Remembering Good Times at the Cinema

[JediMichael]

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

Because...



I FOUND THEM!

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

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!

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! 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.

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

This is awesome. Love to see this thread still going. Like a lot, gets buried here and there, but without movies and theaters and things like this, this whole entire website probably wouldn't even exist.
Awesome you got to see Return of the Jedi back in 1983....I technically did, but wasn't quite two yet.....so I don't really remember.

 

[JediMichael]

Heres a good time alright. All of us waiting in line for Star Wars Ep. III. And yes, I took off the day and still waiting for 8 hours, dressed up. The girl here was a coworker that borrowed the brown cloak. So that night before the midnight showing, tons of people coming all dressed up, we get this guy. You can probably take a guess at what hes supposed to be. He was there to watch it, but had to be different. She just HAD to get a pic with him. Weird for sure.

 

[blewis17]

Not be a downer, but just to comment on the recent theater experience:

I took the family (4 of us) to Fantastic Four today at a large chain Regal Theater.
Early afternoon.
Regular digital projection (NO 3D, NO IMAX)
4 tickets, plus online booking fee of ~$9, plus 2 large sodas + one large family popcorn + large soft pretzel.

Total cost = $105 USD (before I used a $25 gift card, which took the cost down to $80).

Worth it? We could have saved a lot by NOT buying any food items at the theater.
Could have saved $9 by NOT purchasing online.
Tickets were $15 each.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

blewis17 I know! I was just looking at the post that The 48th Ronin had with his ticket stub collection and I couldn't believe there was a time when matinees were three bucks---and I lived through them, too! Oh, the glory days of going to the theater, paying five bucks to sit down and watch a movie that was going to run for at least three months. It feels so long ago now.

 

[The 48th Ronin]

Awesome you got to see Return of the Jedi back in 1983....I technically did, but wasn't quite two yet.....so I don't really remember.

It WAS awesome - I was only a couple weeks away from turning 16. Obviously, I was able to see all three of the Original Trilogy films when they first came out - it was an extraordinary time, and an extraordinary experience.

 

[JediMichael]

It WAS awesome - I was only a couple weeks away from turning 16. Obviously, I was able to see all three of the Original Trilogy films when they first came out - it was an extraordinary time, and an extraordinary experience.

I was a tad bit to young and all, but still definitely grew up with them, and perfect with VCRs getting into more homes by the late 80s and early 90s.
I always said, if I could travel through time, sure, there might be stuff I might change for myself, for the better, but one date I'd sure love to go see in person, is around May 25th, 1977 and following weeks to see it all bloom from there.

 

[Halliwax]

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

Because...



I FOUND THEM!

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

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!

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! 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.

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

One of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen on here… this is so dang cool!