What's your proudest "I saw that movie in theaters during its original run" achievement?

[u/VGAddict]

[u/zizban]

The original Star Wars when I was 8

[u/Hailabigail → u/zizban]

My dad was in the local papers for seeing it over 70 times in theaters!

[u/Fab-o-rama → u/Hailabigail]

This was literally a thing for SW. I mean, not necessarily news blurbs (not doubting you, Hailabigail), but my friends would all brag that they had seen it dozens of times. Dozens! And in the theater no less! Who had ever heard of such a thing???! Star Wars broke the mold in that way.

My parents were cheap, however. I saw it in the theater exactly one (1) time. 🙃

[u/Just_Browsing_2017 → u/zizban]

I was 6. My dad had to read the opening crawl out loud to my younger sister, because she couldn’t read yet.

And then my mom had to go stand in the lobby with her every time Darth Vader came on screen, because he freaked her the fuck out.

[u/MissRobinRainbow → u/Just_Browsing_2017]

My Dad shushed us when we asked him to read it. I just did the best I could.

[u/oldguy76205 → u/zizban]

And I will NEVER call it "Episode IV..."

[u/Funandgeeky → u/oldguy76205]

Same. It’s Star Wars and that’s all there is to it. 

[u/drmdzh → u/oldguy76205]

Thank you. Good man.

[u/glorious_cheese → u/zizban]

I saw it ten times in the theater. I’d pay for one showing and then stay for a second. I even snuck in a tape recorder so I could listen to it later.

[u/MarathonPhil → u/glorious_cheese]

That’s awesome. I saw Raiders 12 times by buying one ticket and sitting through multiple viewings several times. I never thought to bring a tape recorder!

[u/lucky_ducker → u/zizban]

I was 17, had a car and my drivers license, and I saw it in theaters six times.

[u/PrettyClient9073 → u/lucky_ducker]

I was 5. Drive-in in Oklahoma. Our preacher said Darth Vader was the Devil. Dad took me the next day.

[u/Luneowl → u/zizban]

I was 12. Every movie theater screen was huge since the theaters mostly just had one. I think it was my first time being awestruck when the star destroyer filled the screen!

[u/jameson5555 → u/zizban]

I was only like 3 or 4, but I vividly remember seeing it at the drive-in, watching the first scene and loving C3P0 and R2D2, and then promptly falling asleep in the back of the station wagon.

[u/decoy_016 → u/zizban]

Han shot first!

[u/LilPonyBoy69 → u/decoy_016]

Greedo didn't shoot

[u/JosephCedar → u/decoy_016]

Han shot only. Greedo didn't get a one shot off before Han killed him in cold blood.

[u/LeftyGimpclaw → u/zizban]

I'm intentionally taking my kid to it in February. She's never seen Han shooting first.

[u/claytonhwheatley → u/zizban]

Damn . You beat me to it ! I was 5 and fell asleep. Lol

[u/FuturePrimitiv3 → u/zizban]

I was 4, it's literally one of my earliest memories.

[u/cr_taz → u/zizban]

It was my 13th birthday gift. Had to drive an hour and a half to a big enough town to see it.

[u/dalekreject → u/zizban]

This was my first movie in a theater.

[u/No_Bandicoot2306]

Seeing The Matrix in the theater with no preconceptions or knowledge about it was mind blowing. As I recall the trailers were both uninformative (great!) and uninspiring (ugh), so I sure was not expecting a masterpiece.

[u/mazda_corolla → u/No_Bandicoot2306]

There was sooooo much hype leading up to the release, like billboards all over town with “What is the matrix?” as the only teaser text.

I went to a midnight showing at the only English-language theatre in town, and it was 100% packed.

That opening scene with Trinity and the cops and the phone booth blew my mind! And then the iconic bullet time scene with Neo on the rooftop blew my mind _again_.

It was incredible!!

[u/JoeWinchester99 → u/mazda_corolla]

I remember reading that the Wachowski Brothers had been given a much smaller budget than they initially requested from the studio and were essentially told to just work with what they had. So they took a gamble, spent their entire budget on filming only that opening scene, showed it to the studio, and told them "if you want to see the rest of the movie, we'll need more money."

[u/hungry4pie → u/JoeWinchester99]

Some years ago I met a guy who played one of the cops in that scene, I can’t remember which one he was, but I remember pulling up the scene and the credits when he told us and sure enough it was him. I remember that was the first time I learned about residuals, every year he would get a cheque for some diminishing amount.

[u/lurking3399 → u/mazda_corolla]

I used to teach film and used the “one little girl” scene as one of my examples of great openings in movies. It was just such an excellent opening.

However it was also hard to explain how much of a cultural moment The Matrix was.

[u/MeepMeepCoyote → u/No_Bandicoot2306]

I hadn't even heard of The Matrix before a friend asked if I wanted to go see it. I went in completely blind.

[u/Hopeful_Coast6235 → u/No_Bandicoot2306]

I saw The Matrix by myself on opening night. My parents were going to the movies to see something lame and I was 15 years old, so I tagged along and asked them to buy me a ticket to The Matrix instead. I knew nothing about it except it had Keanu in it, and the marketing made it look weird and creepy.

Afterwards they asked me how my movie was and I remember saying something like “I think that was the best movie I’ve ever seen.” I proceeded to CALL my friends (via landline of course) and tell them that they all HAD to go see that movie that weekend, any way possible.

I don’t think I’ve ever been more unexpectedly blown away by a movie than that one. I was also lucky enough to see Phantom Menace midnight pre-screening, as well as all of the LotR, etc. Big movie buff. But we all kinda knew what to expect with those - nothing has come out of the blue like The Matrix.

[u/Harry_Lime_and_Soda → u/No_Bandicoot2306]

This is it for me. I can't imagine anyone coming to it now with no prior knowledge, but the trailer was literally just a bunch of random shots and "No one can be told what the Matrix is, you have to see it for yourself."

I clearly remember seeing those first five minutes and thinking "why was she so desperate to answer that phone if she knew she was going to be killed doing so?"

[u/Ftp82 → u/No_Bandicoot2306]

Same. I went in totally cold. Came out randomly touching walls to see how real they felt. Blew my head open

[u/Caelarch → u/No_Bandicoot2306]

I saw a sneak preview about a week before it opened. Peak cinema experience going in completely cold.

[u/KodiakBlack23 → u/No_Bandicoot2306]

Yep.. saw it in the theater with my Dad and Brothers.. walked out and literally said “WHOA”!

Blasted RATM later and had a great day.

A lot better than ninja turtles with my ex-wife.. fucking cunt.

[u/Author_Dent → u/No_Bandicoot2306]

Completely agree. Went with a bunch of friends in college and had absolutely no clue what it was even about.

[u/Crystaltheweirdo]

Independence day and Jurassic Park

[u/-TheExtraMile- → u/Crystaltheweirdo]

Jurassic Park was amazing! The whole theatre gasped during the scene with Laura Dern and Sam Jackson´s arm

[u/IceSeeker → u/-TheExtraMile-]

The part where the T-rex chased them was really scary on the big screen. It was an experience and effects are do good.

[u/Nasty_Ned → u/Crystaltheweirdo]

We say Independence Day in the theatre when it opened on the 4th of July.  My dad was never big into movies and he took me and my siblings.  

[u/Doom_goblin777 → u/Crystaltheweirdo]

My mom said she was going to take me but said if I got scared she was going to be mad and we would leave. Seconds later she said she wasn’t taking me. I’ve been holding on to that grudge for 33 years. I did get to see The Lost World and JP3.
I did catch the 3D release of Jurassic Park, just not the same.

[u/MidlifeCrotches]

The Matrix was pretty freaking remarkable.

[u/uncultured_swine2099 → u/MidlifeCrotches]

Me and some friends were at a mall and were bored so we saw that based on nothing but that there were guns on the poster. It blew our minds.

[u/oegin → u/MidlifeCrotches]

I was in the Navy and I went solo and it blew my mind. Went and told everyone I worked with. Ended up seeing it 3 times in the theater. Theater was barely half full when I first saw it.

Keanu had made some terrible movies so a lot of people I don't think were prepared for just how unbelievable it was. Friends I knew were expecting Johnny Mnemonic 2.

[u/F_A_F → u/MidlifeCrotches]

Knowing it was big but not knowing the twist was the best thing ever. As a basically pre-internet age film it was probably the last time that will happen.

[u/agentsquirrel1666]

Star Wars 1977. I was 9 and it still gives me goosebumps when I see the writing going up the screen

[u/fearmongert → u/agentsquirrel1666]

The scale of that very first Star Destroyer

[u/m_faustus → u/fearmongert]

When that ship flew over my 8 year old mind was completely blown. It just kept on going. All the other movie experiences on this list are pale copies.

[u/SgtKarj → u/m_faustus]

I came here to say this. I was 7. That star destroyer thundering overhead changed my world and the way I have approached every film thereafter. Spectacular.

[u/PsychologicalKoala22 → u/agentsquirrel1666]

Same, on a really big screen in downtown Seattle right as it started getting huge.... long line around the block.

[u/Better_Sea_94 → u/agentsquirrel1666]

Yep, before it was Episode IV. An awesome experience.

[u/NoDealer9796 → u/agentsquirrel1666]

There had been nothing like it. A fantasy story with believable special effects and a story that took you other worlds. As Alec Guinness said, “When I came out of the cinema into London, I thought the city looked gritty and full of rubbish because the film had been so invigorating.” Now those movies are the standard, but that was really the first of its kind.

[u/dokelyok]

Blair Witch Project - early screening - absolutely no one knew what was happening.

[u/xtremdelt8 → u/dokelyok]

Same here. We thought it was real. Especially after having seen a "documentary" about it on SciFi beforehand.

[u/Suitable_cataclysm → u/dokelyok]

Same! Saw it before the reveal that it was fake. Man that messed us up

[u/hostilesurgery → u/Suitable_cataclysm]

I've told this story on here before but I lived at a secluded summer camp in rural Wisconsin working for the summer. There was a period between arrivals and departures and essentially all the staff and campers were gone except for the kitchen staff (me and 4 others). We heard about this movie through a friend and decided we had to go see this "found footage" movie. We drove 2 hours away to Duluth and saw it and were terrified. We were so scared and freaked out by the movie, and living in a cabin in middle of the woods, with no one around and being 16, we were freaked out. It was not a good night for any of us as.

[u/Edward_RedBeard → u/hostilesurgery]

Similar story here. Worked at a Scout camp in the north Georgia mountains. A whole bunch of us went to see it one night after camp had closed for the season but we still had a couple days of breakdown. Several of the younger, more impressionable staffers slept on the floor of the admin building that night because they didn’t want to be out in the woods. When they woke up, someone had lashed together one of those stick figures from the movie and hung it in the doorway.

[u/brandnewchair → u/dokelyok]

I think I saw Blair Witch in the best possible way. I used to frequent a local swap meet back in the '90s that had vendors selling bootleg tapes and such. Some guy had what I guess was a very early copy of Blair Witch. 

It wasn't released yet, and no one had really heard of it, but it looked interesting so I bought it. It was a copy of a copy so it was a little rough (which kinda added to it's spookiness.) 

Now, I didn't think it was real, but found footage movies werent a thing yet, and it seemed really messed up and freaky. I couldn't even find much about what the movie was. (early internet info was a bit harder to come by.) 

It freaked me out for a few months until they actually started promoting the movie for release. 

[u/dokelyok → u/brandnewchair]

Oh that is amazing!

[u/gonzozombie → u/dokelyok]

saw it at the Angelika. Whole lobby was set up with 'evidence' in glass booths. knew NOTHING at the time. People throw around the phrase 'you could hear a pin drop' but when that final scene dropped, i can still remember the absolute silence. Modern media guarantees we'll never have an experience like that again.

[u/NUMBerONEisFIRST → u/dokelyok]

Yeah, the marketing on that movie was truly one of a kind.

Everyone thought it really was found footage, and they kept it so hush hush until the MTV movie awards when they all came out on stage.

I was about 12yo when it came out, and my dad had weekend cutsody of me and my brother and would often take us to the movies.

I planned to go to a movie playing at the same time, and kept 'going to the bathroom's to sneak into Blair Witch and catch scenes of it.

[u/cats_vl33rmuis → u/dokelyok]

Oh, how was your way back home?

[u/dokelyok → u/cats_vl33rmuis]

Not fun!! I was a senior in highschool and my parents were out of town. There was a wind storm going on and I sat in my living room terrified.

[u/Supreme-cheeseburger → u/dokelyok]

I thought it was real too and was shaken up by it. Until the three of them introduced an award at one of the MTV award shows, I thought I saw a ghost 👀

[u/TheGlassO → u/dokelyok]

Same. I saw it at Cannes way before it was released and people were freaking out.

[u/MadeToSpec → u/dokelyok]

Opening weekend limited release then went camping in the backcountry tuesday. Lol didnt sleep well during those 5 days.

[u/pdonoso]

I know that it was incredibly popular, but watching the original toy story in the theatre feels like you where part of this incredible and unique moment that changed animation forever.

[u/ndbjbibcowbad → u/pdonoso]

These, and finding Nemo were huge

[u/IgnoreMe733 → u/pdonoso]

I remember going to see Pocahontas and seeing a preview for Toy Story and not knowing how to describe it. I remember telling my dad it looked too real to be animated, but not real enough to be live action.

[u/glory87 → u/pdonoso]

That’s how I felt about The Little Mermaid

[u/AnonymousYUL → u/glory87]

The Disney Renaissance was a great time to grow up!

[u/DrooMighty]

I will never forget the atmosphere inside of the theater during the premiere of The Dark Knight...the pencil trick got an insane reaction from everyone, including myself. Had to go back and see it again two more times.

I'm not even particularly crazy about Batman, it was just on another level in general.

[u/sonoandrea → u/DrooMighty]

I also saw The Dark Knight at the midnight premiere. On my birthday. First time I saw people dressed in costume for a movie. I remember the way the entire audience gasped when Heath Ledger's face first appeared on the screen. And the pencil trick. The whole thing. It was an incredible experience and was definitely the first thing that came to mind when I read the question

[u/Harry_Lime_and_Soda → u/DrooMighty]

My best friend and I have a thing where we don't talk about the film until we get out of the cinema. I think it's equal parts not wanting to spoil anything for people waiting to go in and giving things just a minute or two to settle and process.

We stepped through the cinema doors after Dark Knight and... Silence. We were genuinely speechless for a minute. That's never happened before or since.

[u/docisback → u/DrooMighty]

I remember going with my dad to go see Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We’d both heard meh things about it but we both liked the Indiana Jones movies, so we went to go see it.

We get to the theater, and the ticket vendor says the theater showing IJ just had the A/C go out (middle of summer btw) so he suggested we see something else. After some back-and-forth, we settled on going to see Dark Knight. “Why not?” We both said.

I remember being in awe for the next two hours of my life. Months later I rented Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to watch at home and was profoundly disappointed.

Thank you for having a shitty air conditioner @ my local theater.

[u/Scar3crow_x → u/DrooMighty]

This is it for me. Midnight showing

[u/exaviyur → u/DrooMighty]

The Joker reveal in the beginning!
The pencil trick!
The nurse outfit before blowing up the hospital!
THE TRUCK FLIP

[u/spoonfedkitty → u/DrooMighty]

I saw that one in a real IMAX theater and it was amazing.

[u/DarkestGemeni → u/DrooMighty]

Not exactly the same, but I went on a cruise when I was like 11 and the dark knight released either the week before or week of. Some-fuckin-how on the last night, they had a copy for the teen club to watch. We signed each other's T-shirts and played a pub-trivia game and then we all watched the dark knight on a cruise ship. Top-tier experience, the vibes were unreal

[u/caligaris_cabinet → u/DrooMighty]

That was a great experience. No preselected seats, had to wait for hours in line under the hot July sun, got to talk to other fans while waiting. And just being collectively drawn in when the WB logo appeared.

Nothing else has come close

[u/Tleilaxu → u/DrooMighty]

I also went to midnight showing, the scene where he sets the money on fire the projector malfunctioned and it took them 15 minutes to reboot it - everyone got 2 free tickets - I was in high school and it was one of my first midnight showings and even while lining up for the movie power went out in the whole theater briefly

[u/djmacbest → u/DrooMighty]

I remember getting into a car accident (noone hurt, but the other guy totalled his car) on my way home from the press screening of Dark Knight.

[u/TuSixOh]

I saw Back To The Future in theaters as a kid. Tonight me and my son are going to see it for the 40th anniversary release.

[u/Nasty_Ned → u/TuSixOh]

Time flies doesn’t it?  I took my son to Raiders of the Lost Ark last summer.  

[u/UselessAndUnlovable]

Original TLotR trilogy

[u/marstoncutler → u/UselessAndUnlovable]

Worked as a projectionist at the time and we had to watch every film before showing them to check no defects. Saw the first two by myself, on the biggest screen, emergency lights off and volume turned up to max. Incredible.

[u/Pale_Adeptness → u/marstoncutler]

Dude, that's freaking awesome!

Must've been a hell of an experience A

[u/marstoncutler → u/Pale_Adeptness]

No one to complain when I jumped up cheering as Gandalf and the Riders arrived at Helms Deep. Bloody annoying having to watch the third one sat with the public, just wasn't the same.

[u/leeroy254 → u/marstoncutler]

Is there a remote to pause the big screen or do you have to run up and stop the projector?

[u/marstoncutler → u/leeroy254]

Ha! I wish. Gave me good practice for seeing The Odyssey a few weeks ago

[u/Jotsunpls → u/marstoncutler]

Congrats.

Happy for you.

Nice.

[u/push138292 → u/UselessAndUnlovable]

Midnight release night for all three, three years in a row. A birthday tradition for my brother and me.

[u/Aitrus233 → u/UselessAndUnlovable]

That honestly felt like my generation's Star Wars Trilogy, at a time when actual Star Wars wasn't quite putting out what we were hoping for.

And much like the Original Trilogy in 77-83 for many audiences, I went into FOTR basically blind with zero expectations, was very excited for TTT, and was hyped to the moon for ROTK.

I remember with each film we watched, we would be sure to get the Extended Edition DVD and watch it before seeing the next theatrical release. FOTR Extended ended up being the very DVD in my house when we had only just got our first DVD player. And boy, did the massive amount of high quality special features, commentaries, and documentaries spoil me and raise my expectations for all DVDs far too high.

One guy I went to high school with got himself a replica One Ring that he wore around his neck constantly. He also started reading The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and The History of Middle-earth books while impatiently waiting for the next film. I vividly remember us getting out of the theater after ROTK, and he said to me something like, "It's over. I don't know what to do now."

[u/chalk_in_boots → u/Aitrus233]

The Star Wars thing was me. I was in primary school when the prequels started coming out and I vividly remember begging my mum to take me to see Attack of The Clones the morning it came out before school. "No chalk, you'll be too tired for school". I was like 8 or 9, the fuck was I learning at that age that was so important?

[u/c0mputer99 → u/Aitrus233]

After the 3rd one I just sat there and thought. Damn... There will never be a franchise movie trilogy that will ever hit this hard ever again.

Dune will probably be amazing, but its missing breathing room that the hobbits gave me.

[u/kb_klash → u/UselessAndUnlovable]

I'm pretty sure I saw each one like 3 times in the theater. As a fan of the books I was not expecting it to be so faithful based on what we were getting otherwise at the time.

[u/melalovelady → u/UselessAndUnlovable]

It’s so dark in a lot of scenes that it’s really made for a movie screen. The TV doesn’t always show the best and so we were lucky to see them in all their glory

[u/Fishmike52 → u/UselessAndUnlovable]

So special. Went with friends. Went alone. Again and again.

[u/Garmaglag → u/UselessAndUnlovable]

I think I saw RotK in theaters at least half a dozen times.  

[u/nipplesaurus → u/UselessAndUnlovable]

Saw each one on opening night. Didn’t even know anything about LOTR when I saw Fellowship, just thought it looked kind of cool when I saw the commercial the night before.

[u/khendron → u/UselessAndUnlovable]

Special place in my memories for the RotK, because I helped organize a work outing for opening day, for the entire engineering department at the company. We booked an entire theatre, watched the movie, and then booked an entire nearby pub for an after party. Fun times!

[u/moegreeb]

Independence Day on July 4th. In the States... and I'm not American.

[u/SweetCosmicPope → u/moegreeb]

Same thing for me. Midnight showing on the evening of July 3rd. I was visiting my mom in Waco, TX. Nobody but my stepfather and I wanted to see the movie, so they dropped us off at the theater and we stood in line and got great seats. Freaking packed house too. That's still one of the best theater-going experiences I've ever had.

[u/noggerthefriendo]

Jurassic Park

[u/Oops_I_Cracked → u/noggerthefriendo]

First movie I ever saw in theaters. I was like 5. No cinematic moment has ever lived up to that.

[u/LadyStarblade → u/noggerthefriendo]

This. Absolutely blew my mind seeing REAL DINOSAURS on the screen, volume cranked, seat freaking shaking with every stomp!

[u/GuyMcFellow → u/noggerthefriendo]

Yep. Still remember the T-Rex toy my parents got for me afterwards.

[u/Peralton]

Bubba Ho-Tep and it had a Q&A with Bruce Campbell. It was awesome.

[u/mattromo → u/Peralton]

Yeah I saw that at TIFF Midnight Madness. Campbell was on fire in the Q&A.

[u/Amazing_Arm_4850 → u/Peralton]

Same! But it was in Royal Oak and he had rows blocked out for his friends and family. Pretty cool seeing it with them in attendance!

[u/skabillybetty]

When Pirates Of The Caribbean came out, we decorated by boyfriend's pickup truck like a pirate ship and sailed through the theater parking lot dressed like pirates.

Probably one of my favorite memories.

[u/NastyLittleBagginses]

Star Wars, Close Encounters and Alien

[u/ncgrowler → u/NastyLittleBagginses]

These three and ET.

[u/Pretend-Design-7061]

Phantom Menace. In three decades I have never seen the same level of hype for any movie. 

[u/TheTrollys → u/Pretend-Design-7061]

I’ve never seen/heard a crowd break out in cheering when the theme started before or since. It was amazing.

[u/hamtronn → u/Pretend-Design-7061]

I saw it opening day at 10:10pm. It was a blast.

[u/grptrt → u/Pretend-Design-7061]

Through a radio contest I got to attend a screening of Attack of the Clones the day before release. We just rolled in past a line going around the block for the official midnight screening.

[u/MrBlahg → u/Pretend-Design-7061]

Star Wars for me. I was 5 in 77, it was incredible.

[u/K_Xanthe]

Pokemon the first movie as a kid when it came out in theaters

[u/JMan1989 → u/K_Xanthe]

Pokemon: The First Movie in theaters as well as Pokemon The Movie 2000. Still have the ancient Mew card from it.

[u/rich8n]

The Princess Bride. Funny story, me and my teenage buddies (all males) went to the mall that summer to see Prince of Darkness. We got there a little late and the only other movie we could see in the time we had was The Princess Bride. Being a group of 14-year old boys, we had no interest in actually seeing that movie, but since we were bored we hatched a plan to heckle the silly princess movie instead. There was no heckling, and we left the theater that day completely freaked out that we had seen such a good movie.

[u/pinkphiloyd → u/rich8n]

Years ago I (I would have been a 30 something dude at the time) was talking to a coworker of mine and I made a Princess Bride reference and he had no clue what I was talking about. He would have been roughly the same age.

I immediately started giving him shit. “How in the hell have you not seen The Princess Bride?!”

“Um, cause I’m a dude?”

It took me like an hour to convince him I wasn’t messing with him and that he needed to see it. “It’s playing on at least one channel 24/7, 365. You have to watch it”, I said.

I saw him a couple of weeks later and he was like “okay. You were right, I’m an idiot, that was fantastic.”

One of my crowning achievements in life.

[u/TheYankeeFist → u/rich8n]

Awww, you guys grew up a little that day. Nice.

[u/bingwhip → u/TheYankeeFist]

"And he was wearing reading glasses, to show that time had passed"

[u/sharilynj → u/rich8n]

Saw it 2 days before it was released! Dad used to get preview passes from work. I enjoyed it but never expected it to become a classic.

[u/chrisinokc]

Star Wars, the original first run. Back in 1977 when it was just "Star Wars". I watched it 13 times that summer.

[u/MikoLone]

I saw Napoleon Dynamite at Sundance.

[u/lewbug → u/MikoLone]

One of the few movies where everyone in the theater was laughing together throughout

[u/HerkulezRokkafeller → u/lewbug]

Knew someone who went to the premiere in Preston, ID where it was filmed. They said a quarter of the theater was dying laughing and the rest didn't really get it.

Edit: grew up 30 minutes away from Preston, when I first saw it in theaters it was the hardest an entire audience collectively laughed that I've experienced. Having the close perspective of Preston, ID but being relatively removed added a some extra hilarity to the movie.

[u/Fliptzer]

Matrix. Mind blown.

[u/APraxisPanda]

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith! It was also the first time my dad ever took our family to a drive-in theater and it became a powerfully nostalgic memory. My dad's ^awesome best friend's family came with us and were in the car right next to ours, and we spent the night going back and fourth between cars to chill and watch the movie with eachother.

[u/redsyrinx2112 → u/APraxisPanda]

That was the first PG-13 movie I saw in theaters. We had rented others and watched them at home before, but my parents had seen them in theaters before.

For Revenge of the Sith, my parents said they would go opening night and let me know if it was okay. They said I could and then said one of them would take me the next week. On Monday, my mom pulled me out of school and said we were going to lunch and then the movie theater. It was one of the best surprises ever.

[u/GhostMaskKid → u/APraxisPanda]

Same! I was actually there on opening night but it was sold out about when there were only about 20 people in front of me.

[u/MrSh0w]

Terminator 2 on July 4th of whatever year that was

[u/hvymtlhppy69]

Lord of the Rings trilogy, I was 8 when Fellowship came out

For modern times in soooo happy I saw Terrifier 3 in theaters 🤣

[u/orodam]

2001: A Space Odyssey.

[u/Funcrush88 → u/orodam]

Flex!

[u/orodam → u/Funcrush88]

Thanks, I'm old af

[u/xtremdelt8]

Everything that came out in 1999. Perfection.

[u/ThrownAway17Years]

Donnie Darko during its original run. We had one of 58 theaters that showed it.

[u/demlet]

Not sure about "proud", but I went to see Into the Spider-Verse completely blind with my kid when it came out. He said a friend told him it was pretty good, but I had no idea what it even was. Went in expecting something maybe on the level of a decent Disney cartoon and was absolutely stunned. What a revolutionary masterpiece of animation that was. Glad I caught it.

[u/cliff99]

The original Star Wars. Seeing that spaceship pass overhead in the opening shot everyone in the packed theater had the feeling that movies had changed forever.

[u/Distinct-Ranger2057]

My Dad took me and my older brothers to see Terminator 2 when it came out in 1991.

I was 7 years old.

[u/princessnubz]

look i know this is cheesy but Twilight Breaking Dawn at midnight nothing will relive that high of the whole theater gasping in unison

[u/DigNitty → u/princessnubz]

I went too because a friend wanted to go.

I still have hearing damage from the collective tween squeal when Jacob took his shirt off.

[u/libismanaged → u/princessnubz]

That was honestly a very fun moment!

[u/GoblinObscura]

Sixth Sense, the weekend it came out before the hype. I about fell out of my damn chair.

[u/schnozzberryflop]

I saw Apocalypse Now in the theater tripping.

[u/jester33455]

Quentin Tarantino double feature: Grindhouse and Death Proof.

[u/Ilignus → u/jester33455]

Yup! There are plenty of films I’ve been to that I’ve seen mentioned, but I was looking for YOU!

Yeah, this is the one I usually bring out if the question arises. I don’t know many others that went to see it in theater. I had a blast, and 3 bathroom breaks. :p

EDIT: Obligatory “Planet Terror and Death Proof.”

[u/cnapp]

Not only did I see Pulp Fiction in the theater, I saw it at an advanced midnight showing before it came out.

I had never heard of Tarantino nor did I have any advanced knowledge of the movie. It was a mind altering experience

I also saw Star Wars at a drive inn theater when I was 8. Thats also a pretty cool feather in my cap

[u/Glass-Nectarine-3282]

I grew up in the 70s/80s, so it's like all. All the movies that we talk about today. It is kind of nuts.

[u/OhioDuran]

Star Wars IV / New Hope one when I was 7/8, like 40+ times. Mom worked at the theater, her cousin owned it. It was like free babysitting.

[u/nrg117]

Star wars. Most won't know this but they messed the sound up in a lot of cinemas.  So we was given free tickets to see it again.  This was in the Dorchester cinema in Hull UK 77

The sound in the first showing of Star Wars (1977) was not technically broken, but the movie was released with different audio mixes depending on the theater. George Lucas pushed for cutting-edge Dolby Stereo in equipped cinemas, while standard theaters played a basic mono or alternative stereo mix, leading to varied audio quality and frequent projection or speaker issues across the country.

Sound Mixes and Theater Variations

• Dolby Stereo vs. Mono: Lucas wanted an immersive, crystal-clear stereo track, prompting a special Dolby mix. However, many theaters in 1977 lacked Dolby capabilities and ran standard mono or older playback systems. • Multiple Edits: Sound editors recut and slightly tweaked voice lines or sound effects across different release prints, meaning audiences heard slightly different audio blends depending on where and when they caught the film. • Equipment Strain: Because the sound design by Ben Burtt featured heavy industrial layering, mechanical hums, and aggressive high-frequency effects, older theater speakers occasionally struggled or blew out trying to handle the dynamic range

[u/maxp0wers]

Dead poets society. Entire theater was in tears. Captain my Captain. And bill and Ted's excellent adventure. 11th birthday.

[u/djwaveguide]

Jurassic park when it came out. I’d just finished the book. Was almost 12 years old. Saw it alone.

[u/xtremdelt8]

The Lion King opening night was pretty cool as a teenager.

Home Alone.

[u/NerdLawyer55]

Waiting in line for Star Wars episode 1 was like a fever dream

[u/DumDumbandDrummer]

Alien.

My dad and I had no idea what we were in for.

Star Wars and Jaws were great great movies, but I’d already heard the buzz.

[u/ProfessionalCraft983]

I waited in line overnight to see the midnight release of Star Wars the Phantom Menace. There were a ton of other people there doing the same thing, and it was basically a big party as we waited.

[u/tonyk11]

Office Space and Strange Brew

[u/Ptero1123]

Mary Poppins at the Mai Kai in Livonia, ‘64.
Phantom of the Paradise in Royal Oak, ‘74.
Apocalypse Now, ‘79. Before noon on the first day, only two of us in the theatre.
The Doors, ‘91, midnight showing.

Hmmm, progression?

[u/ADAMISDANK]

Digger in 20 years

[u/dudebronahbrah]

Wayne’s World

[u/ArnulfoLaFontana]

Idiocracy on opening weekend in one of like three or four theaters that showed it. There were no more than 10 people there including me and my friend.

[u/Sc0j]

Super Troopers, went in blind, didnt stop laughing until we got back home

[u/OSDom22]

I guess it would be the original Star Wars in 77. Twice

[u/sen_clay_davis1]

Clerks and Reservoir Dogs. Saw Memento at Sundance.

[u/RamRodBuzzCock]

A Clockwork Orange. I was the only person in the theatre for an afternoon showing, freekin surreal.

[u/Rex_Suplex]

I saw The Departed at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood while on a trip to see Roger Waters at the Hollywood Bowl.

So I got to see that years best picture winner at the most famous movie theater before it was even nominated.

[u/CrazyGrazy]

My mom told me and my school that I had a dental appointment and let me believe it all the way to the theater where she was taking me to see Phantom Menace the day it came out. One of the coolest stunts she has pulled yet!!

[u/Sonicgirl1]

Star Wars!

[u/ConsistentStory5626]

Jaws

[u/No-Buy2495]

Jurassic Park was EPIC!

[u/Sad-Clock8937]

I have seen every Tarantino movie in theaters since 95

[u/1footN]

Blazing saddles

[u/BalkiBartokomous123]

Snakes in a Plane.

That was the most fun I wr ever had in a movie theater

[u/Lorbmick]

I saw Pulp Fiction when I was 14 and dragged my dad to opening night. The theater was only showing it at 9pm. He wasn’t happy I made him go there but came out of the theater saying that was the best movie he ever saw.

[u/Hypno_toad_1970]

The original cuts of star wars, the empire strikes back and return of the jedi.

[u/VeryPteri]

If it counts, I saw the very first screening of Avengers Endgame at my local theater.

[u/SkitterChitters → u/VeryPteri]

The feeling of excitement when all the portals opened was unmatched. I went and saw Endgame Encore just to try and capture the magic again lol.

[u/tenderbuck]

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Blue Velvet.

[u/aDirtyMartini]

Star Wars in 1977. Watched multiple times. First time waited in line for an hour to get tickets.

Song of the South when I was 5.

[u/troojule]

Donnie Darko NYC directors cut

[u/Heeey_Brother]

The Matrix - Mind. Blown

Arrival - saw it by my self. One of the best experiences in the theater

Interstellar - sat there during end credtits and was wondering what just hit me

Mad Max Fury Road - just awesome action

[u/atreides78723]

I saw Pulp Fiction opening weekend. My friends and I had been waiting for a year and a half for it to come out and it pretty much blew my mind when I watched it. The next weekend, a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go see a movie with him. I had to demure because I was going to see Pulp Fiction again. Unfortunately, that meant that I didn’t get to see Shawshank until about four years later…

[u/Direct-Tank387]

2001 A Space Odyssey in NYC in 1968 with my folks. I was 8 years old.

To a degree, it set me on a lifetime path of SF reading and a career in science.

[u/Brentolies]

If we won't count a preview screening of There's Something About Mary, then I'll go with Mulholland Drive.

[u/srstone71]

Apparently my parents took me into Ghostbusters when I was one in 1984.

[u/Xaveri]

Ghostbusters. I remember coming out of the movie theater. One of my best core memories.

[u/Blue-Juniata]

Star Wars 1978 I was 12

[u/devils_1991]

Lebowski

[u/parfymer]

jurassic park and it was life changing

[u/samurai5625]

Independence Day on actual Independence day, July 4, 1996

[u/Decent_Winter6461]

A New Hope.

[u/Aggravating_Bell_426 → u/Decent_Winter6461]

Ditto. It was the first movie I ever saw in a Theater.

[u/supermariobruhh]

Spider-Man 1 (2002) in Forest Hills NYC on opening night.

[u/dudeabiding420]

Every single movie in the marvel cinematic universe

[u/oldguy76205]

Besides the first Star Wars movie, I also saw Alien in the theater on a date.

[u/frazing]

David Lynch’s Dune. My babysitter took me. She was a student from Italy who spoke very little English. I was way too young to be there and I had really no clue what was going on. It was awesome!!!!

[u/Fritzo2162]

Originall Star Wars. Saw it opening weekend in 1977. I was 7 years old.

[u/Many_Specialist_5384]

South Park: Bigger Longer Uncut