It’s Friday, so you know what that means! After seeing The Big Lebowski and Jaws on the big screen it got me thinking about movies I wish I could watch in their true form.
What movies do you wish you could watch in a theatrical setting?
This doesn’t even have to be films you never got to see in theaters, some film experiences just aren’t the same at home as they are in the cinema.
A few years ago George Lucas re-released the original Star Wars trilogy (with some CGI additions *grumble grumble*) and I got to witness those, but I would love to see the films original versions playing out on an enormous screen (maybe even on IMAX).
I don’t think I have just one pick for movies I wish to see in their original glory, because it’s an entire era of films that I wish I could watch, with an organist, of course…The silent era. One of my favorite films is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and while it’s still a lot of fun to see at home, in a theater with an organist would be a dream come true. About 15 years ago, I was at a concert at an old theater that was showing a the original Phantom of the Opera with no soundtrack playing (due to the live bands) and after awhile I was tuning out the music and just watching the film. Ever since then I’ve wanted to be able to see those classics and films by Chaplin and Keaton be given new life.
What about you?
I’ll always regret not seeing The Tree of Life in the theater. I also think seeing 2001 would increase my appreciation for it.
I regret not seeing Tree of Life too, but in the grand scheme of things I think I regret not seeing The Thin Red Line more.
2001 and The Shining would be epic.
Saw The Shining and The Thin Red Line on the big screen. Epic.
*is jealous*
Honestly…
…The Two BEST FLICKS I Ever Saw In The Theater, Were…
“DICK TRACY” and “BATMAN RETURNS”, Both Of Which I Would Give Almost Anything To See On The Big-Screen Once Again.
I Can Even Throw In “RETURN OF THE JEDI”, Though I Was Just 3yo At The Time, But Remember Sitting Still With My Eyes Wide Open, Watching Every Second Of It. That’s HARD For Someone With ADHD hahahahahaha
Nifty Question, Dude!
-BRAD
I loved Dick Tracy and Batman Returns when I saw them in theaters too – Great stuff!
I would love to see the original “horror” movies in the theater. House on Haunted Hill, Dracula, Wolfman, the Mummy, House of Wax etc. I think those would be fantastic on the big screen. Seeing all the imperfections (or what in todays standards we consider imperfections). The makeup and special effects that for back in the day was groundbreaking at the time. Could be really cool!
Totally agreed – I’d love the experience of going to a movie like that
Cinemark is playing Frankenstein and Bride this October for one day only. I will not miss it.
I’ll definitely stay on the lookout for that! Thanks for the heads up!
Indiana Jones my man!
Ohhh, definitely!
Raiders of the Lost Ark. Oh wait. It’s playing now. See ya!
Haha enjoy!
Did you see it?
I’d give anything to see Jaws in theaters, or even better if it was in IMAX! The Shining would be another movie I’d like to experience in theaters.
I’d also like to take my kids to see E.T. in theaters.
Jaws in IMAX would almost be too much for me…it was intense enough on a regular big screen!
There are tons of them, some I have seen on the big screen. A while ago the first Indiana Jones movie played and went to see it. If I could I’d probably would like to check out black and white movies on the big screen. So something like Metropolis, Citizen Kane or Psycho
Metropolis would really be something to watch, I bet that would be stunning
Having seen both The Thin Red Line and The New World on the big screen when they were originally released, while missing Tree of Life (only to catch it later on Blu-ray), I’m glad to have to caught the former two and not sorry to have missed the latter. I like Tree of Life, though. I suppose I haven’t fallen in love with it yet.
One of my favorite theatrical experiences of last year was watching Giorgio Moroder’s presentation of *Metropolis* for the first time on the big screen. While I had seen two other versions of the film many times before seeing Moroder’s, I remember watching his cut with a big shit-eating grin on my face throughout the entire movie. Don’t care what folks say, I happen to love the music he cut Lang’s film to. Watching one of my two favorite silent films on the big screen was an enormous pleasure (my other fave is The Passion of Joan of Arc).
I’d have to think hard about this question to narrow down some real dreamy choices, but off the bat I’d say that I would love to see The Road Warrior in a really good theater.
Road Warrior would be epic in the right theater.
I have to say that I’m a fan of the 80s soundtrack to Metropolis too but I would pick the original almost each and every time.
I was lucky enough to see Psycho in the cinema a couple of years ago, unbelievably it was also the first time I had ever seen it! I would snatch at a chance to do that again, the score playing during the opening credits was awesome enough in itself.
I would love that as well. I almost wish I could see it for the first time in a theater along with Diabolique
I agree with Nostra that Psycho would have been great to see at the cinema. A friend of mine saw The Artist with a full swing band playing, which I thought was fantastic. Whilst i’m sure there are better examples that would benefit from a live band, just having that as part of the experience would have been great.
I think seeing any movie with a live band would be pretty damn cool.
In a grand movie palace (might as well make it in 70mm, too): Anthony Mann’s epic, EL CID.
I’ve never seen El Cid, so I would jump at that chance too! In fact, any 70mm film would be an absolute treat.
Oh there are so many I want to see on the big screen. Make that EVERY Gregory Peck movies I missed, ahah, esp. Roman Holiday, The Big Country, Yellow Sky, etc. I’m hoping to see Lawrence of Arabia on the big screen in Oct if it comes to my city. Too bad we don’t have a 70mm theater in Minnesota
I’ve been on the lookout for a 70mm theaters and there MAY be some near me that aren’t IMAX. I’d love to see them in their full glory. Maybe my criteria for moving should be 70mm theaters nearby haha
Too many to mention, but I did get lucky enough to be a teen in the eighties so I got to see all of the Star Wars movies on the big screen. I was very young for the first one. The movie I keep thinking about is The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but I’m too chicken to go. I have heard what they do to virgins at those shows.
A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Chinatown, some of my personal favorites would be great to see. Maybe something from way back like a Bogey movie or the original King Kong.
Mmmm the original King Kong would be a delight
There was a theater here that did Rocky Horror every Saturday at midnight during the summer, not sure if they still keep that up.
There were also a lot of films that I saw in theaters but didn’t fully appreciate. I wish I could go back and see some of them.
I agree about that last statement. I got to see so many when I was young in the theaters that are classics now. I just didn’t have the brain power to appreciate it. I think there is a theater in Raleigh showing Rocky Horror at midnight. I might do it one day – would be one helluva a blog post.
You would need to take pics, for sure!
I agree about that last statement. I got to see so many when I was young in the theaters that are classics now. I just didn’t have the brain power to appreciate it. I think there is a theater in Raleigh showing Rocky Horror at midnight. I might do it one day – would be one helluva a blog post.
ditto Halloween!
Hard question. Maybe To Kill a Mockingbird would be good. It’s been years since I’ve watched it and it would probably be cool to see it again on the big screen.
I second that! I haven’t seen it in over 15 years and I caught it in the middle on like TCM or something and didn’t feel right about not watching it all the way through
If I had a chance to watch a movie I missed on the big screen, I think I would go for the original King Kong or one of those old sci-fi or horror double features.
I bet King Kong’s effects blew peoples minds back then
Great question. I watched Tree of life on DVD first and I thought it’d be amazing on a cinema screen. It then got a limited release and I got to watch it at the theater and it was beautiful. I’d love to see Citizen Kane and The Fall on a big screen as well.
I do regret not catching Tree of Life since it was so recent
This is one of the ultimate film nerd questions, if I must say so myself.
I think the only “blasts from the past”-type theatrical releases I’ve seen thus far have been Titanic (3-D) and Casablanca, but if a theater close by was ever playing Citizen Kane, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, or the original Halloween on the screen (yes, I am aware those films are all very different), I’d be heading to the theater ASAP.
I think I’m in the mode now where I will see just about any theatrical re-release just for the experience. It has been a lot of fun going to these.
We should all be proud film nerds!
Yeah me too. I’m interested in seeing the theatrical re-issue of Raiders of the Lost Ark, but I’m sure the experience would be much better, had I not seen too many times to keep count of.
I think you’ll be surprised by how different of an experience it really is. It’s almost impossible to explain.
Like many, I missed The Tree of Life in theaters. I really wish I saw it on the big screen.
There are plenty of films I’d like to see in theaters like Citizen Kane or 2001: A Space Odyssey (actually, watching any Stanley Kubrick movie in theaters would be great), but I think watching Apocalypse Now in theaters would be the best.
I was looking at films that were shot in 70mm and it made me want to go broke buying a projector and old film reels to watch them. Apocalypse Now was one that really piqued my interest off the list of 7mm films
I heard there was a major difference between the 70 mm and 35 mm versions of Apocalypse Now ( think it has to do with a slightly altered ending or added credits and titles). I’d love to see it in its original format. I have the Full Disclosure Blu Ray Package that gives you a lot of great features.
I heard about that as well. I’d love to see it on the big screen again.
Yeah, I’ve got that one too…Great stuff there
ET and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
I’d be up for just about any of the classics or well-loved films, if the ticket price was right. Can’t get behind the exorbitant prices on the classic movie program Cinemark been doing, though. $14 for a ticket? That’s as much as the IMAX screen across town. Normal prices at the local Cinemark are only $6. Can’t expect me to go paying more than twice the normal price. Really makes me miss the “Midnight Matinees” the second-run theatre did several years back; Friday and Saturday they’d re-run an older movie (as well as the usual second-run fare), at midnight, and it cost the same as any other movie, just $1.50. That’s how I saw Top Gun and The Crow for the first time each (and re-watched Office Space).
Now, assuming I could just pick stuff… I’m probably going to go for films that have a big visual aspect. Sci-fi, action, that sort of thing. Superman would be nice. So would Ghostbusters — I was really miffed about not getting a chance to hit it when they released it last year for four Wednesdays in October. And if George Lucas’s 3D re-releases of Star Wars continue through the whole series, even though it’s a real adulteration of the films, I will be going to see The Empire Strikes Back. It’s the only one of the six I haven’t seen on the big screen in some form, since I somehow missed its “special edition” release.
I don’t mind the prices just because there isn’t an alternative.
I’ll be seeing all the original trilogy again I don’t care how bastardized they are.
Jaws, Caligari and The Empire Strikes Back to start and Superman The Movie for just the opening title sequence alone.
Great picks. Superman would be awesome
Yes. I’m sure you know by now my affinity for Superman The Movie lol
Blade Runner is one I would always have regretted but they released it on a one-off about twenty years at my local cinema. Thankfully I caught it but I do regret never getting the chance for Once Upon A Time In America. I’ll forever pine for that.
Both of those would really be special. Any film with Bronson in it would be a dream come true for me
Alien would be a big one for me, I can only hope and pray that this happens some day. Also I don’t mind 3D conversions which I reckon would be pretty great here and with Aliens and Jurassic Park (which is happening soon), they would be pretty special too.
I reckon Pulp Fiction would be a blast to see re-released at the cinema and I have to agree with Mark Walker about Blade Runner.
Damn I had better stop, too many possibilities.
Haha basically any great movie ever released would be better on the big screen so it’s hard to limit it
The only film that I love so dearly and had never seen on the big screen was Raiders of the Lost Ark. I managed to catch the Imax screening yesterday. It was simply amazing.
I would jump at the chance to see The Crow again in the theater, though. I would love to see Behind the Mask, and maybe the original Halloween. Or The Thing. John Carpenter’s, not that hack remake. Or Superman: The Movie. . . damn, I guess there are a lot of films I would still like to see projected . . .
Man I don’t think our IMAX is playing Indiana Jones, I’ll have to double check.
You live in the Chicagoland area, right? Portage, IN is showing it, that’s where I went.
I checked the IMAX like 10 mins from me and they are playing it but have zero advertisements up for it.
It’s only playing until Thursday. I would highly recommend seeing it. Do you have a real Imax or a Liemax? Mine is a Liemax
But it is still super cool on the super big screen and super sound.
We have a real one with digital and film, if I’m not mistaken.
I’d love to see 2001 A Space Odyssey on the big screen. I saw another Kubrick classic in the theater ‘The Shining’, but I wouldn’t mind seeing it there again. I would love to see the Russian classic ‘Solaris’ on the big screen as well.
Ditto for Solaris just because it would force me to pay attention. I have the blu-ray but I have too many distractions at home for a movie that long.
I would love to see 2001 in a cinema. It is a film that is in love with itself so I didn’t have the patience for lingering images of plastic food trays. If I was forced to sit and watch the glory of the spectacle, I may be able to understand what all the fuss is about!
I would like to see Suspiria on the big screen.
Well since Jaws and Halloween have been taken, I’ll go with Die Hard. I’d love to see a lot of those iconic Nakatomi plaza explosions and gun fights on the big screen.
I’m lucky enough to live close to an Alamo Drafthouse that plays a ton of older movies, including tons of horror flicks. It makes the experience so much better to see it with a crowd of fans. I’m looking forward to Frankenstein and Bride this October and would love to see more of the classics from Universal, as well as the original King Kong.
I would kill to live near an Alamo
Hands down, the one film I want to see most on the big screen is 2001: A Space Odyssey. I can only imagine how amazing that would be.
Ditto – It would really be something special
The Exorcist seems like it would make for an intense atmosphere at the movies. I regret not seeing Titanic in theatres when it was re-released. I can’t think of many others right now, though.
Even though I don’t love Titanic I kind of regret not seeing it in theaters again too…
What have you given it on 5?
It’s lengthy for sure but I just love Kate Winslet. I watched it on VHS the other month, so I’m interested to watch it again in Blu-ray when I buy it.
Ehhh, I’d give it a 3 probably. I’m not too keen on most of it but the parts I like I like a lot.
I think it would be absolutely killer to watch David Lynch’s BLUE VELVET…I think the sound design would really trip me out even more with those movie theater surround sound systems. Or better yet….IMAX 3-D!!!
Always thought RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK would be a good ride, too. I wasn’t born in time to see it in the theaters on release!!
I’ve always wanted to watch Blue Velvet with headphones on and my eyes closed…I think that would be so weird.
Salo.
*thumbs up*