What was your most memorable movie theater experience? For whatever reason. Please list year, location, movie and reason.

My vote has to go to Almost Famous when it was first released.
Maybe it was because I was just out of adolescence (18) but that movie touched me like no other has before. Just the whole un-requited love thing I guess. It was truly moving for me.

A very close second has to be Basketball Diaries in '96 ( I think) cause that is the first place I took my first girlfriend. And I really liked the movie.

Sit Long and Prosper
Lennox Mall - Atlanta, GA
09.08.91

das

Total Recall, opening night, summer 1990.
with my dad, i was almost 10.
unforgettable.

Angel Heart
1987
Fireweed Theater, Anchorage Alaska

The Matrix, 1999, the opening Friday night. I was with my older brother, and I was completely blown away by the film. Just a damn good experience.

I don't remember the year, but these are the most memorable -

- Opening day for Goldeneye w/ my buds.
- Opening night for Episode I w/ my bro.
- Opening night for Shrek w/ my gf.

Rush Hour 2 opening weekend sold out crowd 3 or 4 applauses.

Two of the most memorable for me:
12/97-First showing of Titanic at my local movie theatre(which was also the first movie shown at the theatre because it had just opened)with all my friends.

5/01-Seeing Pearl Harbor with my father. The only movie him and I have ever been to together. The movie was alright, but the experience was priceless.

May, 1980, nine years old, watching The Empire Strikes Back for the first time.

Pure magic.

I especially remember the scenes of the Snowspeeders skimming over the landscape. The screen was so huge, I felt like I was moving along with the vehicle. Simply absorbing.

Platoon ('86) with my dad. Emotional experience.
Batman ('89) Opening Weekend. Somehow, my whole family got tickets for an afternoon show:Mom,Dad,me,sis,3 cousins,and my aunt.
Jason Goes to Hell Some night in '93 at the Dollar theater. The crowd was a blast.

King Kong - 1976 (first movie on the big screen)
Robocop - 1987 (second movie on the big screen)

Scream
Regency 20 in Brandon FL
12/21/96 at 10.30p.m.

Favorite movie with great atmosphere opening weekend.

First movie I saw (that I can remember)- Lady and the Tramp- I was like 4 or 5, so 1973?

i'm just curious as to what happened the 11 years between. did you not go the movies once during this time?

I've been to the theatre maybe 2-dozen times in my 28 years (I've done virtually all of my prodigious film viewing via video rentals); most memorable is probably either On Golden Pond in 1981 when I was six - it's still one of my faves - or Antonia's Line in 1995.

The single most memorable experience for me was being nine years old in October, 1977 and watching Star Wars at the Allen Park Cinema.

"Jurassic Park" at the Uptown Theatre, the T-Rex attack rattled the entire theatre - wow!

"The Others" - best jolt scare in years! great audience. (Reston Cinema, VA)

"Ikiru" - the movie's moving ending made me weep. (2003, American Film Institute)

"Beautiful Thing" - the kiss - ah l'amour (Cinplex Odeon Embassy Theatre)

"Excaliber" - my first R-rated film in the theatre with my dad
(White Flint Mall Theatre)

"Close Encounters" - cemented my love in cinema (KB Cinema 70mm presentation)

"Nosferatu" - the silent version. The first horror movie I was subjected to unknowingly by my mother at a Public Library, scared my sister and I senseless, we were both 5 and 6 at the time. (Chevy Chase Public LIbrary, 16mm print)


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Dark City
02.20.98
Theater near Duke University (Theater name escapes me)
Reason: Opening night sitting in the first row with friends and our RA on Acid (need I say more?)

Not the best film I've ever seen, however, as far as a memorable cinematic experience goes, it's most assuredly number 1.

Very close second
Hudson Hawk
1991
Fountains Cinema/Ft. Lauderdale
Reason: Went to see a matinee showing of this with a friend who worked there at the time. Walked in to find the theater abandoned aside from a man and a woman in their late 30's having sex. As the topless woman was on top and situated in such a way so as not to be facing the screen, she smiled and WAVED AT US. Flummoxed, we exited quickly and went up to see the projectionist. Looking down into the theater we humorously noted that they had now relocated to the ailse (more room one would suppose). Once there, we ended up using the microphone provided to comment on their performance as they listened to our running commentary. Waited outside the theater door with fellow staff members now among us, they exited and we inquired if they had enjoyed the film. With a salacious grin they both replied, "Oh it was wonderful."

The two that come to mind are:

-The first time I saw The Sixth Sense. I saw it the afternoon it came out just to kill time while my car got an oil change. I had heard absolutely nothing about the film. I walked out numb.

-The second time I saw the Matrix. I was amazed at how much I picked up upon a second viewing.

Batman Forever, 1995.

It was the first afternoon show, when all the kids could get to see it. An auditorium full of preteens who had been waiting for this film more than Christmas. Small enough town too, so I knew everyone there, friends, family...

I was 12 at the time, so it seemed awesome. But to watch it with 200 of my closest friends... THAT was awesome.

It was the last picture show I saw in Ireland before I moved to America. The old cinema was closed, boarded up, broken into by the teens at night... it was finally demolished last year. And with it, went a bit of my past.

And thank YOU Mr. Peter Bogdonavich for stealing my metaphor!

Pete's Dragon, 1983/4 (Can't remember exactly)

This was my first movie in a movie theater. I remember being thrilled by the big screen and the dark atmosphere. (And I wasn't one of those kids who were annoying - my mom kept my brother and I in line)

I don't remember much else, but I do remember being facinated that the image from the projector (how did something so small appear so big?)

The best part is that the theater is still alive and kicking, and I still go there to see movies!

Spring 1977- Star Wars...Opening night. My dad and I got the last two seats at the Cinema in Greenwich, CT. Awesome

1991-T2 Opening night in Boston. Waited in line 2 hours. The house was rocking before the film started. Chants of Ahnold, Ahnold...etc...Everyone cheered when he appeared and cheered at every one liner. It was incredible.

Abel Gance's Napoléon with full orchestra.

Apocalypse Now, opening weekend, at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.

Halloween Resurrection
At the midnight show it was just a perfect time