It happened awhile ago when I saw On the Waterfront at the AFI Silver Theatre, the audience being a bit more sophisticated and appreciative of great films than the mainstream folks. Most films I see there usually have appreciative applause at the end.

The only time there were cheers and applause at the beginning was for The Phantom Menace -- from the 20th Century Fox Fanfare, the Lucasfilm logo, the "A long time ago..." tagline, all the way to the opening Star Wars logo and theme.

A Time To Kill was the last movie I remember when almost everyone clapped (not me as I thought the movie was BLAH and bloated).

I am sure there has been clapping by some people at certain points in certain movies, but off-hand I cannot remember.

Star Trek 6. When Kirk took out General Chang, the Trekkies went ballistic! It sent shivers down my spine...

I see clapping quite often, but really for odd reasons sometimes. One film that got some of the biggest applause was xXx. Well, the movie didn't really get the applause, the sound system did. The sound was amazing, you could literally feel air blowing on you during the loud moments. So the entire audience went nuts two times, once during the THX logo, and again during that avalanche scene. Boy was the movie stupid, but god damn was it loud. And the audience loved it, myself included.

The first and only time I clapped during a movie was at the conclusion of Jurassic Park on opening weekend. The whole place started clapping after the movie and I joined in. I agree that it does seem stupid because none of the actors can hear the applause, but at that time I felt like applause was needed because that movie absolutely blew me away. Granted I was only 13 at the time, but Jurassic Park is still one of my favorite movies and to this day it was probably the most memorable movie going experience of my life.

Same here. Much applause.

Friday...Spongebob Squarepants...hilarious ending. Plus it was a theater full of kids, so they all clapped and cheered, I couldn't be the only one not clapping. Gotta give Spongebob his props, yo.

Episode 1, at the end everyone was hooting and cheering and clapping, it was an amazing sight.

Never

I just saw The Phantom of the Opera today and, for some reason, half the audience clapped wildly at the end. I didn't get it. I guess they were BIG fans of the musical.

Last time Ive witnessed the audience clap (I clapped also) was after Fehrenheit 9/11. The last time before that was years ago, it was at a drive in theater. The movie was Ghostbusters 2. I was only 5 then but I remember everyone clapping.

Who are you applauding? The projectionist?

yep, the same when I saw it, too.

Ray

I don't think it was just a matter of everyone applauding the film, instead it was more for the man himself, Ray Charles.

I used to notice people clapping a whole lot years ago. But recently, besides for the SW and LOTR films, the last film people clapped in for was The Passion Of The Christ.

ROTK got a fairly sustained applause when I saw it. Farenheit 9/11 got a huge response as well.

Those are the only two recent ones I can think of.

My first recollection of spontaneous applause was at Aliens. When Ripley came out in that lifter thing, the whole theater went apeshit. Cool childhood theater memory.

The T-Rex's first roar in Jurassic Park.

The dog making it just in time in ID4.

All Star Wars movies, throughout.

That's about all. Nothing in LOTR:ROTK for me, but that's probably because I didn't see it until a couple weeks after it was out. All the ones listed above I saw during opening weekend. There's the difference.

EXACTLY.

I can't remember ever doing it, but I do remember others clapping. To me, it's annoying. Especially during a movie. I'm trying to watch the fucking thing, here, people.

I think it's kind of stupid, anyway. No one who made the movie is there to appreciate your appreciation.

The only time i recall people clapping after a film was for Fahrenheit 9/11.

Most recent movie I saw where most of the audience applauded at the end was Alien Vs Predator. No, I'm not joking.

when i saw rotk at the senator theater (10:30 show night before it opened), people must have clapped for everything, and every time orlando bloom was on screen, girls were screaming.

I heard it about five times during the last 20 minutes of LOTR-ROTK. Made an uncomfortable, cheesy experience even worse.

I don't get the applause haters. How about never saying how Spielberg, Hitchcock, Kurosawa, Bergman, etc. are great because they can't hear you? How about we forget about about MLKII day, because that man is dead and can't know how many people appreciate him?

During a movie, I could understand how it might be irritating, but that is the theater experience. Do you not go to concerts because you sometimes can't hear over the audience's hooting and hollering? I'd love to see a favorite movie with an audience that would cheer at the important moments.

Quite sadly, at the sneak preview of Electra I went to last week, there was actually some applause at the end and I don't think it was meant ironically since there was occasional applause during some of the action scenes. It reminded me of a Conan O' Brian quote about how Johnny Carson only got one standing ovation in the history of the Tonight Show, on the final episode. However, the ladies of The View get a standing ovation each time an episode begins, thus showing how society has cheapened the value of a standing ovation.

The end of Miracle