This month’s roundtable discussion topic is from Heather who asks, “What are some of our all-time favorite movie theater experiences?”

Justin: Oh man, there are probably too many to count. Going into The Matrix almost blind with my friends and being astounded by how good it was. Finally seeing The Blair Witch Project after being thoroughly intrigued (and freaked out) by all of the viral internet legends surrounding this movie. Nearly having my bladder rupture on me because I was holding in a 24-ounce soda for the duration of Dances with Wolves. Spending entire Saturdays at the dollar movie theater gorging on second-hand ’90s cinema. Finding an art theater to finally see Run Lola Run in Colorado.

But if I had to pick just one favorite theater memory, it would have to be going to see Return of the Jedi in 1983 as a seven-year-old kid. My aunt took me that day, and I was absolutely enthralled by how epic and exciting it was. I actually stood up to yell out encouragement to Luke as he battled the rancor until my aunt dragged me back down in my seat.

To this day, Jedi remains my top Star Wars movie, and I’m sure that theater experience plays into that a lot. I feel privileged that I got to see it in its first run.

Sitting Duck: This is more educational than favorite. But on the night before I was going to go see Dune Part 2: Wormsign Boogaloo, I fell down some stairs and had to go to the emergency room. Fortunately, it was just a fractured metatarsal. But still I had to go to the theater on crutches.

Drew: I’m lucky enough to live near the oldest continuously-operating movie theater in America, which also rents out for parties, so I’ve seen everything there from Star Wars to Halloweentown to Avengers: Infinity War. It’s a neat feeling, watching Luke blow up the Death Star and knowing someone was sitting exactly where you are, watching him do the same thing in 1977.

But probably my most memorable movie theater experience was when Alien re-released to theaters for its 25th anniversary. I’d never actually seen it, so one night I bought a ticket, settled into my seat, and waited for the other audience members to arrive. And waited. And waited. It wasn’t until the previews ended and the lights went down that I realized no one else was coming. I wouldn’t say I spook easily, but watching one of the twentieth century’s scariest films on the big screen, with surround sound and not another soul in sight? I guarantee you’ll still remember that feeling, twenty years later.

Anthony: I already hinted in my review to The Lift — itself my second favourite movie-going excursion ever — that my greatest experience in a cinema was the 1989 Batman.

It’s hard to convey to someone who was too young, or not yet born, how huge a deal this movie was. Up until then the only “good” studio-backed mainstream superhero movie we’d had was Dick Donner’s Superman (and, arguably, its first sequel) but otherwise superheroes had never been treated as serious business by Hollywood.

Plus the marketing campaign for Batman was pure genius: just the bat logo in gold on a black poster, that’s it. That’s how we became aware of that movie for many many months, then they announced Jack friggin Nicholson as the friggin clown prince, and a soundtrack BY Prince. Insane. That summer the bat logo was EVERYWHERE, it went viral years before going viral became a thing. And to me personally, 1989 itself was the most amazing year. Had I died at the end of it I would have had no regrets.

I’m 15 and spending two weeks away from home at my grandmother’s, who lived alone and just retired from correctional services (my 5’1″ grandma was a badass prison guard). I visit because like me she likes to be on her own and do her own little thing, so I go catch the movie on opening night alone. The theatre is old, and when I say theatre I mean actual theatre, with a balcony and a stage and vulgalour curtains. That place had been up since the ’50s and smelled like it. We’re all sitting and waiting, and you can feel the electricity in the air, and then curtain opens, lights go down, and the screen comes alive for a showing… of Tequila Sunrise. Because that was a double header and most of us didn’t know that or were hoping the lesser movie would be screened after, like at the drive-in. Mad respect for whichever Mutant here has or will review this dud, but man was it was boring.

Well.. I found out it was boring when I tried to watch it again a few years later on TV. THAT night I didn’t pay any attention past the point where Mel Gibson drops a kilo of coke in a toilet (like, two minutes in). People were NOT having it, we were there to watch BATMAN, so everybody just forgot about the opening movie and had a party. And I mean par-tay!

I’m glad my mom doesn’t read these reviews because I’m about to confess that on that night I had my first beer. This was an old mom-and-pop place with no staff really, so they didn’t care that people snuck in booze and food, and there was plenty of both. So my next-seat neighbours enabled me. I was in the middle of a row and even though I’m the most introverted teen you ever met — neurodivergence does that sometimes — I was having the time of my life with the people on every side of me, left and right and front and back. I cannot for the life of me remember their names, but I have their faces and smiles seared in my head and I can’t help the giant smile of my own that pops up every time I think of them.

So by the time Terribla Surprise had ended and we all had peed our brains out (beer comes out fast, I learned that there), we were all warmed up for the main event. Truth be told, I watched Batman a couple times on VHS after it came out, but I didn’t like re-watching it. Maybe because it wasn’t that good to begin with, or maybe because nothing will ever compare to the ambience of that night in ’89. But on that night, it was the most awesome movie of all time. When there was party music, for the museum scene and the parade, we were all up on our feet and dancing along with Jack­. Every time Batman was fighting, we were all “Wham! Pow! Bang!” Every time Vicky Vale screamed, and she did a LOT, we were all telling her to shut the f-k up!

On that one night I finally got the appeal of pro-wrestling. It’s not real and it’s quite corny, but you’re having a blast playing along if you do it with friends and let yourself get swept away. Same with this movie. It’s not really good, but thanks to it I came out of my shell and spent a night having a party with hundreds of complete strangers. You know what? Even college never came close to giving me a night like that, and college was wild for me.

Heather: My favorite theater experience of all time happened back when I was in college at my friend’s Halloween party. We all chatted awkwardly, me only knowing one person there. Eventually someone suggested we take our small group of costumed individuals to see Shaun of The Dead, which was out in theaters.

Wearing a costume out in public as an adult was something I had not done until that point (being past trick-or-treat age), and I found it thrilling. An old couple behind us got a few minutes into the movie then realized it wasn’t Dawn of the Dead. We got to hear them go through the five stages of grief behind us before leaving. Meanwhile, we all bonded, sitting there in our costumes and laughing and cheering along with the movie.

These moments are all burned into my brain — and part of the reason I think going to the theater is such an important experience.

Drake: I’m pretty lucky to have seen quite a few of what became genre classics during their big screen runs. Star Wars, for example. Just Star Wars, not “A New Hope.” This played for well over a year in its initial run when I was living in Southern California, so it became the thing to see on any given weekend or Summer afternoon if you were bored. Mom wants you out of her hair? Go see Star Wars. Want to avoid those relatives that suddenly popped in? Go see Star Wars. It’s Saturday? Star Wars. I saw it several times from the summer of ‘77 through the fall of ’78, just because it was fun, and it was always there. I’m pretty neutral to the Star Warses that came after, but that first movie was a real kick to see on the big screen.

Jaws was another one I was fortunate to see in the theater. It had gotten a re-release in the summer of ‘79, with its rating lowered to PG from the original R, and I could not wait to see it. I’d seen Jaws 2 the year before and really enjoyed it, but it was easy to see why the original became such a blockbuster. Honestly, although I’m not a huge Steven Spielberg fan, Jaws probably belongs on any given “Top 10 Movies” list.

And I can’t leave out Aliens! OK, not just Aliens, but Aliens…in 70mm! With Six-Track Dolby Stereo! The movie had 150 prints made in 70mm and my soon-to-be wife and I were lucky enough to be in Northern California at the time so we caught it at UA’s Cinema 150 in Santa Clara on a huuuge 85 x 32 foot curved screen. That’s still one of our most memorable movie experiences, and it’s a hard one to top.