‘Pools’ Begins Theatrical Run After Los Angeles Pool Party Premiere
A youthful crowd gathered on the lawn of a Hollywood Hills mansion on Thursday evening for the L.A. premiere of “Pools,” preceded by a DJ performance and followed by a pool party. The event marks the latest installment in the unique rollout of Sam Hayes‘ feature directorial debut, which hits theaters this weekend.
“Pools” is a coming-of-age dramedy about a group of college students beating a Chicago heat wave by “pool hopping” (i.e., breaking into Lake Forest mansions and using their pools). With a Chicago setting and a special blend of humor and humanity, it dances in the footsteps of John Hughes while meeting a more contemporary Y.A. audience. The film stars Odessa A’zion, Michael Vlamis, Ariel Winter, Tyler Alvarez, Mason Gooding, Francesca Noel and Suzanne Cryer. Much of the cast was in attendance at the Los Angeles premiere, which marks a breaking point in the film’s distribution as it concludes a run of event-style screenings for a forthcoming theatrical release with Utopia’s Circle Collective.
The film premiered at SXSW Sydney in October last year and won the festival’s Audience Award. It then sold out its TIFF Next Wave screening in the spring and had a U.S. premiere at Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival in August, where it won the Best Comedy Feature and Best Actress awards. By this point, “Pools” had partnered with Utopia’s Circle Collective for a limited theatrical distribution on 80 screens across the U.S.. However, between the festival run and the theatrical run that starts Sept. 5, the film has been creating buzz through private screenings paired with parties, drinks, music, and, of course, swimming.
This intermediary run began in Chicago, where the film sold out the Music Box theater ahead of a pool party on Aug. 22. It then headed to New York City, where it played at the Arlo Williamsburg before the L.A. premiere. The film also has a partnership with SoHo House, where it will play at various Houses in different cities. Such intimate screenings and parties will continue in different locations as the film makes its way into conventional theaters.
Hayes, who wrote, directed and produced “Pools,” says that this unique rollout was part of a larger vision for the film stemming from its early festival showings and coming to fruition once he partnered with Utopia. “They were really drawn to our advanced release strategy,” Hayes says, “I had already started formulating and building the package and bringing people on board that could help make this happen, because we really wanted to release in summer and do a series of pool party premieres.”
Utopia’s head of marketing & distribution, Kyle Greenberg, championed Hayes’ vision, noting that they both wanted to make the film “a unique night out” and turn “going to the movies into more than just going to the movies,” making them “events or activations or experiences.” Greenberg specifically reflects on the New York showing, where the Arlo Ballroom allowed them to draw “quite a large crowd, bigger than you can really get in any traditional theater these days.”
These events not only rival theaters for capacity, but their multipurpose nature allows people to mix and mingle around the film. Most importantly for the film’s publicity, though, the events are rife with potential for social media posts. While a traditional theater would discourage the use of phones, “Pools’” events practically invite them, with the high energy and glitz surrounding the screen making for shareable moments. It’s an innovative and astute way to capture a Gen-Z audience and get them invested in an independent film.
The youthful spirit of the “Pools” screening matches the film’s tone, which explores the emotional highs and lows of young adulthood. The main character, A’zion’s Kennedy, is a college student grieving over the loss of her father and flunking out of her summer semester for failing to attend class. A’zion says that when audiences watch Kennedy’s story, she “hopes that they just have fun watching it and maybe connect with their younger, freer selves.”
The sentiment was shared by other cast members at the L.A. premiere. Winter, who plays Kennedy’s reluctant friend Delaney, says, “All the characters in this movie, they’re young people trying to find themselves and figure out where they are in the world and who they are, and that’s something that all of us can relate to at any age.” Likewise, Vlamis, who plays air conditioning repairman Michael and also serves as an executive producer on “Pools,” says he fell in love with Sam’s script because it was “wacky, funny, but also heartfelt,” with a message that says, “If none of this does matter or have any meaning, then let’s make the best of it and give it the most meaning it can have.”
Perhaps Alvarez, who plays uptight prospective med student Blake, sums it up best, saying, “I hope that people take away a sense of ‘fuck it,’ of not taking ourselves so seriously.” Ultimately, that is the meta-modern message young audiences might be craving, and as the credits rolled on the L.A. screening and the crowd jumped into the pool, that sanguine spirit was certainly palpable.
