As shown in the 2009 Zach Synder film
New Utopia, formerly known as Utopia, is a cinema in New York City which mostly features old movies. It is located on the southwest corner of fortieth and seventh, about one block north from Madison Square Garden, across from what used to be the Institute for Extraspatial Studies and the Gunga Diner.
History[]
On October 19, 1985, Utopia showed This Island Earth.[1] On October 21, the cinema showed Things to Come; that night, a youth (probably Knot Tops) who was on KT-28s was outside shouting about Richard Nixon and bombs and was arrested by the police.[2] On October 27, it showed The Day the Earth Stood Still, a movie about an alien from space who warns humans about an upcoming nuclear war.[3] It was still showing the night of November 2, 1985, when it was destroyed Veidt's "alien" squid monster and all patrons were killed.[4]
Following the massacre in New York City, Utopia was renamed New Utopia. The first movies it showed was Andrei Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice, and Nostalghia.[4]
Trivia[]
- Utopia seems to play old sci-fi and apocalyptic films that are relevant to the culmination of the events of Watchmen, and Veidt's plot.
- In This Island Earth (1955), aliens pretend to seek help from human scientists in saving their planet, Metaluna, but secretly plot to invade Earth.
- Things to Come (1936) explores a society in which the threat of war accelerates technological progress.
- The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) features an extraterrestrial named Klaatu trying to warn Earth about nuclear war but ends up being hunted down by U.S. government forces fearful of alien invaders. It is the film played during the 11/2 massacre.
- New Utopia plays two films by Soviet-expatriate Andrei Tarkovsky, suggestive of the new relations between USA and the USSR:
- The Sacrifice, a Swedish film about someone's attempts to avert an upcoming holocaust.
- Nostalghia, a film about a trip to Italy,
The appearance of the films can either be symbolic, going parallel to the plot of Watchmen (like Marooned was symbolic of Veidt's morality) and show the sense of apocalyptic foreboding permeating the society.
However, it can be suggested that that the theater, possibly owned by Veidt Enterprises, participated to Adrian Veidt's plans: the films were likely used to subconsciously prepare the people for the fabricated alien monster and a danger from space. The Sacrifice seems quite relevant to Veidt's effort; Nostalghia is not relevant to the plot (concerns a trip to Italy) but shares the name with the famous perfume.