Sundance Is Retooling Boulder's Theaters. Which Upgrades Stay After January?

eTown Hall on Spruce Street had a round stained-glass window directly behind its projection booth. For the projector to work, the window was removed and rebuilt with optical glass at its center, so the beam now passes through the middle of the old design, eTown's Chris Coomey told the Daily Camera. Behind the new perforated screen, Sundance is adding full Dolby Atmos to eTown's existing sound system, with 40 new speakers and six amplifiers.

That window is the clearest sign of something bigger happening around town this fall. The Sundance Film Festival runs January 21 through 31 here, and the tickets, transit plans and headquarters move have gotten most of the coverage. For people who live in Boulder, the change that lasts longer is happening inside rooms we already know. Some of those changes are confirmed to stay. Others haven't been publicly addressed either way.

Most of These Rooms Were Built for Something Else

The Daily Camera reported in September that only three of the 11 primary screening venues on the festival map regularly show films. The rest were built for concerts, lectures, theater and school assemblies. To get them ready, organizers and local partners are replacing seats that date to the 1980s, hanging dozens of surround speakers and, at eTown, rebuilding a window.

Holden Payne, Sundance's director of technical exhibition, called the work "an opportunity for technical evolution, with targeted upgrades" that will leave several local spaces with long-term improvements, according to the Daily Camera.

The Biggest Permanent Change Sits at the Foot of the Flatirons

Chautauqua Auditorium was built in 1898. It is an all-wooden, open-air National Historic Landmark and has mostly served as a warm-weather venue. The Colorado Chautauqua Association began a project to make it a year-round space before Sundance named it a venue. The plan adds insulation, radiant floors powered by a geothermal system, and insulated wall panels that come down in the warmer months.

Most venues on the festival map are borrowing upgrades. Chautauqua is changing what the building is for. The association says the work will add more than 200 potential programming days a year. In September, COO Jason Hill told the Daily Camera the project was on schedule. Between then and mid-December, crews were set to finish the basement and interior work and begin the geothermal bore field, with final inspections and commissioning expected by mid-December.

The first winter show in the Auditorium will be a Sundance screening. Chautauqua's September committee notes say staff were starting to lock in Auditorium contracts and bookings for January and February 2027. No winter acts have been announced yet. Watch for that lineup if you've only ever sat in that room in shorts.

CU's Rooms Are Being Built to Outlast the Festival

CU Boulder has been the most direct about permanence. When the campus work was announced in April, Senior Vice Chancellor Todd Haggerty described it as "a strategic investment in facility upgrades to provide needed improvements to highly used campus venues," aimed at CU Presents and other events as well as Sundance.

The details back that up. Macky, completed in 1922 and CU's largest indoor concert hall, is getting a sound system that can switch between Dolby Atmos for film and enhanced sound for concerts. Some of its acoustic panels are removable. At Roe Green Theatre, the 1980s seats are being replaced with new theater seats that have drink holders, and a ramp to the stage is part of the work.

Muenzinger is the one you can try right now. Before the work, films there were shown on a curved wall coated in screen paint, and speakers were wheeled in for each showing. Now it has wall-mounted speaker arrays and a new screen with room for speakers behind it. The 400-seat room has been home to the International Film Series since 1941, and the series draws more than 3,000 students and community members to about 60 films each semester. The upgraded screen and sound are already in use.

Downtown's Upgrades Are Real, but Nobody Has Said What Happens in February

The downtown venues are getting work just as substantial. None of them has said publicly whether the festival equipment stays after January.

The Boulder Theater opened as a movie house in 1936 before it became better known for concerts. Cheryl Liguori, CEO of operator Z2 Entertainment, told Sundance in a July profile that the theater is getting "new cinema sound and a new screen," as the Daily Camera reported. "Film is in our DNA because it was a film house," she said.

At the Dairy Arts Center, the Boedecker is getting a new screen with smaller perforations, which executive director Melissa Fathman told the Daily Camera means a sharper picture. Next door, the Gordon Gamm Theater normally hosts live theater and dance. It is getting a projector on a trolley that can be rolled aside for performances, plus new speakers, acoustic panels on the wall it shares with the Grace Gamm Theater, and replacements for seats that are about 20 years old. The Dairy will also be the main home of New Frontier, Sundance's experimental program. Fathman told the Daily Camera her team is "figuring out how to quickly serve popcorn and drinks to 15,000 people." In a Sundance profile of the Dairy, she said she hopes the festival helps establish the center as a year-round home for independent cinema.

The festival's own headquarters will be downtown too. The Sundance Institute announced on October 15 that it will work out of The Rink at 1722 14th Street, on the same street as the Boulder Theater, Boulder Reporting Lab reported.

Also on Twenty Ninth Street, Cinemark Century Boulder has replaced its own screens and projectors. Sundance is using it only for press and industry screenings, but those improvements carry over to the multiplex's regular audiences.

Where to Try the Rooms Before the Crowds Arrive

Most of these rooms are open to the public before January, at local prices.

1. International Film Series at Muenzinger. Coming up are Castle in the Sky on November 2, Hot Fuzz on November 5 and Night of the Lepus on December 4. Admission is $10, or $8 for CU students and seniors. A 10-film punch card costs $65, and bringing your bike helmet takes $1 off.
2. The Boedecker at the Dairy. The Dairy describes it as a year-round arthouse cinema with films Wednesday through Sunday. Recent listings ran $7 to $14.
3. Chautauqua's holiday stretch. LAPOMPE: A Very Django Holiday Show is December 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Community House, $31.75 or $28.75 for members. The Jeff & Paige Nature and Holiday Kids' Concert and tree lighting follows on December 11 at 4 p.m., $39.75 or $36.75 for members. Winterfest runs December 12 with a holiday market and Community House concerts. These events are in the Community House, not the Auditorium, but they put you on the grounds while the Auditorium is being commissioned.
4. eTown Hall. A screening and panel on "Art Not As Usual," a film about the Artnauts Collective, is set for December 13 from 6 to 9 p.m.
5. After Sundance leaves. The Boulder International Film Festival has announced April 8 through 11, 2027, for its next edition.

If You Plan to Go in January

Passes went on sale October 15. Single tickets for the general public go on sale January 8, 2027, at 10 a.m. Mountain time, and a standard single-film ticket costs $37. Discounted $15 Ignite tickets are for ages 18 to 25 and enrolled students of any age, and registration opens December 8. The Daily Camera's ticket guide found no pass reserved for Boulder or Colorado residents. It also reported that most Offscreen talks are free, with seats on a first-come basis.

Getting around will be the other adjustment. RTD announced on October 22 that BOLT, JUMP and SKIP will be free January 21 through 31. A temporary Route CHAT will run to Chautauqua every 10 minutes from 8 a.m. to midnight, and the Flatiron Flyer will run until 2 a.m. The city also plans free service on the HOP circulator and up to 5,000 free shared e-bike passes, according to the Daily Camera. The City of Boulder recommends parking once and then walking, biking or taking transit, because most venues have no parking of their own. Visit Boulder estimates more than 3,300 free spaces at Twenty Ninth Street and more than 2,600 in downtown city garages and on-street spots. The city says more detail on service, festival routes and parking will come in the next few months.

If you're wondering how Boulder's new venues might shape your plans for a home near downtown, Chautauqua or the Hill, I'm glad to talk it through. Kelly Mauro offers personalized consultations and home valuations, and I'm happy to share what I'm seeing around these blocks as the festival gets closer.