Huh I’ve never heard that in my own experience. I’m middle aged, saw it in theaters. In fact I think it was probably the most referenced of the franchise in my world besides the scene with the opening of the Ark.
I remember being terrified as a kid with the heart stuff.
That heart scene scared grade school aged me as well.
It was after The Last Crusade had been out for a while and was pretty much universally liked. Thats when the people started talking bad about Temple of Dooms goofy scenes and cheesy special effects.
The only time I have encountered applause in a movie theater was during the opening night for Snakes on a Plane. It was like a festival atmosphere. There were literally people in costumes, dressed up as planes and snakes and planes covered in snakes. It was kind of awesome, to be honest.
Endgame was a pretty lively experience when it came out. Felt like the whole theater was enjoying the fuck out of that movie lol. When Captain America picks up Thor’s Hammer people went nuts haha. Hype was enormous and they delivered imo (a little bit fan service for sure but overall great film to see in theaters).
I’ve been to a few premières through a past job, so I don’t count those, nor ones where the filmmakers are present at the screening, as that’s just politeness, but I have seen it sometimes (UK)
Movies where I’ve seen this happen (and it felt right):
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
Grosse Pointe Blank
Goodfellas
The Big Lebowski
Stop Making Sense (special open air screening which was set up like a gig - they even had support acts!)
Ghostbusters
The Room
Aliens
All three LOTR movies
In most cases these were either screenings with a big student crowd, or retrospective screenings which will always bring out the fans, and the atmosphere was really positive, so the applause felt, like a collective acknowledgement of, “How fucking great was THAT?!”
It’s a bit odd to see it at other times, but if someone has had that good a time at a movie, then great! I’m certainly not going to have a problem with it :-)
You seem disenchanted, but there was clapping at the end of my viewing of Barbie, too, and I loved it. The atmosphere of the theater was so upbeat and fun! So many people were dressed in pink, and everyone kept saying “Hi, Barbie!” As we entered and exited the theater. This was a couple weeks after the premiere, and people were still having fun with it. A real sense of playfulness. One of my favorite theater experiences!
Snakes on a Plane. It came out when I was in college, and my college had a movie night at the local cinema, so it was a bunch of college students cheering during the movie, especially at the famous line.
Opening night, midnight screening, it was amazing. When the opening voice over started, a hush fell over the theater so solemn you’d have thought some sacred deity had descended from upon high. At the end everyone clapped and cheered. I think I even high-fived some random theater goer outside we were all so jazzed
oh yeah I think my audience did that too! after the initial shock of seeing him drag Aragorn closer by impaling himself further on his sword was so terrifying, that the beheading that followed was almost like a “Indiana Jones just shoots the crazy swordsman guy” moment
They do absurd standing ovations at Cannes and other international film festivals. I doubt it’s just an American thing (and even here, it isn’t that common).
Yeah, of course. I don’t know if it goes beyond film festivals outside of the U.S. as I’ve never gone to the movies elsewhere. I was more wondering than saying it does or doesn’t happen. I’ll bet India has some fun theaters where people clap and get rowdy and more serious theaters.
Wyatt Earp. It was 3 hours long, which was not a normal thing with movies back then (also the movie just wasn’t that great). Halfway through people were starting to yell advice to Kevin Costner up on the screen, and when it finally ended, everyone clapped and cheered because it was finally over.
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