Rememeber What Cinemas Were Like?
The movie theatre experience has changed a lot in the past three years. Today, people often reminisce at how normal everyday activities (such as going to the theatre) used to be. Well, I'm here to remind you of how it used to be and how it's changed since 2019.
Where today a large crowd of people gathered together in a long period of time might be considered detrimental, it's one of the things people miss the most about movie theatres. A group of people laughing together in a room simultaneously triggered a feeling that you should laugh too. When everyone gets sucked into that feeling of suspense and all gasp at the same time, triggers a certain feeling of warmth that comes from being with that group of people. Even when you're at home, watching a movie with your friends on the couch, discussing how hot Heath Ledger's looking, there's a certain refreshing and warmth feeling you get from being at the familiar theatre setting that you just can't get from anywhere else. You're forced to quiet down and watch the movie with everyone else as you exchange wordless visuals between your friends; a smirk, an eyebrow raise, or a slap on the arm.
Another advantage of being at the movie theatre was that no one had the option to turn away from the film. No one could be talking, or be on their phone, not like when we're at home. When we're at home, we're tempted to pause the movie when we get tired or if we want to talk to our friends instead, or if we simply don't feel like watching, we're okay with this because we can just safely rewind the film. At the cinemas, we're not given that same option - the film will go on with or without us, that factor creates more intensity and demand in the theatre. We miss those emotional feelings of excitement and intensity when an experience is under our control. At a theatre, it's out of our hands, and that loss of control is a part of the experience.
There are just so many things that make the movie theatre experience so much fun (especially before the pandemic)! When you're watching a movie home, there's so much around us that can distract us. When we're in a movie theatre, surrounded by other people, we have no choice but to keep our attention at the huge screen in front of us. As opposed to being at home, watching a movie can sometimes get a little boring and result in channel surfing, looking for the next best thing to watch. Even being alone in a movie theatre used to be so much fun, where you can laugh as loud as you want and no one can judge you. The whole movie theatre experience has changed since the pandemic, although not much has changed. People have to wear masks, we can't sit with as many people due to social distancing, and everyone is really too scared to go into such a crowded place in fear of getting infected with the virus.
What's Changed in 2020?
The first few months of 2020 were relatively, then by March, the world went into lockdwon; restaurants were closed, malls, theatres, everything except grocery stores. By September of 2021, Ontario finally went into our 3rd phase of reopening the province. I got my vaccines and started going to the theatre every friday night. I would walk up a hill to Imagine Cinemas, more often than not by myself, which isn't as lonely as it seems. Going to the movies with your friends is always fun, but there's something about going by yourself that is just so refreshing. I felt happy going myself, sitting either among a crowded theatre or a deserted one. Either way, it was pretty nice. With Covid, no one was allowed into the theatre unless we had our receipts to prove we were fully vaccinated and had some form of identification on us. In addition to that, movie tickets had to be bought online and when you sat in a theatre, every chair adjacent to a party of people sitting together was closed off, I would usually use those chairs as a placeholder for my coat and wallet. I started going more often and didn't notice many differences. Except recently, I noticed that with every ticket you buy online at Imagine Cinemas, there comes a $5 service fee, which is pretty expensive. Tickets for teenager to adult ages are usually around $10, so it became a little expensive, especially when you buy snacks from there. I did some more digging and interviewed some representitives at Imagine Cinemas, Silvercity (Cineplex), and Stardust Drive-In theatre. Down below you'll be able to read about about the changes they made with Covid and how they were affected along with some images of the cinemas.
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