It may sound odd, but I haven’t been to a theater in about four years. The last movie I remember seeing was Wall*E, back when Jena was too young to really enjoy or remember it, shortly afterwards we ran into some major money troubles and have only recently gotten to the point where I think we’ve just about fully recovered. I was originally going to title this blog “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Theater” so that should give you a little preview of how things went. We went down to the local AMC twelve screen, the only theater in our relatively small midwest town outside of a single screen theater that shows mostly independent movies so we could watch the Avengers.

It was Tuesday, and the Avengers was in its second full week of release. It was the second showing of the day, 4:30 in the afternoon and it was digital, but not 3D. We got there about 15 minutes early. The matinee prices for the three of us ran $12. The two large drinks and a large popcorn were $18.75, which was almost exactly what I was planning to spend. I really miss Kerasotes theaters that offered free refills on all sizes, though I suspect that this AMC did used to be a Kerasotes. Jena loves popcorn so I hoped that would help keep her occupied for a while. When we got to the screen, there was still about 10 minutes left until the trailers started. There was only three other people there already, and by the time the lights went down the theater was much less than a quarter full. We sat by ourselves in the front section below the stadium seating, everyone else was at least a couple rows and an aisle away. I never have liked crowds and have only gone to an opening weekend maybe a couple times in my entire life. Not only that but I’ve actually been to about a half dozen movies where I and whoever I went with had the entire theater to ourselves.

Jena didn’t really watch the Avengers with us the first time around, and she had been talking about Captain America earlier that day so I had high hopes that she would sit through the entire movie, especially because she enjoyed Howard the Duck so much just the other day and sat all the way through that one. The trailers started and she’s doing great, really getting interested in the trailers especially Frankenweenie. After each one ended she would ask “Is the movie going to start now?” while chomping away at our popcorn and sitting next to me. The movie finally starts and she is still doing good, sitting in the seat next to me, watching what’s going on, and occasionally asking questions.

About a half an hour in, she’s already starting to get antsy. She changes her seat about three times, from sitting next to me, to sitting on my wife’s lap on my other side, to sitting on my lap, slightly distracting, but nothing too annoying. Then she has to go to the bathroom, so my wife takes her. We’re now about an hour into the movie and she discovers a little boy sitting behind us. She is now more interested in this boy than she is in the movie, sitting backwards in her seat and twice she calls out to try and get his attention before we shush her. She has a second bathroom break, again accompanied by my wife and shortly after returning my wife now has to take a bathroom break and leaves us alone. The movie is just starting to kick into the third act and Jena started to go with her, but I held her back. Big mistake, she starts whining about how she wanted to go with her mommy, didn’t want me to hold her and yet I couldn’t let go because I knew she would likely run off after her, which means that I would then have to run off after Jena. Before the action gets into full force, my wife returns, and Jena settles in to watch the big battle, kinda. She still swaps seats another few times, including sitting two seats away from us.

And then the credits started rolling, Jena was ready to go, but I wanted to see the Shawarma scene which I had heard about but didn’t actually get to see yet. We told her the movie wasn’t over yet but she wasn’t convinced, and my wife had to take her second bathroom break so she took Jena with her. Of course when we got home, Jena was upset that she didn’t see the end of the movie. Five year olds can be so confusing. In the end, I don’t think it was the worst trip to the theater ever, but if the movie hadn’t been as good as the Avengers, it might have been close. I did really enjoy seeing and especially hearing the sights and sounds of an actual theater. I don’t think it will become a regular trip to the theaters, but I think I’m willing to take another shot when Brave rolls around. The trailer looked amazing on the big screen. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.