My Return To The Theater: A Retrospective

Up until about a week ago, I had only been to theater a total of 3 times over the course of a year. A new record low for the avid cinephile that I am. I know, I wasn't the only one who hit that record low, especially with that damn pandemic nearly destroying the moviegoing experience as we know it. I first returned to the big screen back in August to see a screening of Christopher Nolan's Oscar-winning The Dark Knight, which happened to take place at the largest IMAX screen in the state of Indiana and one of the largest in the country. I had seen the movie plenty of times before but just seeing a movie on the big screen with an audience made me almost teary eyed. I had missed it so much. Sure the Summer movie season last year wasn't completely dead, with plenty of great movies hitting streaming and VOD, but it just wasn't the same.

Several weeks later, I had reactivated my AMC A-List with hope that more movies would start coming out again; the first movie I saw was an IMAX screening of Christopher Nolan's latest Tenet at the theater near my college campus. It was as if I had never left. The experience alone made me joyful to be back. But it wouldn't last. In the following weeks the major studios once again pushed back all of their promising films either to streaming or to a later date, leaving my AMC A-List unused and I devastatingly canceled my subscription in defeat. I wouldn't be able to renew it until 6 months from then. Would I make it in time?

Months went by and HBO Max and WarnerMedia made a huge announcement: they would be releasing all of their 2021 slate both in theaters and on their streaming service, starting with the Christmas release of Wonder Woman 1984. It was at that point where I completely gave into the streaming craze, if I couldn't renew my A-List, didn't have to pay anything and didn't have to leave my home to watch the latest blockbuster, what difference does it make?

In early April, I once again returned with my friends to the movie theater to see the Bob Odenkirk-led action flick Nobody, and for those brisk ninety minutes I was able to forget about some of the obstacles life had presented me and just enjoy the ride. Even the annoying talkative couple next to me didn't deter from my film experience. It was just good to be back.

Flash-forward to a week ago, I finally renewed my AMC A-List and this past week I made the trek to my AMC to see two different movies: Spiral - From The Book Of Saw and Wrath of Man. There was something magical about seeing these movies on the big screen. Spiral wasn't even that special of a movie, but seeing that movie with a decent crowd was an almost religious experience. I felt like I was home again. It was simply good to be back.

While I attempted to create a more theatrical experience with some of the new movies on streaming, particularly Zack Snyder's Justice League and most recently Army of The Dead (ironically also a Zack Snyder film) and while I was able to create a fun moviegoing experience, it was still not even close to fully capturing that feeling of going to a movie theater.

This brings me to one of the points I wanted to make and that's the shortening of the theatrical window (and in some cases it's complete elimination). Whether it be HBO Max & WarnerMedia's day and date strategy, Disney+'s Premiere Access experiment, or Universal shortened theatrical window; it's becoming more and more clear that movies are making a bigger shift to streaming. While the average moviegoer might not care, the avid film-fans like myself and others crave that theatrical experience frequently. Not only that but most prominent filmmakers out there have gone on record to state that they would prefer fans see their films on the big-screen. Even esteemed directors like Martin Scorsese, Noah Baumbach, Alfonso Cuaron, and David Fincher, who have made movies for Netflix, have said that despite their films being readily available on the platform, that they'd rather have audiences experience it for the first time on in a theater.

Going to the movies is often expensive; I get that. Everybody knows this. Avid film-fans like myself often find themselves paying for monthly subscription plans from the likes of AMC A-List, Regal Unlimited, and Cinemark Movie Club. These kinds of subscriptions certainly save the frequent filmgoer money, but it won't do much for anyone else.

Going back to the main reason why I'm writing this 'retrospective' of sorts: I feel like I have finally returned home. The movie theater for me is an escape from the world, from all the madness in the news, from anything that may feel like a burden. It's where I can finally just immerse myself in something else. I just can't get that feeling at home. If I try hard enough, maybe, but the theater is my true escape. It's good to be back.

I'm sorry I haven't been consistent on here for the past couple months, but I can promise that things are getting back in motion.