As a tangent to the "First Film Seen in Theaters" thread, I thought about the oldest theatrical release I ever saw in a theater was. I had to give it a bit of thought, but I'm pretty sure it was King Kong, the 1933 version. My mom took me to see it at the Bellaire Theater in Bellaire, TX.

Next oldest was The Wizard of Oz (1939), which my wife and I took our daughter to see at the local Alamo Drafthouse when she was 4 (she is 19 now).

Perhaps next is It's a Wonderful Life (1946), which my wife and I saw at the Alamo Drafthouse last Christmas. I say perhaps because I wonder if I ever got to see any of the old Disney animated movies such as Dumbo that came out in 1941. I can't recall on that one.

Cocoon

I took a film history class that took place in a theater in college and watched some pretty old movies. The oldest I can recall watching was The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which came out in 1920. I also watched Metropolis (1927), Modern Times (1936) and Bringing Up Baby (1938). Outside of that class, the oldest I've seen was Jaws, which I watched 3 or 4 years ago at Alamo.

I saw "Wings" (the first movie to win an academy award for best picture) on a Cinemark XD screen a few years ago. Watching the air battles on the big screen was awesome.

Gone With The Wind.

Age 10 or 11. Buddy's mom took us to a matinee as she always wanted to see it in the theater. Hated every minute. Around '78.

In theaters would probably be the re-release of A New Hope.

Same for me probably. At least off the top of my head.

Belton Ag said:

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When I was a kid my mom took me to the theater to see a rerelease of Song of the South. That will never happen again.

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Great movie!! I loved Uncle Remus as a child.

Sure, the Grove counts.

I think Dial M for Murder

Same answer as the other thread. Bambi

The Wizard of Oz, mid-70s. I think it was at the Gulfgate Cinema at 45 and 610, but might have been at the Almeda Mall 4.

Gotta be a Snow White rerelease when I was a little kid.

Bambi

"Bicycle Thieves" (1948) at the Angelica theater in Dallas about 13 years ago.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040522/

Yoda said:

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Gotta be a Snow White rerelease when I was a little kid.

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Same. I remember seeing all the early Disney animated classics in the theater back in the 80s.

Actually I have to change my answer. I saw The Big Trail (1930) at the Fort Worth Science Museum when the John Wayne Museum over there was opening up in 2020. The Big Trail was his first starring role.

Gone with the Wind in 1998. It was playing at the CS Cinemark for one day and my roommate's girlfriend made him promise that he would go see it with her. He didn't realize that that was also the day of his last final before he graduated. He took his final, went to Northgate and got plowed that afternoon, I was pre-arranged as his ride and went and got him and when we got back to the house his GF was waiting and held him to his promise.

He wanted to keep drinking so we snuck a 12 pack of beer into the theater. He passed out before intermission and at one point kicked over a bunch of empty bottles and they rolled down to the front of the theater.

Next one would have to be The Godfather. When Cinemark was rolling out their XD theaters I went to a showing, and while the larger high-def screen didn't really do much for the actually picture, I do remember being impressed by the sound quality.

Yoda said:

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Gotta be a Snow White rerelease when I was a little kid.

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Yes. 50th Anniversary "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" poster is hanging on the wall.

Again, I worked in a movie theater from '85-'87 and '92-'95.

At first thought, I thought of American Graffiti at the Alamo when I took my stepdad for Father's Day a few years back as it's one of his favorites.

But in realizing that came out in '73, I realize I've seen several older. Alamo did a thing years ago where they showed the Bond films in order on the 7th of each month so I went and saw most of the early ones that I've never seen in a theater. Also saw a double feature of Godfather 1 and 2 with the first film predating Graffiti.

Oh man, if the Alamo does that again with the early 007 movies, I'll be going.

maroon barchetta said:

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Bambi

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Same. I remember Disney did some special re-release and I remember being pissed that my mom was dragging us to the theater to see it when I had already seen it before.

Empire Strikes Back during covid.

Narrowly beats out E.T.

House of Wax (1953).

They were showing an old 3D movie and my parents took us, the movie was terrible but the 3D was cool.

GoAgs92 said:

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House of Wax (1953).

They were showing an old 3D movie and my parents took us, the movie was terrible but the 3D was cool.

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I saw that one some time about 1982 or so.

Seven Samurai (1954) at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. It was ****ing glorious.