Your Best Movie Theater Experiences

[Blu Myers]

I'm sure a lot of you like myself will list experiences from your childhood. Anyway, name your most memorable theater experiences. Here's mine:

Superman II: I was 6 years old and wanted to be Superman more than anything.

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers: I was 15. This experience made me the Halloween fan I am today. I'll never forget the chill that went down my spine when I saw

[Show spoiler]the little girl holding the scissors at the end

.

Rocky IV This might be my best one. I've never been so into a movie during the climax. People in the audience were actually standing up and cheering during the fight between Rocky and Drago like it was real.

The Matrix I was so blown away by this movie that I went and seen it again the next night.

Passion of the Christ I'll never forget this one. You could hear a pin drop in the theater, and then all of a sudden I hear a woman crying really loud in the back. It was just a very moving experience.

[clrb15]

Yeah The Passion of the Christ was an INTENSE movie going experience. I have NEVER had anything like that before the movie came out or anything after, where everyone was united in terms of emotion. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

Dreamgirls was another one where the films was just packed with music and strong performances but it was specifically Jennifer Hudson's performance of "And I Am Telling You" that got people clapping after that musical number was finished! People clapped in the middle of the movie! Like a Play! That was AMAZING!!!! I have freinds who saw the movie in Theatres as well and said that the same thing happened at their screening!

[Foggy]

Avatar, 3rd time. My dad doubted me when I said it was really good. We were watching it 3 months after it first came out and we were the first in, and the screen kept filling...and filling...and filling. There was a lady sat across from me, and she kept squirming and screaming because she was scared of heights and at the end of it, my dad thanked me for making him watch it, he loved it more than I did. He also did the same for Kick-Ass but it was a little less remarkable.

[kelvin555]

I went and saw shutter island by myself and the theater how about 5 people in it. And a big fat guy sat right directly behind me and ate popcorn while breathing loud. It was creepy lol

[Foggy]

A few others:

Inglorious Basterds As I'm under 18, I shouldn't had been allowed to watch this, but I was still let in. And then one of the workers came up to me and my dad, and then asked us to save him a seat. I think he could tell I was a Tarantino fan as I was wearing a Pulp Fiction top, so he sat near me to make sure I wouldn't be a nuisance, but let me stay as he could tell how nurdish I was and because I think my dad was there. What a cool guy.

Kick-Ass (yeah, yeah, yeah shut up) Before I was going to watch this everyone was laying s**t on me "oh it won't be that good Foggy", "You've over hyped it Foggy" only one guy had kept trust in me. So me and him just kept going to each other "Holy crap, that's awesome". And then when the film finished, everyone apologized for the crap I received.

[MattW]

The Empire Strikes Back. I think I was 11 or 12 and there was no internet back then. I was so shocked when Vader told Luke he was his father. I remember people in the audience freaking out. Hope I didn't ruin the movie for anyone.

[OrlandoEastwood]

Here ... https://forum.blu-ray.com/movies/920...xperience.html

[jebhdb]

Star Wars - As a kid there was nothing that compared to this movie. This was the first movie that I saw multiple times at the theater. I probably saw it at least 10 times. I had to have every figure, every toy, anything remotely related to the movie I had to have it. I never duplicated the feeling I had watching Star Wars as a kid. A life changing experience.

Rocky - I remember after watching it my dad telling me and my brother that he wouldn't take us back to see movies like this if we didn't quit beating each other up. I also remember the hair on the back of my neck standing up when the Rocky theme would come on. Had the same experience when the Star Wars theme would play as well.

Raiders of the Lost Ark - Another awesome experience where the whole family had a blast and couldn't stop talking about the movie after leaving the theater.

Spider-Man - I had goose bumps watching this for the first time in the theater. I remember thinking that there was probably some kid setting in the audience and he was experiencing many of the same emotions I had when first seeing Star Wars.

The Sixth Sense - I remember the gasp from the audience when the twist ending was revealed.

Grindhouse - This was a movie that needed to be seen in the theater with an audience. There wasn't a huge crowd, but the people there were obviously fans and made the movie even better.

Avatar - Just for the amazing 3D alone I picked this one. It was almost like going on an amusement park ride and showed what 3D is capable of when done right.

[dolphinc]

1977 Star Wars. I was 8 and my parents took me and my sister who is 5 years older than me to see it at a drive inn theater. My sister and father fell asleep but my mother (who loves sci-fi) and I watched the entire film. I was only 8 but was blown away by the movie and experience. Great memory.


EDIT: To match that great experience from my childhood. Back in Feb of this year I took my 6 year old daughter to see the Pricess and the Frog, I watched her light up from the time we entered the parking lot through the trip home when we talked about the movie. She had an amazing time.

[EricJ]

Can any Bostonians give any stories from the more recent 24-Hour Sci-Fi festivals? ALL my great theater-experience stories are from the 80's and 90's. (Back when it was easier to get theatrical prints of the classics. )

For those who don't know, imagine going to a small college-town old-school ex-Palace arthouse at 12 noon on the Sunday before President's Day, and leaving at 12 noon on Monday. With a hand-stamp, you can go in and out of the theater for meals, but after 2am, with the street rolled up and the subways down, you're on your own: You're either sleeping in the lobby, sleeping in your seats, or trapped continuing to watch good and bad sci-fi classics till dawn arrives.
We used to rub it in the face of the MST3K creators that we were Livin' It For Real, and more merciless heckling would often erupt out of the general fan-united sense of groggy fan punchiness.

I'll throw out a few of the more historic ones:
- One year they showed "Adventures of Baron Munchausen"--No, not that one, but the static and inscrutable Czech-art version with little dialogue and even less plot...This was in the coldest weekend in February, and then the heat went out. Veterans still remember two hours of theater PERGATORY, and the audience wasn't kidding when shouts arose of "Stop the Baron!!" "The Baron must DIE!!"

- One year, they tried showing several live-TV "Space Patrol" kinescopes from the 50's, with the characters making live commercials from the good folks at Chex cereals. By about the fourth time we saw boxes of Wheat Chex and Rice Chex travel by on a turntable (they only had the two varieties back then), the audience was used to it by now, and started to chant along: "Wheat Chex...Rice Chex..."
For the rest of that evening--the next 16 hours--spontaneous tastes-great-less-filling-wars would erupt on rival halves of the theaters all night during movie breaks: "Wheat Chex!"..."Rice Chex!"..."WHEAT CHEX!!"..."RICE CHEX!!" To this day, twenty years later, there is one way of identifying an old-school fan.
(The show was also sponsored by Hershey's, so one commercial featured, "And here's something for all you girl Space Rangers out there:"--Hershey EZ-Bake oven kits. The "Boooo!!" that arose from that theater audience...)

- Michael Crichton's "The Terminal Man", from 1974: Dear heavens, what physical pain. Half an hour of paint-drying medical discussion and surgical procedure, followed by an hour of George Segal acting like a loony serial-killer for no clearly defined reason. (Or at least they probably explained it during the first half, we just weren't paying attention.)
Near the second half of the film, every time the scene faded to black, the audience cheered "Yayyy! "...And then, when the next scene came up, "Awww! " When the female lead went out on her apartmenet balcony, we all chanted "Jump!Jump!Jump! "

Ah, there's enough here for its own thread. That's what we lost, with the death of revival theaters.

[Atreyu]

Now Avatar was truely a mind blowing and unique experience..
My votes have to go with some childhood memories. I can still remember going to see movies for 99 cents just before they left the theaters. We'd always go on a Saturday night and have to wait in line. Some of the movies I saw were Porky's, Smokey And The Bandit, National Lampoon's Vacation, 9 to 5, Every Which way But Loose, Class and many others. What made these special was it was my Mom , Dad, Sister and sometimes one or both of my brothers. This was family time as we didn't have much money to be able to do alot together as a family. Great memories.

[Blu Myers]

A few more come to mind:

Titanic: How could I forget this one. I remember being extremely excited to see it based on all the hype that was going on around it, all the great reviews, etc. I remember seeing a really tough looking guy with a full beard and everything...and tears just rolling down his face. What an emotional experience it was. I even started crying on the car ride home. To my recollection, it's the only time I've ever cried during or after a movie. It didn't have the same impact when I bought it on vhs, then dvd. There was just something about seeing it in the theater, and all the buzz around it.

Star Wars Ep III: This is the longest I've ever waited in line for a movie...about 4 hours. This was probably the last Star Wars movie I was ever gonna see in the theater (I don't count that stupid Clone Wars movie). The anticipation was just epic...silence..."A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away"...silence...then the Star Wars music blasts and everybody cheers and claps. It's always an awesome experience to see a Star Wars movie in the theater.

The Invisible: I only mention this one because I was expecting a crappy to mediocre film, and ended up really loving it. It didn't get great reviews, but for some reason it really made a connection with me. Awesome soundtrack as well.

[zahinn]

The most recent one..

The Dark Knight - Many things made it perfect; the hype, my company, the audience, the critical acclaim, my love for the whole Batman "mythology", IMAX, the timing (i was in 9th grade, going into to 10th), etc...

[Buddy Christ]

Though the movie turned out to be ummm crappy, Opening night in San Francisco for Phantom Menace.

To be in a theater in Georges home territory on opening night and hear the roar of the crowd just for the Fox fanfare was simply amazing.

Nice question OP!!

[Brandon.]

Grindhouse So Great, Luckily and sadly i'm one of the few people who actually love BOTH films. So i had fun the whole time in the theaters. Even though i think the order of the movies were wrong, I think Death Proof slowed it down too much after Planet Terror. But i still love it.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Ok i was 7 at the time, the theater was packed, it was a midnight showing, so of course i loved it

Freddy Vs. Jason A lot of hardcore fans in there obviously, it was loud and there was a lot of vocal people in the theater. This movie is fun, I'm a big freddy fan, who cares if its not a great movie.

[Blu Myers]

You guys keep reminding me of more experiences...Dark Knight and Phantom Menace.

The Dark Knight I had to wait 3 weeks to see it because I was stationed in Japan at the time. My anticipation level was on tilt because I was blown away by Batman Begins and all the Ledger buzz going on. It is one of my all time favorite movies and was amazing to experience in the theater...twice.

Phantom Menace The experience was great just because I hadn't seen a Star Wars movie in the theater since Jedi when I was 10. I remember enjoying the movie just because it was Star Wars and I though Darth Maul was the shit. Not the best of the saga though.

One more...

Terminator 2: Judgement Day You know a movie is good when you have to sit on the floor on the first row because the theater is jam packed...and it still rocks. The theater was in my hometown in Mississippi and they shut down every other movie and replaced them with T2. This was definitely an "event" film.

[csdot]

i love seeing movies by myself with as few people in the theater as possible. saw Sin City in a nearly empty theater by myself, same for Kick Ass.
saw Funny Games (US) by myself besides two old ladies that hightailed it out of there pretty early on.(they must have had no idea what they were getting into)
saw Grindhouse with a friend and we were the only ones there. that was one of the best theater experiences either way.

my dad taking me to see The Matrix was pretty awesome, i was only one year shy of being able to see an R rated movie alone haha. that was a pretty mindblowing experience seeing that in the theater.
Jurassic Park was incredible at the time.
trying to think of things from when i was young but im drawing a blank..

[Blu Myers]

Originally Posted by csdot

i love seeing movies by myself with as few people in the theater as possible. saw Sin City in a nearly empty theater by myself, same for Kick Ass.
saw Funny Games (US) by myself besides two old ladies that hightailed it out of there pretty early on.(they must have had no idea what they were getting into)
saw Grindhouse with a friend and we were the only ones there. that was one of the best theater experiences either way.

my dad taking me to see The Matrix was pretty awesome, i was only one year shy of being able to see an R rated movie alone haha. that was a pretty mindblowing experience seeing that in the theater.
Jurassic Park was incredible at the time.
trying to think of things from when i was young but im drawing a blank..

I usually tend to prefer a crowded theater just to get the audience's reactions...as long as I have a good seat of course. This is especially true for horror movies. I hate crying babies though.

[movieeddie]

JAWS would be the film that started it all for me.I was 12 at the the time and it was the summer of 1975.I went to see it with all my cousins at Jersey's Warner theatre.This was one of those theatres that had a hugh screen and a massive balcony.From the very first frame I was sucked into the story and the adventure on the screen.Needles to say I didnt go into the water all summer long and when I did I stayed real close to the shore.I will never forget that film and to this day JAWS is and will allways be my all time fav film.Fingers crossed that it comes out on Blu soon.35 years is a long time for a movie to be on top of my list.I've yet to see any other come close.

[igotnogame]

Superman I and 2 and Star Wars trilogy - remember vividly seeing these as a kid on their respective opening days. Audiences cheering and freaking out and just being mesmerized by what was going on.

The Abyss - sitting real close in a suprisingly empty theater, the oppressive / claustrophibic feeling I got seemed to be enforced by the lack of audience present.

Jurassic Park - everyone cheering on the dinosaurs was epic. One of the few movies I have ever gone back and seen in back to back days.

Heat - the silence in the theater during the bank robbery / escape made this even it more riveting for me.

There are, of course, other movies that stand out, but these are definitely some of the top experiences for me.

Later,
-Will