When you went to see a movie, you had to arrive at the theater at least thirty minutes early, sometimes an hour, and on a few occasions more than that. All to make sure you got a ticket, for the showtimes often sold out early on popular films and new releases, especially on opening day when it seemed that everyone wanted to be the first ones to see them. When a blockbuster came to town, it was always best to buy tickets early in the day so you could arrive in an evening with a guaranteed seat. Of course, this proved difficult when it seemed like everyone else had the same idea. This meant that there would be a mad dash to the box office before it opened, often arriving there an hour or two early to get tickets. Such tactics were necessary because you couldn't reserve seats or purchase tickets over the phone.
The difficulty in getting a seat to new releases and popular movies lay in the fact that most theaters had very limited space. Most of them only had two screens, so it would not make much business sense only to have one film showing on both screens, not to mention how unfair it would be to the other movies being distributed. There would also be the various studios getting angry and upset over the matter. Regardless, screens were not as plentiful in theaters back then. True, there were some that had more than a duo of auditoriums, but they were not prevalent. They usually had four screens and sometimes six, sacrificing size for quantity. In such cases, the theaters had 35mm screens instead of the 70mm ones, though some of the traditional theaters used the 35mm size as well. The half-dozen design became more popular in time, brought into prominence by the General Cinema chain as it continued to fight for dominance with its rival United Artists. There were others, like Lowe's, but these were the two titans. They were later replaced by Cinemark, which introduced the multiplex theater to Dallas, and their current nemesis AMC.
The terrors did not end with getting your tickets early, for there was still the matter of arriving at the theater long before the advertised showtime. Failure to do so meant standing near the back of the line, a dreaded snakelike line that wrapped itself around the building as if to strangle its prey. In most cases, it would go around the structure not once, not twice, but three times. That is, if you were lucky enough to catch the summer matinee showing. You always tried to go to the matinee, especially when impatient children entered the equation. Not only was it less crowded, the ticket prices were cheaper.
The same could not be said about the concession food. When adding inflation to the seemingly low prices, the snacks were extremely expensive. Regardless, my parents always got sodas and a big bucket of buttered popcorn. It was sticky, it was messy, and it tasted wonderful. Popcorn just wasn't popcorn unless you had butter on it. Dry popcorn just wouldn't do. Of course, popcorn wasn't the only the thing we got from the concession stand. We sometimes got M&Ms and chocolate bars. On other occasions, my mother would sneak treats into the theater using her purse. When it came to drinks, I always got Dr. Pepper, though I sometimes had to resort to Sprite whenever the soda machines were not working properly.
While waiting for the movie to start, you got to listen to music playing in the background from speakers. Most of the time, they used the soundtracks of popular movies, though light pop music also found its way into the playlists. Regardless of the genre, the tunes always played at a soft, pleasant level, allowing visitors to socialize with each other in the lightly-dimmed auditorium. Most of the time, you conversed with your family members, but that didn't stop you from talking with complete strangers sitting nearby. The theater was a social place, after all. People read books, solved puzzles, played games, relaxed on blankets, and discussed a myriad of topics with others while waiting in line. The less physical activities often continued inside the theater as guests waited for the movie to begin.
As the lights slowly dimmed to the off position, patrons did not always look up and stare at the blank screen in anticipation. In many cases, the white canvas hid behind a curtain in the same manner that actors stand behind one while making final mental preparation for the performance. Dyed blue, red, or yellow, the curtains either lifted upward or parted to the left and right. There were some cases where a panel moved downward to enlarge the total screen space. The rustling of the curtains and the sliding of the panel was usually followed by a loud pop which echoed through the room, signaling that the projector had been turned on.
The pre-show started with all the standard material : the call for one last trip to the concession stand, warnings not to talk, and reminders to throw away the trash and remove crying babies. All the rules, of course, were largely ignored and rarely enforced unless things got really crazy. The whole thing regarding concessions was a completely different matter. People often got up and raced out of the room to get that one last order of snacks while others dashed down the aisles to their seat hoping to be seated before the film started. They always had a few extra minutes, thanks to the movie trailers. Most of the time, the previews only lasted for thirty minutes, though there were some that seemed to last an eternity. These commercials were sometimes followed by trailers for movies which were showing at the current theater, which made me ask why they felt the need to advertise something that was already showing at the place. This would not have been a question if not for the large posters in the lobby plugging the film. Regardless, this final section of the pre-show only lasted five minutes or less. This meant that the window of opportunity to be late and not miss the beginning of the movie was very small.
While watching movies, you had to deal with talkers, people kicking the back of your chair, crying babies, loud eaters, and sticky floors. The picture quality always remained the same, though there were the occasional projector problems which led to a postponement of the film or the complete cancellation. The latter wasn't too bad because it meant you got to receive free passes. The one thing which changed the theater experience the most was sound.
In the beginning, the sound heard in the theater came from one source. This meant nothing to me as a kid and I knew nothing about it. What I did notice was the big advertisement that a theater was showing a movie in a brand-new sound system featuring six-track audio. I didn't understand its significance, but I knew it had to be big because it was advertised in the movie section. I then noticed a theater was claiming to feature eight-track audio. This was followed by the addition of the revolutionary concept of stereo. If a movie was presented in stereo, it was a big deal because you knew that it was the best way to experience a film. But it didn't last long. Dolby Stereo entered the wrestling ring and used the competition as a punching bag. The other companies still had their stereo brands, but Dolby became the standard bearer for years to come.
Dolby's reign as the supreme commander of sound systems collapsed when George Lucas introduced THX to the world with the release of “Return of the Jedi”. It took the movie experience to a whole new level, impressing everyone with its immersive, multi-channel features. It soon became a must-have for theaters wanting to compete for patrons demanding the best in presentation. After all, why watch the latest blockbuster in standard stereo when you can enjoy it in the wonderful splendor of THX. It remained this way until the introduction of DTS when Jurassic Park was unleashed upon the unsuspecting public. Instead of overtaking THX, the new system was integrated with THX but not always. Sony came out with SDDS later on and was used exclusively at AMC in the beginning. Other theaters came out with their own proprietary audio equipment, causing a market saturation in the process which effectively ended the sound wars between theaters.
The difficulty in getting a seat to new releases and popular movies lay in the fact that most theaters had very limited space. Most of them only had two screens, so it would not make much business sense only to have one film showing on both screens, not to mention how unfair it would be to the other movies being distributed. There would also be the various studios getting angry and upset over the matter. Regardless, screens were not as plentiful in theaters back then. True, there were some that had more than a duo of auditoriums, but they were not prevalent. They usually had four screens and sometimes six, sacrificing size for quantity. In such cases, the theaters had 35mm screens instead of the 70mm ones, though some of the traditional theaters used the 35mm size as well. The half-dozen design became more popular in time, brought into prominence by the General Cinema chain as it continued to fight for dominance with its rival United Artists. There were others, like Lowe's, but these were the two titans. They were later replaced by Cinemark, which introduced the multiplex theater to Dallas, and their current nemesis AMC.
The terrors did not end with getting your tickets early, for there was still the matter of arriving at the theater long before the advertised showtime. Failure to do so meant standing near the back of the line, a dreaded snakelike line that wrapped itself around the building as if to strangle its prey. In most cases, it would go around the structure not once, not twice, but three times. That is, if you were lucky enough to catch the summer matinee showing. You always tried to go to the matinee, especially when impatient children entered the equation. Not only was it less crowded, the ticket prices were cheaper.
The same could not be said about the concession food. When adding inflation to the seemingly low prices, the snacks were extremely expensive. Regardless, my parents always got sodas and a big bucket of buttered popcorn. It was sticky, it was messy, and it tasted wonderful. Popcorn just wasn't popcorn unless you had butter on it. Dry popcorn just wouldn't do. Of course, popcorn wasn't the only the thing we got from the concession stand. We sometimes got M&Ms and chocolate bars. On other occasions, my mother would sneak treats into the theater using her purse. When it came to drinks, I always got Dr. Pepper, though I sometimes had to resort to Sprite whenever the soda machines were not working properly.
While waiting for the movie to start, you got to listen to music playing in the background from speakers. Most of the time, they used the soundtracks of popular movies, though light pop music also found its way into the playlists. Regardless of the genre, the tunes always played at a soft, pleasant level, allowing visitors to socialize with each other in the lightly-dimmed auditorium. Most of the time, you conversed with your family members, but that didn't stop you from talking with complete strangers sitting nearby. The theater was a social place, after all. People read books, solved puzzles, played games, relaxed on blankets, and discussed a myriad of topics with others while waiting in line. The less physical activities often continued inside the theater as guests waited for the movie to begin.
As the lights slowly dimmed to the off position, patrons did not always look up and stare at the blank screen in anticipation. In many cases, the white canvas hid behind a curtain in the same manner that actors stand behind one while making final mental preparation for the performance. Dyed blue, red, or yellow, the curtains either lifted upward or parted to the left and right. There were some cases where a panel moved downward to enlarge the total screen space. The rustling of the curtains and the sliding of the panel was usually followed by a loud pop which echoed through the room, signaling that the projector had been turned on.
The pre-show started with all the standard material : the call for one last trip to the concession stand, warnings not to talk, and reminders to throw away the trash and remove crying babies. All the rules, of course, were largely ignored and rarely enforced unless things got really crazy. The whole thing regarding concessions was a completely different matter. People often got up and raced out of the room to get that one last order of snacks while others dashed down the aisles to their seat hoping to be seated before the film started. They always had a few extra minutes, thanks to the movie trailers. Most of the time, the previews only lasted for thirty minutes, though there were some that seemed to last an eternity. These commercials were sometimes followed by trailers for movies which were showing at the current theater, which made me ask why they felt the need to advertise something that was already showing at the place. This would not have been a question if not for the large posters in the lobby plugging the film. Regardless, this final section of the pre-show only lasted five minutes or less. This meant that the window of opportunity to be late and not miss the beginning of the movie was very small.
While watching movies, you had to deal with talkers, people kicking the back of your chair, crying babies, loud eaters, and sticky floors. The picture quality always remained the same, though there were the occasional projector problems which led to a postponement of the film or the complete cancellation. The latter wasn't too bad because it meant you got to receive free passes. The one thing which changed the theater experience the most was sound.
In the beginning, the sound heard in the theater came from one source. This meant nothing to me as a kid and I knew nothing about it. What I did notice was the big advertisement that a theater was showing a movie in a brand-new sound system featuring six-track audio. I didn't understand its significance, but I knew it had to be big because it was advertised in the movie section. I then noticed a theater was claiming to feature eight-track audio. This was followed by the addition of the revolutionary concept of stereo. If a movie was presented in stereo, it was a big deal because you knew that it was the best way to experience a film. But it didn't last long. Dolby Stereo entered the wrestling ring and used the competition as a punching bag. The other companies still had their stereo brands, but Dolby became the standard bearer for years to come.
Dolby's reign as the supreme commander of sound systems collapsed when George Lucas introduced THX to the world with the release of “Return of the Jedi”. It took the movie experience to a whole new level, impressing everyone with its immersive, multi-channel features. It soon became a must-have for theaters wanting to compete for patrons demanding the best in presentation. After all, why watch the latest blockbuster in standard stereo when you can enjoy it in the wonderful splendor of THX. It remained this way until the introduction of DTS when Jurassic Park was unleashed upon the unsuspecting public. Instead of overtaking THX, the new system was integrated with THX but not always. Sony came out with SDDS later on and was used exclusively at AMC in the beginning. Other theaters came out with their own proprietary audio equipment, causing a market saturation in the process which effectively ended the sound wars between theaters.