BELFAST—The new Wonder Woman movie out this summer has taken on a life of its own with a cross-country trend of theaters screening it for one night to a female-only audience, something both applauded and criticized, but Mike Hurley, co-owner of Colonial Theatre in Belfast, doesn’t care about the critics.

 “Well first off, I am kind of sick of superhero movies,” he said. “But it was really startling to see this all-female cast at the beginning of the movie. It was just really refreshing to see female characters get a fair shake instead of it always being about men.”

Hurley and his wife and co-owner of the theatre, Therese Bagnardi, decided to hold a women-only screening and on Thursday, June 8, the theater was packed. The show sold out with more than 150 showing up, many in costume.

Previous to the show, Hurley said he got a lot of flak from men and even some women on social media about just limiting the show one night for women. “You know what I really realize about that?” he asked. “We live in the age of bitching. I don’t care if you showed up with a truckload of gold and a cure for AIDS; people would bitch about it. I’m sick of it. To me, this was a fun thing, no harm, no foul and it was wonderful. The show drew all ages from little girls to elderly women and it was a blast. You know, if there was a movie that appealed in the same way strictly to men, I’d do the same thing for them.”

Belfast resident Nicolle Littrell, an educator, filmmaker, activist, feminist and mother prepared some remarks as an introduction to the show about her first impression of the movie and read it in front of the Colonial Theatre audience that night. Here is an excerpt.

“OK, so I saw the film on opening night last Friday (of course) and I cried. Multiple times...throughout the film. I was surprised by my tears...and felt almost embarrassed by them. Why? Well, for one thing, it seems pretty silly to cry during a superhero movie. Never happened before. And I’ve seen many of them...pretty much every single one there is. Like 10 times each. I’m a bit of a supergeek when it comes to superheroes. I am raising a son that is obsessed with them and I teach a class on Wonder Woman in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program at U Maine. Plus, Wonder Woman and I go way back...1977 to be exact. Why the tears? Really, its pretty simple. Because this wasn’t a superhero movie, per say, but a superheroine movie or ‘sheroe’ movie as some of us feminists like say. The first one ever. Holy Hera...that feels pretty significant. History has been made. Its about friggin’ time! It may not be the kind of history-making some of us were hoping to see, but Wonder Woman made it to the big screen! Why else did I cry? As a woman and a feminist, seeing powerful--albeit gorgeous, very tall, very fit (however mostly white) women--self-determine their lives and let’s face it, kick major masculine ass is really quite satisfying. I think its speaks to a feeling of powerlessness that many of us are struggling with right now...especially in the current political climate. To say that this story captures a fantasy many of us are engaging in at the moment...is a bit of an understatement.”

Hurley said the film will run until June 15. To see more information about it visit: Colonial Theatre

All photos courtesy Mike Hurley

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com