“Will people schlep to a movie theater to see the Metropolitan Opera? That was a question we had internally six years ago,” says Maxwell, , executive vice president for NCM Fathom Events. Maxwell long ago stopped asking those questions.

Fathom’s entertainment lineup, including the Bolshoi Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, draws a sizable audience when beamed into theaters nationwide.

“People dress up … it’s a date night for them,” Maxwell says of how patrons treat the company’s programming lineup.

Fathom doesn’t just offer the finer arts. The Colo-based company beams rock concerts, classic movies and sporting events into more than 600 theaters nationwide. The cultural slate dispels the notion that consumers only care about the Kardashian, movie sequels and Lady Gaga.

The folks at Fathom are proving there’s an appetite for more than just popular culture.

One reason why is that Fathom packages the events in ways even front-row ticket holders cannot enjoy. Cameras go beyond the stage to capture how each program comes to pass.

”Things happen with these arts programs you don’t get to see if you’re in the auditorium when it’s happening,” says Maxwell, whose company beams content is seen in roughly 140 markets large and small.

Tomorrow, Fathom will bring the New York City Ballet’s live performance of George Balanchine’s “The Nutracker” into theaters. The Dec. 13 event, hosted by Kelly Ripa, will be broadcast live to more than 550 theaters nationally at 6 p.m. EST, 5 p.m. CT and 7:30 p.m. MT (the latter will be seen via tape delay).

Ripa will take audiences backstage for a behind-the-scenes look at the production including interviews with the company’s principal dancers.

Last month, Fathom and Emerging Pictures presented “The Sleeping Beauty” and “Esmeralda” from Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet. Other Fathom cultural programs have included “The Phantom of the Opera’s” 25^th anniversary event from London’s Royal Albert Hall and “Giselle in 3D,” the first 3D ballet presentation.

The 3-D part of the equation remains a question mark as far as consumer interest, and not all Fathom Events can match the success of The Met: Live in HD series. But Fathom executives say some cultural programs need time to build an audience, and the company tries to be patient with new shows.

“They all follow similar trajectory,” says Dan Diamond, senior vice president of Fathom. “No matter what the event is, the next type in a similar character we see the numbers grow.”

”Some programs have slower starts than others,” adds Maxwell. “Awareness is key. Research tells us those who know about us and go, the response is off the charts.”

Yes, symphonies and ballets across the country are struggling to survive, but there’s clearly an audience for Fathom’s brand of the arts. And Fathom executives insist their cultural events actually boost interest in local arts.

“One of the questions early on from the Metropolitan Opera Company was, ‘will this dilute our efforts to bring people to our opera and other opera houses across the country?” Maxwell says. What Fathom found is that it did the opposite – and the company tries to help that even further by reaching out to local community symphonies to work with them and help build a cultural awareness.

“Like a great movie or a great experience at a restaurant, you tell your friends about it. That’s what’s happening here,” Diamond says.

And at a time when arts programming is being sliced from school budgets, the Fathom Events lineup is trying to emphasize the “culture” in “pop culture.”

“These are the kinds of programs that re-engage the community with the arts in general,” Diamond says.

Not to go an analogy too far, but Sarah Palin seems to be taking a page from the Hollywood playbook of George Lucas.  She has just completed her own introductory trilogy, and it was an astonishing success.  

First, she was a fantastically successful conservative governor lurking beneath the mainstream media’s radar.  Next, she was a vice-presidential candidate who, even though she lost, still did more to electrify the base than the headliner.  Third, she has now drawn the curtain on her post-election career as a sitting governor, a period that saw her deftly turn the tables on mainstream haters like David Letterman.   Like “Star Wars,” she’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but her fans are rabid and chomping at the bit for the next installments.  And as to these future installments, the question is whether the next step is going to be “The Phantom Menace” or something that doesn’t suck.

I’m betting on “A New Hope.”  Sarah Palin has taken every hit the left and its smug media lackies can dish out – from bogus ethics claims designed to bankrupt her to attacks on her kids.  Some of the haters seem to think they drove her from office, and are congratulating themselves that they have somehow driven her off the stage forever.  Not quite. 

Again, a “Star Wars” analogy:  Remember when Darth Vader faced off with Obi-Wan Kenobi?  “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine?”  She’s now immune from bogus legal claims and her book will not only raise her profile but set up her family financially for life.  Now Sarah is unbound, freed from the need to be up in Juneau and able to network, fundraise and even (maybe) campaign without limitation.  And the modern media environment will let her do these things without even a nod to the mainstream media (Do you think Katie Couric will ever get to ask Sarah another question?  Ha!) 

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Lefties, if you were responsible for her doing this, you just unleashed your strongest opponent and made her immune from your strongest attacks all at once. Ouch. It must hurt to know a woman you pride yourself on seeing as a drooling Neanderthal nitwit so thoroughly out-maneuvered you. You do see it, right?

There’s plenty of talk out there about her somehow being a “quitter” for only serving as governor for three years, as if resigning as the Chief Executive of Alaska was like cutting to the head of the women and children’s lifeboat line on the Titanic.  Personally, I was unaware of the urgent moral imperative of serving out one’s full term as governor but, if it makes the lefties feel better, when she’s elected president I’m pretty confident she’ll serve a full term.   Maybe even two.