Broadway sensation. Barbra Streisand stars as matchmaker Dolly Levi as she attempts to find a wife for “half-a-millionaire” Horace Vandergelder (Walter Matthau). Director Gene Kelly transforms Hello, Dolly! from a Broadway comedy to a lavish motion picture that also stars Michael Crawford as Cornelius Hackl and features an appearance by music icon Louis Armstrong. Hello, Dolly! has found recent fame as the favorite movie of Wall-E in the Disney-Pixar film; now fans of all ages can enjoy it in all of its big-screen splendor.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) from Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sunday, September 1 – 1:00 and 6:00 p.m. local time
Wednesday, September 4 – 1:00 and 6:00 p.m. local time
At once sophisticated and adventurous, literary and epic, and always strikingly visual, Lawrence of Arabia is a majestic accomplishment. It’s truly a film made to be seen on the big screen, with breathtaking cinematography by Freddie Young, set to a lush and inspiring musical score by Maurice Jarre. Peter O’Toole stars as T.E. Lawrence, the British soldier who unites the Arabic Empire to fight against the Turks. Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn and Omar Sharif co-star – and yet it’s the vast, unforgiving expanse of the desert that steals the show, with its impossible landscapes and mysterious beauty. Lawrence of Arabia won seven Academy Awards®, including Best Picture and Best Director with screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson, produced by Sam Spiegel and directed by David Lean.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) – 25th Anniversary from Warner Bros.
Sunday, September 22 – 4:00 and 7:00 pm. local time
Tuesday, September 24 – 7:00 p.m. local time
Wednesday, September 25 – 7:00 p.m. local time
Based on a short story by Stephen King, The Shawshank Redemption was well-received when it was released in 1994, but perhaps no one could have anticipated that the movie would become so beloved that it remains at the top of IMDB’s user-generated list of most popular movies ever made. Tim Robbins stars as Andy Dufresne, a banker sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the murder of his wife, and Morgan Freeman plays prisoner Ellis “Red” Redding in the seven-time Oscar®-nominated film written and directed by Frank Darabont. Added in 2015 to the Library of Congress National Film Registry, it’s a movie with a rare power to move and inspire audiences.
Alien (1979) – 40th Anniversary from Twentieth Century Fox
Sunday, October 13 – 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. local time
Tuesday, October 15 – 7:00 p.m. local time
Wednesday, October 16 – 7:00 p.m. local time
In space, no one can hear you scream, but in the summer of 1979, everyone could hear audiences screaming as they experienced the terror of director Ridley Scott‘s science-fiction/horror masterpiece. Working from a screenplay by Dan O’Bannon and a story by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett, Alienis a film dripping in dread. Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto are the crew members of the Nostromo, which investigates a mysterious signal coming from an unknown planet. When they unwittingly take an alien creature aboard the ship, they have no idea just how terrifying – and deadly – the ordeal will be.
The Godfather Part II (1974) – 45th Anniversaryfrom Paramount Pictures
Sunday, November 10 – 3:00 and 7:00 p.m. local time
Tuesday, November 12 – 7:00 p.m. local time
Wednesday, November 13 – 7:00 p.m. local time
Director Francis Ford Coppola‘s brilliant follow up to The Godfather continues the saga of two generations of successive power within the Corleone family. Coppola tells two stories in Part II: the roots and rise of a young Don Vito, played with uncanny ability by Robert De Niro, and the ascension of Michael (Al Pacino) as the new Don. A movie of staggering magnitude and vision, The Godfather Part II received six Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, and is widely considered the best sequel ever made.
When Harry Met Sally… (1989) – 30th Anniversaryfrom Warner Bros.
Sunday, December 1 – 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. local time
Tuesday December 3 – 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. local time
There are rom-coms… and then there’s When Harry Met Sally…. Though it was hardly the first film that brought together romantic opposites and let the sparks fly, director Rob Reiner‘s charming comedy is something special. That’s in part because of the brilliant screenplay by Nora Ephron – but it’s also because of the winning chemistry between lead performers Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, who become best friends when they drive from New York to Chicago and Harry claims that women and men can never be “just friends.” Over the years, Harry and Sally keep running into each other and claiming they are just friends… until a climactic New Year’s Eve party, which brings both the film and the 2019 TCM Big Screen Classics series to a memorable close.
