Hundreds Join Plymouth Theater Hoping To Save Holiday Film Tradition

PLYMOUTH, MI — Hundreds of people gathered Thursday night with the Penn Theatre in downtown Plymouth to protest Paramount Pictures' nationwide moratorium on the 1946 classic film, "It's a Wonderful Life."

Photos posted to social media showed a large crowd hoping to convince the production company to allow the theater to show the Christmas classic, something it has done every holiday season for 15 years.

"To everyone who spread the word or came out to show your support tonight: we cannot thank you enough," the movie theater said in a Facebook post. "The Penn is still here and showing movies because of community support and we hope it will be the reason we can keep this tradition alive!"

The movie theater also said in another Facebook post that it will ask Paramount for an exemption to show the classic film. The production company has given clearance to other movie theaters.

The Penn's showing of the classic film during the holiday season has turned into a community family tradition for some.

"It’s not just about a film coming to the Penn, it’s about the whole experience of the film itself, what it represents to our community and the tradition we have fostered over the years," Friends of the Penn Executive Director Ellen Elliot told Hometown Life.

The classic 1946 film stars Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, who gets a visit from his guardian angel when he contemplates suicide by jumping off a bridge on a cold and snowy Christmas Eve. His guardian angel then shows him what life would be like in his town – Bedford Falls – if he had never been born.