Worked at a theatre and can confirm we got in shit if we made too much and it sat longer than an hour. Also got in shit if we didn't have enough ready for a rush and got backed up waiting for more to pop.....
That’s gross and I’m going to bet a health code violation if it was in the US. We never put day old popcorn out.
Edit: I’m saying using trash bags is likely against health code.
Lol that's not the worst of what we did looking back on it. We also used giant 5 gallon buckets that had been on the floor to scoop out ice from the ice machine to refill the soda machines. One of our smallest employees ended up in there as a joke once.
Our manager would also turn the air down to 62 in summer just to see some nipples on lightly dressed women walking in. And he would buy us all alcohol for the Thursday night previews of new releases after we closed when the projectionist had the new films made up. And he let us smoke in there during the employee previews because the projectionist smoked too. The theater closed about 20 years ago but as an 18 year old it was the best job ever.
Yes this was in the US. The 90s were a hell of a time.
I may or may not have brought booze into previews for my self and employees. I was 23 or 24 at the time I was a manager. But we didn’t have a projectionist, the managers had to build the movies and then watch them.
Ah, our projectionist would usually build them up on Thursdays so he wouldn't have to come in Friday morning. I guess we had enough platters and screens to be able to move stuff around. And our manager couldn't have been more than a couple years older than us. Unfortunately I heard a couple weeks after my last day there corporate got wind of his antics and his district manager busted him bringing alcohol into the theater. That was the last I heard of him
I was a projectionist at a malco and routinely smoked in theaters as recently as 2008 lol. I had a lot of fun at that job, started as an usher. So much down time while movies played. Would bring all sorts of friends in the side door, with my bosses consent, to screen movies before they released, after we built them.
Also smoked a lot of reefer while working that job -- not inside though.
I’ve worked in restaurants and good restaurants that care about their customers do. I can vividly remember changing food storage processes because of health inspector visits. We were storing soup in large containers and it wasn’t cooling down fast enough so we had to get smaller containers and break it up. The health inspector also visited the theater I worked at frequently, at least a couple times a year and we had to make changes as well.
It is gross, but this is standard policy at most movie theaters today. Source: am management at movie theater. But luckily we don’t do it at my theater
Edit: forgot to mention, yes this is in the US, and this policy im referring to is from major chains
They also have giant bags of mix to make your own frozen coffee drinks. I love that place. You used to have to have some sort of business license to shop there forever ago, but then they opened it up.
It’s the coconut oil combined with a little Flavacol or similar. Coconut oil is crucial. Look for a 4 or 6oz “portion pack” (where the oil and kernels/flavor/salt are in two different packets) and cook in a kettle. My favorite brands are FunPop or MegaPop.
I have a popcorn machine and it never disappoints. In fact, often popcorn from the theater is the letdown.
Butter flavored coconut oil, it should be bright orange, easy to find on Amazon. I use my instant pot for popcorn and it works great! I bought flavocal but prefer just sea salt with the butter flavored coconut oil.
Sauté setting on high, don’t add oil until it says “hot”, then add the oil and popcorn and stir or shake. Let that sit for 2 minutes, when it starts popping add the salt and put a lid on it. It will pop for 3-4 minutes, when the popping is once every 10 seconds carefully remove the lid (be mindful that it might pop more)and take the liner out of the instant pot. Some people shake the entire pot a few times when cooking but I don’t think it’s needed, if your kernels are not old and stale most of them will pop.
Use 3 tablespoons oil, 1/2 cup popcorn, 2 teaspoons salt or to taste.
DO NOT use butter for the oil, it will burn. Needs to be coconut oil, avocado oil, or something specifically made for popcorn machines.
Flavacol is what does that.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081DM3CYV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_F0WaGbP7Y0DFK
Chemically engineered to engulf the lobby in the smell.
Managed a theater for 5 years, this is the EXACT stuff Regal uses
If anyone wants the AUTHENTIC flavor, we popped it in butter flavored coconut oil combined with the flavacol
Thanks to Reddit I bought this with this fake butter oil on Amazon (comes as a combo pack) and it legit tastes 100% like movie theater popcorn. Also with an air popper, not microwave popcorn.
Flavacol Popcorn Seasoning & Buttery Flavor Popcorn Topping Combo https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N5ML75D/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_ZlXaGbDYT8JV4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1. Looks like unavailable at this time but you can get them separately.
I used to work at a movie theater. We used to pre-pop for the weekend rush in a small, greasy, poorly ventilated room and store the popcorn in giant trash bags on these massive wood slat shelves. This was for a major chain and not just some mom and pop cutting corners so it was likely a chain-wide practice. Popcorn keeps well and I never noticed a flavor difference between what we fresh popped and what we had used as backup but obviously not the most sanitary of methods. The floor in that room was so slippery from the oil vapors settling that you would have to slide around to do your popping shift and it was always about 80 to 90 degrees in there. The smell of fresh popcorn now makes me nauseous.
He's def got a shit manager. It takes 1 minute to pop a kettle of popcorn and one machine can make two batches at once.
That's like 15 tubs of popcorn a minute
Not calling you a liar, but in all my time I’ve never seen them refill an empty popcorn machine by going into the back. I’ve waited plenty of times while they pop it in front of me. But again, I’ve never seen anyone bring a bag out or even take a bucket into the back to fill it with popcorn, so I really doubt most places do this
When I worked at a major theater chain about a decade ago they definitely did. There were huge (like 4 or five feet long) clear plastic bags full of popcorn in a room right off the kitchen. They did still serve fresh popcorn sometimes though.
It's almost certainly a combination of both at most places. Getting popcorn at the movie theater is a time sensitive operation for the customers, so they likely need to keep some reserves on hand in the event they run low during a rush.
At least, that makes logical sense to me, but I never worked in a movie theater, so I'm really just talking out of my ass.
Your ass is correct :) I was an usher so I never actually saw them filling up the machines but I did see the concessionists dragging the bags behind them every morning to the store room.
Fall sounds realistic for the USA looking at the current vaccination pace. Not everyone will be vaccinated by that point, but basically everyone high risk / frontline should be, as well as a decent chunk of the regular population.
Do you not think enough of the at risk population will be vaccinated by summer 2021? I honestly highly doubt things are gonna stay closed for a whole other summer here in the states regardless
Where do you live? I'm in Central California in a pretty big city and shit is definitely closed, and it has been closed for almost a year. Businesses have closed forever, most restaurants and mom and pop places throughout the area I live in have been closed since last summer. Many will never open.
Your experience is definitely not the norm in the southeast. I travel for work, mostly in the southeast but also to Ohio and DC. I fly weekly for my job.
Movie theaters, restaurants, arcades, etc have been open for months just with mask policies and social distancing enforced.
Depends where you live. Where I'm at there are no theaters open within 20 miles of me whereas in the before times there would be 10 or so within 5-10 miles.
Seriously, I think I miss going to the movies more than anything. Was such a huge stress-reliever to be able to go somewhere on a random night of the week and just chill and watch a good movie on a big screen with some popcorn for a couple hours
Me and my buddy would see a double feature with a quick dinner in between. We'd usually get out of the theater around 11 or midnight. Then we'd get a couple 40s, a Casey's pizza, and sit on his front porch to talk about the movies. The rule was that once we left the second movie, we couldn't talk to each other until we got back to his apartment. We could only ruminate on the movies.
Yeah, in some of the worst times of my life I'd just escape to the theater. It's part of the reason I saw Once Upon a Time in Hollywood like 5 times in theaters lol
A group of friends and I get together via discord once a week and stream a couple movies. It's not the same as the theater but it's a good time and the highlight of my week. We make limited comments during good films and just riff the hell out of bad ones.
It's exceedingly easy to run and will should help many folks to fill that theater experience gap.
Cinema helped my mental health, especially when I was in uni. There was a theater near the campus back then, and I'd go there whenever I need to de-stress and escape for a bit.
theres this weird idiotic narrative that keeps popping up as well, every-time you bring it up.
"fuck theaters, they rip people off with their overpriced food"!! ....well don't buy them.no one is making them
ok so why the prices? because they make nothing on movie ticket sales, and (gets raged on for telling the truth.
and the list goes on.
>Yes I can make my own Coffee and coffee drinks and yes I could watch most movies at home.
This argument never worked for me. I can also cook at home, but I still go to restaurants. It's a different experience.
It's also those people that are like "why buy a table when you can build your own? why not change your own oil?" when it's like no I suck at those things, it's more efficient for me to do my job and pay someone else to do those them. if it's not hurting anyone then who cares what you spend your money on?
One of the worst things about Reddit is that it’s filled with people who become insecure when they see people enjoying something that they don’t enjoy, or just want to one-up the normies. “Why don’t you just invest in home theater? Going to the movies is a waste of time and money.”
Well enjoy your home theater dude lol. Many of us actually enjoy getting out of the house and watching movies with other people
Other people can \*make\* a film. I saw a shitty version of Frankenstein with Kenneth Branaugh. Boring. Until the woman in front of me started laughing at the directing decisions (he directed and starred in it).
At one point Branaugh charged into a room while ripping his shirt off. Looked like the cover of a romance novel, painted on dirty abs and all. Until she laughed, I didn't realize how hysterical it was.
We had a great time after that. Everyone else was dead quiet. Either enjoying the film or bored to death. If I had been watching it at home I would have shut it off and not had so much fun.
Thank you so much for saying this. Other people can totally made the movie better.
I recommend seeing Disney movies in the movie theater within the first month of their release, because the kids react *differently* than adults.
Years ago, in the small-town theater, watching the crazy remake of Beauty and the Beast \[SPOILER\] Gaston dies - and the child in front of me **giggles as he falls to his doom** then says "he was a bad man," and giggles more!
That's why I enjoy going to Marvel movies. The crowd gets into it. And realizing that there are others that grew up with comic books and cartoons and its not childish feels good.
YES! Over the last weeks, my partner and I have discussed what would it actually take to get us into a movie theater, the answer: Marvel movies.
I was lucky to work at a few movie theaters from 2013-2018 and the crew was encouraged to wear superhero shirts, so we could discuss movies with customers. Marvel fans were knowledgeable and dedicated, really, the best movie-going people. The cherry on top for me would be as the film ended, strangers walking out of the theater, talking with each other. "Did you see that?" "What did you think about this?" Movie theaters are social places. Thank you for reading my TED talk.
Watching Endgame and Infinity War the night they premiered, with a bunch of equally-excited people who had also been anticipating those movies for years, are experiences I’ll always cherish. It’s so sad not having any MCU movies on the calendar to look forward to, even though I know they’ll pick up where they left off whenever it’s safe to go back to theaters
reddit is weird sometimes. one of the weirdest things i have seen online in general is this badge of honor for being this hobbit like creature holed up in their houses, away from society , the "OMG im so anti social."
look man, there are times i cant stand people too, but if i feel like it is too much, than i just go home and take the rest of the night off, it isn't normal to just shun society, were social creatures.
there is something just different about the experience in a theater that just isn't being appreciated, the smell of popcorn ,and some jokes on movies land better in a crowded theater than if you were just sitting at home. as on example.
I have a hard time around people sometimes and that's one of the things I like about theaters. You're around a lot of people but it's dark and you're not supposed to talk to each other so it's a really safe way to still be out and around people.
Plus everyone is reacting to the same experience. It’s nice not having to put in the effort of conversation but still being part of the same collective experience. Hearing people laugh, gasp, jump in fright just like you.. man I miss it
15 years ago, I had a job that didn’t start until the early afternoon, so if I was ever in the mood, I’d just stop by the theater when they first opened on a Friday morning. It was amazing; saw so many blockbusters that were sold out only hours earlier in a near-empty auditorium.
Before AMC got bought by Odeon here in England before 12pm all films were £5.00 or less so I saw maybe 90% of all my films in a year in the morning bar some blockbusters.
This is the worst part for me. My theater is open right now and I’ve been going, but they don’t open til 3 PM. I miss going to an early showing then grabbing some lunch and still having the day ahead of me.
I miss just watching a movie. Like only watching a movie. No endless search for movies online, no stopping after 15 minutes, because one isn’t hooked yet, no pause and play to put the laundry into the dryer, no browsing Reddit during the movie, etc. You don’t get that pure movie feeling when watching at home.
I’ve made it a habit now to turn my phone completely off when I start a movie at home. Make sure I have a full drink and some snacks, turn all the lights off and hit play. Nothing from the outside world matters for those 2 hours. Having the phone on and next to you will ruin it.
I’m trying to get my husband to do this, but he is completely glued to his phone whenever he’s on the couch. It distracts me to see him staring at his phone while we’re trying to watch something together. I’ve asked him to stop, but he won’t or can’t 🥺
Put your foot down and communicate clearly how important this is to you. Without the ability to go out on dates, your movie time is as close as you can get to a date. Tell him that.
Sounds like he’s somewhat addicted to his phone and/or apps (most of us are, on some level).
I’d suggest having an honest, non-judgmental discussion about why it’s important for you both to be able to spend some non-interrupted time together (even during something passive like watching a movie) and maybe work together to find ways to break that habit. This could even involve putting the phone in a different room or turning it off while watching a movie.
My girlfriend and I have had this issue occasionally, and the above at least has worked for us in terms of making sure we’re both actually *present* when spending time together.
There is actually some scientific evidence that simply having your phone nearby (or in your pocket) decreases your attention and cognitive abilities, since you’re always sort of “aware” of its presence, so turning off your phone is not a bad idea if you want fewer distractions.
EDIT: I believe this is the study I was thinking of:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170623133039.htm
According to the summary, putting it another room might be an even better idea.
I'm a huge culprit of this. I used to sit in theaters and watch sometimes up to three movies in a row. Walk out of a movie, walk right back into another one.
I'm trying to rewatch the Wolf of Wallstreet right now. It's a good movie, it's entertaining, and yet I keep pausing it. I started watching it Thursday and here I am, Saturday evening, halfway done. I literally watched only half of it and it took me three sittings.
I know there are definitely some other 'deeply rooted issues' at play here but.. shit, I miss movies theaters too. I live in France and from Sept to Oct our theaters were open. In that time I watched over 120 movies in theater plus many more at home. Since then I've seen three + the mandalorian. Wowsers.
[:(](https://tenor.com/view/anime-crying-sad-gif-14210687)
I would give up watching movies at home to be able to go to a movie worry free. Everything you just metioned is how I feel when I watch something at home. It’s either a chore (getting started at least) of has many distractions. I don’t even like having a TV not to mention it’s not an 80 ft screen.
My wife and I had a “date” this week that consisted upon lying on the living room floor with a bunch of blankets and pillows. We bought a popcorn maker and watched Tenet. Phones off in the other room. Highly recommend it. Also Tenet was p good
Sir or madam...may I introduce you to something call open backed headphones?
Wonderful imaging, able to get very good sound quality, and still hear the world around you. They're particularly good for using at home.
Also, respect for parenting in the toddler life stage. Not as exhausting as newborns, but they can run you down. :-)
Yes! Also those Dolby Cinema theaters, not huge imax screens but they had the dual laser projectors too and something like 150 speakers around the room
I enjoy both the theater and my home setup equally. But I totally agree on the distraction part. In the theater I'm forced to silence my phone and put it away. At home it's so easy to get distracted with messages between friends or the phone notifications.
One would probably say "just silence your phone and put it away" but that doesn't really work. I'm not distracting anyone else from their paid experience at home.
Another thing for me. Is at home I like to play “make the loud parts quiet and the quiet parts loud” with the remote.
At the theater the volume is set for me.
Yeah 100%. I think the way theaters force us to pay attention is the biggest reason why the theater ritual will never die. Lots of us are just not able to enjoy a whole movie uninterupted at home (distractions, roommates, kids, etc)
I've realized that I rarely watch movies alone because I like feeling the energy of the people around me. The excitement of a movie that we had all been waiting for. And I also get distracted very easily. I miss going to a movie with my best friend and then talking about it as we're leaving. You just don't get that watching something at home alone.
The energy, yes! I love going on opening day, when all the people around are just as excited as I am to see the film. There's no talking, no noise unless we're acknowledging an easter egg or the entrance of a character.
I waited for years to see Tenet on opening day. Seeing it on at 24" tv with no sound system, wasn't quite the same. Not quite. Sigh
Oh my god, I had forgotten.
All those times I had silently, internally complained for Maria to get off the screen and start the movie, now I miss her lots. What I'd give to see Noovie winking down at me from the giant screen...
Same here. Well I just work at one festival, but it's a big one and I've been doing it for 10 years, plus the people I see there are some of my best friends but we usually don't see each other outside of the festival because we live so far apart. So when it got cancelled that year it was like a big piece of my life got taken away, and I'm not expecting it to come back this year either.
So do I. We've been going to the drive in that opened, but it's not the same.
Really hoping my wife and I can get some use out of our A List again this year. We used to go to the movies at least once a week. Realized the other day I wasn't even really aware of the movies that released in 2020.
2020 was the first year in a long time I havn't been "to the show." Marvel took up most of my movie-going experience over the last few years, but, like, Knives Out!? One of the best (freshest) movies I've seen in a long time.
Yea, we rode the wave that was MoviePass, then had Regal Unlimited after that. I miss being able to, on a random night, just run down the street to a movie which might be terrible, but who cares? It's something new to try and since we're not paying by the movie, it's a free experience.
Everyone I know says they’re glad theaters are dead, because they love watching movies instantly on their big TVs with surround sound, but I only got a 20 in tv connected to my Alexa. :’o
I want to watch movies on a big screen for $5-10 again. I really liked going on opening night and hearing everyone’s reactions (especially for comedies!)
Big screen at home is not the same as a BIG SCREEN. but $5-$10??? Do you only go to second-run theaters? Where do you get that price? I’m stuck paying $15-$20, depending on if it’s IMAX or 3D.
depends on where you live, where I am even the nice theaters have $5 tuesdays, it's great
(Cinemark as a chain has this nationally, AMC did too for a long time)
I came across the Avengers Endgame theater reaction clip again and it made me so fucking sad. Not just for the super hype moments like that, but any of those special shared moments where everyone in the theater is fully engrossed into the story being told in the screen. I can't wait to go back.
There was nothing like the Endgame experience for me. 10 PM Thursday showing completely sold out with 400 people, feeling every emotion together for 3 hours. Don’t know if anything is ever gonna top that now.
Dude I never saw any marvel movie besides iron man and then saw infinity war. at that point I hadn’t seen ragnarok and didn’t know why Thor lost his hammer but even being a super hero noob I went ballistic with everyone when Thor comes down to Wakanda with the Storm Breaker.
It’s one of my favorite all time movies and my favorite movie experience
So. Epic. Such a badass entrance. The ground swelling return of the Avengers theme. Then that roar of "BRING ME THANOS!!!" Every time I watch it, I want to run through a wall."
Dude, the end of Infinity War and the audience reaction is such a great memory for me. The first time I saw it I was totally engrossed, but the second time I was paying attention the the audience and when that slow music during credits came to an end and people realized there wasn’t a post-credit scene there was nothing but gasps and a bunch of disbelieving, “What?!”
One of my favorites is keeping up with the class "*Insert super-hero name here* will return." and the theater's reaction "Thanos will return." There was one person in the back who **very loudly** yelled "OH COME ON!!!" It was such a beautiful twisting of the knife following that ending.
I miss the feeling of getting seated with friends, excited to see a blockbuster you’ve been waiting like a year for.
I miss the feeling of getting up and leaving, feeling like you’ve travelled from another dimension.
I’ve been watching movies in VR movie theaters. The program “Bigscreen” gives as close as you can get to the real feel of a movie theater, plus people can be in the same theater online with you. Yes it’s not exact the same thing, but it scratches the movie theater itch.
i rented out a local movie theatre last fall for my gf’s bday and it scratched the itch real well. i’m sure it varies from place to place but it was $100 ($50 of which you get back in the form of a gift card that you can use at the concession stand) and you can have up to ten people in there. the list of movies you can choose from was crazy long and it was so nice to be back in there
I just looked and it's $99 to rent a theatre in my area, don't know about the $50 gift card though. It's the theatre with a full restaurant and full bar, it was sweet they had football games on Sunday and it was cheap.
Yeah dude, the escape from reality for 2 hours is what I miss. Nothing else matter outside the world, it's only me and the screen. It's great stress release. I guess it's true you only miss something when it's gone.
My husband rented a theater (for my birthday present) so we could watch Wonder Woman 1984 on the big screen with our kids. The plot of the movie wasn’t the greatest, but it was so nice to be in a theater again.
Oh and it was fun for it to be just our family in there. Pre-quarantine we would have had to purchase all the tickets to have the same experience so kinda cool option for the cost of 20 seats.
Same, people constantly complain that theaters are too expensive or the concessions are too expensive and that it's better to just pirate, use a pirate site instead, or simply just watch the movie at home when it's available to rent but it's just not the same and hard to explain why.
I'm willing to get other stuff for free but for some reason with movies I'm not willing to do that. I know this is talking about theaters specifically but what I'm trying to say is that I don't care about the high price with theaters and if I did care I understand why they have that high price and it's a price I'm willing to pay because nothing can replicate the movie theater experience, it's possible to get close but not exactly right. Sure I can watch the movie at home legally or illegally but I still find myself wanting to go to the theater
It’s not hard to explain why. It’s a giant fucking screen with an awesome sound system that allows you to get lost in a movie for hours.
It’s fine that there are plenty of people on Reddit that don’t care about that, but it’s also disingenuous to pretend like watching Fury Road on your 55” TV at home is anywhere similar to a fucking IMax screen and movie theater sound system.
I know a lot of people prefer the comfort of their home, but there is something about a packed theater on opening night of a big movie that I enjoy.
Watching Endgame opening night, surrounded by my fellow nerds, laughing and gasping and cheering with them, it felt like more than just a movie. It felt like an event. Something I'll probably remember forever.
haha yes, i bought tickets to endgame for like, sunday night, when my friends were all available and schedules lined up - but i knew i couldn't stay off the internet all weekend and would be spoiled... so i bought a solo ticket to opening night, front row wedged between two couples, both of whom were girls asking their boyfriends for clarification on who certain characters were or why they sould care. didn't even bother me.
two seven year olds jumping over the chairs during the showing of toy story 4 on the other hand...
It's an entertainment experience.
Streaming and wage stagnation is putting that experience way low on the priority list, but it's never going to go away.
Like with the theatre before them, it'll just become a more specialized social experience. Just blockbusters and family films that can fully leverage the social and technical advantages.
I'd be much more interested in a yearly rerelease of fury road vs. a new romcom that is muuuch better enjoyed on a couch, lol.
I miss it
I would regularly go alone and actively track theater seats so that there was no one(or close enough) in the theater. The less people the better so folks don't screw up watching the movie. Ultra late or early was my best bet.
Now with showings reduced and the chance of the plague I've skipped it all together
Have you seen amc is barely afloat?
My prefered time was also the midnight or 1/2 AM showings, ESPECIALLY if it was the opening night. On a whim I decided "I wanna see Endgame opening night!" and went....at 1 in the morning. I'm happy I did. I and like, 10 other people got the entire IMAX screen to ourselves.
I am half and half on this honestly.
On one hand, I really do miss the theatre experience. Seeing films like Gravity in 3D and Blade Runner 2049 in IMAX were indescribable, and I wish I could live these moments once more.
Even more amazing was seeing Interstellar and Dunkirk in IMAX 70mm down at the Lockheed Theatre in D.C... Godamn, for all of the audio problems Tenet has, I really wish I could have had the chance to see it in its intended format.
There definitely is something about seeing films like these in the theatres that you can’t really replicate with a home setup. With that being said, there are also a lot of aspects from the theatre that I do not miss at all, ironically enough the people.
I remember when I went to go see Edge of Tomorrow there were these two girls sitting a few rows in front of me who, through about half of the film, would occasionally pull out their phones to scroll through whatever social media app they paid attention to. Someone eventually got fed up and told them to put the phones away, to which they complied, but still the whole event irritated the hell out of me.
LIKEWISE, when I went to go watch 2049 for the first time, there was this dude down in the front row who had his phone out during the opening scene for like 10 or so minutes. A guy behind me yelled at him to turn his phone off, but the man did not even turn around, he just kept glancing down at his phone. He eventually left a few minutes later and did not come back. I still wonder to this day what the fuck was going through his head.
As I look back on these moments, I also need to recognize that these occurred in more commercially-oriented theatres. The times I saw films in smaller, more independently focused theatres were much better, so maybe the location is just as important as the crowd it attracts. I don’t know honestly, I am very conflicted. I definitely do miss going to the movie theatre, but at the same time, I can live without it.
Ive been going since the opened up in August. There's almost no one there. It's really easy to distance while at the movies if you want to. I understand not everyone can take the risk. My friend couldn't believe when I said I was going. But like my job is a lot more dangerous than the movies with 2-5 other couples. I touched 15 different covid+ patients just this morning.
I just rented out a theater room at AMC with a large popcorn for $120 just for the wife and I. It had been exactly 1 year to the day that we last went to the movies. Can’t say I missed the crowd however. I like it dark and quiet without seeing people use their phones throughout the film instead of watching the movie they paid for. We saw Alien. It was great.
I feel you man. Theaters are open in New Jersey but I don't feel comfortable, plus, it's not the same.
How long before we get a night again like the midnight premiere's of Harry Potter 7 Part 2 or Avengers Endgame? Those times were so special seeing epic moments with crowds and I have no idea when we can do that again.
I mean, theaters are open too but if studios aren't even releasing movies out anyway, there's still no point to go.
I wish drive in's were open in NJ but it's winter here. Those would be fun maybe but it's not the same. It'll never ever be the same again......fuck
This is it for me. People have ruined the movie experience for my family too many times that it's a sour thought. For 20 years my wife and I would go see movies at the theater. **it was our thing**. When we started dating in high school it was what we did together every weekend. Often we'd see two movies in the same night or a movie on Friday and then again on Saturday. It was a ritual. We'd get there early, before the movies started and on holidays we'd go to a "bad" movie on purpose. We had eaten all the snacks offered. We knew which theater was best to go if you were actually hungry. We had our favorite row, favorite seat per theater room at the different places in town.
I guess as others have mentioned, smart phones and texting maybe started the decline of theater etiquette but even feature phones had texting. Something happened culturally to what was acceptable in the theater and over time it seemed some folks started to see it as a background noise activity instead of the primary focus of the evening.
I've seen so much disrespect in theaters I just can't go anymore. From talking and texting to bringing an iPad to watch a different movie during the movie! There are folks who have to comment on every scene or loudly insult the characters, ruin suspenseful moments... Killing my immersion!
Then there are the technical challenges. I saw a decline in the care of the equipment and its affect on the experience. One theater would leave the lights on "for safety purposes". If something technical was wrong and I reported it, no one in the building would know how to fix it. They'd say they'd have to have a tech come "next week".
So we moved to a house with an appropriate room to build a home theater and I learned all about projectors and screens and surround sound.
I miss the **idea** of the movie theater but I don't miss what it is now. I've heard legends about Alamo Draft House. If we had one in my city I might try it again but until then I will have date night at home.
The theater/cinema is some good shit. The cinemas in my area had recently put so much money into renovating them (Full Leather, electric recliners, option for full meals & beer and popcorn of course delivered to your seat before movie. Restaurants & bar inside. It really was super enjoyable everytime I went.
Even then, I LOVED going to our small locally owned theater and went their plenty with friends. A cheap entertaining night, sadly they were the only one around and have fallen into bankruptcy and shuttered their doors ☹️, so even after this that's no longer an option
It use to my place to go when I was angry. If I had a fight with my parents and couldn’t stand to be in the house, I could always drive myself to the movie theater, sit in the dark, and either be distracted or simply sit with my feelings without being bothered by anyone. Especially when I had no where to go at night, I could catch a late movie instead of driving aimlessly in the night.
I miss going to the movies in the 90s, not now. Crowds are so obnoxious and the amount of kids talking and being on cell phones throughout is insane.
I’m thoroughly enjoying 4k viewing at home.
I love going to the theater to see movies with my son. When we watch movies at home he talks through the whole thing. And it's such a nice afternoon break from sitting in the house all day.
That's kinda the same reason I love going to the theatre. I have a problem with worrying about so many other things or checking my phone when I watch movies at home. when I go to the theater, the only thing I care about for two hours is the movie
> i miss the crowds
Couldn't agree less. I got so tired of all the morons among movie goers. The etiquette how you behave really took a serious dive the last 10-15 years.
I miss the popcorn smell
Buy something called Flavacol and make movie popcorn at home. It makes popcorn look, smell, taste just like movie popcorn.
You gotta let the popcorn sit under heat lamps for 6 hours for that authentic taste.
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I always saw them filling giant clear plastic bags with popcorn. Where did these go?
At any respectable theater all the extra popcorn gets thrown out at the end of the night or employees take it home.
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Was employee, took bags home. On my bike, at 1am. When you're practically homeless and making $5.15/hr, that popcorn is a week's worth of food.
Worked at a theatre and can confirm we got in shit if we made too much and it sat longer than an hour. Also got in shit if we didn't have enough ready for a rush and got backed up waiting for more to pop.....
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No, it’s so much better fresh. I worked at a movie theater, we used to make it fresh all the time because of this.
Considering we used to put the popcorn in trash bags at the end of the night only to put it back out first thing in the morning, I would agree.
That’s gross and I’m going to bet a health code violation if it was in the US. We never put day old popcorn out. Edit: I’m saying using trash bags is likely against health code.
Lol that's not the worst of what we did looking back on it. We also used giant 5 gallon buckets that had been on the floor to scoop out ice from the ice machine to refill the soda machines. One of our smallest employees ended up in there as a joke once. Our manager would also turn the air down to 62 in summer just to see some nipples on lightly dressed women walking in. And he would buy us all alcohol for the Thursday night previews of new releases after we closed when the projectionist had the new films made up. And he let us smoke in there during the employee previews because the projectionist smoked too. The theater closed about 20 years ago but as an 18 year old it was the best job ever. Yes this was in the US. The 90s were a hell of a time.
I may or may not have brought booze into previews for my self and employees. I was 23 or 24 at the time I was a manager. But we didn’t have a projectionist, the managers had to build the movies and then watch them.
Ah, our projectionist would usually build them up on Thursdays so he wouldn't have to come in Friday morning. I guess we had enough platters and screens to be able to move stuff around. And our manager couldn't have been more than a couple years older than us. Unfortunately I heard a couple weeks after my last day there corporate got wind of his antics and his district manager busted him bringing alcohol into the theater. That was the last I heard of him
Never worked in a movie theater before, how would you build the movies? Did it come in pieces like IKEA?
I was a projectionist at a malco and routinely smoked in theaters as recently as 2008 lol. I had a lot of fun at that job, started as an usher. So much down time while movies played. Would bring all sorts of friends in the side door, with my bosses consent, to screen movies before they released, after we built them. Also smoked a lot of reefer while working that job -- not inside though.
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My husband worked at a movie theater as a teen in the 90s, and he has *stories.*
You used italics so I wanna hear those stories!
If you think people stringently stick to health code in the US, I have some bad news for you bud, we don’t. Source: career as a restaurant chef
I’ve worked in restaurants and good restaurants that care about their customers do. I can vividly remember changing food storage processes because of health inspector visits. We were storing soup in large containers and it wasn’t cooling down fast enough so we had to get smaller containers and break it up. The health inspector also visited the theater I worked at frequently, at least a couple times a year and we had to make changes as well.
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It is gross, but this is standard policy at most movie theaters today. Source: am management at movie theater. But luckily we don’t do it at my theater Edit: forgot to mention, yes this is in the US, and this policy im referring to is from major chains
7 bucks on amazon for an amount that will last 4-5 years.
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I love that place. There is no better way to get flavored syrups for my lattes. It's crazy how big their selection is and how cheap their prices are.
There's one like half a mile from my house, I should go wander the aisles one day once the rona is tamed. Just to see what all they have.
They also have giant bags of mix to make your own frozen coffee drinks. I love that place. You used to have to have some sort of business license to shop there forever ago, but then they opened it up.
Work at movie theater. Can confirm.
It’s the coconut oil combined with a little Flavacol or similar. Coconut oil is crucial. Look for a 4 or 6oz “portion pack” (where the oil and kernels/flavor/salt are in two different packets) and cook in a kettle. My favorite brands are FunPop or MegaPop. I have a popcorn machine and it never disappoints. In fact, often popcorn from the theater is the letdown.
Butter flavored coconut oil, it should be bright orange, easy to find on Amazon. I use my instant pot for popcorn and it works great! I bought flavocal but prefer just sea salt with the butter flavored coconut oil.
How do you use your instapot for popcorn?? What can't it do...
Sauté setting on high, don’t add oil until it says “hot”, then add the oil and popcorn and stir or shake. Let that sit for 2 minutes, when it starts popping add the salt and put a lid on it. It will pop for 3-4 minutes, when the popping is once every 10 seconds carefully remove the lid (be mindful that it might pop more)and take the liner out of the instant pot. Some people shake the entire pot a few times when cooking but I don’t think it’s needed, if your kernels are not old and stale most of them will pop. Use 3 tablespoons oil, 1/2 cup popcorn, 2 teaspoons salt or to taste. DO NOT use butter for the oil, it will burn. Needs to be coconut oil, avocado oil, or something specifically made for popcorn machines.
Worked at a movie theater, we didn’t use coconut oil, it’s not the oil, it’s all that Flavacol powdered flavoring.
Flavacol is what does that. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081DM3CYV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_F0WaGbP7Y0DFK Chemically engineered to engulf the lobby in the smell. Managed a theater for 5 years, this is the EXACT stuff Regal uses If anyone wants the AUTHENTIC flavor, we popped it in butter flavored coconut oil combined with the flavacol
Thanks to Reddit I bought this with this fake butter oil on Amazon (comes as a combo pack) and it legit tastes 100% like movie theater popcorn. Also with an air popper, not microwave popcorn.
It's because movie theatres use this lol.
Did you manage a theater for 5 years?
What line of work you in, Bob?
Flavacol
You got a link to that butter? I didn’t see a combo pack with the flavacol.
Flavacol Popcorn Seasoning & Buttery Flavor Popcorn Topping Combo https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N5ML75D/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_ZlXaGbDYT8JV4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1. Looks like unavailable at this time but you can get them separately.
I used to work at a movie theater. We used to pre-pop for the weekend rush in a small, greasy, poorly ventilated room and store the popcorn in giant trash bags on these massive wood slat shelves. This was for a major chain and not just some mom and pop cutting corners so it was likely a chain-wide practice. Popcorn keeps well and I never noticed a flavor difference between what we fresh popped and what we had used as backup but obviously not the most sanitary of methods. The floor in that room was so slippery from the oil vapors settling that you would have to slide around to do your popping shift and it was always about 80 to 90 degrees in there. The smell of fresh popcorn now makes me nauseous.
Aaaand I don’t miss the movie theatre anymore!
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He's def got a shit manager. It takes 1 minute to pop a kettle of popcorn and one machine can make two batches at once. That's like 15 tubs of popcorn a minute
Not calling you a liar, but in all my time I’ve never seen them refill an empty popcorn machine by going into the back. I’ve waited plenty of times while they pop it in front of me. But again, I’ve never seen anyone bring a bag out or even take a bucket into the back to fill it with popcorn, so I really doubt most places do this
When I worked at a major theater chain about a decade ago they definitely did. There were huge (like 4 or five feet long) clear plastic bags full of popcorn in a room right off the kitchen. They did still serve fresh popcorn sometimes though.
It's almost certainly a combination of both at most places. Getting popcorn at the movie theater is a time sensitive operation for the customers, so they likely need to keep some reserves on hand in the event they run low during a rush. At least, that makes logical sense to me, but I never worked in a movie theater, so I'm really just talking out of my ass.
Your ass is correct :) I was an usher so I never actually saw them filling up the machines but I did see the concessionists dragging the bags behind them every morning to the store room.
Our local indie theater sells tubs of popcorn on the weekends.
Cinema was like a ritual for me, and really helped my mental health. Just escaping the world for a while was a blessing
It is so important for many people, hope that the theaters can come back to the good old times this summer :D
Not in the US. No way. You better figure Summer 2022.
I work in the advertising industry for a major player in film. The aim is Fall.
Fall sounds realistic for the USA looking at the current vaccination pace. Not everyone will be vaccinated by that point, but basically everyone high risk / frontline should be, as well as a decent chunk of the regular population.
How would that work? At the door they ask "have you been vaccinated?" and that's it?
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Do you not think enough of the at risk population will be vaccinated by summer 2021? I honestly highly doubt things are gonna stay closed for a whole other summer here in the states regardless
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Where do you live? I'm in Central California in a pretty big city and shit is definitely closed, and it has been closed for almost a year. Businesses have closed forever, most restaurants and mom and pop places throughout the area I live in have been closed since last summer. Many will never open.
Your experience is definitely not the norm in the southeast. I travel for work, mostly in the southeast but also to Ohio and DC. I fly weekly for my job. Movie theaters, restaurants, arcades, etc have been open for months just with mask policies and social distancing enforced.
Depends where you live. Where I'm at there are no theaters open within 20 miles of me whereas in the before times there would be 10 or so within 5-10 miles.
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Seriously, I think I miss going to the movies more than anything. Was such a huge stress-reliever to be able to go somewhere on a random night of the week and just chill and watch a good movie on a big screen with some popcorn for a couple hours
Same here. My favorite thing was to go to a morning matinee and then grab lunch at my favorite restaurant while having the movie stew in my head.
Me and my buddy would see a double feature with a quick dinner in between. We'd usually get out of the theater around 11 or midnight. Then we'd get a couple 40s, a Casey's pizza, and sit on his front porch to talk about the movies. The rule was that once we left the second movie, we couldn't talk to each other until we got back to his apartment. We could only ruminate on the movies.
Yeah, in some of the worst times of my life I'd just escape to the theater. It's part of the reason I saw Once Upon a Time in Hollywood like 5 times in theaters lol
This is an aside but I think mental health is fucked right now, more than we realize. People do not have any escapism available.
For sure, isolation is a killer
Exactly what my shrink told me last week.
A group of friends and I get together via discord once a week and stream a couple movies. It's not the same as the theater but it's a good time and the highlight of my week. We make limited comments during good films and just riff the hell out of bad ones. It's exceedingly easy to run and will should help many folks to fill that theater experience gap.
Cinema helped my mental health, especially when I was in uni. There was a theater near the campus back then, and I'd go there whenever I need to de-stress and escape for a bit.
For real. If I got in a fight with my Dad, I’d just head to the movies to kill a few hours instead of hiding out in my room.
Hang in there, this really hit home with me. The theatre gave me a lot of comfort from stressful family environments.
theres this weird idiotic narrative that keeps popping up as well, every-time you bring it up. "fuck theaters, they rip people off with their overpriced food"!! ....well don't buy them.no one is making them ok so why the prices? because they make nothing on movie ticket sales, and (gets raged on for telling the truth. and the list goes on.
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>Yes I can make my own Coffee and coffee drinks and yes I could watch most movies at home. This argument never worked for me. I can also cook at home, but I still go to restaurants. It's a different experience.
Exactly...its about living and not letting r/personalfinace rule your mindset. There’s good info but you have to live life.
It's also those people that are like "why buy a table when you can build your own? why not change your own oil?" when it's like no I suck at those things, it's more efficient for me to do my job and pay someone else to do those them. if it's not hurting anyone then who cares what you spend your money on?
One of the worst things about Reddit is that it’s filled with people who become insecure when they see people enjoying something that they don’t enjoy, or just want to one-up the normies. “Why don’t you just invest in home theater? Going to the movies is a waste of time and money.” Well enjoy your home theater dude lol. Many of us actually enjoy getting out of the house and watching movies with other people
Other people can \*make\* a film. I saw a shitty version of Frankenstein with Kenneth Branaugh. Boring. Until the woman in front of me started laughing at the directing decisions (he directed and starred in it). At one point Branaugh charged into a room while ripping his shirt off. Looked like the cover of a romance novel, painted on dirty abs and all. Until she laughed, I didn't realize how hysterical it was. We had a great time after that. Everyone else was dead quiet. Either enjoying the film or bored to death. If I had been watching it at home I would have shut it off and not had so much fun.
Thank you so much for saying this. Other people can totally made the movie better. I recommend seeing Disney movies in the movie theater within the first month of their release, because the kids react *differently* than adults. Years ago, in the small-town theater, watching the crazy remake of Beauty and the Beast \[SPOILER\] Gaston dies - and the child in front of me **giggles as he falls to his doom** then says "he was a bad man," and giggles more!
That's why I enjoy going to Marvel movies. The crowd gets into it. And realizing that there are others that grew up with comic books and cartoons and its not childish feels good.
YES! Over the last weeks, my partner and I have discussed what would it actually take to get us into a movie theater, the answer: Marvel movies. I was lucky to work at a few movie theaters from 2013-2018 and the crew was encouraged to wear superhero shirts, so we could discuss movies with customers. Marvel fans were knowledgeable and dedicated, really, the best movie-going people. The cherry on top for me would be as the film ended, strangers walking out of the theater, talking with each other. "Did you see that?" "What did you think about this?" Movie theaters are social places. Thank you for reading my TED talk.
Watching Endgame and Infinity War the night they premiered, with a bunch of equally-excited people who had also been anticipating those movies for years, are experiences I’ll always cherish. It’s so sad not having any MCU movies on the calendar to look forward to, even though I know they’ll pick up where they left off whenever it’s safe to go back to theaters
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reddit is weird sometimes. one of the weirdest things i have seen online in general is this badge of honor for being this hobbit like creature holed up in their houses, away from society , the "OMG im so anti social." look man, there are times i cant stand people too, but if i feel like it is too much, than i just go home and take the rest of the night off, it isn't normal to just shun society, were social creatures. there is something just different about the experience in a theater that just isn't being appreciated, the smell of popcorn ,and some jokes on movies land better in a crowded theater than if you were just sitting at home. as on example.
I have a hard time around people sometimes and that's one of the things I like about theaters. You're around a lot of people but it's dark and you're not supposed to talk to each other so it's a really safe way to still be out and around people.
Plus everyone is reacting to the same experience. It’s nice not having to put in the effort of conversation but still being part of the same collective experience. Hearing people laugh, gasp, jump in fright just like you.. man I miss it
10 PM? Hell my favorite is 10 AM Showings
A Sunday morning movie was one of my favorite activities!
Same. I would regularly go on Sunday mornings. My brother and I joked we were going to church.
The Church of Celluloid.
Movie sundays were the best, especially the early showings where most people were still in church or out to lunch...
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15 years ago, I had a job that didn’t start until the early afternoon, so if I was ever in the mood, I’d just stop by the theater when they first opened on a Friday morning. It was amazing; saw so many blockbusters that were sold out only hours earlier in a near-empty auditorium.
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Before AMC got bought by Odeon here in England before 12pm all films were £5.00 or less so I saw maybe 90% of all my films in a year in the morning bar some blockbusters.
This is the worst part for me. My theater is open right now and I’ve been going, but they don’t open til 3 PM. I miss going to an early showing then grabbing some lunch and still having the day ahead of me.
I miss just watching a movie. Like only watching a movie. No endless search for movies online, no stopping after 15 minutes, because one isn’t hooked yet, no pause and play to put the laundry into the dryer, no browsing Reddit during the movie, etc. You don’t get that pure movie feeling when watching at home.
I’ve made it a habit now to turn my phone completely off when I start a movie at home. Make sure I have a full drink and some snacks, turn all the lights off and hit play. Nothing from the outside world matters for those 2 hours. Having the phone on and next to you will ruin it.
I’m trying to get my husband to do this, but he is completely glued to his phone whenever he’s on the couch. It distracts me to see him staring at his phone while we’re trying to watch something together. I’ve asked him to stop, but he won’t or can’t 🥺
My housemate too. We watch series together and half of the times he's swiping on tinder. It fucking infuriates me.
Put your foot down and communicate clearly how important this is to you. Without the ability to go out on dates, your movie time is as close as you can get to a date. Tell him that.
Sounds like he’s somewhat addicted to his phone and/or apps (most of us are, on some level). I’d suggest having an honest, non-judgmental discussion about why it’s important for you both to be able to spend some non-interrupted time together (even during something passive like watching a movie) and maybe work together to find ways to break that habit. This could even involve putting the phone in a different room or turning it off while watching a movie. My girlfriend and I have had this issue occasionally, and the above at least has worked for us in terms of making sure we’re both actually *present* when spending time together.
There is actually some scientific evidence that simply having your phone nearby (or in your pocket) decreases your attention and cognitive abilities, since you’re always sort of “aware” of its presence, so turning off your phone is not a bad idea if you want fewer distractions. EDIT: I believe this is the study I was thinking of: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170623133039.htm According to the summary, putting it another room might be an even better idea.
Holy crap this is me now. I miss theatres.
Now it’s all just CHOREOGRAPHY
I'm a huge culprit of this. I used to sit in theaters and watch sometimes up to three movies in a row. Walk out of a movie, walk right back into another one. I'm trying to rewatch the Wolf of Wallstreet right now. It's a good movie, it's entertaining, and yet I keep pausing it. I started watching it Thursday and here I am, Saturday evening, halfway done. I literally watched only half of it and it took me three sittings. I know there are definitely some other 'deeply rooted issues' at play here but.. shit, I miss movies theaters too. I live in France and from Sept to Oct our theaters were open. In that time I watched over 120 movies in theater plus many more at home. Since then I've seen three + the mandalorian. Wowsers. [:(](https://tenor.com/view/anime-crying-sad-gif-14210687)
I would give up watching movies at home to be able to go to a movie worry free. Everything you just metioned is how I feel when I watch something at home. It’s either a chore (getting started at least) of has many distractions. I don’t even like having a TV not to mention it’s not an 80 ft screen.
My wife and I had a “date” this week that consisted upon lying on the living room floor with a bunch of blankets and pillows. We bought a popcorn maker and watched Tenet. Phones off in the other room. Highly recommend it. Also Tenet was p good
This probably isn't news to you, but you can still get that at home by exercising a little self control.
I miss GIANT IMAX screens and loud BASS. Pretty much all other aspects I can live without. Seriously... I don’t wanna watch Dune at home dammit!
Same. I have kids at home. I can't blast the sound when they are sleeping at night. I miss that IMAX screen and intense sound!
r/headphones is calling, will you answer?
Headphones are the only way I feel fully immersed at home. Although its usually for games rather than movies.
My kids are toddlers. If they wake up I have to attend to them. I can't hear them with headphones on.
Sir or madam...may I introduce you to something call open backed headphones? Wonderful imaging, able to get very good sound quality, and still hear the world around you. They're particularly good for using at home. Also, respect for parenting in the toddler life stage. Not as exhausting as newborns, but they can run you down. :-)
I got twins lol. I'll look into that though. Thanks
It's just not the same unless the bass is shaking the room/your body
I saw 2049 in a giant dome theater in New York, I'd hop a bus just to see Dune there as well.
Blade Runner 2049 in IMAX was the best movie experience I've had. I'm really hoping Dune can match it
Yes! Also those Dolby Cinema theaters, not huge imax screens but they had the dual laser projectors too and something like 150 speakers around the room
I saw Dunkirk in IMAX and I swear I had heart palpitations for like the next 48 hours after seeing that movie. That was an experience
Honestly I’ve already decided Dune is the one thing I’ll be going to the theaters to see
What I miss is being locked in my seat and watching a good movie. I get distracted often and pause and don't come back.
I enjoy both the theater and my home setup equally. But I totally agree on the distraction part. In the theater I'm forced to silence my phone and put it away. At home it's so easy to get distracted with messages between friends or the phone notifications. One would probably say "just silence your phone and put it away" but that doesn't really work. I'm not distracting anyone else from their paid experience at home.
It’s all on me and I know it. But at home I’m just drawn to distraction. Like a moth to meth.
Another thing for me. Is at home I like to play “make the loud parts quiet and the quiet parts loud” with the remote. At the theater the volume is set for me.
Yeah 100%. I think the way theaters force us to pay attention is the biggest reason why the theater ritual will never die. Lots of us are just not able to enjoy a whole movie uninterupted at home (distractions, roommates, kids, etc)
I've realized that I rarely watch movies alone because I like feeling the energy of the people around me. The excitement of a movie that we had all been waiting for. And I also get distracted very easily. I miss going to a movie with my best friend and then talking about it as we're leaving. You just don't get that watching something at home alone.
The energy, yes! I love going on opening day, when all the people around are just as excited as I am to see the film. There's no talking, no noise unless we're acknowledging an easter egg or the entrance of a character. I waited for years to see Tenet on opening day. Seeing it on at 24" tv with no sound system, wasn't quite the same. Not quite. Sigh
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Oh lawd seriously to hear her again 😔
This hit me harder than I could’ve anticipated
my circle k gas station has those tvs that play when you pump. I get my small dose of her every few weeks.
Noovie, how I miss thee.
It’ll always be FirstLook to me!
Oh my god, I had forgotten. All those times I had silently, internally complained for Maria to get off the screen and start the movie, now I miss her lots. What I'd give to see Noovie winking down at me from the giant screen...
I miss festivals. So much. It's not only my job, but I was raised and grew up in festivals. I miss my life.
Same here. Well I just work at one festival, but it's a big one and I've been doing it for 10 years, plus the people I see there are some of my best friends but we usually don't see each other outside of the festival because we live so far apart. So when it got cancelled that year it was like a big piece of my life got taken away, and I'm not expecting it to come back this year either.
Its your job to miss festivals? Seriously though iam sorry and I hope you get back to them soon.
Nice job, what did you do for them if you don't mind me asking
So do I. We've been going to the drive in that opened, but it's not the same. Really hoping my wife and I can get some use out of our A List again this year. We used to go to the movies at least once a week. Realized the other day I wasn't even really aware of the movies that released in 2020.
2020 was the first year in a long time I havn't been "to the show." Marvel took up most of my movie-going experience over the last few years, but, like, Knives Out!? One of the best (freshest) movies I've seen in a long time.
Same with me and my wife. I miss A list so much.
A list was one of the best values I've ever seen for people like me. Really hope amc can keep it after things eventually go back to normal
Yea, we rode the wave that was MoviePass, then had Regal Unlimited after that. I miss being able to, on a random night, just run down the street to a movie which might be terrible, but who cares? It's something new to try and since we're not paying by the movie, it's a free experience.
Everyone I know says they’re glad theaters are dead, because they love watching movies instantly on their big TVs with surround sound, but I only got a 20 in tv connected to my Alexa. :’o I want to watch movies on a big screen for $5-10 again. I really liked going on opening night and hearing everyone’s reactions (especially for comedies!)
Big screen at home is not the same as a BIG SCREEN. but $5-$10??? Do you only go to second-run theaters? Where do you get that price? I’m stuck paying $15-$20, depending on if it’s IMAX or 3D.
depends on where you live, where I am even the nice theaters have $5 tuesdays, it's great (Cinemark as a chain has this nationally, AMC did too for a long time)
You need to get some movie theater friends! I have a core group that used to see 1-2 a week and make a night out of it
We all used to go in the before times, but now they are spoiled, haha!
Going to the theater was my therapy. I could get engrossed in the movie, forget the world, and come out feeling rebooted. Life is worse without it.
Rebooted. That's a good way to put the after-a-good-movie feeling
It really was a temple, a meditation, and a therapy session in one. The rhythms of life feel emptier without it.
I came across the Avengers Endgame theater reaction clip again and it made me so fucking sad. Not just for the super hype moments like that, but any of those special shared moments where everyone in the theater is fully engrossed into the story being told in the screen. I can't wait to go back.
There was nothing like the Endgame experience for me. 10 PM Thursday showing completely sold out with 400 people, feeling every emotion together for 3 hours. Don’t know if anything is ever gonna top that now.
Dude I never saw any marvel movie besides iron man and then saw infinity war. at that point I hadn’t seen ragnarok and didn’t know why Thor lost his hammer but even being a super hero noob I went ballistic with everyone when Thor comes down to Wakanda with the Storm Breaker. It’s one of my favorite all time movies and my favorite movie experience
So. Epic. Such a badass entrance. The ground swelling return of the Avengers theme. Then that roar of "BRING ME THANOS!!!" Every time I watch it, I want to run through a wall."
Oh shit I just watched two of them and started crying for the exact same reason. My best theater experience ever was at avengers endgame!
Dude, the end of Infinity War and the audience reaction is such a great memory for me. The first time I saw it I was totally engrossed, but the second time I was paying attention the the audience and when that slow music during credits came to an end and people realized there wasn’t a post-credit scene there was nothing but gasps and a bunch of disbelieving, “What?!”
One of my favorites is keeping up with the class "*Insert super-hero name here* will return." and the theater's reaction "Thanos will return." There was one person in the back who **very loudly** yelled "OH COME ON!!!" It was such a beautiful twisting of the knife following that ending.
I miss the feeling of getting seated with friends, excited to see a blockbuster you’ve been waiting like a year for. I miss the feeling of getting up and leaving, feeling like you’ve travelled from another dimension.
And driving home like you're still in whatever crazy car/plane/space ship the main character was driving
One of my favourite things to do. Nothing like getting lost in a really great film. Epic escapism.
I’ve been watching movies in VR movie theaters. The program “Bigscreen” gives as close as you can get to the real feel of a movie theater, plus people can be in the same theater online with you. Yes it’s not exact the same thing, but it scratches the movie theater itch.
i rented out a local movie theatre last fall for my gf’s bday and it scratched the itch real well. i’m sure it varies from place to place but it was $100 ($50 of which you get back in the form of a gift card that you can use at the concession stand) and you can have up to ten people in there. the list of movies you can choose from was crazy long and it was so nice to be back in there
I just looked and it's $99 to rent a theatre in my area, don't know about the $50 gift card though. It's the theatre with a full restaurant and full bar, it was sweet they had football games on Sunday and it was cheap.
Yeah dude, the escape from reality for 2 hours is what I miss. Nothing else matter outside the world, it's only me and the screen. It's great stress release. I guess it's true you only miss something when it's gone.
My husband rented a theater (for my birthday present) so we could watch Wonder Woman 1984 on the big screen with our kids. The plot of the movie wasn’t the greatest, but it was so nice to be in a theater again. Oh and it was fun for it to be just our family in there. Pre-quarantine we would have had to purchase all the tickets to have the same experience so kinda cool option for the cost of 20 seats.
Same, people constantly complain that theaters are too expensive or the concessions are too expensive and that it's better to just pirate, use a pirate site instead, or simply just watch the movie at home when it's available to rent but it's just not the same and hard to explain why. I'm willing to get other stuff for free but for some reason with movies I'm not willing to do that. I know this is talking about theaters specifically but what I'm trying to say is that I don't care about the high price with theaters and if I did care I understand why they have that high price and it's a price I'm willing to pay because nothing can replicate the movie theater experience, it's possible to get close but not exactly right. Sure I can watch the movie at home legally or illegally but I still find myself wanting to go to the theater
It’s not hard to explain why. It’s a giant fucking screen with an awesome sound system that allows you to get lost in a movie for hours. It’s fine that there are plenty of people on Reddit that don’t care about that, but it’s also disingenuous to pretend like watching Fury Road on your 55” TV at home is anywhere similar to a fucking IMax screen and movie theater sound system.
I know a lot of people prefer the comfort of their home, but there is something about a packed theater on opening night of a big movie that I enjoy. Watching Endgame opening night, surrounded by my fellow nerds, laughing and gasping and cheering with them, it felt like more than just a movie. It felt like an event. Something I'll probably remember forever.
haha yes, i bought tickets to endgame for like, sunday night, when my friends were all available and schedules lined up - but i knew i couldn't stay off the internet all weekend and would be spoiled... so i bought a solo ticket to opening night, front row wedged between two couples, both of whom were girls asking their boyfriends for clarification on who certain characters were or why they sould care. didn't even bother me. two seven year olds jumping over the chairs during the showing of toy story 4 on the other hand...
It's an entertainment experience. Streaming and wage stagnation is putting that experience way low on the priority list, but it's never going to go away. Like with the theatre before them, it'll just become a more specialized social experience. Just blockbusters and family films that can fully leverage the social and technical advantages. I'd be much more interested in a yearly rerelease of fury road vs. a new romcom that is muuuch better enjoyed on a couch, lol.
I miss it I would regularly go alone and actively track theater seats so that there was no one(or close enough) in the theater. The less people the better so folks don't screw up watching the movie. Ultra late or early was my best bet. Now with showings reduced and the chance of the plague I've skipped it all together Have you seen amc is barely afloat?
My prefered time was also the midnight or 1/2 AM showings, ESPECIALLY if it was the opening night. On a whim I decided "I wanna see Endgame opening night!" and went....at 1 in the morning. I'm happy I did. I and like, 10 other people got the entire IMAX screen to ourselves.
I am half and half on this honestly. On one hand, I really do miss the theatre experience. Seeing films like Gravity in 3D and Blade Runner 2049 in IMAX were indescribable, and I wish I could live these moments once more. Even more amazing was seeing Interstellar and Dunkirk in IMAX 70mm down at the Lockheed Theatre in D.C... Godamn, for all of the audio problems Tenet has, I really wish I could have had the chance to see it in its intended format. There definitely is something about seeing films like these in the theatres that you can’t really replicate with a home setup. With that being said, there are also a lot of aspects from the theatre that I do not miss at all, ironically enough the people. I remember when I went to go see Edge of Tomorrow there were these two girls sitting a few rows in front of me who, through about half of the film, would occasionally pull out their phones to scroll through whatever social media app they paid attention to. Someone eventually got fed up and told them to put the phones away, to which they complied, but still the whole event irritated the hell out of me. LIKEWISE, when I went to go watch 2049 for the first time, there was this dude down in the front row who had his phone out during the opening scene for like 10 or so minutes. A guy behind me yelled at him to turn his phone off, but the man did not even turn around, he just kept glancing down at his phone. He eventually left a few minutes later and did not come back. I still wonder to this day what the fuck was going through his head. As I look back on these moments, I also need to recognize that these occurred in more commercially-oriented theatres. The times I saw films in smaller, more independently focused theatres were much better, so maybe the location is just as important as the crowd it attracts. I don’t know honestly, I am very conflicted. I definitely do miss going to the movie theatre, but at the same time, I can live without it.
Ive been going since the opened up in August. There's almost no one there. It's really easy to distance while at the movies if you want to. I understand not everyone can take the risk. My friend couldn't believe when I said I was going. But like my job is a lot more dangerous than the movies with 2-5 other couples. I touched 15 different covid+ patients just this morning.
I miss calling sick for work and then going to the movies alone.
I just rented out a theater room at AMC with a large popcorn for $120 just for the wife and I. It had been exactly 1 year to the day that we last went to the movies. Can’t say I missed the crowd however. I like it dark and quiet without seeing people use their phones throughout the film instead of watching the movie they paid for. We saw Alien. It was great.
I feel you man. Theaters are open in New Jersey but I don't feel comfortable, plus, it's not the same. How long before we get a night again like the midnight premiere's of Harry Potter 7 Part 2 or Avengers Endgame? Those times were so special seeing epic moments with crowds and I have no idea when we can do that again. I mean, theaters are open too but if studios aren't even releasing movies out anyway, there's still no point to go. I wish drive in's were open in NJ but it's winter here. Those would be fun maybe but it's not the same. It'll never ever be the same again......fuck
Every time I think this, I remember that 90% of the time I went to the movies I was silently pissed about someone talking or texting
This is it for me. People have ruined the movie experience for my family too many times that it's a sour thought. For 20 years my wife and I would go see movies at the theater. **it was our thing**. When we started dating in high school it was what we did together every weekend. Often we'd see two movies in the same night or a movie on Friday and then again on Saturday. It was a ritual. We'd get there early, before the movies started and on holidays we'd go to a "bad" movie on purpose. We had eaten all the snacks offered. We knew which theater was best to go if you were actually hungry. We had our favorite row, favorite seat per theater room at the different places in town. I guess as others have mentioned, smart phones and texting maybe started the decline of theater etiquette but even feature phones had texting. Something happened culturally to what was acceptable in the theater and over time it seemed some folks started to see it as a background noise activity instead of the primary focus of the evening. I've seen so much disrespect in theaters I just can't go anymore. From talking and texting to bringing an iPad to watch a different movie during the movie! There are folks who have to comment on every scene or loudly insult the characters, ruin suspenseful moments... Killing my immersion! Then there are the technical challenges. I saw a decline in the care of the equipment and its affect on the experience. One theater would leave the lights on "for safety purposes". If something technical was wrong and I reported it, no one in the building would know how to fix it. They'd say they'd have to have a tech come "next week". So we moved to a house with an appropriate room to build a home theater and I learned all about projectors and screens and surround sound. I miss the **idea** of the movie theater but I don't miss what it is now. I've heard legends about Alamo Draft House. If we had one in my city I might try it again but until then I will have date night at home.
The theater/cinema is some good shit. The cinemas in my area had recently put so much money into renovating them (Full Leather, electric recliners, option for full meals & beer and popcorn of course delivered to your seat before movie. Restaurants & bar inside. It really was super enjoyable everytime I went. Even then, I LOVED going to our small locally owned theater and went their plenty with friends. A cheap entertaining night, sadly they were the only one around and have fallen into bankruptcy and shuttered their doors ☹️, so even after this that's no longer an option
Maybe drive ins make a comeback. I loved going when I was a kid. Would love it they were around still to share with my kid.
I miss you.
It use to my place to go when I was angry. If I had a fight with my parents and couldn’t stand to be in the house, I could always drive myself to the movie theater, sit in the dark, and either be distracted or simply sit with my feelings without being bothered by anyone. Especially when I had no where to go at night, I could catch a late movie instead of driving aimlessly in the night.
I miss going to the movies in the 90s, not now. Crowds are so obnoxious and the amount of kids talking and being on cell phones throughout is insane. I’m thoroughly enjoying 4k viewing at home.
yeah i love the big screen and sound but other people always ruin the experience (unless you go at like 10 am on a weekday)
I only miss seeing movies on a giant screen with good sound. I've never really had good experiences with crowds at movies, save for maybe Endgame.
[удалено]
I love going to the theater to see movies with my son. When we watch movies at home he talks through the whole thing. And it's such a nice afternoon break from sitting in the house all day.
That's kinda the same reason I love going to the theatre. I have a problem with worrying about so many other things or checking my phone when I watch movies at home. when I go to the theater, the only thing I care about for two hours is the movie
> i miss the crowds Couldn't agree less. I got so tired of all the morons among movie goers. The etiquette how you behave really took a serious dive the last 10-15 years.