# Historical cinema showtimes?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-cinema-showtimes/523120>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 31, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-cinema-showtimes/523120 "2009-12-31T00:54:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-cinema-showtimes/523120/1 "2009-12-31T00:54:20Z")

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I’m trying to figure out how many films I have seen in the theater this year. But Apple’s evil iTunes software caused me to lose all my data when I upgraded to OS 3 on my iPod Touch. So I don’t have a list for the early part of the year.

Where can I find old movie showtimes? [Imdb.com](http://Imdb.com), for some reason, does not retain listings. Any ideas?

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-cinema-showtimes/523120/2 "2009-12-31T02:03:11Z")

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Go to the library and look at the microfilm of your local paper.

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**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-cinema-showtimes/523120/3 "2009-12-31T03:11:24Z")

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Or search Google News to see if your local paper has its back issues online.

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**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-cinema-showtimes/523120/4 "2009-12-31T04:26:59Z")

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Sadly, the papers both charge for access to anything older than a week or two. I was looking for a web site that doesn’t throw away their data.

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**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-cinema-showtimes/523120/5 "2009-12-31T22:23:49Z")

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Why do you need showtimes? Wouldn’t “movie release dates” be sufficient?

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**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-cinema-showtimes/523120/6 "2009-12-31T22:27:25Z")

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> [@jackdavinci](#):
>
> Why do you need showtimes? Wouldn’t “movie release dates” be sufficient?

I’m trying to confirm what I saw. “Release dates”, especially on art house films, are very misleading. The date might refer to a film festival, or a very limited release for Oscar consideration in a single theater in New York and LA each for a week.