OldBoy

When Star Wars opened in 1977, barely remember, but do remember my dad taking me and sis, I think. I believe it was winter time. This came out, what Dec 77? Standing in long line in a West Nyack, NY theater. No longer there. And thinking this was the greatest movie ever and, I think, changed my perception of movies. Maybe not bc I was a dot back then. But, it did something…

kd5

Watching Planet of the Apes in the theater with my brother, probably in 1968 when it first came out. I was 13 years old. I think watching that, and 2001: A Space Odyssey that same year, also in the theater, helped shape the fondness that I now hold for science fiction movies.

We were from the country, seeing a movie at the theater back then was an event for us, and seeing those 2 movies were very special events for me.

OldBoy

Schindler’s List was an odd experience for sure. Lots of tears and sadness after Titanic. Seeing Aliens with grandfather in FL in what 86? and bring freaked the fuck out for next several months, maybe year, don’t remember, but do remember thinking they were always in my closet. Those are few I recall fondly.

I also remember calling my mom after seeing Almost Famous (she loves great movies like this and music in general, including 70’s) and telling her I just saw one of my favorite movies ever. I was living in Stamford, CT snd it was a smaller, decent theater in town. Still remains among top.

This was on dvd, but do remember fondly by being blown away by The Shawshank Redemption and has the distinguished honor of being only a handful of movies I could have seen in theater, didn't, but discovered on home release and was blown away. This one def started that small and exclusive list. List doesn’t include foreign releases, really limited release gems that I could have possibly seen, not the smaller foreign, bigger like Parasite, etc.

Nick Danger

The Poseidon Adventure. Shelly Winters was swimming underwater to save everyone else. I realized that I was holding my breath. I looked around me and everyone else was holding their breath too.

The Deep. Jacqueline Bisset scuba diving in a white T-shirt. It's old hat now, but when I was just discovering the wonder of boobs . . .

Star Wars. I was right at the target age, I was a bookish reader of science fiction, and I rarely went to the movies. I was blown out of my seat.

Akira. After watching a movie with the rider's POV on speeding motorcycles, I rode my motorcycle home. I thought that it was neat that my bike seemed so slow. Then I noticed that I was passing everyone else at 85 mph in a 55 zone.

Mondo Kane

Sometime during the early 90's, AMC theaters would show various (Vintage) Looney Tunes before the main-feature started. I knew that this was a common practice for movie-going all throughout the 30's to the 60's. And In a way, it was a great feeling to get an idea what the classic theatrical experience was like.

Btw, from what I remembered, these were the toons & movies I saw them with:

"Punch Trunk" (This was the first toon I saw in theaters, but I can't remember what movie was paired with it. It might have been Dick Tracy)
Navy Seals "Sahara Hare"
Silence of the Lambs "Odor of the Day" (Saw this in a packed theater and this toon got a lot of laughs from the crowd)
The Doors "Cat's Paw"

Mike86

Spider-Man: Far From Home- first movie I saw in the theater with my girlfriend. Also our first official date.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens- memorable because I waited in line at the mall for it. Also because I went with my dad and some friends.

The Dark Knight Rises- actually it was a marathon of The Dark Knight Trilogy as a whole, but fun triple feature experience. My friends and I made a special trip to a theater that was doing the marathon, and had a fun weekend trip.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines- first R rated movie I saw in the theater. Went with my grandpa.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)- first R rated movie I saw in the theater with a friend and not an adult.

jfoobar

I remember seeing Star Wars. I was six. The kid across the street, who was several years older, claimed to have seen it 20+ times. At the time, my friends and I were terribly impressed.

I remember seeing Superman: The Movie in a drive-in. It was not the first time I had seen it but I remember that one specifically.

I only ever remember my mom and I ever going to see a movie together, just the two of us, once (although it probably did happen some other times that I don't remember). It was The Jazz Singer with Neil Diamond. My mom was a Diamond fan and she probably only brought me to avoid having to pay a babysitter but I remember it being a fun day.

The first movie I saw with the woman who would become my second (and hopefully final) wife was Argo. I kept the ticket stubs just in case and later had them framed and gave them to her as a gift several months later on her birthday. I was already 99% sure I was going to marry her by that point.

marty888

With over half a century of movie-going, too many to mention, but here's a moment with a classic:

At The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) for a screening of one of my top ten movies of all time, THE THIRD MAN. (I of course have the DVD, but would never pass up a chance to see it on a big screen with an audience.) Lights dim, projector on, the sound of that zither music floods the theater - and the audience burst into applause! My kind of audience, and a thrilling moment even before the movie gets under way.

rexinnih

My mom pulling me out of school for a "doctor's appointment" I didn't know about only to pull into the movie theater to see Empire Strikes Back. That was memorable.

IBJoel

Seeing the Star Wars Special Editions, then skipping school for the first couple Prequels (and my first midnight movie for ROTS). The Dark Knight Rises, after falling in love with the previous film over the course of four years, and then getting to see the finale a day in advance.
​​​​​​Spirited Away, last October, for being something that truly blew my mind, even in my 30s. Ditto Princess Mononoke and Porco Rosso, to lesser degrees.

Watching Jaws and Willy Wonka in college and it finally "clicking" why they're great films.

​​​​​​Hausu and Seven Samurai last year, for immediately becoming some of my favorite films.

Jaymole

Same here. My mom took me to see both films (I was 6 years old) and both left a very deep impression on me. Planet of the Apes still contains the ending that affected me the most of any film. And 2001 is my favorite film of all time. When I saw it in 1968, I actually thought the ape sequence in 2001 was a short and that the movie began after the bone is tossed in the air.

Bluelitespecial

The Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition was a huge deal when they came out in theaters. It was so much fun getting to see those movies in sold out crowds. Another favorite memory I had was when I got to see Dances with Wolves when it was released in theaters. It was still playing in theaters in May the following year and my Mom asked if I want to go to a school carnival that night or see a movie. I chose Dances with Wolves instead to the carnival. I sat through the whole three hour movie at 9 years old with my Mom and I always thought I might have seemed weird wanting to go the movie instead of the school carnival with the other kids in my school..

Nesbit

My son gasping at the Millennium Falcon reveal in the Force Awakens.

Crocker Jarmen

- I don't remember which movies, but a few times when I was really young, like four or five, my father would wake me up after I'd gone to bed for the night to bring me to a late show at the theatre.

- going to the drive-in at age 7 or 8 to see really inappropriate double-features like Fright Night/The Bride, Lifeforce/Rambo First Blood Part 2. We'd been going to the drive-in for years, and I was so proud this was the first year I could stay awake for both features.

- seeing Pulp Fiction opening night after months of anticipation, and the movie exceeding my expectations. I don't believe I've ever seen a movie as much fun to watch as that one. I wasn't alive when the first Star Wars came out, so Pulp Fiction is my "oh-my-god-everything-is-changed-now" movie for me.

- when I was 19, a friend and I went to a midnight showing of Friday The 13th Part 2, and at the end when Jason jumped through the window, my friend literally jumped out of his seat while emitting a loud, high-pitch shriek, which resulted in the rest of the theatre laughing their ass off.

davidlynchfan

Watching “Being John Malkovich” all baked with the gang and didn’t know much about it going in (wasn’t too much of a movie buff then). Film turn my cinematic world topsy turvy for sure.

Alan Smithee

Learning how to run the 35mm projectors, including several showings of Newsies playing to zero patrons so that gave me a chance to play around with the controls and settings to see what they did. Everybody crapped on that movie then but I love musicals and it’s regarded as a classic now.

Draven

I’m a huge Weird Al fan and saw a preview of screening of UHF - when they used to do a double feature of a movie that wasn’t released yet and a current movie. Can’t even remember what else I saw but thought it was so cool to see a movie I wanted to see earlier than everyone else.

I remember waiting in a huge line for Jurassic Park on opening night and it was one of the few movies I’ve ever waited in a line for that was more than worth it.

First movie I ever remember seeing in theaters was Empire Strikes Back. We were visiting Des Moines for a minister’s conference my dad was attending and they took me for some entertainment. When the rereleases came out I actually lived in Des Moines at that time and got to see the movie again in the exact same theater, which was pretty awesome.

Ash Ketchum

I sat in the children's section of my local theater with my younger sister for the fifth James Bond movie, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967), and when the ninjas stormed SPECTRE's volcano base at the end, the crowd erupted into cheers with every move the ninjas made, especially the swordplay. Kids were jumping up and down in their seats. They'd never seen fighting like this before.




The next best would be seeing the very first screening of FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH (1973) at a free preview sponsored by Warner Bros. in a Times Square theater the night before its official opening. Again, nobody in the audience had ever seen fighting like this before.

mwbmis

I saw Raiders for the first time with my grandfather when I was 7. While I don't have any specific memories of that beyond the fact that it happened, I do remember seeing it about 20 years later at a revival show. My buddy and I sat in the row in front of a guy and his kid, who was about the same age as I was when I first saw it. As the movie progressed, it was clear the kid was seeing it for the first time. When we got to the slam-bam face melting finale the kid exclaimed, "Holy Cow". It made me very happy because the movie still had it.

OldBoy

in a good or bad way? Did y’all like it?

Dan

- Drop Dead Gorgeous. Went to the cinema to see something (can't even remember what) and we were either too late or that movie was full. So one friend basically forced us to go into DDG instead because we were there anyway and "what else were we going to do?" We came out of it in tears of joy, laughing our damn heads off. Never had an experience like that before or since.

- Jackie Brown & Inglourious Basterds. Years apart, but same set of friends.

- Astron-6 movie party at the Drafthouse in Dec 2019. Absurdly fun and unforgettable.

- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with the stars and director in attendance at TIFF. Just amazing.

- Who Framed Roger Rabbit may have been my very first trip to the cinema. At least, in my mind it was. So there's that.

- Wyrm at Fantastic Fest 2019. Still sad this movie hasn't got proper distribution.

- Seven Samurai on 35mm at the now shuttered Vintage Park Drafthouse. Intro'd by a local critic, and although I always liked the film, this was the viewing that made me love it.

rocket1312

I find it interesting that the vast majority of posts here are referencing theatrical viewings. I get that HDTVs and streaming and whatnot didn't exist when we were all kids, but I think it speaks to the power of the theatrical experience and it just makes me that much sadder as we watch it all slip away.

To answer the question, Return of the Jedi was not my first theater experience, but it's the earliest one I remember. I also got it for Christmas on vhs the first year it was available and watched it a thousand times. I never need to see it again because at this point it's seared into my memory.

A couple others I'll mention (because I'm sure no one else will) are Sleepers and The Island of Dr. Moreau. They're only memorable because I saw them with the girl I was in love with all through highschool. Sleepers was also the first movie I drove to myself after getting my license. They're both terrible date movies, but I'll certainly never forget them.

OldBoy

Well, I mean how memorable is it to sit on couch and watch something on tv. Even if spectacular, top 10 movie, you sit and watch on couch/bed/whatever all the time. It’s the going out part and experience that would be much more memorable than same ole thing at home. No?

OldBoy

Another fond one. X-mas day, seeing 2 theatrical movies. Both loved, but for different reasons. Dec 1993. Saw Tombstone with dad (parents divorced) early afternoon. Schindler’s List with mom. Thst was quite the experience. The latter, I mean.

TheMovieman

Guess one fondest memory was my excitement seeing Ghostbusters 2 (and sheer joy when the first TV ad popped up). My knowledge of Ghostbusters was mostly based on The Real Ghostbusters cartoon (though pretty sure I saw the first one on VHS beforehand) and then loving it when I saw it in theaters (to the point I saw it twice).