Jurassic Park and the Matrix are the only two movies I’ve seen in theater where the experience must have been equivalent to seeing sound and color in movies for the first time.
I hadn’t even seen a preview yet when I went and watched the Matrix. 15 minutes in and I was knew I was witnessing something special.
That’s because the first two were actually based on Michael Chriton’s books. Shit went off the rails at the end of Lost World when the T-Rex broke loose in the city.
It's not just that (even if it is largely that), there are some really good breakdowns of why the cinematography in Jurassic Park stands up better. Almost every shot was framed better to make a believable awe-inspiring experience.
My dad took me on my 12th birthday because he knew how much I loved dinosaurs.
I can still remember those opening scenes as a kid with my mouth open. And not knowing who else was going to die.
I saw Jurassic Park in a packed theater on opening day. Then I saw it again twice more that summer. Tickets were $3.25 back then. Now I have a 80 inch tv that can steam any movie I want. I don't go to the theater anymore.
Oh man that was something! Just mind blowing! Tear inducing! Finally really seeing dinosaurs for the first time ever in a way that seemed like it could be real footage from a nature documentary.
That was HUGE!
Titanic was another that was crazy huge! Lines around the block for months. Also took over pop culture like crazy.
They both made Endgame seem like a blip.
That said, nothing but nothing was like Star Wars in 1977. The impact of that was just like nothing else in the modern age. Maybe impossible to fathom unless you were there.
Once again yeah Jurassic Park was one of the most amazing movie going experiences ever!
Anyway though, if you look at the numbers probably the 1930s and 1940s were actually the height of movie theaters.
They were thriving in the 80s and 90s though in a way that did feel a bit lessened in the later 00s and even vastly more so 2016 and on.
They did build quite a few new multiplexes in the 90s that tended to have larger screens than the ones built in the late 70s/80s.
The 90s were very good for movies, but I feel like the 80s were the decade that ruled movies most of all. The first few years of 90s movies still seemed basically identical to 80s movies. 80s definitely rule the teen movie scene.
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FWIW, I believe that this is the list of the 10 movies in the modern era (1977+) that sold the most tickets per capita in the US (in no particular order other than for Star Wars far and away sold the most tickets per capita):
Star Wars (far and away above everything else)
The Empire Strikes Back
Return Of The Jedi
E.T.
Jurassic Park
Grease
Titanic
The Lion King
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
Interestingly Titanic in 1997 is the last movie that makes top 10 tickets sold per capita in the US list. Nothing from 00s, 10s, 20s makes it. You have 3 from the just 1/3 of the 70s counted! And you have 4 from the 80s and 3 from the 90s.
I believe the next few on the list would be made up of, in no particular order: The Phantom Menace, Avatar, The Force Awakens, Forrest Gump. (here we do finally add one '00 and one '10 film and you add two more from the 90s).
If you decide to start the modern movie going age in 1975 with Jaws though then Jaws makes it up way, way up on that list, although many don't like to start modern movie going age and fair comparisons until 1977 for various reasons.
I think I’ve seen the original in the theater at least 5 times.
It was a popular midnight movie on the few nights our small town did midnight showings.
Plus the 2-3 times I saw it when it was playing in a theater before it was released to VHS.
I remember when my guitar teacher got a really good surround sound system. I came over for a lesson and afterwards he played the beach landing scene of Saving Private Ryan. When the artillery and mortars landed it shook the room. I just sat there in awe until he shut it off.
Yep, we had just moved, so I didn't really have any friends. My dad rolled his eyes and took me (13yo) - begging to be taken to see it - and even he was impressed; it's not easy to impress a Col. in the US Army with a "kid" film (emphasis on the quotes).
Yep...you can randomly select a month/year from 1990-1999 and there will be at least one classic movie released that month. I'm not talking average movie...I'm talking a timeless classic
1994 was the greatest year for movies. Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Shawshank Redemption, Lion King, Clerks, Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura, Natural Born Killers, Speed, The Crow, to name a few
Im still going with 1999. Fight club, the matrix, 10 things I hate about you, the Blair witch project, American beauty, lake placid, American Pie, office space, big daddy, the mummy, varsity blues, the 6th sense, South Park… and on and on.
The 90s were great for movies! but I gotta hand it to the 80s!
80s: The Empire Strikes Back, Blade Runner, Return Of The Jedi, Gremlins, Ghostbusters, The Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing, Pretty In Pink, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Say Anything, St. Elmo's Fire, Footloose, Flashdance, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, The Princess Bride, The Terminator, Superman II, Adventures In Babysitting, The Karate Kid, The Karate Kid Part 2, The Karate Kids Part 3, Streets Of Fire, E.T., The Goonies, Legend, Project X, Ghostbusters 2, War Games, The Sure Thing, Biloxi Blues, Labyrinth, Mystic Pizza, Pretty Woman, My Bodyguard, The Boy Who Could Fly, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Heathers, Top Gun, Risky Business, Valley Girl, Lucas, Uncle Buck, Desperately Seeking Susan, Splash, Just One Of The Guys, Dream A Little Dream, Teen Witch, Teen Wolf, Mannequin, Real Genius, Spacecamp, Mischief, Big, The Color Of Money, The Outsiders, Cocktail, Friday The 13th, The Secret Of My Success, Rad, Secret Admirer, Can't Buy Me Love, The Blob (1988), Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, The Never Ending Story, Ladyhawke, Eight Men Out, Conan The Barbarian, The Fly, Back To The Future I-IIII, An Officer And A Gentleman, One Crazy Summer, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Weekend At Bernie's, Summer School, North Shore, License To Drive, The Lost Boys, Gotcha!, Night Of The Comet, Sheena, Jewel Of The Nile, Romancing The Stone, Legal Eagles, Red Sonja, The Thing, Christine, Better Off Dead, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Poltergeist, A Night In The Life Of Jimmy Reardon, The Legend Of Billie Jean, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, For Your Eyes Only, Moonraker, Octopussy, A View To A Kill, The Living Daylights, License To Kill, Blazing Saddles, Airplane, Aliens, The Blue Lagoon, The Bounty (1984), Creepers, Little Darlings, When Harry Met Sally, Innerspace, Weird Science, Purple Rain, Hot Dog, Revenge Of The Nerds, Thrashin', The Wraith, Vision Quest, A Room With A View, Bright Lights Big City, Die Hard, The Witches Of Eastwick, Driving Miss Daisy, Roadhouse, Star Trek The Wrath Of Khan, Star Trek The Voyage Home, Little Shop Of Horrors, Amadeus, Predator, Blind Date, The Last Emperor, Dangerous Liasons, Glory, Born On The Fourth Of July, Big Trouble In Little China, Lethal Weapon, The Rachel Papers, Raising Arizona, Married To The Mob, Beverly Hills Cop, Beverly Hills Cop 2, Twins, The Little Mermaid, Ghost, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Conan The Destroyer, Caddyshack, Robocop, Paris Texas, An American Werewolf In London, Cat People, The Adventures Of Milo & Otis, Evil Dead II, Lifeforce, Starman, The Abyss, BMX Bandits, Blown Away (1988), Videodrome, Do The Right Thing, Wall Street, Time Bandits, Dragonslayer, Broadcast News, China Syndrome, Crocodile Dundee, My Boyfriend's Back, Clue, UHF, etc.
90s (a ton of these were 1990-1992 when it was still basically the 80s though): Dances With Wolves, Total Recall, A League Of Their Own, A Few Good Men, Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump, Speed, Titanic, Men In Black, Shakespeare In Love, Apollo 13, The Lion King, Clueless, The Phantom Menace, The Matrix, Twister, Fly Away Home, Kundun, Home Alone, Home Alone 2, T2, The Next Karate Kid, Career Opportunities, Groundhog Day, Romeo & Juliet, Dark City, Office Space, Living In Oblivion, The Rocketeer, Gremlins 2, Sleepless In Seattle, You've Got Mail, Joe Vs. The Volcano, To Die For, Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead, Cruel Intentions, Courage Under Fire, Gas Food Lodging, Wayne's World, Austin Powers, My Cousin Vinny, Practical Magic, The Net, Jurassic Park The Lost World, GATTACA, Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion, The Wedding Singer, The Mummy, Godzilla (1998), The Craft, Much Ado About Nothing, Stargate, The Fifth Element, Father Of The Bride, Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Shawshank Redemption, The Sixth Sense, The Green Mile, Contact, Ghost, Mars Attacks!, Independence Day, Interview With The Vampire, Last Of The Mohicans, Fire Walk With Me, 12 Monkeys, LA Confidential, Dick (1999), Liar Liar, Babe, Jerry Maguire, The Fugitive, The Hunt For Red October, Little Women (1998), The Age Of Innocence, Never Been Kissed, A River Runs Through It, Basic Instinct, Braveheart, Jumanji, The Thin Red Line, American Beauty, Brokedown Palace, Sense & Sensibility, What About Bob, Emma, Election, La Femme Nikita, What's Love Got To Do With It, Schindler's List, Casino, Nightmare Before Christmas, Pleasantville, Tin Cup, Volcano, Leon The Professional, The Secret Garden, Point Break, Sneakers, Ed Wood, Blast From The Past, Selena, Run Lola Run, Austin Powers 2, The Iron Giant, etc.
90s major nationwide re-releases: Star Wars OT, Grease
Yep I hit 18 in 1999 and went to a ton of movies that year. You had:
Matrix, Office Space, The Mummy, Star Wars Episode 1, Run Lola Run, Eyes Wide Shut, The Iron Giant, The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, The Straight Story, Being John Malkovich, Toy Story 2, Magnolia,
And then as an 18 year old male
American Pie, Cruel Intentions, She’s all That, 10 Things I Hate About You, Election, Austin Powers 2, Blair Witch Project
And more.
Yeah I completely missed that one, so many great movies. Varsity Blues was definitely one of my favorites when I was 18, I have no idea how many times I'd have friends over and we'd watch that movie.
I worked in a theater that year and movies have forever been disappointing. Starting to pick up those DVDs now, they’re as cheap as records were back then.
There have been books and all sorts of studies on movies released in 1999.
It is arguably the best year going back some decades.
And arguably hasn’t been met since.
Came to say this. 1999 was ridiculous. You can’t go down the list of releases that year without encountering a great movies every month.
That year had South Park, Princess Mononoke, The Iron Giant, and Stuart Little and that’s big budget animation without Disney/BuenaVista.
I remember seeing Iron Giant in theaters with my parents. Same with Stuart Little. My parents started taking me to the movies at 3 and I fell in love w them. Now I’m sad my daughter might not have the same experience. They’re so expensive now!
The height of going to movies might have been post WW2 through 1960. Perhaps it's selection bias but there's no shortage of images of those truly magnificent theaters that have long been renovated into total corporate blandness if not outright destroyed.
I'd definitely include the 30s and the war. I remember my grandma talking about spending all day at the movies for only like a dime or a quarter because you didn't just see movies. Serials and newsreels were all part of the experience
Definitely 1930s. It's crazy that in slightly more than a decade they were able to go from the first "talkie" to producing something with the magnitude of Gone With the Wind. For just $0.05 to $0.25, the masses could escape the sorrows of the Great Depression and see the youthful exuberance of Shirley Temple and Mickey Rooney. That was absolutely the height of going to the movie theater. Once most people had TVs in their homes starting in the 1950s, that was the beginning of the end, subsequently with emergence of VHS then DVD then streaming, etc.
TVs at home directly led to the emergence of widescreen and Technicolor films, though, and even VHS on its low-quality 4:3 frame was a poor substitute. DVD was really the first thing that allowed average people to have a home theatre experience.
I was an usher at our local theater for over 2 years in high school. Best job ever! We got Men in Black, the Rock, Romeo & Juliet, Scream 1/2, There’s Something About Mary and the list goes on
I'd pick late 90s to early 2000s. I remember how big going to a midnight showing was back then. We'd have huge groups of friends going to the midnight showing of all the Star Wars prequels and Lord of the Rings movies. I can't remember being that excited about a movie theater in like twenty years.
Each era had its own specialty. I'd say 70s was the decade of the best dramas. Godfather 1 & 2. Apocalypse Now. Taxi Driver. The 80s was the rise of blockbuster big action films. Rambo, Rocky, Predator etc. The 90s had mind-bending thrillers like Silence of the Lambs and Seven, and it had a ton of classic comedies. But we were mostly talking about the golden age of our own experience.
I don't really like most of what comes out these days. Even if I personally owned a billion dollar theater (is that even a thing?) I probably wouldn't take the time to watch a typical Hollywood film because I'm just not interested in them. I did enjoy Everything Everywhere All At Once. Was that 2022 or 2023? Anyway I think that Hollywood is in a creativity draught and I expect the best movies to be coming from other countries, especially Korea. With AI-based translation, pretty soon we'll be getting movies from all over the world seamlessly translated to English and every other language, which will be pretty cool.
The main reason for that is due to the decline of dvd sales and rentals. There used to be an incentive to green light good movies that could eventually be profitable even if they didn’t make back their budget in the theater. Now they take no risks, you’ve gotta make a billion dollars on the big franchise.
It also used to be the case that Hollywood was catering to the domestic US audience. As their audience has become more international, they want stories that will play well anywhere. That has translated to "dumb it down". More movies like Transformers and Avengers, not as many small indie films or really anything with a complicated or quirky plot. A movie like Edward Scissorhands would never get made today. Not a chance.
I saw an interview with an actor talking about this a few years ago, I can't remember who it was, but basically he was saying "a few decades ago you could get the studios to take a risk on a $5 film in the hopes of making $25 or $30 million or whatever, you could get them to produce many films around $25 million in the hopes of maybe making $100 million. Now the studios are only interested in spending hundreds of millions in the attempt to make billions. It's like they're trying to hit grand slam home runs all the time.... anyway I'm paraphrasing.
It was Matt Damon, and it’s not just a problem of the movies being worse, but the ability for new talent to hone skills on a smaller stage has gone away. I’m a VFX artist, so I make my money on avengers movies, but we need the whole ecosystem to survive.
Your point about the international market is true as well. Action with a simple plot plays internationally.
Yeah there was a lot. Good timing as I was a projectionist in a movie theater from 1993-1998, so I literally had to build and watch every single movie that came out in that span. (We'd do late night showings for our friends, sometimes 3+ a night). Anyway It felt like nonstop blockbusters. I watched so many movies in the 90s that I got burned out and have only been the the theater a handful of times since.
My brother used to be a manager at a theater and his friend was a projectionist there. As a kid, I used to go up there and hang out, shoot the shit, and play cards with him.
He was the coolest guy ever. That job seemed lonely as hell. lol. Keep in mind, this was from like 1990-1995. There were no computers, iPads, smartphones, etc.
You would just change a few movie spools and then it was pure boredom for hours. Passing time back then was excruciating.
Guy was probably just happy to see a human life form (me).
For sure, I can imagine. At my theater I had to double duty tearing tickets and cleaning auditoriums before and after the shows then run upstairs to thread and start all the movies. But there was plenty of time to be bored and watch movies too.
I bet that was a blast. I was at the theater every Friday during most of that era. Also totally burnt on film now and mainly enjoy music as my preferred entertainment.
Definitely. Mostly for the shenanigans with friends/coworkers. It was pretty much the late night hangout/party spot for everyone I knew. And being before there were cameras everywhere we had access to an entire mall (plus basement and roof). I wonder about kids today if they have as many freedoms as we enjoyed or if they feel they are under constant surveilance.
Eh, there have been great movies beyond this period. I'd argue 1999 was a more crucial year you skipped over (The Matrix and Star Wars Episode I were huge theatre hits). 1990 and 1991 had some real great hits as well.
As much as movies hit a peak in the 90s, the 2000s and 2010s had some pretty good movies. Sometimes we can look at this stuff with nostalgia glasses.
The theatres haven't fundamentally changed, and people go to the movies to see movies. I really am missing your point. Again, the best movie going experiences I had was seeing The Matrix and Star Wars Ep. 1 in theatres with everyone.
Probably just our age. Generations before us went to movies for an experience they may never have again. You saw Star Wars 7 times in the theater because you probably weren’t lucky enough to have a friend whose rich parents were going to pay $500 for a beta max version of it when it finally came out on video three years later.
The 90s were definitely a Silver Age for Hollywood. That's not your imagination. There was just so much more creativity that was funded well enough to realize some very different visions. There were also masters who hit their stride in the 80s just continuing to crank out hits like Spielberg, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Ridley Scott and so many more. It was generally understood if a movie was adapted from a comic other than Batman being directed by Tim Burton, it would suck. If it was adapted from a video game, it would be unwatchable. But there'd still be really weird creative shit like Mojo Nixon playing Toad in Super Mario.
Yes! It was so exciting back then. Even the previews were awesome. Haven’t had that level of excitement in a long time. I think Starwars 8 was the last time I was excited to be in the theatre.
Film studies major here. No it was not. Movie theaters were a staple of the 20th century culture and social scene. But it was probabaly the last time people went to the movies regularly. Movie theater quality also has been improving since the 1980s but early cinema pre 1948 was stunningly beautiful, on par with going to a Broadway theater. Some of these theaters still exist.
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/great-old-american-theaters-slideshow
Age. There have been many heights in movies. My folks remember how much better things were when Cinemascope and Panavision and 3D glasses came out. Before that was the advent of color. Before that was the advent of sound. I remember how good it was when Dolby sound came out. And ask anyone older, and they will all give you a short list of great movies that haven’t been topped. Personally, after seeing the last “Star is Born”, itself the fourth iteration in a line of adaptations, I have decided that Hollywood can’t seem to make anything new, and just recycles the same old movies to play for younger, ignorant viewers. The stories remain the same, but the tech marches on.
Please expand to 1998 if only for the **X-Files** *first* movie; but it was a culmination of 1993 to 1998 so I feel it should count. Your other examples are spot on as well.
1999 was peak: Fight Club, The Matrix, The Green Mile, American Beauty, 10 Things I Hate About You, American Pie, The Sixth Sense, Eyes Wide Shut, Office Space, Cruel Intentions, The Blair Witch Project, Varsity Blues, South Park, The Boondock Saints, Austin Powers, Being John Malkovich...
I don't know about height, but there certainly much more emphasis on it. I remember visiting different family members and going to the movies was usually an activity that was put on a pedestal and much more emphasis was placed on it. I can't remember the last time I went to a theater and would never think to entertain guests or family members by taking them to a movie.
I actually still like going to the movies, but I found going to the movies enthralling in the late 80s through the 90s. There were so many blockbusters then and the whole vibe from the popcorn to the movie itself just really was special.
Yeah, there are still some good movies out there, but blockbusters back in the 80’s and 90’s were so much better. I think a big reason is the lack of originality these days. Look at the top grossing movies currently and see how many of them are remakes or sequels compared to 20, 30, or 40 years ago.
Heck yes. The theater I used to go to back home had two two-person ticket booths and the lines would sometimes be out the doors. Then a huge circular concession stand in the middle that branched out to multiple long hallways of theaters that had their own tiny concession stands about halfway down each hall. The other end of the theater opposite the ticket booths was an arcade.
That era was definitely the golden age of the whole movie-going experience, but today that same theater and many like it utilize maybe half their facilities. It's just not necessary anymore. And heck, two pops & a popcorn cost $30 so I get it.
The last round of Star Wars films feel at the moment like the definite end of that era. COVID didn't help much, but theaters definitely aren't back.
I disagree. I worked at a movie theater in the late 90s and early 00s and there was still a lot to like about going to the movie theater then. I think it really wasn't until streaming came along and especially when the quality of home video got to the point that it was good enough for most people that the movie theater experience started to suffer.
That said, in some ways theaters are better now. Almost all have stadium seating and many now have recliners. Some are upgrading to things like Dolby Cinema that makes seeing a movie better than at home. Things come to home video so fast now that I don't see anywhere near as many movies in the theater anymore but big films that take advantage of the large screen size and sound system are still worth seeing that way.
I went to the movies between 1992 and 1997 exponentially more than I have in the rest of my life. Seemed like every month, or even less, some awesome movie was coming out.
Lion King, Aladdin, Jurassic Park, Independence Day, all the SNL spin offs, Tommy Boy, Dumb and Dumber, all the Adam Sandler movies, Scream, Beavis and Butthead Do America, all the disaster movies… the list goes on.
Wow, crazy.
I'd say Star Wars and Titanic had some crazy long lines.
We had to wait at a good three hours on line for Star Wars opening day even though the theater had 2400 seats dedicated to showing it and nobody even really knew what it was yet!
I feel like they were going pretty good up until 2003 and reasonably decent until about 2010
However the height for a lot of us going to the movies might have been 1992 to 1997 😂
Movie Theaters were great through the mid 2000s. Once smart phones became the standard the movie experience has gone way down hill.
There was a chain of theaters in my area called The Palace and they looked like giant castles. Absolutely enormous and tons of people every weekend.
I remember the hype on independence day, with that newscast segment on the 3rd. My friend's mom got him and I tickets and we got to see it opening day.
Pretty good but you missed a few epic cinema experiences. Home Alone (1990), and The Blair Witch Project (1999) were both life charging experiences. Terminator 2 (1992) should be on your list.
Maybe peak big budget blockbuster but in the pre-VHS days, the only way you could see a movie was to go to the movies or project at home. And the in the time before video games, there was pretty much nothing to do and movie theaters always had air conditioning.
The thing for me was it wasn't just all the good movies, but we still had second run dollar cinemas. I would either go with family or friends on a Saturday and spend all day watching movies for $5.
I have r/regalunlimited and have never been to more movies in my entire life. There’s still a lot of pretty good movies out there. There’s classic blockbusters (Dune 2 on IMAX was as good as any of the action movies on your list from the 90s) but r/a24 is also putting out some really quality movies right now.
I worked at a movie theater in 95-96 and it was honestly the most fun job I’ve had to date. I saw so many amazing movies repeatedly and for free. Seven was wild, we all went out to smoke a cig, refilled our popcorn and sodas and went back in.
The literal only downside was the holiday season when we had to pick up spilled dip cups with Mannheim Steamroller’s Christmas cacophony just *blasted* on repeat through a bumping Dolby system. Fortunately holidays were only like four, five weeks then.
No one had serious home theaters. I think it was still VHS? Like I had a few friends that had “surround sound” but it was just a few small Bose speakers drilled in around the room. There was no way to really recreate the look and feeling of being at the movies being anywhere but at the movies.
I'd extend that out to about 03-04 or so. At the very least you have to include 1999 (The Matrix, Office Space, SW:TPM, Austin Power, The Mummy, Entrapment, Austin Powers, American Pie, Fight Club all came out that year, and I'm just scratching the surface).
But in the 03-04 timeframe you had a LOT of great movies, especially comedies. Bringing it up to here gives you both of the first X-Men movies, both of the first Spider Man movies, FATF, 28 Day Later, Pirates of the Caribbean, School of Rock, Old School, Zoolander, Anchorman, Shrek, Harry Potter, The Bourne Identity, Black Hawk Down, We Were Soldiers.
IDK about you guys, but I saw LOT of those in theater, and had a great time doing it.
Idk, as a larger family we couldn’t afford the theater. The drive in was lit AF, though. Jurassic Park, MIB, Independence Day were *so good* on that big screen. These days, I only hit the theater for kids movies. And I’m excited AF for Moana 2!
Going by tickets sold per capita in the modern movie era (1977 and on) for the top 10 films you get:
3 from just the last three years of the 70s alone (Star Wars, Grease, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind)
4 from the 80s (The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, E.T., Return Of The Jedi)
3 from the 90s (The Lion King, Titanic, Jurassic Park)
0 from 00s, 10s, 20s
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Expanding to the top 14 films you get:
3 from just the last three years of the 70s alone
4 from the 80s
5 from the 90s (add on The Phantom Menace and Forrest Gump)
1 from the 00s (Avatar)
1 from the 10s (The Force Awakens)
0 from the 20s (that said Barbie/Barnbenheimer had a pretty crazy big pop culture impact feel)
Some good years in there but I challenge you to look at the single year 1982. Your mind might explode with how many good movies came out that single year.
It could be our age, but maybe how easy it was to download a bootleg copy of new movies in the 2000s made it a more affordable option when most of us were poor college kids.
I actually think theaters right now are amazing. I was just at AMC and it was great. State of the art picture and surround sound. Food and drinks delivered to the table/chair. It was awesome. But for nostalgia-sake, those uncomfortable-ass bucket stadium seats could satisfy me for one night. Until my sciatica kicks in. lol. I’ll take the modern comfortable theater seats that we have now any day.
1994 was the greatest year in movie history.
And no one had a better single year run than Jim Carrey: Ace Ventura, Dumb & Dumber, The Mask, & Batman Forever
I'd put it through 1999, The Blair Witch Project deserves to be in the pantheon.
Besides the local mall, the movie theater is where we spent most of our time and money. In that era, you could pretty much pick a movie at random and it was at least worth watching, if not awesome.
In 1997, my friend asked if I wanted to go see a new movie about a spaceship. That's all he knew and I hadn't heard of it.
It was called Event Horizon. I walked out of the theater a different person.
Great movies, to be sure. But, it's not like the 2000s were lacking: Pirates of the Caribbean, National Treasure, XMen, Ironman, Captain America...and you know, the greatest trilogy of all time: The Lord of the Rings.
I feel part of it was we were teenagers and going to the movies(particularly without parental supervision) was the hot thing to do. We also weren't necessarily as smart as we are now at middle age, so even trash movies(like Con Air) seemed awesome at the time. Con Air specifically, I saw in theaters, loved the movie for many years, and I recently(unfortunately) discovered it's terrible.
To this day the only movies I've seen in the theater more than once are Aladdin, Jurassic Park, and The Fifth Element. I think it's hard to objective about, because those were the years I was young enough to fully immerse myself in movies at the theater. Now I have adult problems, bills, and responsibilities so even if the movies are as good now as they were then, and I don't think they are, I wouldn't be able to lose myself in them like that again.
I'm sure streaming completely oversaturating the market hasn't helped either. There's probably a lot of good movies out there I'll never even hear about. I think movies have to appeal to the broadest possible audience to get more eyes on them, which usually ends with the final project playing it too safe and being kind of boring. There are some exceptions but it seems like there were a lot more weird, unique, movies coming out (in theaters) back then than there are now.
I definitely think our age had something to do with it. Also, I guess they were cheap and we didn't have access to everything and more on demand. YUGE flat screens on streaming made going to the movies meh. I went with my dad and 8 year old to see Inside Out 2 and was 60 bucks for us with food.
But the theaters now are so much more comfortable. My couch is even more comfortable.
That was peak movie time in my life for sure haha. But it was definitely a whole thing that we did with a big group of friends. Go to the mall, go to the movies. And $20 was enough to cover the whole day. We had these lollies (candies) called tangy fruits that were only sold in movie theatres. Hard round things that were sold in a plastic container. You'd eat enough to feel sick and then start rolling them down the aisles in the theatre.
I can't remember the last time we went to the movies. My youngest daughter has never been. And we tried with my oldest and it was too loud for her so we just haven't been back. It's not a thing they seem to want to do.
I realized a while back that compared to what things are like now we experienced the peak of most of the “analog” life in our age. Malls, movie theater experiences, even video games before everything turned into one huge digital conglomerate experience.
We used to use cigarette lighters at concerts, now everyone has a cell phone. Hell a lot of people watch the whole concert through their phone while recording it instead of just hanging back to enjoy the moment. They need to social media their experience pronto!
Nah, height of going to the movies was when they introduced reserved seating on fluffy reclining chairs and still while people respected movie theater etiquette
Jurassic Park in the theater was something else
I left the theater and was still shaking from the adrenaline rush.
My sister and I were in awe just renting it on VHS. I wish I could have seen it in the theater or on laserdisc.
Jurassic Park and the Matrix are the only two movies I’ve seen in theater where the experience must have been equivalent to seeing sound and color in movies for the first time.
I hadn’t even seen a preview yet when I went and watched the Matrix. 15 minutes in and I was knew I was witnessing something special. 
Still more moving than the new movies. The OG was the best, hands down.
That’s because the first two were actually based on Michael Chriton’s books. Shit went off the rails at the end of Lost World when the T-Rex broke loose in the city.
It's not just that (even if it is largely that), there are some really good breakdowns of why the cinematography in Jurassic Park stands up better. Almost every shot was framed better to make a believable awe-inspiring experience.
Shout out to Jurassic Park 2 as well!
My dad took me on my 12th birthday because he knew how much I loved dinosaurs. I can still remember those opening scenes as a kid with my mouth open. And not knowing who else was going to die.
It was definitely an experience Id love to have again
The 2013 3D theater run reminded me of being a kid.
The 2023 3D run had the same effect!
When that goat leg hit the window and the whole theater jumped...
I saw Jurassic Park in a packed theater on opening day. Then I saw it again twice more that summer. Tickets were $3.25 back then. Now I have a 80 inch tv that can steam any movie I want. I don't go to the theater anymore.
Oh man that was something! Just mind blowing! Tear inducing! Finally really seeing dinosaurs for the first time ever in a way that seemed like it could be real footage from a nature documentary. That was HUGE! Titanic was another that was crazy huge! Lines around the block for months. Also took over pop culture like crazy. They both made Endgame seem like a blip. That said, nothing but nothing was like Star Wars in 1977. The impact of that was just like nothing else in the modern age. Maybe impossible to fathom unless you were there.
Once again yeah Jurassic Park was one of the most amazing movie going experiences ever! Anyway though, if you look at the numbers probably the 1930s and 1940s were actually the height of movie theaters. They were thriving in the 80s and 90s though in a way that did feel a bit lessened in the later 00s and even vastly more so 2016 and on. They did build quite a few new multiplexes in the 90s that tended to have larger screens than the ones built in the late 70s/80s. The 90s were very good for movies, but I feel like the 80s were the decade that ruled movies most of all. The first few years of 90s movies still seemed basically identical to 80s movies. 80s definitely rule the teen movie scene. . . . FWIW, I believe that this is the list of the 10 movies in the modern era (1977+) that sold the most tickets per capita in the US (in no particular order other than for Star Wars far and away sold the most tickets per capita): Star Wars (far and away above everything else) The Empire Strikes Back Return Of The Jedi E.T. Jurassic Park Grease Titanic The Lion King Raiders Of The Lost Ark Close Encounters Of The Third Kind Interestingly Titanic in 1997 is the last movie that makes top 10 tickets sold per capita in the US list. Nothing from 00s, 10s, 20s makes it. You have 3 from the just 1/3 of the 70s counted! And you have 4 from the 80s and 3 from the 90s. I believe the next few on the list would be made up of, in no particular order: The Phantom Menace, Avatar, The Force Awakens, Forrest Gump. (here we do finally add one '00 and one '10 film and you add two more from the 90s). If you decide to start the modern movie going age in 1975 with Jaws though then Jaws makes it up way, way up on that list, although many don't like to start modern movie going age and fair comparisons until 1977 for various reasons.
*Forrest Gump* is that low? No wonder it and *Men in Black* **still** haven't broken even against their production budgets!
That summer was the absolute peak of all humanity
I think I’ve seen the original in the theater at least 5 times. It was a popular midnight movie on the few nights our small town did midnight showings. Plus the 2-3 times I saw it when it was playing in a theater before it was released to VHS.
My first real jump scare
First movie we watched when we got a surround sound system. Then independance day
I remember when my guitar teacher got a really good surround sound system. I came over for a lesson and afterwards he played the beach landing scene of Saving Private Ryan. When the artillery and mortars landed it shook the room. I just sat there in awe until he shut it off.
The second-run cinema here ran it for over a year. Enough people kept going.
Yep, we had just moved, so I didn't really have any friends. My dad rolled his eyes and took me (13yo) - begging to be taken to see it - and even he was impressed; it's not easy to impress a Col. in the US Army with a "kid" film (emphasis on the quotes).
Yep...you can randomly select a month/year from 1990-1999 and there will be at least one classic movie released that month. I'm not talking average movie...I'm talking a timeless classic
The matrix said its actually closer to 2199 but the machines set it as 1999 because that was the peak of human civilization. In many ways this is true
Prince agrees.
Dam Y2K (Y2.2K?) bug…
1994 was the greatest year for movies. Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Shawshank Redemption, Lion King, Clerks, Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura, Natural Born Killers, Speed, The Crow, to name a few
Im still going with 1999. Fight club, the matrix, 10 things I hate about you, the Blair witch project, American beauty, lake placid, American Pie, office space, big daddy, the mummy, varsity blues, the 6th sense, South Park… and on and on.
The 90s were great for movies! but I gotta hand it to the 80s! 80s: The Empire Strikes Back, Blade Runner, Return Of The Jedi, Gremlins, Ghostbusters, The Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing, Pretty In Pink, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Say Anything, St. Elmo's Fire, Footloose, Flashdance, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, The Princess Bride, The Terminator, Superman II, Adventures In Babysitting, The Karate Kid, The Karate Kid Part 2, The Karate Kids Part 3, Streets Of Fire, E.T., The Goonies, Legend, Project X, Ghostbusters 2, War Games, The Sure Thing, Biloxi Blues, Labyrinth, Mystic Pizza, Pretty Woman, My Bodyguard, The Boy Who Could Fly, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Heathers, Top Gun, Risky Business, Valley Girl, Lucas, Uncle Buck, Desperately Seeking Susan, Splash, Just One Of The Guys, Dream A Little Dream, Teen Witch, Teen Wolf, Mannequin, Real Genius, Spacecamp, Mischief, Big, The Color Of Money, The Outsiders, Cocktail, Friday The 13th, The Secret Of My Success, Rad, Secret Admirer, Can't Buy Me Love, The Blob (1988), Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, The Never Ending Story, Ladyhawke, Eight Men Out, Conan The Barbarian, The Fly, Back To The Future I-IIII, An Officer And A Gentleman, One Crazy Summer, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Weekend At Bernie's, Summer School, North Shore, License To Drive, The Lost Boys, Gotcha!, Night Of The Comet, Sheena, Jewel Of The Nile, Romancing The Stone, Legal Eagles, Red Sonja, The Thing, Christine, Better Off Dead, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Poltergeist, A Night In The Life Of Jimmy Reardon, The Legend Of Billie Jean, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, For Your Eyes Only, Moonraker, Octopussy, A View To A Kill, The Living Daylights, License To Kill, Blazing Saddles, Airplane, Aliens, The Blue Lagoon, The Bounty (1984), Creepers, Little Darlings, When Harry Met Sally, Innerspace, Weird Science, Purple Rain, Hot Dog, Revenge Of The Nerds, Thrashin', The Wraith, Vision Quest, A Room With A View, Bright Lights Big City, Die Hard, The Witches Of Eastwick, Driving Miss Daisy, Roadhouse, Star Trek The Wrath Of Khan, Star Trek The Voyage Home, Little Shop Of Horrors, Amadeus, Predator, Blind Date, The Last Emperor, Dangerous Liasons, Glory, Born On The Fourth Of July, Big Trouble In Little China, Lethal Weapon, The Rachel Papers, Raising Arizona, Married To The Mob, Beverly Hills Cop, Beverly Hills Cop 2, Twins, The Little Mermaid, Ghost, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Conan The Destroyer, Caddyshack, Robocop, Paris Texas, An American Werewolf In London, Cat People, The Adventures Of Milo & Otis, Evil Dead II, Lifeforce, Starman, The Abyss, BMX Bandits, Blown Away (1988), Videodrome, Do The Right Thing, Wall Street, Time Bandits, Dragonslayer, Broadcast News, China Syndrome, Crocodile Dundee, My Boyfriend's Back, Clue, UHF, etc. 90s (a ton of these were 1990-1992 when it was still basically the 80s though): Dances With Wolves, Total Recall, A League Of Their Own, A Few Good Men, Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump, Speed, Titanic, Men In Black, Shakespeare In Love, Apollo 13, The Lion King, Clueless, The Phantom Menace, The Matrix, Twister, Fly Away Home, Kundun, Home Alone, Home Alone 2, T2, The Next Karate Kid, Career Opportunities, Groundhog Day, Romeo & Juliet, Dark City, Office Space, Living In Oblivion, The Rocketeer, Gremlins 2, Sleepless In Seattle, You've Got Mail, Joe Vs. The Volcano, To Die For, Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead, Cruel Intentions, Courage Under Fire, Gas Food Lodging, Wayne's World, Austin Powers, My Cousin Vinny, Practical Magic, The Net, Jurassic Park The Lost World, GATTACA, Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion, The Wedding Singer, The Mummy, Godzilla (1998), The Craft, Much Ado About Nothing, Stargate, The Fifth Element, Father Of The Bride, Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Shawshank Redemption, The Sixth Sense, The Green Mile, Contact, Ghost, Mars Attacks!, Independence Day, Interview With The Vampire, Last Of The Mohicans, Fire Walk With Me, 12 Monkeys, LA Confidential, Dick (1999), Liar Liar, Babe, Jerry Maguire, The Fugitive, The Hunt For Red October, Little Women (1998), The Age Of Innocence, Never Been Kissed, A River Runs Through It, Basic Instinct, Braveheart, Jumanji, The Thin Red Line, American Beauty, Brokedown Palace, Sense & Sensibility, What About Bob, Emma, Election, La Femme Nikita, What's Love Got To Do With It, Schindler's List, Casino, Nightmare Before Christmas, Pleasantville, Tin Cup, Volcano, Leon The Professional, The Secret Garden, Point Break, Sneakers, Ed Wood, Blast From The Past, Selena, Run Lola Run, Austin Powers 2, The Iron Giant, etc. 90s major nationwide re-releases: Star Wars OT, Grease
Movies or movie theaters? 1999 was an EPIC year for movies.
Yep I hit 18 in 1999 and went to a ton of movies that year. You had: Matrix, Office Space, The Mummy, Star Wars Episode 1, Run Lola Run, Eyes Wide Shut, The Iron Giant, The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, The Straight Story, Being John Malkovich, Toy Story 2, Magnolia, And then as an 18 year old male American Pie, Cruel Intentions, She’s all That, 10 Things I Hate About You, Election, Austin Powers 2, Blair Witch Project And more.
Can’t forget “Varsity Blues,” too. Love that one.
Yeah I completely missed that one, so many great movies. Varsity Blues was definitely one of my favorites when I was 18, I have no idea how many times I'd have friends over and we'd watch that movie.
I worked in a theater that year and movies have forever been disappointing. Starting to pick up those DVDs now, they’re as cheap as records were back then.
Yes. I always say…1999 - great movies. Shit music.
There have been books and all sorts of studies on movies released in 1999. It is arguably the best year going back some decades. And arguably hasn’t been met since.
Excluding other decades, maybe 1994 is better.
Came to say this. 1999 was ridiculous. You can’t go down the list of releases that year without encountering a great movies every month. That year had South Park, Princess Mononoke, The Iron Giant, and Stuart Little and that’s big budget animation without Disney/BuenaVista.
I remember seeing Iron Giant in theaters with my parents. Same with Stuart Little. My parents started taking me to the movies at 3 and I fell in love w them. Now I’m sad my daughter might not have the same experience. They’re so expensive now!
You missed the big ones: The Phantom Menace and The Mummy
>The Phantom Menace I wouldn’t say I miss it, Bob.  Also 1999.
The height of going to movies might have been post WW2 through 1960. Perhaps it's selection bias but there's no shortage of images of those truly magnificent theaters that have long been renovated into total corporate blandness if not outright destroyed.
I'd definitely include the 30s and the war. I remember my grandma talking about spending all day at the movies for only like a dime or a quarter because you didn't just see movies. Serials and newsreels were all part of the experience
Definitely 1930s. It's crazy that in slightly more than a decade they were able to go from the first "talkie" to producing something with the magnitude of Gone With the Wind. For just $0.05 to $0.25, the masses could escape the sorrows of the Great Depression and see the youthful exuberance of Shirley Temple and Mickey Rooney. That was absolutely the height of going to the movie theater. Once most people had TVs in their homes starting in the 1950s, that was the beginning of the end, subsequently with emergence of VHS then DVD then streaming, etc.
TVs at home directly led to the emergence of widescreen and Technicolor films, though, and even VHS on its low-quality 4:3 frame was a poor substitute. DVD was really the first thing that allowed average people to have a home theatre experience.
earlier, 1930s and 1940s before TV movie theaters were everything from all I read
I saw a double feature of The Lion King and Angels in the Outfield with my cousins at the movie theater at the mall in the summer of 1994.
I saw Angels in the Outfield at some sort of special screening. It was a hookup via a friend's dad. Thanks for the reminder :)
This double header was my first ever theater movies other than going to the drive in!
Let us not forget about The Rock
Very good movie. And don't forget about The Rock.
He wasn’t in movies until the 2000s 🤨
There's a movie called The Rock. Shawn Connery breaks into Alcatraz.
His last James Bond movie
Claasic 90s with Sean Connery, Nick Cage, and Ed Harris
I was an usher at our local theater for over 2 years in high school. Best job ever! We got Men in Black, the Rock, Romeo & Juliet, Scream 1/2, There’s Something About Mary and the list goes on
Romeo and Juliet was incredible, but that one I think was my age. RoMeO and JuLiEt BuT cOoL??!
97 was the peak of human civilization. It’s been all downhill since then
I would give everything I own to perpetually live in 1997.
Would you give up your life, your heart, your home? Just to have 1997, back again?
Haha. My home at least.
For however many years I have left, I'd trade them for the chance to "Groundhog Day" 1997 for the equivalent amount of time
Yeeeep
I graduated HS in 97. Send. Me. Back. Now.
Make it '98 and I'm golden... I had to go through boot camp in '97 😂
I’m ok with 1998 as well. 1999 would also be acceptable.
'99 landed me in some hot water, but man living in hawaii in '98 was GREAT
You might be on to something with that. Cheap gas was the first thing that came to mind.
I was 16 and gas was $1.39. We drank zima & keystone lights. We lived like kings
Fucking keystone light was such a bargain! Bottom shelf Coors that didn’t taste like an instant hangover the way Natty did.
30 Stones
Before social media life was amazing.
1987
Everything was fine until the day before 9-11
I'd pick late 90s to early 2000s. I remember how big going to a midnight showing was back then. We'd have huge groups of friends going to the midnight showing of all the Star Wars prequels and Lord of the Rings movies. I can't remember being that excited about a movie theater in like twenty years.
Saving Private Ryan and Gladiator as well!
I think it continued into the early 2000s. Maybe 1992-2002.
I think you can go back as far as the 70s. Star Wars and Jaws. Jaws is credited with starting the summer blockbuster trend.
Each era had its own specialty. I'd say 70s was the decade of the best dramas. Godfather 1 & 2. Apocalypse Now. Taxi Driver. The 80s was the rise of blockbuster big action films. Rambo, Rocky, Predator etc. The 90s had mind-bending thrillers like Silence of the Lambs and Seven, and it had a ton of classic comedies. But we were mostly talking about the golden age of our own experience. I don't really like most of what comes out these days. Even if I personally owned a billion dollar theater (is that even a thing?) I probably wouldn't take the time to watch a typical Hollywood film because I'm just not interested in them. I did enjoy Everything Everywhere All At Once. Was that 2022 or 2023? Anyway I think that Hollywood is in a creativity draught and I expect the best movies to be coming from other countries, especially Korea. With AI-based translation, pretty soon we'll be getting movies from all over the world seamlessly translated to English and every other language, which will be pretty cool.
Dude the theaters are better now than they’ve ever been. The physical infrastructure and cleanliness, that is
But the movies are lame. It's all superhero movies and remakes. The originality, the freshness, the "movie magic" just isn't there like it used to be.
The main reason for that is due to the decline of dvd sales and rentals. There used to be an incentive to green light good movies that could eventually be profitable even if they didn’t make back their budget in the theater. Now they take no risks, you’ve gotta make a billion dollars on the big franchise.
It also used to be the case that Hollywood was catering to the domestic US audience. As their audience has become more international, they want stories that will play well anywhere. That has translated to "dumb it down". More movies like Transformers and Avengers, not as many small indie films or really anything with a complicated or quirky plot. A movie like Edward Scissorhands would never get made today. Not a chance. I saw an interview with an actor talking about this a few years ago, I can't remember who it was, but basically he was saying "a few decades ago you could get the studios to take a risk on a $5 film in the hopes of making $25 or $30 million or whatever, you could get them to produce many films around $25 million in the hopes of maybe making $100 million. Now the studios are only interested in spending hundreds of millions in the attempt to make billions. It's like they're trying to hit grand slam home runs all the time.... anyway I'm paraphrasing.
It was Matt Damon, and it’s not just a problem of the movies being worse, but the ability for new talent to hone skills on a smaller stage has gone away. I’m a VFX artist, so I make my money on avengers movies, but we need the whole ecosystem to survive. Your point about the international market is true as well. Action with a simple plot plays internationally.
There are thousands of movies released every year.
The stuff we watched as kids wasn’t that fresh, it was mostly just fresh *to us.*
You’re not watching the right movies. Explore the r/a24 titles.
Yeah there was a lot. Good timing as I was a projectionist in a movie theater from 1993-1998, so I literally had to build and watch every single movie that came out in that span. (We'd do late night showings for our friends, sometimes 3+ a night). Anyway It felt like nonstop blockbusters. I watched so many movies in the 90s that I got burned out and have only been the the theater a handful of times since.
My brother used to be a manager at a theater and his friend was a projectionist there. As a kid, I used to go up there and hang out, shoot the shit, and play cards with him. He was the coolest guy ever. That job seemed lonely as hell. lol. Keep in mind, this was from like 1990-1995. There were no computers, iPads, smartphones, etc. You would just change a few movie spools and then it was pure boredom for hours. Passing time back then was excruciating. Guy was probably just happy to see a human life form (me).
For sure, I can imagine. At my theater I had to double duty tearing tickets and cleaning auditoriums before and after the shows then run upstairs to thread and start all the movies. But there was plenty of time to be bored and watch movies too.
I bet that was a blast. I was at the theater every Friday during most of that era. Also totally burnt on film now and mainly enjoy music as my preferred entertainment.
Definitely. Mostly for the shenanigans with friends/coworkers. It was pretty much the late night hangout/party spot for everyone I knew. And being before there were cameras everywhere we had access to an entire mall (plus basement and roof). I wonder about kids today if they have as many freedoms as we enjoyed or if they feel they are under constant surveilance.
Saw some of these in the dollar theaters, those were so great.
Miss the Dollar Show so much!
Eh, there have been great movies beyond this period. I'd argue 1999 was a more crucial year you skipped over (The Matrix and Star Wars Episode I were huge theatre hits). 1990 and 1991 had some real great hits as well. As much as movies hit a peak in the 90s, the 2000s and 2010s had some pretty good movies. Sometimes we can look at this stuff with nostalgia glasses.
Not the movies. Going to the movies.
The theatres haven't fundamentally changed, and people go to the movies to see movies. I really am missing your point. Again, the best movie going experiences I had was seeing The Matrix and Star Wars Ep. 1 in theatres with everyone.
I think summer 89 set the table for the 90s moviegoing experience. Batman, Last Crusade, Ghostbusters II, etc etc.
Yeah 1990 and 1999 had a ton of big movies.
Isn’t going to the movies just a thing that kids can do? I’m sure millennials loved going to see the Lord of the Ring movies and Harry Potter.
Probably just our age. Generations before us went to movies for an experience they may never have again. You saw Star Wars 7 times in the theater because you probably weren’t lucky enough to have a friend whose rich parents were going to pay $500 for a beta max version of it when it finally came out on video three years later.
I read on r/zelda that the best game in the series is the one that came out when you were 13. I imagine there’s an element of that going on here too.
I'd expand it to 99, but yes, yes it was.
The 90s were definitely a Silver Age for Hollywood. That's not your imagination. There was just so much more creativity that was funded well enough to realize some very different visions. There were also masters who hit their stride in the 80s just continuing to crank out hits like Spielberg, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Ridley Scott and so many more. It was generally understood if a movie was adapted from a comic other than Batman being directed by Tim Burton, it would suck. If it was adapted from a video game, it would be unwatchable. But there'd still be really weird creative shit like Mojo Nixon playing Toad in Super Mario.
That’s also when “stadium seating” came to my town and THX sound. Going to a movie on a Friday night in 1996 meant the theatre was packed.
When the THX sound played, it was like a Pavlovian response: you instinctively grip both arm rests and held on!
Yes! It was so exciting back then. Even the previews were awesome. Haven’t had that level of excitement in a long time. I think Starwars 8 was the last time I was excited to be in the theatre.
THX and DTS were huge deals.
Film studies major here. No it was not. Movie theaters were a staple of the 20th century culture and social scene. But it was probabaly the last time people went to the movies regularly. Movie theater quality also has been improving since the 1980s but early cinema pre 1948 was stunningly beautiful, on par with going to a Broadway theater. Some of these theaters still exist. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/great-old-american-theaters-slideshow
1992-1997: high technology low evil.
Street Fighter ... I said STREET FIGHTER!
You should have seen the decade before that.
The 70’s is still one of the greatest decades for movies in my opinion.
Age. There have been many heights in movies. My folks remember how much better things were when Cinemascope and Panavision and 3D glasses came out. Before that was the advent of color. Before that was the advent of sound. I remember how good it was when Dolby sound came out. And ask anyone older, and they will all give you a short list of great movies that haven’t been topped. Personally, after seeing the last “Star is Born”, itself the fourth iteration in a line of adaptations, I have decided that Hollywood can’t seem to make anything new, and just recycles the same old movies to play for younger, ignorant viewers. The stories remain the same, but the tech marches on.
Don’t fall into the boomer trap of thinking all the best things have happened already.
1989 and 1999 are some of the best movie theater years for me
Please expand to 1998 if only for the **X-Files** *first* movie; but it was a culmination of 1993 to 1998 so I feel it should count. Your other examples are spot on as well.
1999 was peak: Fight Club, The Matrix, The Green Mile, American Beauty, 10 Things I Hate About You, American Pie, The Sixth Sense, Eyes Wide Shut, Office Space, Cruel Intentions, The Blair Witch Project, Varsity Blues, South Park, The Boondock Saints, Austin Powers, Being John Malkovich...
STREAMING
I don't know about height, but there certainly much more emphasis on it. I remember visiting different family members and going to the movies was usually an activity that was put on a pedestal and much more emphasis was placed on it. I can't remember the last time I went to a theater and would never think to entertain guests or family members by taking them to a movie.
For what's it's worth, my 7pm screening of "A Quiet Place: Day One" yesterday was completely sold out. Even the crappy front row.
I like to think it was the height of most things.
You gotta go out to 98 to get Armageddon
I actually still like going to the movies, but I found going to the movies enthralling in the late 80s through the 90s. There were so many blockbusters then and the whole vibe from the popcorn to the movie itself just really was special.
Yeah, there are still some good movies out there, but blockbusters back in the 80’s and 90’s were so much better. I think a big reason is the lack of originality these days. Look at the top grossing movies currently and see how many of them are remakes or sequels compared to 20, 30, or 40 years ago.
Heck yes. The theater I used to go to back home had two two-person ticket booths and the lines would sometimes be out the doors. Then a huge circular concession stand in the middle that branched out to multiple long hallways of theaters that had their own tiny concession stands about halfway down each hall. The other end of the theater opposite the ticket booths was an arcade. That era was definitely the golden age of the whole movie-going experience, but today that same theater and many like it utilize maybe half their facilities. It's just not necessary anymore. And heck, two pops & a popcorn cost $30 so I get it. The last round of Star Wars films feel at the moment like the definite end of that era. COVID didn't help much, but theaters definitely aren't back.
I disagree. I worked at a movie theater in the late 90s and early 00s and there was still a lot to like about going to the movie theater then. I think it really wasn't until streaming came along and especially when the quality of home video got to the point that it was good enough for most people that the movie theater experience started to suffer. That said, in some ways theaters are better now. Almost all have stadium seating and many now have recliners. Some are upgrading to things like Dolby Cinema that makes seeing a movie better than at home. Things come to home video so fast now that I don't see anywhere near as many movies in the theater anymore but big films that take advantage of the large screen size and sound system are still worth seeing that way.
I went to the movies between 1992 and 1997 exponentially more than I have in the rest of my life. Seemed like every month, or even less, some awesome movie was coming out. Lion King, Aladdin, Jurassic Park, Independence Day, all the SNL spin offs, Tommy Boy, Dumb and Dumber, all the Adam Sandler movies, Scream, Beavis and Butthead Do America, all the disaster movies… the list goes on.
Purely anecdotal, but the longest line I have ever seen for any movie was for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Wow, crazy. I'd say Star Wars and Titanic had some crazy long lines. We had to wait at a good three hours on line for Star Wars opening day even though the theater had 2400 seats dedicated to showing it and nobody even really knew what it was yet!
Everything I did was so cool back then I didn’t really get into the theater thing.
I saw Home Alone and Wayne's World in the theater when they were brand new, those are some of my happiest childhood memories.
I hear stories about people getting dressed up and going to the movies and kids losing their minds. That seemed pretty golden from my understanding
I love DVDs and I love high quality streaming, but that 1-2 punch did a huge amount of damage to movies.
Independence Day in the theater was just incredible
I feel like they were going pretty good up until 2003 and reasonably decent until about 2010 However the height for a lot of us going to the movies might have been 1992 to 1997 😂
Movie Theaters were great through the mid 2000s. Once smart phones became the standard the movie experience has gone way down hill. There was a chain of theaters in my area called The Palace and they looked like giant castles. Absolutely enormous and tons of people every weekend.
I remember the hype on independence day, with that newscast segment on the 3rd. My friend's mom got him and I tickets and we got to see it opening day.
Pretty good but you missed a few epic cinema experiences. Home Alone (1990), and The Blair Witch Project (1999) were both life charging experiences. Terminator 2 (1992) should be on your list.
Maybe peak big budget blockbuster but in the pre-VHS days, the only way you could see a movie was to go to the movies or project at home. And the in the time before video games, there was pretty much nothing to do and movie theaters always had air conditioning.
The thing for me was it wasn't just all the good movies, but we still had second run dollar cinemas. I would either go with family or friends on a Saturday and spend all day watching movies for $5.
Are there still midnight releases where people camp out? I used to love camping in front of the movie theater with tons of other nerds.
It was the height of the cineplex is what I believe you’re trying to express. Movies were popular long before that.
Movies and music…kinda like the 70s and rock and roll we are similarly blessed
I have r/regalunlimited and have never been to more movies in my entire life. There’s still a lot of pretty good movies out there. There’s classic blockbusters (Dune 2 on IMAX was as good as any of the action movies on your list from the 90s) but r/a24 is also putting out some really quality movies right now.
I worked at a movie theater in 95-96 and it was honestly the most fun job I’ve had to date. I saw so many amazing movies repeatedly and for free. Seven was wild, we all went out to smoke a cig, refilled our popcorn and sodas and went back in. The literal only downside was the holiday season when we had to pick up spilled dip cups with Mannheim Steamroller’s Christmas cacophony just *blasted* on repeat through a bumping Dolby system. Fortunately holidays were only like four, five weeks then. No one had serious home theaters. I think it was still VHS? Like I had a few friends that had “surround sound” but it was just a few small Bose speakers drilled in around the room. There was no way to really recreate the look and feeling of being at the movies being anywhere but at the movies.
My years would be 1977-2014
I'd extend that out to about 03-04 or so. At the very least you have to include 1999 (The Matrix, Office Space, SW:TPM, Austin Power, The Mummy, Entrapment, Austin Powers, American Pie, Fight Club all came out that year, and I'm just scratching the surface). But in the 03-04 timeframe you had a LOT of great movies, especially comedies. Bringing it up to here gives you both of the first X-Men movies, both of the first Spider Man movies, FATF, 28 Day Later, Pirates of the Caribbean, School of Rock, Old School, Zoolander, Anchorman, Shrek, Harry Potter, The Bourne Identity, Black Hawk Down, We Were Soldiers. IDK about you guys, but I saw LOT of those in theater, and had a great time doing it.
Idk, as a larger family we couldn’t afford the theater. The drive in was lit AF, though. Jurassic Park, MIB, Independence Day were *so good* on that big screen. These days, I only hit the theater for kids movies. And I’m excited AF for Moana 2!
Fargo, pulp ficton
The height of going to the movies was when we would go to the drive in. Those were the days.
Till 2004 probably.
I worked in a movie theater growing up from 94-00 and it was absolutely glorious.
I'd extend that to 1999 or maybe even 2000. 99 had a ton of great movies and 98 wasn't shabby either.
The Titanic was amazing in theaters I saw it like 4 times
I'd say it was all the way up to the 1999 Star Wars movie
90-97. That was era of hyped up, highly anticipated Hollywood blockbusters. I remember watching Entertainment Tonight for the sneak previews.
Was 80s absolutely
You gotta go to 1999 so it includes the Matrix
You were watching the movie and not doing third base stuff the whole time?
Going by tickets sold per capita in the modern movie era (1977 and on) for the top 10 films you get: 3 from just the last three years of the 70s alone (Star Wars, Grease, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind) 4 from the 80s (The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, E.T., Return Of The Jedi) 3 from the 90s (The Lion King, Titanic, Jurassic Park) 0 from 00s, 10s, 20s . . . Expanding to the top 14 films you get: 3 from just the last three years of the 70s alone 4 from the 80s 5 from the 90s (add on The Phantom Menace and Forrest Gump) 1 from the 00s (Avatar) 1 from the 10s (The Force Awakens) 0 from the 20s (that said Barbie/Barnbenheimer had a pretty crazy big pop culture impact feel)
But before TV and video games and VHS and so on the movies were probably even bigger and in the 30s and 40s movies were all there was.
It was a good time.
We were incredibly lucky when it came to films. Kids during the '80s, and teenagers during the '90s. We grew up with some incredible films.
Some good years in there but I challenge you to look at the single year 1982. Your mind might explode with how many good movies came out that single year.
It could be our age, but maybe how easy it was to download a bootleg copy of new movies in the 2000s made it a more affordable option when most of us were poor college kids.
The Rock came out twice? JK. Yes, the excitement was alive and the movies were better.
Sling blade, Good Will Hunting
The height of going to the movies in our lifetime, probably.
I actually think theaters right now are amazing. I was just at AMC and it was great. State of the art picture and surround sound. Food and drinks delivered to the table/chair. It was awesome. But for nostalgia-sake, those uncomfortable-ass bucket stadium seats could satisfy me for one night. Until my sciatica kicks in. lol. I’ll take the modern comfortable theater seats that we have now any day.
More '82-'87
And not a marvel film in sight
Should look at movies theaters in the 1920s and 1930s.
1994 was the greatest year in movie history. And no one had a better single year run than Jim Carrey: Ace Ventura, Dumb & Dumber, The Mask, & Batman Forever
Theatres have huge recliners and 4k screens. Plus they bring your food to you at your seat... I don't think mid 90s was peak theatre time
It was the height of everything
I'd put it through 1999, The Blair Witch Project deserves to be in the pantheon. Besides the local mall, the movie theater is where we spent most of our time and money. In that era, you could pretty much pick a movie at random and it was at least worth watching, if not awesome. In 1997, my friend asked if I wanted to go see a new movie about a spaceship. That's all he knew and I hadn't heard of it. It was called Event Horizon. I walked out of the theater a different person.
Great movies, to be sure. But, it's not like the 2000s were lacking: Pirates of the Caribbean, National Treasure, XMen, Ironman, Captain America...and you know, the greatest trilogy of all time: The Lord of the Rings.
Pre internet played a role. Couldn't sit at home and upload a movie like today.
On July 29, 1988, you could see in the theaters: Cocktail Who Framed Roger Rabbit Die Hard Coming to America Big Midnight Run Big Top Pee-Wee Bambi
Nothing beats 1985 man.
It was never as popular once TV came out.
I feel part of it was we were teenagers and going to the movies(particularly without parental supervision) was the hot thing to do. We also weren't necessarily as smart as we are now at middle age, so even trash movies(like Con Air) seemed awesome at the time. Con Air specifically, I saw in theaters, loved the movie for many years, and I recently(unfortunately) discovered it's terrible.
To this day the only movies I've seen in the theater more than once are Aladdin, Jurassic Park, and The Fifth Element. I think it's hard to objective about, because those were the years I was young enough to fully immerse myself in movies at the theater. Now I have adult problems, bills, and responsibilities so even if the movies are as good now as they were then, and I don't think they are, I wouldn't be able to lose myself in them like that again. I'm sure streaming completely oversaturating the market hasn't helped either. There's probably a lot of good movies out there I'll never even hear about. I think movies have to appeal to the broadest possible audience to get more eyes on them, which usually ends with the final project playing it too safe and being kind of boring. There are some exceptions but it seems like there were a lot more weird, unique, movies coming out (in theaters) back then than there are now.
(Smartass mode on) Didn't you watch the movie? It wasn't a few good men though the titanic, it was sn iceberg through the titanic.
I definitely think our age had something to do with it. Also, I guess they were cheap and we didn't have access to everything and more on demand. YUGE flat screens on streaming made going to the movies meh. I went with my dad and 8 year old to see Inside Out 2 and was 60 bucks for us with food. But the theaters now are so much more comfortable. My couch is even more comfortable.
That was peak movie time in my life for sure haha. But it was definitely a whole thing that we did with a big group of friends. Go to the mall, go to the movies. And $20 was enough to cover the whole day. We had these lollies (candies) called tangy fruits that were only sold in movie theatres. Hard round things that were sold in a plastic container. You'd eat enough to feel sick and then start rolling them down the aisles in the theatre. I can't remember the last time we went to the movies. My youngest daughter has never been. And we tried with my oldest and it was too loud for her so we just haven't been back. It's not a thing they seem to want to do.
It's almost like the best things came out during the years we were at our most impressionable
1999 was the best year for movies
I realized a while back that compared to what things are like now we experienced the peak of most of the “analog” life in our age. Malls, movie theater experiences, even video games before everything turned into one huge digital conglomerate experience. We used to use cigarette lighters at concerts, now everyone has a cell phone. Hell a lot of people watch the whole concert through their phone while recording it instead of just hanging back to enjoy the moment. They need to social media their experience pronto!
1999
Yeah those were good times, now days i think shrek 5 and more marvel stuff is all we are gonna get. hollywood is outta ideas at this point
Don’t forget Basic Instinct! My friends mother took us. It was educational
Extend that out a little. 1999 is widely considered one of the greatest years ever for film
Nah, height of going to the movies was when they introduced reserved seating on fluffy reclining chairs and still while people respected movie theater etiquette