As Buck settled into her seat, she began to hear the giggles. The little boy was enjoying the movie just as much as she was.
“I was so glad because that’s it, right?” Buck recalled a week later outside of the AMC Georgetown 14, where she had returned for another movie. “We’re there to be in the audience with other people enjoying the movie.”
In a somewhat-vaccinated world, American film fans like Buck (and the 6-year-old) are becoming moviegoers once again. Over the weekend at cineplexes in Washington and Bloomington, Ind., several shared in interviews what it’s like to finally reenter a dark room and hear loud explosions while surrounded by strangers. No one seemed to care that the popcorn is stale and the extra-large soda is watery — or that they could hear the giggles behind them. They were just happy to be back.
The box office is way up over the past three weeks, bouncing back from earnings that plummeted during the pandemic. AMC lost $4.6 billion in 2020 and small theater chains ArcLight and Pacific went out of business. Streaming services stepped in to distribute new films, and Warner Bros. even announced that its entire 2021 lineup would premiere on HBO Max and in theaters simultaneously.
The shift troubled cinema die-hards and filmmakers alike. Director Christopher Nolan pushed for a September theatrical release of his film “Tenet” after insisting viewers see it on the big screen, and slammed Warner’s HBO Max decision in the Hollywood Reporter. The studio is going back to more typical theatrical releases in 2022.
Nolan has found a kindred spirit in Layla Rohl, age 10.
“I definitely like the big screen TV,” she said of watching “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway” with her mom and younger brother at the AMC Classic Bloomington 12. “And of course the popcorn and slushies. You can’t get that at home.”
About 630 miles away, 7-year-old Yusef Lawson’s only qualm while watching the same film was getting a small bag of popcorn, only for his mom to take “five whole pieces” especially after “she said she didn’t want any!” But the big screen is much better than his TV at home, despite her popcorn-snagging tendencies. “I really like going to the movies with my family,” he said.
Now that children are out of school, the reopening of theaters offers an indoor summer activity for families — especially welcome during bad storms and a particularly warm summer in the continental United States. A heat emergency was issued on Monday in Washington, and heavy rains in southern central Indiana caused flash flooding and power outages over the weekend.
Ashley Francke, 37, took her three children back to the movies Saturday while waiting for electricity to be restored at home, with blankets and books in tow to stretch the visit into a double feature. Twenty hours into the outage, she sat by 12-year-old Khaliya and 9-year-old Kenzo as they ate pizza and drank Icees on a bench in a hallway of the theater during down time between “Peter Rabbit 2” and “Cruella.” Harlow, 3, moseyed around close by.
Francke has been taking the kids to the same AMC for a decade. The family makes it a point to attend every opening night screening for Marvel movies, their favorites.
Khaliya, taking a break from reading “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” said the theater carries a lot of memories for her, and the past year has been strange without it. “It was really sad.”
When asked why she was excited to be back in the theater, Harlow said “candy” and “yes.”
For others, movies weren’t an escape from the weather but from the mundanity of real life. Rebecca Rosas, a 28-year-old nonprofit employee visiting D.C. from Florida, travels constantly for work — and in every city, she explores a new movie theater. With wide comfy chairs, popcorn and a Coke, the movies are her escape. “I don’t think watching movies at home will ever replace this feeling,” she said.
Tim and Marsha Jones of Terre Haute, Ind., know that feeling well. Before the pandemic, the retired couple in their late 60s had a standing weekly movie date on AMC’s Discount Tuesdays. They’ve been waiting for a sense of safety before returning to the theaters and were part of the slim minority of customers in the Bloomington AMC still wearing masks.
They drove an hour and 20 minutes to watch “In The Heights,” because their home theater had only one showtime and they could coordinate an errand with their journey. Despite some unfamiliarity with the film’s setting — Marsha said she had only ever heard the word “bodega” before because their son had lived in Brooklyn — they said they missed musicals and were happy to have their movie date night back.
“We’ve both been talking about it a lot,” Marsha said. “It was just kind of an emptiness.”
Another benefit of returning to theaters: Cellphones are silenced and those with short attention spans are experiencing the silver screen distraction-free.
Cedrick Rivers, a 44-year-old human resources employee based in D.C., doesn’t have patience for a TV show with no definitive end. He’s barely able to pay attention to a movie at home. But there’s something about the theaters — the darkness, the anticipation, the lack of texts or emails — that keeps Morrison laser-focused.
At this point, he’ll see almost any movie and go almost anywhere just to get that feeling back. “There’s nothing like it,” he said. Something special happens when he settles into a reclining leather chair and watches the credits start to roll.
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