Movie marathons at the theater (1 Viewer)

[Vickie_M]

Do you like seeing more than one film at the theater in the same day? I always feel I'm in the minority when it comes to that. I think it's a waste to go out to the theater and only see one film. If you're going to go to the time and trouble to see one, why not see two? Or more, if the times work out?
Wednesday I saw Monster's Ball and Dinner Rush at the same theater, Thursday I saw I Am Sam and Gosford Park (for the 2nd time) at the same theater. Yesterday I saw 4 different films at 4 different theaters! First I saw Black Hawk Down. Then I went to see Fellowship Of The Ring at a theater a few blocks away. Then Iris. Then Scotland, PA at a midnight show. I had to take short cab rides to get to the last two on time, but it was all worth it. I had had a plan to see 6 films at 4 different theaters, but my 2 early shows got knocked off by a situation beyond my control (I had an early morning doctor's appointment, and someone stole my coat, argh, so I had to go shopping for a new one).
I can understand how people with kids can't do this too often, though if you're getting a babysitter for the evening, why not make the most of it?
Movie marathons at the theater are a completely different animal than movie marathons at home. What movie lover hasn't had movie marathons at home? They're easy and common. Movie marathons out are harder and need more planning.
Of course, those who go to film festivals are very familiar with movie marathons. They're a necessity. I'm talking more about your average non-festival screenings.

 

[Ryan L B]

Do you sneak in to the second movie or do you pay. I think that they need to have gaurds at gates for all movies to prevent people from sneaking in. (I did it once to see some movie that I can't remember the name of.)

 

[Vickie_M]

I've snuck into films when I was younger, but now I want to reward filmmakers for their efforts, so I pay. Needless to say, I spent a lot of money in the last few days!

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

I don't mind if they're good. I do mind if the films are bad. I'd really have to do some digging, but I know that there were a few times that I threw down four in a day and all were stinkers. (This was in my earlier critic days when we weren't getting advance passes but had a deal with an 18 screen theater to get in for free.) I think the most I've ever done in a day is five (at three different theaters too, I think). I wouldn't recommend that.
Four in a day at a film festival can be exhausting, especially if you do that a few days in a row.

 

[Bill McA]

Well, I've watched 53 feature-length films in 9 1/2 days at film festivals, so there was definitely a few 6-a-day marathons there.
For regular cinema-going, 4-a-day appears to be the maximum possible at my local theatres.
I had a 4-film marathon last Saturday (Storytelling, Songs From the Second Floor, The Piano Teacher and the anime version of Metropolis) and another 4 a few weeks earlier (The Mothman Prophecies, A Beautiful Mind, Kung Pow and Collateral Damage)
...and I'm not adverse to sneaking in when possible.

 

[Nick Sievers]

Very rarely do I go to the cinema to see only one film, I like to see about 2-3 films each time (Cinema is about 10min drive). We have a fairly decent complex as well, comfy seating, nice size screen, and good audio as well and a perk is that it costs me about $5 AUD which would be about $2.50 US per film. So I like to go to the theatre about 3 times a week, I've only started to do this in the last few months though. So this year my 2002 film list should fill up .
Since I usually work nights I have a lot of time in the day to fill in, my mates are usually working or at uni - so I'm usually on my lonesome. A big plus of going in the day is that you get less obnoxious people turning up, as it usually consists of senior citizens.

 

[Alex Spindler]

I'm pretty much on the same page as Vickie. I used to have Noon to Midnight days at the theater for the cost of two tickets. Now that I am gainfully employed, I pay for every showing, and try to get matinee showings of ex[ected bad films and night showings of good films.

I wish I could remember the last of these marathons, but I do remember is fondly. It was a string of very good movies, and they were all well timed to see them all.

Unfortunately, recent movie lineups haven't inspired many of these marathons.

 

[AdrianJ]

I once saw Hamlet (the Branagh version) and Sling Blade back-to-back. That's over 6 hours for two movies!!

 

[Nate Anderson]

I once went to Behind Enemy Lines and Harry Potter back to back, paying for both tickets. Sometimes, I'm so honest I scare myself.

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

The other week I saw Super Troopers and Crossroads, but my $5.25 went towards the film that deserved my money.
Back in 1999 I saw The Mummy and TPM back to back in which I paid for both tickets.

 

[Josh_Hill]

One day I saw Twister, Spy Hard, ID4, and Mission:Impossible all at the theater in one day!

Lately I stayed to see LOTR:FOTR two times in a row, of course, didnt pay for the second one.

 

[Matt Stone]

A friend and I saw Lord of the Rings 3 times on opening day. That was a party...we drove to Chicago to see a midnight showing, drove back to South Bend, IN...had breakfast, and went to two shows in a row later that day. Needless to say I hadn't slept for about 35 hours when we finished...

 

[Kirk Tsai]

I do it all the time, I've done three movies consecutively twice in the last two months, and much more times for 2 movies in the same period.

 

[Jason Seaver]

For a while, I was doing 2 movies a day on Saturday and Sunday every weekend, and paying for both (hey, often they were at different locations).
And, of course, there's Boston's annual Sci-Fi Marathon. 24 hours of mutant-y goodness (and The Terminal Man).

 

[Brian Crowe]

First and only time I've done this was when the Star Wars OT:SE was released to the big screen a few years back. We sat and watched all three back to back. It was nice as I was too young to remember Ep 4 at the theater.

~Crowe~

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Anyone here remember Double Features from the days before the multi-plex? Oh, for the good old days...:frowning:

 

[Bill McA]

Double features AND continuous shows....

 

[Seth Paxton]

Well I did hit FOTR twice on opening day, which is 6 hours of film.
But my biggest cinema marathon was at the same theater (all for free thanks to the manager being a friend) and was for Apoc Now: Redux, Ghost World, The Deep End.
10 minutes shy of 7 hours of actual film time. Went from noon to 10 pm.
I was pretty burned out by it all actually.
I have done plenty of 4 in a day at home though.

 

[Aaron Garman]

Hello all. I guess I have the paying for tickets thing solved: I get in free because I work there. This summer I'm going to try one of these all days things for fun. However, in May, my friends and I are going to watch all 4 Star Wars films just before Episode II. I want to do a one day thing, but most likely it'll be two days long. Oh well, it's still going to be a ton of fun. May the force be with you.

Aaron Garman

 

[SteveK]

I've done double-features (two different movies at different auditoriums in one theater; paying for both of them). The only other "marathon" I remember was one New Year's Eve many years ago. One of the local theaters featured FOUR movies from that year on New Year's Eve (one admission for all four movies). Needless to say, I was extremely tired by the time it was over.

I usually don't even do marathons at home. Occasionally I'll watch two consecutive movies (or one long one), but usually I'll only watch one movie per sitting.

Steve K.