Widescreen: Barbie, Sonic the Hedgehog and Michelle Williams (together at last)
Movie Theater Barbie is almost ready to become Home Video Barbie, even though IMAX Barbie still hasn't hit the shelves.
Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" just passed $1.38 billion at the global box office, and next Tuesday, Sept. 12, it will start raking in the dough on digital retail platforms like Vudu and iTunes - at a premium price.
If you can't wait until Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling come to the streaming platform formerly known as HBO Max later this year, you'll have to pay $29.99 to buy the digital release - or $24.99 just to rent it. A physical release once pegged for October has seemingly been delayed indefinitely, as Amazon now lists the placeholder release date of Dec. 31 for the Blu-ray.
Of course, "Barbie" isn't leaving theaters any time soon. In fact, it's getting an IMAX upgrade on Sept. 22 before Taylor Swift's Oct. 13 concert film swoops in to save the movie industry's fall outlook. The IMAX version of "Barbie" will include new post-credits footage as another incentive to see the movie again. (And again, and again, and again, if you're this writer's domestic partner!)
Enter the Green Hill Zone
Can you whistle the tune from the first level of "Sonic the Hedgehog"? Do you not mind the slow pace of the Marble Zone because the musical vibes are so immaculate? Then the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive, Chicago, has a concert for you.
The "Sonic Symphony" tour comes to the downtown fixture on Saturday, Oct. 28, and will feature music from the blue mascot's entire video game career, which began in 1991 on the Sega Genesis. The show features a full orchestra with a live rock band and keyboardist as gameplay footage plays above on a giant screen.
Tickets are available for $51.25 to $127 at auditoriumtheatre.org, but you can get 15% off until next Friday, Sept. 15, by using the code "SEGA15" at checkout.
AFHS in Downers Grove
"Showing Up," the latest film from minimalist filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Monday by the After Hours Film Society at the Tivoli Theatre, 5021 Highland Ave., Downers Grove. Tickets cost $7 for members and $11 for nonmembers.
The film again teams Reichardt with five-time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams, who also starred in "Wendy and Lucy," "Meek's Cutoff" and "Certain Women." Co-written by the director, "Showing Up" is about an artist juggling her passion, her day job and her family.
Future presentations by the After Hours Film Society include the Oct. 23 screening of "The Unknown Country," a road-trip drama starring Lily Gladstone. She's an actress on the verge of stardom - her role in Martin Scorsese's much-anticipated "Killers of the Flower Moon" alongside Leonardo DiCaprio also hits screens next month.
For details on the After Hours Film Society and its programs, visit afterhoursfilmsociety.com.
• Sean Stangland is an assistant news editor who would be first in line for an "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" concert.