Best experience in a cinema

[CelluloidPal]

Originally Posted by Creed

Jumped out of my seat (not literally)!
Caught me so off-guard.

I showed up as the movie started. When the first shot rang out, I actually dove for cover.

Luckily, no one saw it.

[Creed]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

^ So I wasn't the only one who gave a start!

LOL.

Originally Posted by CelluloidPal

I showed up as the movie started. When the first shot rang out, I actually dove for cover.

Luckily, no one saw it.

Heh, that was luck!
That gunshot was like a jumpscare from a horror movie, but it works.

[imsounoriginal]

In no particular order:
Fellowship of the Ring (the movie that made me love movies)
Justice League (world premiere)
The Dark Knight (first time I saw a movie in 15/70mm IMAX)
La La Land (IMAX + post-screening Q&A with Damien Chazelle)
Spider-Man 3 (opening night crowd was so into it I actually enjoyed the movie)
Tropic Thunder
Paranormal Activity (loved seeing my friends freak out, one of their gfs was so terrified by it she was sobbing at the end)

[Zillamon51]

Pet Sematary Too. Just a great party atmosphere throughout. Lots of cheering, and a standing ovation at the end. The first movie I ever saw where that happened.

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. The movie was shit, and the audience knew it, but went with it in a MST3K-kind of way. Lots of laughs. Some scenes were mis-framed, with the actors' heads cut off. The crowd started chanting, "We want head!" Everyone lost it for the stinger at the end!

[KINGDANGER]

Seeing first run Star Wars at the Jane Pickens Theater in Newport, RI. That theater was absolutely magical to me as a child. Next a small downtown theater in Bremerton, WA where I used to spend entire summer days watching marathons of films like Godzilla, Thunderbirds, Ray Harryhausen classics and Golden Harvest Kung Fu! Then in my twenties, I saw Air Force One in an empty theater so I moved seat to seat and smoked cigarettes like I'd seen people do in classic movies. Most recently, Avengers: AoU, my first IMAX 3D experience! I rarely went to theaters anymore, prefering my home setup. IMAX renewed my love affair with going out to theaters.

[Thomas Irwin]

1. Seeing the premiere of Body Snatchers at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA during a 24 hour sci-fi film marathon.
2. Seeing Center Stage with someone I had begun dating at the time.
3. Seeing The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

[Rayjaymay]

So many to choose from...

I grew up in South Philadelphia near where much of Rocky was shot. When it finally played at our local theater, the line to get in was bursting with excitement. When the movie began, you would hear intermittently, "There's my house!!" or "I know that guy!". At the end the crowd simply erupted like none other I had ever heard before. It was quite thrilling for this 10-year-old Italian American kid. Today, I live around the corner from the block where Rocky walks Marie home and gets flipped off.

Another great experience was when I was able to attend a 4 day screening of Raging Bull hosted by Roger Ebert (part of his Democracy in the Dark series). On the first day, we simply watched the film. During the next 3 days, we started the film from the beginning and anyone was able to say "stop" and discuss something they saw or felt was relevant. To top it off, I was able to have Roger autograph his "Book of Film" for me.

And while that four day Raging Bull screening was happening, another theater was hosting the 75th Anniversary of Warner Brothers with a week-long film festival. Each day was a different decade starting with the '20s-'30s and ending with the 1990s. I missed a few of the films while I was at Raging Bull, but I did go back and forth as much as I could. Once Raging Bull was over, I spent the next week at the WB festival seeing 4 films a day. It was heaven!

I also managed to get on a mailing list where I would receive passes to test screenings of movies in production. I got to see "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar" (no big deal there) and give feedback on it before it was released. I also got to see "Clockers" by Spike Lee. But guess who was sitting behind me at that screening? Spike Lee himself! Afterwards, I met him and was able to get him to autograph the pass I received for the screening.

[jayman3]

Tranformers (2007). I had audience members shouting at the screen, "f*ck em up Optimus!" and "go Autobots!" whenever they appeared during the movie.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Lots of big moments getting loud applause and then hearing the entire audience sobbing at the end.

The Avengers. During every first appearance of Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, etc the crowd erupted in cheers. People were yelling "Avengers assemble!" during the 360 degree shot of them together.

Any Star Wars movie in general. It got so loud in the theater for The Force Awakens that you couldn't even hear the movie's audio.

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

A new experience I can add today was A Quiet Place. The audience actively tried to stay as quiet as possible. To be in a packed theater and everyone try to be quiet and respectful was awesome.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[notops]

Double feature of Point Break and Road House on the massive Egyptian screen in Hollywood.

As if the programming wasn't awesome enough, a fight literally broke out a few rows ahead of me during the first reel of Road House.

Life imitating art, I suppose. It was amazing

[Brightstar]

The Dark Knight Rises it was the hype and it was packed just loved it on opening day

[Steedeel]

T2. This was before spoilers, social media and nuggets on YouTube.

Never known such giddy excitement when the film started and ended. Stunning experience.

[NoFro]

Man I'm glad I don't have to deal with people shouting at the screen during films. I've had great experiences of being in packed out cinemas where everyone's laughed together, screamed together, gasped in shock together, and walked out in stunned silence when a film has just flawed them but I've fortunately never had to deal with some idiot shouting at the screen.

My best experiences:
- My uni town had just one cinema with just one 400+ seat screen and half the population of the town was uni students so opening nights were great. The Avengers was the best experience I had there - everyone was laughing together and the film itself exceeded my expectations in every way. That film was exactly what it needed to be, in my opinion.
- A packed, adult-only audience for Toy Story 3 - with half the audience in floods of tears at a film about talking toys.
- Mad Max: Fury Road - Just an amazing ride and the loudest film I've ever seen at the cinema.
- Spirited Away at the BFI. Just an amazing presentation and the score sounded so gorgeous through the sound system there - it sounded like a live performance. It was my first Ghibli film on the big screen and it's my favourite animated film so it was a joy to view it with other fans.
- This Is Spinal Tap at an outdoor cinema that was set up at Battersea Power Station. Seen the film many times but it was a whole new experience watching it with a crowd.
- The Fly (Cronenberg) at the BFI. Again, I'd seen it many times before but had never seen it with a crowd who reacted to the body horror in the best way possible.
- The Raid 2. Dragged two friends to see it who had no idea what it was. Screening was surprisingly packed and I don't think many people knew what they were in for. When that first leg broke half the room let out a massive "OHHHHHHHHHHH!". Also, another film that I was ludicrously excited for that exceeded my very high expectations.
- What We Do In The Shadows. 6 people in the screening, all in hysterics.
- 12 Years A Slave. Sold out cinema, everyone in absolute silence except for the odd gasp. I had been looking forward to the film since it was announced and it delivered on every expectation for me, so that in itself was wonderful, but what was really amazing was that at the end everyone walked out of the cinema in absolute silence.
- Blade Runner: The Final Cut. Just to see it on the big screen was amazing. Will be seeing it again at Secret Cinema in May.
- The Empire Strikes Back. Saw it at Secret Cinema. Just an amazing overall experience.

[stvn1974]

Return Of The Jedi

The weeks of anticipation leading up to it were grueling. I had kind of remembered seeing Star Wars in rerelease and Empire when it first came out but with Jedi I was old enough to get everything. My mom took me and the brother several times, first time that ever happened.

[Kill Bren]

-catching the Northwest Horror Show in Vancouver (2015/2016), saw 35mm Prints of The Beyond, Nightmare City, Zombie, Cannibal Ferox, Maniac, I Drink Your Blood, Street Trash, a sweet DCP of Night of the Creeps and hosted by this forum's JoeBuck.

-catching the Granville 7 fan favorites run also in Vancouver, seeing in 35mm; Ghostbusters, Aliens, Terminator 2, An American Werewolf in London, Army of Darkness, Star Trek II, Starship Troopers, etc.

-seeing The Dark Knight, The Hateful Eight, and Dunkirk in 70mm.

-seeing in theaters; Bubba Ho-tep and Hobo with a Shotgun.

[Purplenoon]

-Midnight showing, opening week, CARRIE, 1976, downtown Milwaukee theater: I might have been the only white guy in the nearly packed house: unbelievably great fun, especially after the final gotcha scene. You had to be there at the very beginning.

-Opening week, JAWS, 1975, only available seats for last PM show: front row, suburban Milwaukee theater. “Jaw” droppingly great.

-Evening show, 1967, REPULSION, lower east side theater, NYC, that became the Fillmore East. The film still scares the shit out of me 50 years later.

[Al_The_Strange]

Star Wars--all of them. The SEs from the 90s, the PT, and the ST have all been a blast and the vibes from the audience have always been phenomenal, even though the worst of things.

Independence Day and Avengers were similarly fun times.

[MovieFanatic2010]

The Mist was my favorite experience in the movie theaters. It was just an eerie night to begin with and it was a packed house on opening weekend. The crowd was just in shock because the way the movie ended.

[Jasonic]

My long term memory isn't too good on things like this, so anything memorable is more recent.
The Force Awakens. Just being in a theater filled with hollering nerds late at night, seeing another good Star Wars movie after such a long time that rejuvenated the franchise. A rare communal experience where I actually preferred it that way over typically rather having no one in the theater.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Opposite experience of being the only one in the theater. And having connected lounge seats where I could just spread myself out and enjoy watching an old movie I hadn't seen before.

Dunkirk. Just due to the pure audible sensation of the IMAX, and having that amazing sound shake the seats. Exhilarating.

[gentileschi]

the few that come to mind...

- seeing The Room (2003) for the first time in a film class, with full audience participation of course. I've never laughed so hard in a theater before and had an amazing time.
- Rogue One on opening night with a best friend. Fantastic atmosphere, a lot of excitement, and a really immersive experience. The movie finished past midnight so we had a hard time getting home on public transit, which only added to the memories.
- There Will Be Blood in 35mm. Amazing movie with a great audience.
- Raiders of the Lost Ark with a live orchestra, self-explanatory.