What are your Great/Bad Movie Theater Experiences?

[ChiefsFanatic]

I love movies at the movie theater. Especially the Alamo Drafthouse. They run a theater the way it should be run, which is fun and goofy, instead of like AMC. I used to manage a couple of theaters, and I tried to make it as fun as possible for our patrons.

Ok, so there is a reason for this thread. I saw Zero Dark Thirty in the theater but I have just re-watched it on U-verse. I had a weird experience at the theater....but first my worst experience.

I saw Passion of the Christ at AMC Commons. For whatever reason, my theater was packed with African American women. They yelled at the screen through the whole thing, and more than half of them did not even know the bible references, so they thought they could ask the movie screen. Well, that is not the movie for watching with people yelling at the screen. Bad Experience.

So, that brings me back to Zero Dark Thirty. I saw this at the AMC Commons as well. My theater was sold out. During the movie it was as loud as you would expect 300 people to be at the movies. Then comes the part where they are on their way to the compound in the Black Hawks. The theater was dead silent. It sounded like it was an empty theater. There was not a sound again in the theater until the credits started. It was unbelievable. Great Experience.

[L.A. Chieffan]

saw the midnight premiere of pulp fiction in hollywood. greatest time ive ever had at a movie bar none, it was like a rock concert.

oh and south park: the movie the night it came out was pretty awesome too because the entire theater was like an amsterdam hash bar.

cant say i had any bad experiences other than a few dumbasses talking or whatever.

[KCUnited]

Things got a little tense at the premier of Higher Learning.

[lcarus]

The only good experience I can have in a theater is if I watch the movie with as little interruptions as possible. So basically the less people there are, the better experience. Being at a full house where people cheer or applaud isn't fun to me. That's why I typically just wait for movies to come out on dvd/blu-ray before I watch it. It's so expensive to go to the theater anymore anyway.

[Sorter]

Originally Posted by ChiefsFanatic

I love movies at the movie theater. Especially the Alamo Drafthouse. They run a theater the way it should be run, which is fun and goofy, instead of like AMC. I used to manage a couple of theaters, and I tried to make it as fun as possible for our patrons.

Ok, so there is a reason for this thread. I saw Zero Dark Thirty in the theater but I have just re-watched it on U-verse. I had a weird experience at the theater....but first my worst experience.

I saw Passion of the Christ at AMC Commons. For whatever reason, my theater was packed with African American women. They yelled at the screen through the whole thing, and more than half of them did not even know the bible references, so they thought they could ask the movie screen. Well, that is not the movie for watching with people yelling at the screen. Bad Experience.

So, that brings me back to Zero Dark Thirty. I saw this at the AMC Commons as well. My theater was sold out. During the movie it was as loud as you would expect 300 people to be at the movies. Then comes the part where they are on their way to the compound in the Black Hawks. The theater was dead silent. It sounded like it was an empty theater. There was not a sound again in the theater until the credits started. It was unbelievable. Great Experience.

Did they look like this?

[Red Gorilla]

Best

I went to see Blade and there were three old black women sitting in front of us. They were talking about how hot Wesley Snipes was before the movie. The first scene was a Rave that got ambushed by vampires. it was a gore fest. They walked out 4 minutes into the movie. It was hilarious.

My wife and I went to see Blackhawk Down when she was pregnant with our first child. The explosions and gun fire were so loud that my daughter started kicking for the first time and she didn't stop the whole movie. It was cool.

Worst

My buddy and I went to see Executive Decision and the place was almost sold out. We smuggled bottled beer into the theatre and sat in the back row. He went to set down an empty bottle 30 minutes into the movie and it fell over. It then started rolling down the rows banging on each chair all the way down to the front row. It was literally like 45 seconds of glass clanging against concrete and metal. We just cringed the entire time and everyone looked back at us. Amazingly, we didn't get kicked out.

Last, my parents took me to The Right Stuff when I was a kid. It's a very long movie and had an intermission. I got Junior Mints before the movie and some spilled into the seat. I didn't know about and sat on them throughout the first half of the movie. We got up and went to the lobby during the intermission. My mom thought I shit my pants because there was chocolate all over my ass. Everyone thought I shit my pants. Even the women in the ladies room. It was humiliating. LOL

[Baby Lee]

Best were Something about Mary and Pulp Fiction. In both cases, the audience was fully engaged and made funny scenes funnier and tense scenes more tense. I don't think I've seen an audience laugh harder than in several scenes of TSAM.

Worst was a shitty theater that is now abandoned on Kingshighway in St. Louis. Ican't remember the movie I saw, but it was only playing there at the time. The theater had a completely flat floor and some of the nastiest seats I've ever seen, not so much stained or otherwise befouled, but just plain worn out. Lumpy and weathered with springs ready to protrude at any moment. The sound system must have been a single clock radio somewhere near the screen. It was like watching a filmstrip in a HS gym.

[KC_Lee]

Worst -
Any opening night for a large blockbuster movie (i.e. The Dark Night Rises)

Best -
Going to the Sunday 11:00 AM showing for a large blockbuster movie. Very few people there.

[blaise]

Went to see one of the Scream movies once and a group of 20-something women behind us just shouted at the screen the whole time.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Things got a little tense at the premier of Higher Learning.

Love that movie.

Originally Posted by KC_Lee

Worst -
Any opening night for a large blockbuster movie (i.e. The Dark Night Rises)

Best -
Going to the Sunday 11:00 AM showing for a large blockbuster movie. Very few people there.

Yeah, weekend matinees are my favorite. I can't remember the last time I went to see a blockbuster on opening weekend. The only ones I bother seeing in theaters are horror flicks with a date.

[The Franchise]

Opening night of Jackass. Went with my brother and the theater was packed with nothing but young people. The ushers came in a couple of times because the theater was so loud. They gave up after 2-3 tries of getting us to quiet down. It was awesome.

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

The sound system must have been a single clock radio somewhere near the screen. It was like watching a filmstrip in a HS gym.

[Frosty]

Before I could drive, there wasn't much to do in our small town on the weekend, so my friends and I would usually hit the local theater. It didn't really matter what was playing. On top of that, the owner didn't care about what the rating of the film was so some of the movies were pretty eye-opening to preteen me. It was always a great time.

[Pepe Silvia]

Best

My buddy and I went to see "Team America:World Police" on a double date with these two hot ass Columbian girls. There were a couple funny moments that night, we walked in the theater like 5 minutes late, I have my drink in hand walking up the isle and it was at the scene where there was the play and they were singing "Everyone has AIDS." I nearly spit my drink out before I could take my seat. Then when we did sit down one of the girls said "Are they singing about AIDS the disease?" My buddy replied "No they were talking about AIDS the ham." God that was a great night.

Worst

I was about 10-11 years old at the time and i wanted to see "The Little Rascals" but it was sold out and we had to see some shitty Nicolas Cage movie called "It Could Happen 2 You" I swear my cousin and I were so bored we just left after 30 minutes. Nothing worse than having to sit through a movie you didn't intend to see in the first place.

[Third Eye]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Opening night of Jackass. Went with my brother and the theater was packed with nothing but young people. The ushers came in a couple of times because the theater was so loud. They gave up after 2-3 tries of getting us to quiet down. It was awesome.

Until the last sentence, I assumed you were describing your worst experience.