Favorite movie theater experience

[Bob Gray]

Midnight early showings were a lot of fun years ago. T2 and Return of the King were probably my favorite experiences. T2 for the sheer awesomeness and how exhilarating the crowd was. ROTK because it felt like an immense sense of closure that seemed palpable throughout the theater, on top of the movie being kick ass.

 

[Bob Gray]

Midnight release of the 2nd Matrix movie. That was back when you lined up to get a good seat. Everyone geeked out for everything.

I remember waiting in line for the midnight show of Return of the King. A couple friends and I got there so early, around 8pm, and we were like 5th in line behind a group of goth/vampire cosplayers. By the time 11:00 rolled around, somehow we were now around 15th in line because of all the extra goth people that were being funneled into the front of the line, and the people in the back were about ready to storm the front of the line and take no prisoners. Me and a buddy of mine just grabbed the "line starts here" cone and just moved it up to the door, stood there and just declared that we were the front of the line now. It was playing on 4 screens and the race to the seats was mad.

 

[mb23100]

Rumble in the Bronx

Got dragged to the mall by my mom clothes shopping which is every kids worst nightmare. I asked to go to a movie and to my surprise she said yes. There were two showing, some chick flick and Rumble in the Bronx neither of which i had ever heard of. Chose Rumble. Everyone was laughing at the bad dubbing and I thought about walking out until the first fight scene. My 11 year old mind was completely blown. It just kept getting better and better too. Started watching every Jackie Chan movie I could get my hands on after that.

 

[HHJ]

T2
Jurassic Park
Batman (1989)
TMNT
Predator 2
Layer Cake

Also I seen every LOTR movie in theatres except for the last Hobbit movie

I truly enjoyed all of them, except they REALLY started losing steam after the first Hobbit movie.

 

[Thrawn33]

Jurassic Park - with my dad, what kid doesn't want to see a live action movie about Dinos killing people with their father.

Star Wars ANH 97 special edition - first showing of the first day it was in theaters. The theater had a back parking lot with a second entrance....everyone one lined up at the main one. The employees opened the back one up as soon as we got out of the car, and were buying tickets at the desk before the unwashed masses made it through the front gate. Still pissed about Greedo shooting first.

Fight Club - me and my buddy were going to watch Matrix, and the projector was broke, so fuckit, Fight Club sounds fun.. teenaged minds blown

Infinity War with my daughter - she loved the MCU...I knew what was coming and it was glorious.

 

[Prex32]

edit

 

[Prex32]

this scene was funny as hell

 

[SKYNET]

1. Spaceballs: Sneak Preview 1 week before full release. Summer 1987
Huge party outside the theater. Theater had employees dressed up as all the characters, they were on the rooftop of the theater tossing bags full of candy and memorabilia out to the crowd. Radio station sponsored concert, giveaways. One of the best moments growing up for us. As a kid, we didn't get anything Star Wars related after Return of the Jedi in 1983. Spaceballs was the treat my generation deserved. Non-stop laughter in the theater, one of the best feelings leaving a theater that I can remember.
FUN FACT: I wore one of the shirts from the numerous giveaways to school that week. The TShirt read "May the Schwartz be with you!" on the back, which to myself and my family a harmless line by Yogurt from the film. I was removed from class by my homeroom teacher and taken to the principals office. My mother was called to pick me up, I was suspended one day from school for wearing a shirt with derogatory language. My mother and I learned our first word in the German language that day, Mr Tribue my homeroom teacher educated us and was quite suprised we did not know any German. Thanks Mel Brooks, you got me in trouble at school with your really cool but totally offensive T-shirt. Moral of the story, be careful going to sneak previews and being a week ahead of the current zeitgeist. If my family took me to see the film after full release, everyone in that school office and staff would have understood the reference.

2. The Matrix - Sunday opening weekend April 1999
Simply put, a group of friends and I ate green gel tabs about an hour before we left for the theater. Mindblown totally. Halfway through the film I had ripped the arm rests out I was gripping my seat so hard. My gf at the time was dosed with 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine.
It really felt like everything was tinted green and felt like we were in a surreal reality that night after we left the theater. Easily the best experience I've ever had at a theater.

3 - 4.
2001 A Space Odyssey & Apocalypse Now in IMAX 2018-2019
Born in 76, Never had an opportunity to see either film in a theater, I was too young for Apocalypse. All I can say is I am thankful to be able to see them on large 60' x 80' screen.
I legitimately felt like a new man, reborn so to speak after both experiences.

 

[Thai Domi]

Hands down Phantom Menace

 

[Adam34]

Pans Labyrinth - Went in blind with my buddy. Smoked a joint and went in to a fully packed theater. Had to sit in the front row. As soon as the film started the Spanish narration started with a backdrop of beautiful landscape began. It caught us so off guard, we were laughing so hard we couldn't breath. Then once we calmed down we got to enjoy a fantastic movie. Even though I am more sympathetic to Franco now.

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

Probably Independence Day. Seeing the aliens basically nuke New York, Washington DC and LA on the big screen was extremely memorable to 11 year old me.

 

[Chesten_Hesten]

I remember well, dopest movie, dopest scene ever!

 

[Highway99]

Midnight screening of Grindhouse. I was one of the people that appreciated the experience that QT and RR were trying to provide.

 

[Plutoburn]

IMAX Interstellar and IMAX Pacific Rim.

Interstellar was gonna be good no matter what, but I think Pacific Rim really got elevated with a IMAX treatment.

 

[Other]

All three 3 Ninjas movies, and it's not even close.

 

[HavenMess]

Jurassic Park (the original). Never had seen anything like it. I have yet to have a theater experience close to it.

 

[TKing]

Independence Day and Jurassic Park, both for same reasons. Sitting there as a kid watching those movies unfold and thinking how the heck can movies get better.

Avengers and Avengers Infinity War, Avengers simply because it was almost unreal seeing that finally happen. Infinity War I saw in a huge packed old school theater, the reactions were crazy to the snap actually happening, gasps, silence, some grown people crying lol, it was wild.

Halloween H2O, my mom took me to see this even though she didnt care for these movies (RIP to my mom) and she ended up having fun which we started a tradition of going to the theater to watch these when any new one released, its going to hit me in the feels bad when a few one hits theaters as itll be the first one without her since H2O. The end of Michael Myers getting his head chopped off was probably the craziest theater reaction I've ever seen. It was like watching a fight and someone got knocked out cold, full on mayhem.

 

[Stoic1]

1981 the school had a big camping trip. Me and a few friends snuck out of our tents, navigated forever through the woods to The Rebel drive in theater in Austin Texas. We sat on a big cinder block wall and watched in silence.

It showed pornos.

At 9 years old I was seeing things for the first time not pixelated through skinamax.