GoKawiilIt’s a great time to go back to theaters! The Odyssey is currently making believers in IMAX. And combined with the power of Spider-Man, it’s also breaking box-office records. After Verge senior reviewer David Imel reported back on his latest 70MM IMAX adventure, it got most of the staff talking in Slack about our favorite memories in front of the silver screen.
Don’t worry, this isn’t Phase 3 of AMC’s Nicole Kidman ad campaign. But there’s still something great about settling into a dark room with noise that will blow you away like a Maxell cassette.
My own favorite memory is seeing the first live-action Transformers in the theater in 2007 in a giant stadium in Maryland. I’d never watched the animated series and wasn’t a fan of the franchise; it was just the biggest ticket you could get at the time. I wouldn’t rate this ridiculous film on a list of almost any size, but the in-person experience ranks at the top because of the audience. When Bumblebee transformed into a Dodge Challenger, the entire crowd erupted in applause and cheering with people leaping out of their seats. The fun was infectious.
We’d love to hear your own memories at the movies — so please visit the comments! — TC Sottek, senior editor
I was in high school when the Star Wars movies had their big 20th anniversary rereleases, and I was a huge Star Wars fan. (Got there through the music; it’s John Williams’ fault I’m a horn player.)
The nearest multiplex to my house was the Fresh Pond theater in Cambridge, MA — right off the Alewife end of the red line. We all settled into the dark with our popcorn, the famous blue text appeared on screen, and a man down in the front shouted along, in the most Boston accent you can possibly imagine: “A LAWNG TIME AGO IN A GALAXY FAH, FAH AWAY!!!”
The entire theater completely lost it, as one, cracking up entirely, and after that it was a very cool, very congenial, very unified group enjoying the movie. — Kate Cox, senior producer, decoder
Way back in 2009, I saw District 9 at the dear, departed Regal UA Court Street in Brooklyn (bring it back! Put in an IMAX!). This was a classically interactive theater, and my fellow filmgoers and I agreed that this movie using giant insecty aliens as a metaphor for South African apartheid was an entirely participatory experience. If only I could remember the quips (besides “BUG!”), but I think about the collective feeling nearly every time I go to the movies, which is an awful lot. — Meredith Haggerty, senior reports editor
It’s a sweltering day in early September in 2022, but I’m able to avoid the worst of it while holed up in various theaters for 12 hours a day while covering the Toronto International Film Festival. But then something weird happens: As I’m watching Glass Onion, Rian Johnson’s long-awaited return to Knives Out and Benoit Blanc, the logo of the very website I’m working for appears on the screen. Everyone else in the theater gasps because the Verge headline is a major revelation, meanwhile I’m dizzy from too many cups of coffee and wondering if what I just saw was real. Even weirder: Since the movie doesn’t stream until December, I can’t talk about it with anyone for months. — Andrew Webster, senior entertainment editor
For me, it was seeing Batman Begins at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood on opening night. Warner Bros. gave out little promotional bat symbol flashlights and, when the lights went down, the iconic ceiling of the theater lit up with little bat symbols as the crowd went wild. The feeling was electric. — Kevin McShane, editorial director audio/video
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