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A couple that I can think of.....

#1: I recall being in a full theater for Thor: Ragnarok and being the only family in my rural town laughing during the movie. Everyone else was dead silent.

#2: Going to see some flick, at the beginning there is a preview of a huge wave of water moving towards a man fishing on the dock. I yelled, "Look, look! it is Godzilla!" and it turns out it was Godzilla! A preview for the Emmerich one.

#3 Seeing the re-release of the Special Edition of Star Wars with my friends. We were the only ones in the theater and it was amazing. I had never seen it on the big screen before.

#4 Watching the first Avenger's Movie, and Thor hits Captain America's shield. The 12 year old in front of me gave an audible "Woah!" and I felt exactly the way he felt!

#6 My wife had a job clicking how many people actually went to see a movie to compare against ticket sales for some Secret Shopping thing. She had to see the Seth Green "Without a Paddle" movie 5 times in a row. She said at first it was dumb, but by the 5th time it was the funniest movie she had seen in her life..... because she had lost her mind!

#7 Seeing A Perfect Storm at the Drive-in during a terrible thunderstorm!

Reminds me of some of memorable movie moments:

- During the climax of Mimic, a woman near the side, who might have been high, started FREAKING OUT. Turned out a cockroach fell on her from the wall. The whole theater went nuts.

- Remember that James Bond movie that ends with the “Christmas only comes once a year” joke? It caused a visible wave through the crowd, from the screen backwards, row after row of people pun-flinching and groaning. It was a tidal wave of “ughhh”.

- I saw Species 2 in a theater just outside Oakland. About halfway through, the already boisterous crowd turned ugly. (There were some racial dynamics at play.) It was scary.

- Cats. For the first fifteen minutes, it was awkward and uncomfortable. Then we started laughing. And soon everyone was laughing. The people in the back started singing along to the songs. By Judy Dench’s final monologue we were doubled up, laughing uncontrollably. For hours after the movie, it felt like...you know when you get caught laughing in class, so you try to stop, but then someone chortles a bit, and you just lose it? Like that.

She Who Must Be Obeyed and I go to one theater. Its a dinner and a movie place with a full on bar, barco lounger seats and reserved seats. We go to the bar for thirty minutes, then get our seats and order our food. Love it.

My wife got us a one year cinema pass for Christmas this year, fortunately we hadn't actually registered it before Coronavirus kicked in... Very much looking forward to being able to go back.

Eons ago, a young fresh and keen Reavsie was working up in the "big smoke" in his first job after leaving school. Occasionally he would go see a movie at the Odeon in Leicester Square. It was a short tube journey from work to Tottenham Court Road and then walk to the Odeon.

Conan the Barbarian was great on the big screen and so was An American Werewolf in London. Unfortunately, the tube scene takes place at Tottenham Court Road - I went a different way to get home.

Great. Now I have a real need to see Conan the Barbarian chasing some guy through the Tottenham Court Toad tube station.

Theaters used to be something special. They were almost like old fashioned operas and playhouses that were done in style, artistically.

They used to be places where a movie could have special gimmicks, for which William B. Castle was famous.

Modern theaters are just so industrial, so commercial. No art or style, just big rooms to herd people into, get their money, and herd them out of. Totally commercialized, no soul at all.

Have any of you even seen a real old fashioned theater done with art and style? I

In the series 'criminal minds' there's an ep called 'route 66' where a guy is having a near death experience and it was filmed in an old style theater. You've have to see it to believe it.

Modern commercialism as sucked the soul out of theaters.

I guess, if you're looking at the 1940s or something as a baseline. I grew up in the 70s, and most theaters then were metal boxes with uncomfortable seats, bad sound, and zero ambiance. The multiplexes of today are FAR nicer on every level.

And it's easy to wax nostalgic about old theaters until you have the moviegoing experience of some guy with a huge head blocking your view and yammering right in front of you. Stadium seating FTW.

There's a fairly swishy place in Brighton in the UK or was mid-90s approx

My favourite is still the run down flea-pit in the not so nice next town over, like the rest of the town its got this whole faded Victorian / early 20th century glory vibe but the chap that ran it was a proper film buff getting all sorts of weird / cult movies for 1-2 days

Are we including Drive-In's in this or considering that separately?

For me, I love movie theaters.

When I was a kid, I was pretty poor, so I rarely got to go to the movies. Once in a while the local theater would leave one of the emergency exit doors slightly ajar, and my friends and I could sneak in. I saw Batman, Juice, Robocop, and a few others like that. Once I went with my dad and my sister to see Predator 2. All good movies.

Then when I was a teenager, we were doing a little better - we moved to Yonkers. I still could pretty much never go to the theater due to the vagaries of public transportation - despite living only about 20 minutes from the theater, the bus lines ran in a weird parallel, so I would have to go up to White Plains (45 minutes) and back down to Yonkers again (45 minutes) just to get to the theater. This didn't happen to often, although sometimes I'd go with a friend when his parents felt like driving us. Those were always great times.

Finally, in my early 20s, I moved to Iowa. There is literally no public transportation anywhere near where I live, so I learned to drive and got my license, and that is where I started being able to go to the movies whenever I wanted to. And when did I want to? All time time. Pretty much since then I've gone to the movies at least once a month, and sometimes much more, as often as 4 times a month if there were a lot of really good movies out.

Now I am making good money, and have a nice 65" TV being driven by a server upstairs with 70 terabytes of movies and TV shows. I can watch whatever I want, whenever really. I still love going to the movies. It's just... it's just a magical escape for me. If there is a twist in the movie, I rarely see it coming just because I get so engrossed in it. Even if it's a bad movie - and I watch a lot of bad movies! I still always enjoy the experience, hoovering up a bucket of popcorn and a jug of root beer. Yeah, watching movies at home allows me to pause the movie whenever I want if I want to take a piss, but that also means I can't quite escape into it, either. I don't really get transported away out of my living room.

The theaters closing has really been the worst part of this for me. I know that is very small and petty and literally 150,000 people have died, and many more have lifetime consequences from Covid. It's not a real "hardship" and I'm unspeakably privileged that is my biggest real problem. But, that's what the thread is about, so that is my story.

I think it's very unlikely both of my local theaters can survive this for much longer - the longer this goes on, the more studios are going to want to break the theater exclusivity period and just start selling movies direct to the public, which is going to be the death knell for the industry. I kind of have been wondering how long they could hang on pre-covid: My wife and I nearly exclusively go to the movies at 11PM on a Tuesday (I work second shift), and there is a 90% chance we are the only ones in the theater. No one goes to a movie that runs until 1:30AM on a Tuesday.


In terms of memorable experiences, in absolutely no order:

The absolute silence of the theater during A Quiet Place. You could have heard a pin drop.

The absolute insanity of Snakes on a Plane. The only movie I've ever been to with people yelling jokes at the screen, and this being a welcome addition.

Going to Cross County Theater to see 13 Ghosts with my friend Mike. 5 minutes into the show, some dudes going OooOOOoooOOO creepy noises. An Italian man approximately 9 feet tall standing up and pointing at the teenagers talking about how he would haul them outside and beat the gak out of them if they didn't stop. His wife, approximately 4 feet tall, begging him to sit down. Just as the lights went off, but before the credits, the sound of one of the teenagers dropping an empty 40oz bottle on the floor, followed by his friend whispering "yo son... you threw up all over yourself". My friend Mike commenting as we left that this was Tony Shaloub's one chance to headline a movie, and he blew it so bad, they would never let him again (I think this turned out to be true).

My aunt Suzy covering my 12 year old eyes during a nude scene in one of the Halloween movies. Me still seeing a forbidden tiddy, because she was a little slow.

My brother not taking me to see Jaws 3D with his friends. My mom telling me it would have been too scary. It has been 37 years and time has not healed that wound.

Seeing Final Destination (5?) in 3D. It was the best use of 3D I have ever seen - they absolutely knew what kind of show they wanted to do, and then spent 90 minutes throwing tires, teeth, and skulls at the screen.

The girl I liked at the pet shop finally agreeing to go to the movies with me. Me taking the bus for 45 minutes up to White Plains, 45 minutes back down to Yonkers, and getting to the theater just in time to see her car driving off because the second bus was running late. Me going to see Titanic anyway, because I had already spent 90 minutes on the bus and 90 minutes to go back, so might as well. Loving Titanic. I know that's not very gangster of me, but I did - seeing the movie alone in a really heighted emotional state just got me, what can I say. Buying the Wu-Tang Forever double CD while killing time waiting for the bus, listening to it non-stop for days.

Seeing the 20 year (?) anniversary of Titanic, re-released in IMAX in 3D. The second best use of 3D I've seen, and the exact opposite of Final Desination - it was exceedingly subtle. You really only felt it hard when you were underwater and you could see like, free-floating plankton and such. Still enjoying it a second time - the decrease in enjoyment from already knowing the plot being offset by the increase in enjoyment of knowing when that person was gonna go BONK as they bounced off the propeller.


That indescribable feeling of - just after I moved away to Iowa - them opening in relatively short order, right by where I used to live, a Mechwarrior arcade pod experience (closed by the time I went back to visit my mom, of course), and an Alamo Drafthouse.

Going to see Godzilla (the bad one) on a double date with my friend Mike, his girlfriend, and some girl I had been chatting up online. We went to a midnight show in Manhattan. At the intro, they panned over the NYC skyline and captioned it "The city that never sleeps". The audience going absolutely insane.

Going to Chicago to go see Dunkirk, because it was one of the few places that had it in 70mm - which I had never seen. Being pretty disappointed with the movie (unless you have an englishman drowning fetish, it's a hard pass), the 70MM picture quality (my local LieMAX is better) and the theater experience (was muggy). Getting deeply, deeply lost on the way home because GPS doesn't work right in the South Loop or whatever.

Going to see that awful The Rock Hercules movie with a friend, and telling an usher that the picture was much too dark. Going to see some other movie again, and then writing an email to the chain via the "contact us form" about how theater 8 is always much darker than the rest of the house. Being contact a few days later by some Vice President of Experience or something - those contact us things go really high up, turns out) and him telling me they looked into it and the projector wasn't set right, the bulb wasn't correct, and they had replaced all of that, and him telling us we could have free tickets to go see the Equalizer.

Not going to see the Equalizer: the reward of proving myself right to my wife (who erroneously insisted the picture was fine) was reward enough.

The entire theater gasping when Tobey Macguire knocked down Kirsten Dunst in Spider-Man 3. Some little kid in front screaming in a 5 year old's voice "PETER PARKER WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

 Ahtman wrote:
Are we including Drive-In's in this or considering that separately?

At least here, the drive-ins have remained open, so my vote is they are seperate.

 SkavenLord wrote:
That being said, it costs roughly 10.00$ for a movie, not including food and beverages (let’s assume 16.00$). This amounts to an experience that lasts an hour. I can use this same amount to buy at least 5 books at a secondhand store (each taking several hours), a couple of decent video games on a good Steam sale (which can take as long as 30 hours each), a DVD for repeat viewing of that same movie, or a month on a streaming service (which features not only repeat viewing but a wider selection of movies).

We get better value around here because the movies are usually 2 hours, twice as long as yours

most excellent stories there Ouze

I'll add the the sheer nostalgia fuzzy feels of the 80s run at my local, theres this service in the UK that has a ton of old movies that can be essentially rented and screened on the proviso of a certain number of ticket sales

Last year we got Roadhouse, Princess Bride, Top Gun, Labyrinth, Die Hard and the ever awesome Lost Boys (which sold out both showings @ 250ish seats)

Normally im quite the grinch about noise and behavior but these were more events than films with folks showing up in costume etc and as the script and plots are forever etched in the grey matter some distracting hi-jinx is part of it and the collective "all the damned vampires" was utterly gigglesome

I remember seeing Star Wars and Superman with my dad. Great memories there.

The Batman opening was fun. Was there the first night, second show, and people filing out were pumping their fists and telling those of us in line (theater lines were more of a thing back in the 70s and 80s) how awesome it was. That movie owned that summer...which was chockful of big summer movies.

Seeing Blair Witch Project opening night was an experience, as a healthy portion of the theater thought it might be REAL (the marketing treated it as such, complete with a special on the SciFi channel about the 'real' Blair Witch).

Seeing 2001:ASO on the big screen was also an experience. Very different than on the small screen, and you understand how the director intended it to be seen.

I second the "Blair Witch" as being an experience that can no longer be replicated.

I can remember being angry at Casino Royale.

Don't get me wrong, I though and still think it was a great film, but the day I went to see it I'd arranged to stay over with a friend who was going through a tough time and had nobody else to watch it with, something I wouldn't ordinarily have been easily able to do, but I was going to be in his part of the country due to giving another friend a lift to an obscure airport (Bournemouth if anyone's curious. Bournemouth has an airport. Who knew?)

Trouble was, airborne friend needed to be at check in for something like 6.30am, and we're about 2 hours away. When it comes to sorting tickets for the cinema, we discover the movie is sold out for all showings but that evening's last showing (around 10pm.)

By the end of the movie I was so tired I was not in my right mind, and because Casino Royale features a couple of false endings before wrapping up, I was getting increasingly agitated that it wouldn't just end so I could get some sleep!

In my slightly hallucinogenic state, I became really quite annoyed. Much to my friends amusement who wound me up for the whole trip home, and still drops in an occasional dig to this day.

Hey if not for theaters where would RHPS fans go to have audience participation viewings?

 Ahtman wrote:
Are we including Drive-In's in this or considering that separately?

I remember drive ins. I don't think I ever watched one complete movie though.

 Frazzled wrote:

 Ahtman wrote:
Are we including Drive-In's in this or considering that separately?

I remember drive ins. I don't think I ever watched one complete movie though.

When Frazz's van is rockin'...don't come knockin'.

I mean, it’s not like that didn’t happen in non-drive in theaters...

It's a solid 50% of their function. I grew up in a town with a drive-in. It's still there and open for business.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I mean, it’s not like that didn’t happen in non-drive in theaters...

QFT, one of my nerd herd turned up with his better half to some late night screening of some early-mid 90s boys splodes and that film and promptly then disappeared to the empty upper balcony, if the knackered chairs are squeeking dont go peeking

I love going to the movie theater. My dad and I used to go every week.

Fun tales:

Saw Stargate twice, back to back.
Saw Gladiator 6 times in the theater.
Dark Knight rises and Free Willy are the only 2 movies I have ever walked out on.
Saw To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar at the ancient theater in Martha's Vineyard. Basically a barn with so many cracks between the wooden structure there is more sunlight than darkness.
Went to see White Noise with my friend and his girlfriend ( I was the friend with a car). Snuck a bottle of Jack Daniels into the theater and poured it into my Coke. The guy in the seat next to me asked if he could have some. We could barely walk out of the theater but we had the entire audience in stitches because we started mocking the movie like MST3K.
In high school my friends and i would gather in crowds of around 25-30 and bring whatever we felt like into the theater. Our own snacks, Pizza, booze, etc. Good times.
Went to see Independence Day on opening weekend. An employee was checking the fire exists and hopped up to slap the bottom of the screen. It wiggled and wobbled and fell off its mountings. If you dont know they weight like tons. They had to move everyone into a different smaller theater without any kind of refund.
Last movie I saw before covid was 1917. I went with my friend and her 16 month old son. That kid has excellent taste in movies. He sat quietly through the whole movie. Just like he did during Joker lol.

That reminds me of the time we saw South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. Some mother brought a 6-year-old to the movie, opening night, 10pm. The kids was old enough to know he wasn’t ready for that experience.

On the other side of audience participation, when we saw Dracula Dead and Loving It, there was a woman in the audience who laughed waaaayyyy harder than any joke deserved. Like, if she were a cartoon Weasel, she’d have died laughing. She might have been tripping balls or had a medical condition—I don’t know, but her laughter was infectious. She made a forgettable movie memorable.

We were the donkey caves at Peter Jackson’s King Kong. That movie was so embarrassing, worse than Eragon. After the first ten minutes I wanted to leave and get a refund, but my friends out-voted me. They wanted to stay and laugh at the movie. At first I felt really bad ruining this experience for the other audience members who had paid to see the film, but by the typewriter scene I just couldn’t care anymore. We ended up laughing at every ridiculous scene (every scene) and twice as hard when two characters stared at each other (most scenes). By the time an artillery shell interrupted the cheesy ice skating scene, we were rolling in our seats laughing. At least we got our money’s worth of entertainment. No one else in that theater did.

I'm at the point now where I can live without ever going to a movie theater again. I'll happily pay that $20 to see a premier from the comfort of my own home, with the ability to eat and drink what I want, pause it whenever I need to go pee, turn on subtitles for hard to hear lines, etc.
I find the movie-going experience to be just too much of a hassle these days. I actually do like the reserved seating in the theaters that have the big comfy recliners, but the costs of tickets, snacks, drinks, food, etc., are just too much to make it enjoyable. I like that some theaters are trying to offer a dining option (Movie Tavern, Studio Movie Grill, etc.), but the food is usually average at best (and overpriced).

There is one theater chain somewhat near me that "gets it" when it comes to an actual movie watching experience: Alamo Drafthouse. With their absolute policy of keeping your mouth shut and phones off during a movie, I'd love to go there some day. Only problem is, for some daft reason, they STILL haven't opened a location in Fort Worth.

This is making me think of how theaters can remain in existence in today's world given advances in technology like 60" home screens. I swear we have tvs now as big as the original star trek viewscreen was.




I'm not sure. People used to like going to theaters in costumes for special movies, but a lot of theaters banned that because ONE asol who was so dumb be didn't know the joker had green hair shot up one theater. (Sheesh, that moron apparently managed to jam an AK-47 and that's damn neatr impossible).

I wonder if they could add a sense of smell to theaters, with something like inkjet printer cartridges that mix certain scents to provide an olfactory experience. It might be technically possible, i just don;t see it catching on tho. (And god help you if you went to see blazing saddles with this technology added.)

Activie dynamic lighting colored lights to light the theater in sync with the movie? A bomb goes off and there's a flash in the theater? Eh, maybe. Not too sure.

Special drawings for audience members? Watch a movie, go home, enter your movie ticket stub number into a website and maybe get a free dvd or something?