During the lockdown I missed seeing movies in the theater the most. I was worried the entire business would collapse and I am happy they seem to have made it through. Now that I am fully vaccinated and a big chunk of my state is vaccinated I feel like it is safe to try again. I have tickets to see Black Widow next weekend (a variety of reasons didn’t allow me to see it this weekend). This will be my first time in a theater since February or early March of 2020
I am wondering if anyone else has already gone back and if so how was it? Was it crowded? Were people masked? Any experience is appreciated. Thanks.
I’ve been going to movies in theaters since Los Angeles County allowed them to reopen. The first few months everyone was masked and the theaters were socially distanced at about 25% capacity. But I managed to see all the Best Picture nominees onscreen before the awards.
To date, I’ve seen 40 movies in 2021. In the last month, the theaters have been allowed to book to 100% capacity and masks for the vaccinated are optional. My subjective experience is that the theaters are slowly growing attendance, but aren’t back to pre-pandemic attendance. I’d guess that about 20-30% of the audience is masked still.
I just saw Black Widow in AMC IMAX. It was the noon show on Friday and I’d guess that the theater was about 3/4 full.
My kids and I saw Black Widow on Thursday night. It was great! No lineups for snacks. At all. Theatre was about 95% empty but those of us who came had a good time. I think it’s going to take a while for theatres back up to speed.
Mom and I have been to three movies so far: Cruella,Jerry Maguire, and In the Heights. As you can imagine, we were the only people in the theater for the 25-year-old Jerry Maguire. There were less than 10 people for the other movies; masks optional. We had a good time, aside from the fact that Mom slipped and fell before Cruella. We’re gonna go see The Great Muppet Caper next month.
We’ve watched three films in the theater in recent months after a break of more than a year: Minari, Wrath of Man and In the Heights. Seating in the theaters here is limited, and there were noticeably fewer customers. Masks are required to be worn except when eating or drinking.
Went to see Black Widow in a theater about half full. The experience was a great reminder of why I love and loathe movie theaters equally… I like that people are enthusiastic about movies and I enjoy the communal experience, but damn if people do not know how to SHUT UP during a film. It’s crazy to me that people would pay to see a movie and then just talk through the whole thing!
In the autumn, I saw Tenet and The Personal History of David Copperfield in the theater. Social distancing measures were in place and I kept the mask on the whole time. Two seats were kept unoccupied between each person or group. But there were still a decent number of people in the audience.
Today I saw Black Widow in the theater, a week after its premiere. This was in the biggest auditorium in the multiplex (an XD theater, in Cinemark language) and can seat around 450 people. There were about a dozen people other than me (I watched to see how many entered after me). I kind of miss the social experience of seeing a movie with a big crowd. We’re clearly not there yet.
I saw Black Widow with my brother on Thursday night. The theater was about 1/3 full. No masks but we were all spread out.
It was nice. Sitting through the trailers and listening to other people laugh and talk I thought, "This is nice. This feels like things are getting back to “normal”. It put me in a good mood all through yesterday.
Back in May I went to see Lawrence of Arabia at the Texas Theater. For a retro roadshow film at the tail of the pandemic, it was well attended. At least 20-25 folks in the theater.
I bought a ticket yesterday for the opening weekend for Jungle Cruise. I’m hoping it works as well as the first of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
And we’re back to no movies. When I wrote the post above, Hawaii was showing about 50 cases a day. Now it’s consistently several hundred a day, the worst figures for the entire pandemic so far.
I, like many here4 it seems, went to see Black Widow.
The theater had about 10-20 people, nicely spaced. Popcorn was good. They still honored by Harkins Popcorn card, even though I haven’t been to a movie since, I think, January 2020. That was nice.
But as this is AZ, I don’t trust the other movie goers. I don’t think I’ll go again for quite some time.
The only other movie I really would have missed was WW1984, so I bought it on BluRay, sight unseen.
Another “I went and saw Black Widow” post. But far from “wanting the experience of the crowds”, I went on Fandango and shopped around til I found a theater and a time where all the seats were empty.
Well, I got there, picked the perfect seat and whattheheck? another couple walked in. Hellooo, I was under the impression this was a private screeeening…
Then they sat down. Yep, right behind me. Ewww… I imagined their disease-ridden exhalations wafting over me. And not just Covid; I could smell Dengue Fever, the Yips, terminal Twisties, and some highly communicable DouchebagDisease.
So I moved way down front, which made it even more of a “can’t get this feeling at home” event. Much fun!
I’ve been to a handful. I was alone in the theatre for F&F9 and was one of two people for Snake Eyes (sweet Jeebus was that one bad). I’m really missing the joy of an opening-weekend crowd for a big dopey superhero movie, for sure. I’m also saving money, considering that new releases are up to like $30 to stream through the Cineplex site for the first month or so of release. Right now my fingers are crossed that our local vaccination rates keep theatres open long enough to see the new James Bond flick in IMAX. That’s my most-anticipated fall moviegoing experience.
Well I’ve now seen 12 movies since I started going again in July. Most of those have been in either Dolby recliners, so the seats are spread out in general, or in regular showings that are empty to half full. “The Suicide Squad” at Lincoln Square IMAX on opening night was the first one I’ve been to that has been pretty solidly full. (Though one seat right next to me was open even though it showed as sold, which was nice!) It was pretty fun having that big opening crowd again.
Exactly; I was looking forward to seeing a blockbuster movie in a full theater with hundreds of (one hopes vaccinated) strangers. It was fun in the before times. But both Black Widow and Jungle Cruise had very few attendees, despite being the kind of big movie that ought to attract a crowd.