No Birthday Movie? Where’s the Missoula Love for Betty White?

Last week was a tough one for icons. We lost John Madden and Betty White within days of each other in the time between Christmas and New Year's Day. If you're active on social media you've undoubtedly seen news stories, videos of their work, and tributes from celebrities flooding your pages as you scroll through your feed. Both were larger-than-life characters that were beloved by the public.

It's funny how things work

It's kind of interesting that both Madden and White had big projects focused on them right around the time of their deaths. FOX aired a big documentary about John Madden on Christmas and he passed just days later on December 28th at age 85. For Betty White, news came out a week or so before Christmas that a film would hit theaters on her birthday, January 17th, to celebrate her turning 100.

Betty White: A Celebration will still be shown in theaters

It was originally titled Betty White: 100 Years Young and many wondered if it would still happen after her passing. The good news is that the film will still play on January 17th at a collection of theaters around the country. It's now titled Betty White: A Celebration and fans will get to see some of the biggest names in Hollywood pay tribute to Betty including Carol Burnett, Morgan Freeman, Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Ryan Reynolds, Tina Fey, and more. But here's the bummer news for anyone in Missoula.....it isn't scheduled to show anywhere locally!

We will go forward with our plans to show the film on January 17 in hopes our film will provide a way for all who loved her to celebrate her life—and experience what made her such a national treasure. -Fathom Events website-

Oh man, what's the deal?

Where's the Missoula love for one of America's greatest treasures? A check of theaters shows that Helena, Kalispell, Bozeman, and Billings are on the list of cities in Montana that are scheduled to be showing the film. It's also showing in Spokane, WA, and Coeur d'Alene, ID. So basically it's playing in places from Eastern Washington to Eastern Montana and the only major spot missing is Missoula!

Get our free mobile app

Can we fix this?

Well, that's a bummer. I'm not sure what goes into getting a one-night-only movie like this played in local theaters but maybe Missoula will get added to the list before January 17th rolls around. It seems like there should be some emergency plan that the mayor could put into motion in trying times such as these!