Remembering Good Times at the Cinema

Here are a few memories from my old stomping grounds, Odeon Theatre, Edmonton, AB

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And to the Capital 6, Victoria, BC.

I definitely had some great times at these joints. Star Wars, Close Encounters, Alien, Star Trek, Empire Strikes Back, Indiana Jones, E.T., Ghostbusters, Return of the Jedi, Poltergeist, Aliens, Terminator 2, Abyss....etc etc etc.

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06 Theatre Capitol 6 01.jpg

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Going through old pics....this was my room, probably around 2006. The posters, movie pins....and, if a seat in the theater was broken, we were suppose to put this Out of Order cover over it....of course I had to take one and kept it on my computer chair.....shhhhhhhh.......
So many things I've lost over the years. That cover is one where I just do not remember what happened to it.
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I could do a lot of things with these!
I had to take the cat to the vet to get some teeth removed, as hes getting older, and things happen...well, drove past that theater....and was just SO temped to grab a chair....but, just more things to pile up and get in the way.
 
Went to pick Phil up from the vet. Got a quick shot of that theaters sign...always sad to see.
Even the S is sad.
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Google street view. Not sure the date taken.
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Going through more old footage looking for something else, I found this of a manager threading one of the projectors. I don't even remember why we filmed this, but I have used the footage for plenty other projects, usually with fast cuts and all. But, here is the full unedited 2 mins. He was one of their fasted at threading one.

 
Going through more old footage looking for something else, I found this of a manager threading one of the projectors. I don't even remember why we filmed this, but I have used the footage for plenty other projects, usually with fast cuts and all. But, here is the full unedited 2 mins. He was one of their fasted at threading one.

View attachment 1822112
Interesting to think that, unless you work in an IMAX theater, this is essentially a dead art. Theatrical releases are distributed on encrypted hard drives now.

Even those directors who swear on their great grandmother’s grave that they won’t shoot digital, and they have to use film… end up having their precious celluloid scanned and digitized in the end.
 
I have a friend of a friend that used to work at a theater to mount and route the film of those IMAX movies. Since the technology wasn't being used for quite some time, he was laid off and found other work. In 2017 right before Dunkirk was being released, the theater managed to find him and he said "...backed up a truck full of money to his house", to convince him to take a leave of absence from his current job in order to come back to the theater for a few weeks. After that they continued to ask him to return when other IMAX films were released. My friend and I got a tour of the projection room at that theater and I was pretty amazed at the size of the reels and how the film was threaded.

A lot of theaters in Canada have sold their IMAX projectors and repurposed their theaters for standard digital movies.

TazMan2000
 
Interesting to think that, unless you work in an IMAX theater, this is essentially a dead art. Theatrical releases are distributed on encrypted hard drives now.

Even those directors who swear on their great grandmother’s grave that they won’t shoot digital, and they have to use film… end up having their precious celluloid scanned and digitized in the end.
Yeah, and looking on google, there are only 30 imax theaters around the world that use actual film left. All the rest have also switched to digital imax.

I have a friend of a friend that used to work at a theater to mount and route the film of those IMAX movies. Since the technology wasn't being used for quite some time, he was laid off and found other work. In 2017 right before Dunkirk was being released, the theater managed to find him and he said "...backed up a truck full of money to his house", to convince him to take a leave of absence from his current job in order to come back to the theater for a few weeks. After that they continued to ask him to return when other IMAX films were released. My friend and I got a tour of the projection room at that theater and I was pretty amazed at the size of the reels and how the film was threaded.

A lot of theaters in Canada have sold their IMAX projectors and repurposed their theaters for standard digital movies.

TazMan2000
My theater didn't have imax, but I did get to go to the Orlando Science center's Cinedome, which is a dome like theater screen, which was like the biggest at the time in the late 90s, but now totally dwarfed by the Las Vegas sphere.
Our youth group was there, and they let us see the projection room and film. Each frame is like the size of a playing card, and runs sideways. Pretty cool to see in person.
 
EDIT: Renamed this from the collecting movie ticket stubs, as its now reflecting that as well as general Cinema memories and themes.

This! I also would write the name of the film on the stubs that I kept, and with some films which viewing it was, if I saw it more than once.

I can't remember if I still have my collection somewhere, or if I reached a point where I just threw them out. If I do still have them, I wouldn't even know where to start looking. I recall that I had a special oversize ticket stub from opening day of Return of the Jedi - it was probably 4 x 6 inches and was printed on gold cardstock, kinda' like a Willy Wonka golden ticket.

Apologies for dredging this thread back up, but I got a bit excited.

Because...



I FOUND THEM! :D

I actually found my old ticket stub collection! I had no idea that I should have been looking for an old cigar box:

stubs 001.jpg


Not that I actually WAS looking for them - I simply ran across this box buried under a bunch of stuff in a larger box... I cracked it open and there they were! Anyway, this is what I found:

stubs 002.jpg


As best I can remember, I think I probably started the practice of saving my stubs with Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's my absolute favorite film of all time, so I'm sure that at the time I probably wanted to save a little tangible reminder of what an amazing experience it was. I believe that the large paper tickets were probably a bit unusual for the time, but then again they were from a specific (and special) theater. I grew up in Colorado, and back then Denver had THREE theaters that showed 70mm films - The Cooper, The Continental, and The Century 21. I saw Raiders in glorious 70mm at The Century 21. And obviously I saw it there three times that year. Back then, tickets had very little (or no) information on them, so I had to make a notation about which film it was and which time I had seen it (if I saw a film multiple times) - you can see the I, II, and III notations up in the right corners:

stubs 003.jpg


My first time seeing it was 25 June '81:

stubs 004.jpg


I can't quite make out the month of the second viewing - it's too faded :confused:

stubs 005.jpg


And my third time seeing it is a bit surprising - October?! But now that I think about it... back then, if a film was a hit and was raking in the dough, it would stay in theaters for MONTHS. In fact, wasn't the original Star Wars in theaters for nearly the entire YEAR?!

stubs 006.jpg


These stubs are also from 1981 - the more ubiquitous and standard "carnival" style ticket... Excalibur and An American Werewolf in London:

stubs 007.jpg


Look at that price - a buck seventy-five?! I'm guessing it must have been a matinee.

1982 was an absolutely bonkers year for film - these are just a few from back then. I didn't see every single nerd genre film that year, and I believe that as a rule, I only saved the stubs from the films that really made an impression on me. Top three, left to right - Poltergeist, E.T., The Thing. Bottom three, left to right - Tron, Conan the Barbarian, The Dark Crystal. My mind is blown by the prices!

stubs 008.jpg


I saw E.T. three times that summer:

stubs 009.jpg


And I saw The Dark Crystal twice, later that year:

stubs 010.jpg


This is the "Willy Wonka-style Golden Ticket" that I was talking about, for Return of the Jedi - I saw it in 70mm at The Continental. And as you can see, I saw it three more times that summer:

stubs 011.jpg


The following year was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I also saw it in 70mm at The Century 21 - clearly they were ahead of the curve, as far as modern ticketing technology went. ToD didn't have the same magic as Raiders, but I liked it well enough to see it again a second time, only six days later! :lol:

stubs 012.jpg


Saw Romancing the Stone twice in '84. Loved that film!

stubs 013.jpg


Also saw Terry Gilliam's Brazil more than once in '85 - it's my absolute favorite of his films. Apparently I didn't save any of the stubs from subsequent viewings.

stubs 014.jpg


Saw ALIENS twice (at least) in '86. Saw it in 70mm at The Continental:

stubs 015.jpg


Here's an interesting juxtaposition - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade came out in 1989. I have to imagine that I first saw it on opening day, and that's gotta be the old-style stub. Probably from The Continental? I saw it again at a multiplex, hence the modern printed stub - they had been in use for a few years by that point.

stubs 016.jpg


And continuing on into the modern age of ticket stubs... Tim Burton's Batman:

stubs 017.jpg


I saw The Rocketeer for the first time on my birthday! :D Saw it again about a month later. Loved it then, still love it to this day.

stubs 018.jpg


I pulled out a few more from around that time - late '80s into the '90s. These films definitely made an impression.

stubs 019.jpg


And more from the same era. The United Artists Theaters stubs were definitely sub-par quality wise.

stubs 020.jpg


The Star Wars Special Editions. Yep, saw all three in 70mm at The Continental. :D

stubs 021.jpg


If I remember correctly, The Fifth Element was the last 70mm film that I saw at The Continental - I moved to L.A. in the spring of '98.

stubs 022.jpg


And finally, the stub from the Ben Burtt directed IMAX documentary Special Effects: Anything Can Happen. Back then, I don't believe that IMAX had become a "thing" quite yet for studio films - had to go to the museum to see it in their IMAX theater.

stubs 023.jpg
 
Last edited:
Apologies for dredging this thread back up, but I got a bit excited.

Because...



I FOUND THEM! :D

I actually found my old ticket stub collection! I had no idea that I should have been looking for an old cigar box:

View attachment 1952793

Not that I actually WAS looking for them - I simply ran across this box buried under a bunch of stuff in a larger box... I cracked it open and there they were! Anyway, this is what I found:

View attachment 1952794

As best I can remember, I think I probably started the practice of saving my stubs with Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's my absolute favorite film of all time, so I'm sure that at the time I probably wanted to save a little tangible reminder of what an amazing experience it was. I believe that the large paper tickets were probably a bit unusual for the time, but then again they were from a specific (and special) theater. I grew up in Colorado, and back then Denver had THREE theaters that showed 70mm films - The Cooper, The Continental, and The Century 21. I saw Raiders in glorious 70mm at The Century 21. And obviously I saw it there three times that year. Back then, tickets had very little (or no) information on them, so I had to make a notation about which film it was and which time I had seen it (if I saw a film multiple times) - you can see the I, II, and III notations up in the right corners:

View attachment 1952795

My first time seeing it was 25 June '81:

View attachment 1952796

I can't quite make out the month of the second viewing - it's too faded :confused:

View attachment 1952797

And my third time seeing it is a bit surprising - October?! But now that I think about it... back then, if a film was a hit and was raking in the dough, it would stay in theaters for MONTHS. In fact, wasn't the original Star Wars in theaters for nearly the entire YEAR?!

View attachment 1952798

These stubs are also from 1981 - the more ubiquitous and standard "carnival" style ticket... Excalibur and An American Werewolf in London:

View attachment 1952799

Look at that price - a buck seventy-five?! I'm guessing it must have been a matinee.

1982 was an absolutely bonkers year for film - these are just a few from back then. I didn't see every single nerd genre film that year, and I believe that as a rule, I only saved the stubs from the films that really made an impression on me. Top three, left to right - Poltergeist, E.T., The Thing. Bottom three, left to right - Tron, Conan the Barbarian, The Dark Crystal. My mind is blown by the prices!

View attachment 1952800

I saw E.T. three times that summer:

View attachment 1952801

And I saw The Dark Crystal twice, later that year:

View attachment 1952802

This is the "Willy Wonka-style Golden Ticket" that I was talking about, for Return of the Jedi - I saw it in 70mm at The Continental. And as you can see, I saw it three more times that summer:

View attachment 1952803

The following year was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I also saw it in 70mm at The Century 21 - clearly they were ahead of the curve, as far as modern ticketing technology went. ToD didn't have the same magic as Raiders, but I liked it well enough to see it again a second time, only six days later! :lol:

View attachment 1952804

Saw Romancing the Stone twice in '84. Loved that film!

View attachment 1952805

Also saw Terry Gilliam's Brazil more than once in '85 - it's my absolute favorite of his films. Apparently I didn't save any of the stubs from subsequent viewings.

View attachment 1952806

Saw ALIENS twice (at least) in '86. Saw it in 70mm at The Continental:

View attachment 1952807

Here's an interesting juxtaposition - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade came out in 1989. I have to imagine that I first saw it on opening day, and that's gotta be the old-style stub. Probably from The Continental? I saw it again at a multiplex, hence the modern printed stub - they had been in use for a few years by that point.

View attachment 1952808

And continuing on into the modern age of ticket stubs... Tim Burton's Batman:

View attachment 1952809


I saw The Rocketeer for the first time on my birthday! :D Saw it again about a month later. Loved it then, still love it to this day.

View attachment 1952810

I pulled out a few more from around that time - late '80s into the '90s. These films definitely made an impression.

View attachment 1952811

And more from the same era. The United Artists Theaters stubs were definitely sub-par quality wise.

View attachment 1952812

The Star Wars Special Editions. Yep, saw all three in 70mm at The Continental. :D

View attachment 1952813

If I remember correctly, The Fifth Element was the last 70mm film that I saw at The Continental - I moved to L.A. in the spring of '98.

View attachment 1952814

And finally, the stub from the Ben Burtt directed IMAX documentary Special Effects: Anything Can Happen. Back then, I don't believe that IMAX had become a "thing" quite yet for studio films - had to go to the museum to see it in their IMAX theater.

View attachment 1952815
Those are Amazing!
Most of mine are handwritten as up until the multiplex invasion it was those small bus type generic stubs.

Thats a really nice collection!
 
Those are Amazing!
Most of mine are handwritten as up until the multiplex invasion it was those small bus type generic stubs.

Thats a really nice collection!

Thanks!

A lot of memories tied up in these little bits of paper. That was all a lifetime ago... :confused:
 
Star Wars ad for opening day in my local theater, we went that night. It played there for over a year because I saw it there again the next summer before it went away. The theater recently closed, and will be turned into a gym.
Sigh.
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