# Have You (And Maybe A Friend) Ever Been The Only One(s) In A Movie Audience? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2005, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994 "2005-07-31T08:25:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![zoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7ea924/32.png) [@zoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoog)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/21 "2005-07-31T17:10:06Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > **Feeling Minnesota** , with Keanu Reeves, Cameron Diaz and Vincent D’Ofrino… > > …the projectionist managed to show one reel without sound and another upside-down. All in all, not exactly optimal screening conditions, but a least we could throw popcorn at the screen with a clear conscience. That actually might have been an improvement on that flick… ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/22 "2005-07-31T17:19:03Z")
I saw [Imagine John Lennon](http://imdb.com/title/tt0095360/) in the theater where I worked with just myself and a girl back when it was released. We had sex in the theater. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/23 "2005-07-31T17:23:06Z")
This has happened to me repeatedly, but the absolute worst one for me was Princess Mononoke on the night it opened. The reason why was kind of obvious; no advertising, the theater didn’t even put it on their marquee listing what movies they were showing (if it wasn’t for the fact that I had driven half an hour to a theater to see it I wouldn’t have even waited in line and asked for a ticket). I know anime can’t hold a big theater audience but being the only one there was kind of depressing. At least when I saw it again two days later with half a dozen friends the fact that we were at a 10am showing explained the fact that our crowd were the only ones there for that. ---
**Author:** ![GhostoftheNight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58f4c7/32.png) [@GhostoftheNight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GhostoftheNight)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/24 "2005-07-31T17:28:59Z")
Me and a friend saw **Ice Age** about a month after it was released. Had the theatre all to ourselves. It was a nice experience. I usually don’t bother seeing movies that are geared for younger audiences in the theatre, since all the KIDS will be there. I don’t mind being in a crowded theatre, but noisy kids drive me nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/25 "2005-07-31T17:32:09Z")
Me and three of my buddies saw _Super Troopers_ by ourselves. We liked going to that particular theater _because_ it was never crowded. They soon went out of business. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/26 "2005-07-31T17:33:48Z")
Unlike most of my friends, I dig horror movies, so I often end up going alone to the ones I want to see. When I’m by myself, I prefer to go to matinees as soon as I’m finished with class or work. You can imagine that there aren’t very many people interested in seeing a horror flick at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, especially one that’s been out a few weeks. I’m usually the first person in the theater, due to my compulsive punctuality (I also like catching the trailers), so I like to make a game of seeing if anyone else will show up. Most of the time, two or three other people eventually show up during the previews. The closest I can think to being completely alone was when I saw **Ring Two** , I think it was. I was alone for the first 15 minutes or so but then a group of three or four people came in. When I saw **Cursed** there was only one other person in the theater, and he was in the same row as me. In other words - often close, but no cases offhand of being the only one. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/27 "2005-08-01T02:24:20Z")
Stephen Hawkings’ “A Brief History of Time”. I was the only one in the theatre. I guess shows about physics don’t draw a big audience in Fort Worth, Texas. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/28 "2005-08-01T02:30:07Z")
A couple of years ago I went to the last showing of the last day [Veronica Guerin](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312549/combined) was playing at that theater. It was an 80-seater so it wasn’t quite as lonely feeling as an empty thousand-seat theater would have been. Some years ago when I was in Carson City, the six-plex there had one theater that sat about twenty. They usually put an art or foreign film in it. Several times I was one of four or fewer in that audience, but never was the only one. DD ---
**Author:** ![Gerome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Gerome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerome)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/29 "2005-08-01T02:38:41Z")
I saw **24 Hour Party People** with two other strangers. After the film finished, we all sat there until the end of the credits because no one wanted to be the first to get up and leave. The credits finished, the lights came up, and all three of us filed out silently. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/30 "2005-08-01T02:44:37Z")
I’ve been close, but a few people always show up at the last minute. Seeing a movie with no one else in the crowd - except a friend or two - has become a dream of mine. ---
**Author:** ![feppytweed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/feppytweed/32/4280_2.png) [@feppytweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feppytweed)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/31 "2005-08-01T03:18:15Z")
One weekday matinee, it was just me and my friend Lindsey. IIRC, the movie playing was The Mummy Returns. ---
**Author:** ![Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/32 "2005-08-01T03:53:00Z")
Once, my SO and I went to go see the Tigger Movie, it was the second weekend it was out, and it was the very last showing at the theater, I think it was about 8 or 9pm. I don’t remember much of the movie though, my SO and I took advantage of being the only ones there. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/33 "2005-08-01T04:04:55Z")
Once long ago, I was with my family in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Weekend at Bernie’s 2 was one of the two movies playing, so of course I wanted to see it. No one else would come see it with me. Apparently the movie had been out long enough for word of mouth to spread because I think I was alone. There may have been one other person. God that movie was crap. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/34 "2005-08-01T04:05:14Z")
> [@vibrotronica](#): > > I saw [Imagine John Lennon](http://imdb.com/title/tt0095360/) in the theater where I worked with just myself and a girl back when it was released. We had sex in the theater. Whose your Yoko, baby… whose your Yoko! ---
**Author:** ![don\_Jaime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b4bc9f/32.png) [@don\_Jaime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_Jaime)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/35 "2005-08-01T04:13:35Z")
I saw _Moon Over Parador_ by myself, during its first week, at night. It made watching it that much better. It was probably a very bad movie if you had to share the theater and not flop out wherever you want or dance in front of the screen or laugh as loud as you want. I saw _The Iron Giant_ twice in the theater, and came close both times. That sucked, because the movie was excellent and there should have been more people there. ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/36 "2005-08-01T04:16:13Z")
Way back when, for **Night of the Comet** , it was just me and the two friends that I came with. Since we were alone, we took the opportunity to yell “Fire!” in a theater (hey, you don’t get to act on those First Amendment exceptions too often). ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/37 "2005-08-01T04:21:45Z")
I used to work at a theater; one of the very, very few fringe benefits we had was that we never had to pay to see a movie. My family and friends and I used to have the house all to ourselves often: Tuesday nights were usually deserted, especially at showings that started between 6:30 and 8:00 PM. ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/38 "2005-08-01T04:30:35Z")
A friend and I were planning to go see “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” on opening night, but it was sold out, so instead we were the only two people in the theater to see “Under Seige” with Steven Seagal. We made much fun of it. It was MST3K come to life. ---
**Author:** ![lhovis73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecd19e/32.png) [@lhovis73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lhovis73)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/39 "2005-08-01T04:36:00Z")
I’ve been with one or two other people a couple of times, but completely alone in a theater only once…for Off-Beat, a dumb mid-80s comedy with Judge Reinhold…something about a bunch of singing cops (that’s all I remember about it…even though I was the only one in the theater, I still wasn’t paying attention to this movie…) I must have been about 12 years old when this happened…watched the movie I paid to see (Ladyhawke…or something like that), and then snuck into Off-Beat afterwards, probably because no one was guarding that particular door, not because I had a burning desire to see that movie… ---
**Author:** ![pace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c2a13f/32.png) [@pace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pace)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994/40 "2005-08-01T04:37:01Z")
sure, several times, no big deal for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-and-maybe-a-friend-ever-been-the-only-one-s-in-a-movie-audience/314994.md?page=3)