Mondo Kane

My most favorite would have to be the Roadshow experience of Hateful Eight. Completely sold-out crowd, Obtaining the (Much cooler-than-expected) program (Picked up 2 more on the ground left behind by others) and getting to sit directly underneath the booth. Hearing the vintage projector rumbling away during the quieter moments of the film was bittersweet.

Although I didn't know it at the time, I now feel honored to have seen the original theatrical runs from many Italian B-maestros in theaters...Even if they were much watered-down films:
Yor, The Hunter From The Future (Margharetti)
The Last Shark (Castellari)
Ator (D'Amato)
Super Fuzz (Corbucci)
The Beyond (7 Doors of Death version) (Fulci)

Seeing Stone Cold, Jason Goes To Hell, Dead Presidents & Species at a Dollar theater (With basically a grindhouse crowd) was tremendously fun.

Regarding blockbuster films, Captain America:Civil War quickly comes to mind. We got greeted by Spider-Man (Great costume & great actor) when entering the theater and the crowd got more and more frenzied during the airport battle. Edit-Just remembered that I wore my Punisher shirt that night and Spidey commented "Hey! #129!" It took me a moment to get that. Coolest Spidey ever.

raven56706

Oh man… I have so many



Jurassic Park- The sound in the theater was insane. DTS sound was completely deafening. It was crazy to hear it and you felt like you were there.

Battlefield Earth- At the end when the planet explodes or whatever. It was pitch black and someone says “THIS F’King SUCKSSS”. That made the moment so funny and worth the trip

MI2- Right towards the end, there is a part where the guy throws a knife or something that goes close to Ethans eye. Right at that moment, the fucking movie projector burns up. We all got our money back

The Dark Knight- Midnight showing. It was insane to see so many people clap for a movie. It was almost universal. The sound and all had every so gripped to the movie.

Lord of the Rings- So I scored 3 tickets to the trilogy with the final movie debuting at 10pm. It was a crazy experience. We got to the movie theater at 5am. Waited in line til 9am when they opened the doors. We all ran to get our seats. We watched the first one and several people were sleeping in the theater. Second was the same thing. Right before the last movie, people were chanting their names and it was like a football game. At the end of the last movie, these 3 girls next to me were crying their eyes out. We got home at 2am. Almost 24 hours there.

Giantrobo

Drive-in Theater.. Seeing Star Wars in my pajamas in our car. It was when the new "movies thru you car stereo" systems was installed at the drive-in and it sounded awesome. I can still hear Darth Vader breathing thru the car speakers like it was yesterday.

Robin Hood (Disney 1973)...I think it was not only the first theater experience I ever had, it was also the first time I'd ever seen a Cartoon on the big screen.

Godzilla vs Megalon (1976 US Release)..First time seeing Godzilla on the Big screen. Up til then all G-films were seen on late night or afternoon TV.

Superman (1977)...Saw it at Mann's Chinese Theater in LA. They were selling Programs like at a concert.

Rocky Horror Picture Show (Midnight showing)...1st time seeing a Midnight showing with pre-show classic cartoons, retro theater announcements, full RHPS cast, full theater of people who all were on the same page, etc...of RHPS was out of this world. Will never forget it.

raven56706

two others come to mind

Passion Of the Christ was crazy. So many people in line to watch the movie. Then during it. so many people crying at the brutal punishment scene.

Pearl Harbor- The attack scene saved the movie. Say what you want about the movie itself, the special effects and all for the actual attack was beautiful on the big screen.

robin2099

Can't believe I forgot this one:

House of the Dead: I was home from college and had nothing to do so I decided to see a movie. HOTD was the only thing showing soon so I went in and figured" what the heck, it can't be that bad". I took my seat in a totally empty theater and my jaw hit the floor at how completely awful it was, and dumbfounded at how completely awful it was.

raven56706

damn forgot these 3 as well

ID4- people waited in a long line to get in. Finally in, we watched and thought it was a great movie. Hell, we all were in amazement with the Special effects. Now that movie is hilarious at how bad it was really

Godzilla(98)- The marketing had us all hyped up for the movie. probably still the greatest marketing to a movie. Then after the movie, people boo'ed haha.

Battle- Los Angeles- God the marketing was good too but man the movie sucked. Several people left in the middle of the movie.

Mr. Flix

Return of the Jedi - I was too young to remember seeing either Star Wars or ESB in the theater, but was old enough by the release of RotJ to be overwhelmingly excited to see it. It didn't disappoint at all (even though as an adult I can now see its flaws). I'll never forgive my older brother's best friend for intentionally spoiling the deaths of Yoda, Jabba, and Vader beforehand (as well as Leia being Luke's sister). I still loved it in spite of the major spoilage.

Jurassic Park - a packed theater. You just knew as you were watching it you were seeing something spectacular. I'm not sure I've ever been as literally edge-of-my-seat as during the kitchen scene.

Star Wars: A New Hope (Special Edition) - a sell-out crowd, and the excitement in the room was palpable. When the lights dimmed, someone in the audience let out an awesome Chewbacca growl and everyone laughed.

Titanic - enjoyed the movie (still do), but my take-away memory was the girl I was interested in at the time had a total, nearly hysterical meltdown in the parking lot afterwards because Jack died. Yeah, I never went out with her again.

The Sixth Sense - I saw this week two before the existence of a major twist was widely known. I'll never forget the collective gasp in the theater when the twist occurred.

The Blair Witch Project - I know this was a polarizing movie that worked well for some and not for others. It worked for me. The final shot of the movie gave me full-body chills and made my heart clench. But a girl behind me abruptly stood up and shouted, "That's it?!"

Jaws: The Revenge and Masters of the Universe - both of these movies, released in 1987, were a bad kind of revelation to me: that not all movies are actually good. Up until then, going to the theater had always been a magical experience. Not anymore.

GhostLee

Dumbo: My parents took me to see this in a theater when I was really young, and I still remember being freaked out by the pink elephant scene.

Star Wars: Saw this in the theater on its release. I went in not knowing anything about the movie, just thinking the newspaper ad for it looked cool, and was blown away by what Lucas had brought to the screen.

Jurassic Park: What others have said about the sound, plus the T-rex had one of the best entrances of any movie monster.

Night of the Living Dead (1968): This one wasn't in a movie theater; a friend got his hands on a copy and put it up on a screen in our high school parking lot. The sound was so terrible it was basically like watching a silent movie, but even with that it was an unforgettable film.

K&AJones

Back in the early days of THX and Dolby Digital...I think there was Midway showing and it literally rocked & shook the other rooms nearby....
The Haunting....to this day I don't think I've heard anything get that low.....
Rocky Horror Picture Show...what's to say except it it was more entertaining audience wise than the movie
Star Wars...nothing like that had been seen before and everyone was just stunned....
Jurassic Park...that scene in the pouring rain they're stuck and briefly it gets quite with just the sound of rain, you see the look on her face staring at the glass of water...boom...Boom...BOom....BOOM...still the most realistic sounding terrifying Dinosaur to date....

Nick Danger

Seeing a children's matinee of Lassie Come Home. The crowd was almost all small children. The audience noise was so loud that we couldn't hear the movie. It was like The Beatles at Shea Stadium. My mom was mad and said that she would never take us to a matinee again.

The Third Man at a classic movie revival theater. I would occasionally whisper a comment in my wife's ear. A guy at the opposite side of the theater, ten rows in front of us, turned around and shushed us. I don't know how he even heard me.

A hurricane hit New England, and the power was out for miles around. We drove to Massachusetts to see a movie, any movie. It turned out to be Invasion USA. It was so bad that people started making rude comments at the screen, and the whole audience would laugh.

Star Wars (1977). I was the little red bullseye of the target audience of that movie when it came out, a teenage nerd who read science fiction and had an unhappy home life. That movie blew me out of my seat. I hope teenagers today get have that experience once in their lives.

OldBoy

Batman (89)...remember me and friends went so early bc we thought this would be packed on opening day. got our tickets, barely a line or anyone there at a pretty good theater we had growing up. didn't love the movie, but it has grown on me a bit.

Backdraft (91)...to this day on of my favs of all time. during the summer, some friends and I cut school, went to see this. mid way through, the lights came on and fire alarm came on. i shit you not. it was false alarm and i believe we saw rest of movie with a little interruption.

OldBoy

would have loved to see this in a theater...

GoldenJCJ

Ash Ketchum

INVASION USA features Chuck Norris singlehandedly taking on an army of invading terrorists in Florida. I saw it on 42nd Street with a typical Deuce audience of miscreants who rooted for the terrorists and laughed at all their antics.

Your LASSIE COME HOME story is hilarious. It reminds me of the time I went to a children's matinee to see THE SECRET GARDEN (1949), another MGM classic, and then the entire audience stayed to see the regular double bill, THE THING WITH TWO HEADS and Mario Bava's BARON BLOOD. A good time was had by all.

OldBoy

i remember seeing this with my sister. just her and I. probably only one we ever saw just us. great movie. we both loved.

Ash Ketchum

The children's section was a standard feature of some neighborhood theaters back then and they had a matron, an old lady in white, with gloves and a flashlight, to try and keep order. With YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, by the time the action climax came, the entire audience was erupting in cheers and whoops, so the kids' response didn't seem out of line at all and the matron left us alone.

The children's admission price was 50 cents, although they raised it to 75 cents for the Bond film. Even when the films being shown weren't "children's films," the children's section was in place, and it was the leftmost seating section in a theater with three seating sections, plus a balcony. At this same theater two years earlier, I paid kids' price and went by myself to see a double bill of PSYCHO and STALAG 17 when I was 11.

MLBFan24

I remember going to a domed theater to see Matrix Reloaded and they utilized the whole dome (half the dome is the screen, the other half is the audience / seating). Normally, they split it and show two movies per dome. Regardless of what you think of Matrix Reloaded, watching that movie (especially the freeway chase) on that large screen was amazing.

brainee

Like others, seeing Star Wars in 1977 as a kid was mind-blowing.

Alien in 1979 was the first R-rated I saw. I remember watching with my hands in front of my face ... but with my fingers apart so I wouldn't miss anything!

A bit later during a family vacation to Los Angeles in the early 90s, it was memorable getting to watch the restored Spartacus on a gigantic screen at a classic movie theater. My dad and I had very little overlap of movies that we enjoy, but that was one of them.

Quatermass

Halloween - Opening weekend in 1978. It was the most fun I've ever had at a movie. The theater was at capacity and the audience reactions made it twice as fun. People were not used to slasher movies and there was a lot of gasps and screams from the audience. The screams were contagious and if a woman screamed from the back of the theater, pretty soon others would start. It would make your hair stand up. Nobody walked out or even stood up, though.

DWilson

I'm old enough that I remember going to a local theater and putting a quarter in a vending machine for a cup of soda.

Giantrobo

Gojira '54 (Original Japanese Cut Revival)...Saw it at the same retro theater that I saw Rocky Horror above called The Nuart here in LA. It was amazing to see this film in its original form on the big screen in a classic 1 screen theater setting.

devilshalo

Just a few....

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - my friends and I bought tickets and lines were snaking thru the parking lot of the various screens at the Orange CineDome. Fans were dressed up like Indy with either his bomber jacket and fedora or the white dinner jacket, even some gals were dressed like Willie Scott.
Pinocchio - a re-release in 1972. My first movie and I remember watching, with my mom and aunt at the Waikiki #3, all the way until Pinocchio gets to Pleasure Island and then falling asleep to wake up to Monstro spitting them out.
For the Love of Benji - I think the was the first film I went to the theater by myself. A small theater near my elementary school. I loved that goddamn dog, but I can't remember the film at all now or why I cried.
Meet Joe Black - A friend and I go to the theaters at Universal Studios not to watch Meet Joe Black, but to see the trailer for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. We stayed for the whole film because they were going to play the trailer twice. I remember us laughing hysterically at the movie where Brad and Claire first meet and walk away from each other, only to keep glancing back and then Brad meets his untimely death. I think we were the only two that laughed out loud at the absurdity.
Re-Animator - a sold out crowd at the UA in Long Beach. And the right crowd to see it with. We're smashed along the right side against the wall. I had never seen any movie like it.

DVD Josh

A couple:

Seeing Pulp Fiction and going back out to the box office to buy tickets for the next show

Bringing ENTIRE large Jerry's Pizzas into the movie theater in the mall to eat during the movie.

Making out with someone during Schindler's List.

Seeing Avatar in 3D for the first time.

Going with my dad to the $1 second run theater to watch the big event movies.

The time someone grabbed someone's cell phone out of their hand and threw it against the wall b/c they wouldn't stop TALKING on it.

The first time I saw a movie at the IMAX at Lincoln Center in NYC. Saw all three Batman movies there (Nolanverse). Incredible experience.

Paff

In other words, the entire movie? Shmeesh, I know some people were up in arms about "torture porn" in the early 2000s, but if there was one movie that best exemplified the moniker, it's Passion

Oddly enough, I was both. In the theater, I was in the "That's it?" category, but then I barely slept at all that night, which has NEVER happened to me as an adult (due to a movie)

My memory is of Halloween 3: Season of the Witch. There was a couple of rival gangs (or more likely, considering I grew up in the fairly sedate Hudson Valley of NY, just some rival cliques of wannabes) trash talking each other. My friends and I all thought they were more entertaining than the movie. I still remember the most hilarious exchange:
"Hey man, you wearing your 3-D glasses?"
"Yeah, you need 3-D glasses to read your WELFARE CHECKS"
doesn't even make sense, but the timing was perfect and we all lost it. Finally everyone calmed down and watched the movie. At the end, when Tom Atkins yells "Turn it off!", the projectionist immediately brought the house lights to full bright, which totally freaked us all out. Ya gotta love a little showmanship like that, especially coming from what was most likely a minimum wage theater worker.

JimRochester

Still hold a sentimental feeling for movies that A) my parents took me to back in the 60's, B) I took my kids to in the 90's or early 00's C) movies I went to with my girlfriend, now wife in the early 80's.

Sometimes I can watch a poor movie, but if I first saw it in one of those settings, it is much more enjoyable.