By Michael Lyons
Last weekend was a very hopeful weekend for movie theaters. The release of Marvel's Black Widow, which, like so many movies, had its release date delayed by over a year due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, made $80 million at the box office.
This was a record domestic opening for the Pandemic-era, breaking a record set just a few weeks prior by F9, the latest film in the Fast & Furious franchise. Additionally, A Quiet Place II has been doing more than respectable business.
Sure, a "chunk" of Black Widow's earnings came from its availability on the Disney+ streaming service, but box-office numbers that haven't been seen in well over a year signal a hopeful sign that moviegoers are coming back to theaters.
Any film fan will admit that as comfy as our couches are, nothing replaces the communal experience of watching a movie in a theater with others, sharing in laughs, gasps, and applause. At the same time, the comforting smell of popcorn wafts through the air.
Filmmakers know this too well. Through the years, many films have celebrated the experience of going to the movie theater. We continue to cross our fingers and revel in the hope that Black Widow and other recent releases have given us: that movie theaters are on a long-awaited upswing. Let's take this time to look back at some movies that have celebrated going to the movies.
La La Land (2016)
Writer/director Damien Chazelle's musical love letter to movie musicals and the city of Los Angeles itself features a sequence in which the film's two stars (Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone) attend a screening of 1955's Rebel Without a Cause. The scene, although brief, speaks beautifully to the romance of a darkened movie theater.
Scream 2 (1997)
A scene in a horror movie taking place in a movie theater showing a horror movie is "meta" before the word was a big part of our movie lexicon. In this sequel to their blockbuster original, writer Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven celebrate the collective fear found in theaters showing a scary movie.
Another era of moviegoing is at the center of this underrated movie from Gremlins' director Joe Dante. Matinee is about the "Golden Age" of gimmicky "B" movies and the fun that went along with seeing them in a theater.
Last Action Hero (1993)
One of the most beloved bombs Hollywood has ever made. Say what you want about this Arnold Schwarzenegger behemoth; it perfectly captures the feeling of going to see one of Hollywood's event movies released during the multiplex era.
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
A young boy in a small Italian town becomes enchanted with film by spending his free time in the titular neighborhood movie theater. Writer/director, Giuseppe Tornatore's film, won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and it's easy to see why. This is a beautiful movie with a scene in a movie theater at the conclusion that's one of the most heartbreaking and touching moments in film history.
Radio Days (1987)
Woody Allen's story of a family in Rockaway, New York, during World War II features a lovely scene filmed at the iconic "Showplace of the Nation," the beautiful one-time movie palace, Radio City Music Hall, in all of its art deco glory.
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Another Woody Allen gem, this time fantasy about a character who – literally- steps off the screen into a movie theater. Beautiful, funny, thought-provoking, and sad, The Purple Rose of Cairo speaks directly to dreamers who sit wide-eyed in a darkened movie theater.
The Muppet Movie (1979)
The Muppets' first film is bookended with scenes of Kermit and company watching the movie in a theater (there's also a funny theater moment in the middle of the film). Sure, they're all in a screening room, technically and not in a movie theater, but the Muppets watching The Muppet Movie this way is a magical conceit that makes a film lover just a little dizzy.
Grease (1978)
"Stranded at the drive-in..." sings John Travolta as Danny Zucko in this blockbuster movie musical, as the song "Sandy" begins. It's just part of a scene in which he and co-stars Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway, and director Randall Kleiser bring back to life the magical era of watching movies through car windshields in drive-ins.
Due to necessity over the past year, the drive-in resurfaced, one of the few cheerful bright lights to come out of 2020.
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Toward the end of Mel Brooks' comedy masterpiece, there is a scene at another iconic movie palace, Grauman's Chinese Theater (now the TCL Chinese Theater) in Hollywood. It’s here that the film's villain, Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman), goes to see Blazing Saddles in the theater. He then has a showdown with the movie's hero, Bart (Cleavon Little), out in front of the theater, among all the famous footprints in cement.
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Arguably the most outstanding movie musical ever made, which tells the story of the advent of sound in film. The "movie within the movie," The Dueling Cavalier, is screened for an audience in a movie theater with disastrous results for the filmmakers and hysterical laughs for the audience.
Writer/Director Preston Sturges' brilliant comedy follows a famous Hollywood director (Joel McCrea), who decides to live life as a tramp to gain real-world experiences for his upcoming film. Toward the end of the film, through a series of misadventures, he winds up with a prison chain gang. One night, the Disney cartoon Playful Pluto is screened for the prisoners, and Sullivan finds himself laughing along with them. A realization for the filmmaker of the joy and escape that going to see a movie with others in a theater provides to so many.
All these movies (and so many others not mentioned here) do the same. They all reflect that magic found in a movie theater as the lights dim and the show begins.
Here's hoping for more of these magic days in our near future.
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