It seems everyone has a different sitting preference at the movies. I want the ultimate experience: the screen completely filling my vision, like I’m in the movie. Usually the third or fourth row. My wife complains we’re too close. Then I see people way in the back and it must be like watching TV the screen is so small. I don’t understand that at all. So, Lemmy, where do you sit with your popcorn and why?
Bonus question: best movie food / candy, and how do you sneak it in?
As a kid and most of the way through my 20s, I pretty much always wanted to be in the back row of a stadium seating theater (although the long, sloped plane theaters 🤮 I definitely didn’t sit at the back because you were a mile away from the screen).
But over the last few years I’ve reevaluated my “always in the back” stance, and found that I, like OP, am happiest when the screen completely fills my view. Both of our theaters have leather recliners. At one of our premium/large format screens, I’ll sit in about the 4th row of 30 because the recline is so substantial that I can sit so close without craning my neck to see the screen. In any of the other standard screens at that theater, I’ll sit in the front half for sure.
We’ve also got a theater with two IMAX screens - one of them is so enormous and the seats are so vertically stacked that I’ve been pushing further and further back in the theater, almost to the back row. Because the screen is almost 80 feet tall, it positions you basically in the center of the screen and the recline in the chairs is very limited, so sitting too close means you are craning your neck.
Which theater is that? I’ve been looking for one but there isn’t one near my location, apparently there are only 30 of them? EDIT: Clarification, only 30 in the entire world that project 70mm. I was looking for one to watch Oppenheimer in.
There are only 30 theaters that project 70mm IMAX film. There’s plenty of others that do digital IMAX.
Unfortunately, both of my IMAX screens are digital projection - I did look into it and saw that I had a 70mm IMAX screen around 4 hours away, but never could make it work with my work schedule. But my premium format IMAX screen was incredible all the same, no regrets!
I want to add - I think a LOT about this topic, and I’m pretty sure my wife couldn’t care less. But if I’m spending almost $30/pp to see a movie in the massive IMAX theater, I want to make sure it’s the best possible experience for both of us.