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As a Midwesterner, Marcus Theatres are my go-to.
It used to be a regular, boring theater when I was a teenager. Get popcorn, candy, and/or soda and sit in a slightly cushioned fold-down seat. But I left home for nearly a decade, and when I came back, I was surprised to discover I could order a full meal from my seat and have it delivered to me while I watched my movie.
Not to mention, the uncomfortable chairs with the fold-down seats were replaced with actual reclining lounge chairs. They come in pairs, so when I go see a movie with my wife, we can lift the arm rest between our seats and cuddle while watching.
I don't drink, but a highlight for my wife is the bar in the lobby, where she can get a nice mixed drink to take into the theater. I'm personally glad for more food options besides candy and popcorn. Their hotdogs are really good. On Tuesdays, they provide smaller hotdogs, but they're only $5 for Marcus rewards members.
Back in the day, I preferred to show up to the theater at least 30 minutes to an hour early with a good book. I'd buy my ticket, pick out my ideal seat in the theater, and then read my book until my film started. It was a quiet and peaceful time, with no distractions.
Nowadays though, most all theaters reserve seats. It's not first-come, first-served anymore. I have to go on the Marcus Theatres app and buy tickets at least a week in advance if I want to ensure my ideal seats are available. With a much-anticipated movie, if I don't reserve tickets the day they're made available, I might have to wait a couple weeks after it releases to get decent seating. It's nice that I don't have to show up super early to snag good seating anymore; I can practically show up right as it's starting and I know my seats are guaranteed. But I miss the quiet downtime, waiting for my film to start.
Speaking of which, I don't get to experience quiet theaters anymore because of all the ads they play. When I was a kid/teenager, theaters only played movie trailers before a film. Maybe they might have some film trivia running before trailers start, but that was it. The theater was quiet and peaceful while you waited for your film to start.
Now, we have to sit through ads for cars, ads for banking services, ads for all sorts of things. I just want to watch some trailers and then my film; I don't need insurance ads shoved in my face on the giant screen.
Also, it feels like so many films are being crammed into time slots that I can't show up early for my movie anymore. If I get there 30 minutes early, there's still a film ongoing in my theater room. It ends maybe 15 minutes before mine starts, then I have to wait outside for the cleaning crew to run through the theater first before I'm allowed in. Then I get maybe 5-10 minutes to relax before my movie starts. It just makes me feel more rushed. The theater used to be my zen place; where I can relax and not worry about anything else in my life for 30+ minutes before a showing. Now I don't have time to mentally decompress before my film starts.
In my youth I worked at a movie theater. The trivia questions and answers (as well as the lobby card photo pictures from famous movies displayed between questions and answers) were on slides. There was a separate projection window where the slide projector displayed on the movie screen. Yes, we'd very occasionally forget to turn off the slide projector when starting the movie projector, so you'd see both on the screen for a second until the projectionist realized it.
You're right about the quiet part. Almost like a church or a library. People sitting next to one another in the theater waiting for the movie to start would talk in hushed tones. The only exception to this was hugely popular midnight release movies where its a whole theater full of fans of the movie talking loudly in excitement with the shared experience of fandom. There was a really cool welcoming electricity where everyone was on equal footing and just excited to be seeing the movie with each other, friend or stranger alike.
I have it timed so I live home at the "start" time. As ads plus trailers are now 25-30 minutes, I usually arrive in time for the trailers.