Binge Watching Movies (3x or more) In Theaters

What classics did you see that were so good that you returned multiple times to see them at least two more times in movie theaters?

For me, the first was MASH. The script was so full of great lines, particularly the PA announcements Radar made, that I caught new ones every viewing.

The second one was Animal House. That classic had me binge a second viewing the very same night and I went back again later that week.

The third was a ritual I indulged in just about every month for a couple of years...Rocky Horror Picture Show. That habit was more about being an event than watching a film. After seeing everyone in the audience in costume and having fun, I broke down and bought a Brad-style windbreaker and some fake horn-rimmed glasses. It made for more fun and I met a few “Janets” that became friends.

Honorable (2x) watches were 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Godfather/Godfather 2 that were often screened back to back after the sequel had peaked. Also, the original Star Wars and Rocky.

A lot easier on the pocket back then. The most I spent was about $10 for binging.

The only movie I went to see multiple times was Titanic and I’m watching it this week on dvd.

What's a movie theater?

ollinger said:

What's a movie theater?

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It's a dark and creepy place where people do not move much.

ollinger said:

What's a movie theater?

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It’s where I got to second base for the first time.

Transformers
Pirates of the Caribbean
Return of the King

T1000 said:

Transformers
Pirates of the Caribbean
Return of the King

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I would have thought The Terminator for you, T1K.

stringertom said:

I would have thought The Terminator for you, T1K.

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I wasn’t alive when T2 was in theaters let alone T1 lol. And as far as I know neither one has ever been in a theater near me as a reboot either.

I watched Godzilla twice at the cinema. Think that's it.

-starwars movies
-lord of the rings 1

Not sure I've ever seen any movie in a theater three (or more) times. Even twice has been rare as there aren't a whole lot of movies that interest me that much and I usually wait till they become available for streaming, or on Blu-ray/DVD for particular faves. (Can't really rely on my spreadsheet for this one as I began keeping track of the year of my viewing(s) only 2-3 years ago, but my notes tell me I've returned to see the same movie on the big screen less than a dozen times in my life.)

The last one I went back to see was Parasite following its Oscars and theatrical expansion, mainly to reassess my lukewarm first impression. Turns out I'd pretty much nailed it and Bong is no Chabrol quite yet.

Funnily enough none of the titles I've (semi-)binge-watched in theaters would be found anywhere near my desert island, with one notable exception:

Rafaisdabest said:

The only movie I went to see multiple times was Titanic and I’m watching it this week on dvd.

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Didn't go see it again during its initial theatrical run, but bought the VHS the 1st nite of its home release (there really were plenty of guys waiting outside the Blockbuster, too!) and rewatched it with my younger bro IIRC that very nite. Don't think I ever saw it in full again after that, but then caught the 20th-anniversary rerelease in Dolby Vision 3D and liked it even more. And I plan to catch its next big-screen reincarnation so I guess one could file it as my future binge-watch classic.

As I've been saying for some time I'm pretty sure Titanic will outlive just about all other movies of the last 30 years or so, and its ending is one of the very best in cinema:


A very binge-worthy movie, I'd say.

So do revival theaters count? Saw Jaws at least three times in the last 20 years(it gets shown every summer somewhere in LA)

saw Titanic twice in initial run, once when it came out in 3D

There had to be more. Sometimes forget what I’ve seen in revival theaters. But not sure I saw any others more than twice in initial release.

-i dont think i ever went back 3x times to see anything
-but i did watch the dirty dozen, topgun, heart break ridge, platoon, and many more movies like 10 times each, when i had the dvds for them at home

Moose Malloy said:

So do revival theaters count? Saw Jaws at least three times in the last 20 years(it gets shown every summer somewhere in LA)

saw Titanic twice in initial run, once when it came out in 3D

There had to be more. Sometimes forget what I’ve seen in revival theaters. But not sure I saw any others more than twice in initial release.

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Why the hell not? I tried to went thru all the revivals/restorations I've attended myself but didn't come across any title that I'd already seen (in a theater) twice.

BTW I finally saw Jaws in full about 2-3 years ago (emphasis on "in full" - of course I'd seen parts of it before) and not gonna lie, even at home the shark sequence made me scream like a delirious schoolgirl. And what can one add about the iconic John Williams theme, except maybe that it's unlikely anyone else has done more with two alternating notes for any soundtrack:


As I once told @Bender (in a group chat) hacks/workmen like Zimmer would've never even thought of such a thing. Definitely made at least half the movie, as Spielberg himself has admitted.

I still take full credit for your 3rd Titanic go-round.

P.S. Another film I could probably add to my binge library is The Leopard. After that screening in '15 the NGA held another one only 2-3 years later (had to miss it due to work, grrr). And given its name recognition I probably won't have to wait too long for the next (post-corona) screening. Along with The Earrings of Madame de... I still revisit it occasionally just to admire the stars so catching two extra screenings is really no more than a matter of timing.

Oh yeah, and also to revel in the most magnificent dance in all of cinema:


But an isolated clip simply can't do this sublime sequence justice. Yet more reason to see it again on the big screen!

NonP said:

As I once told @Bender (in a group chat) hacks/workmen like Zimmer would've never even thought of such a thing. Definitely made at least half the movie, as Spielberg himself has admitted.

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Of all the composers currently who would reduce a theme to just one or two notes, Zimmer is the most likely to come up with something like this. How well he's going to execute is something else. He may err closer to a ripoff to Dvorak's New World Symphony 4th Mvmt than Williams did, or maybe he would've reduced the theme even further to a one-note "theme" as he did with the Joker theme in the Dark Knight, which itself is basically a two chord progression repeated ad nauseum for 60 mins.

I wouldn't call current Zimmer a workman at all; that's an insult to composers who work hard. Zimmer these days is just really lazy and talks his score into relevance. Late 90s / early 00s Zimmer was far more creative, even if his interests lay more in layering his music, ambience, and ethnic instruments unlike Williams who hardly changed up his orchestra regardless of subject matter.

I don't think I've been 3 times to see the same thing. I ended up at the latest Star Wars twice.

stringertom said:

What classics did you see that were so good that you returned multiple times to see them at least two more times in movie theaters?

For me, the first was MASH. The script was so full of great lines, particularly the PA announcements Radar made, that I caught new ones every viewing.

The second one was Animal House. That classic had me binge a second viewing the very same night and I went back again later that week.

The third was a ritual I indulged in just about every month for a couple of years...Rocky Horror Picture Show. That habit was more about being an event than watching a film. After seeing everyone in the audience in costume and having fun, I broke down and bought a Brad-style windbreaker and some fake horn-rimmed glasses. It made for more fun and I met a few “Janets” that became friends.

Honorable (2x) watches were 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Godfather/Godfather 2 that were often screened back to back after the sequel had peaked. Also, the original Star Wars and Rocky.

A lot easier on the pocket back then. The most I spent was about $10 for binging.

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None. Growing up, a trip to a cinema theatre with family was an expensive and tedious affair. Dad used to take us to a cinema hall probably twice a year and that's about it. Never got into rewatching same movies until I had really forgotten what it was all about and only the internet has proven to be useful in terms of access to good cinema.

I've never been going to the movies much, and no binge watching at all. But there are a few films I've watched an unhealthy number of times, on TV or video/dvd.

1) The Sting

2) Blues Brothers

3) Where Eagles Dare

Skickat från min SM-A505FN via Tapatalk

Bender said:

Of all the composers currently who would reduce a theme to just one or two notes, Zimmer is the most likely to come up with something like this. How well he's going to execute is something else. He may err closer to a ripoff to Dvorak's New World Symphony 4th Mvmt than Williams did, or maybe he would've reduced the theme even further to a one-note "theme" as he did with the Joker theme in the Dark Knight, which itself is basically a two chord progression repeated ad nauseum for 60 mins.

I wouldn't call current Zimmer a workman at all; that's an insult to composers who work hard. Zimmer these days is just really lazy and talks his score into relevance. Late 90s / early 00s Zimmer was far more creative, even if his interests lay more in layering his music, ambience, and ethnic instruments unlike Williams who hardly changed up his orchestra regardless of subject matter.

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I was mostly teasing ya, but two things:

1) Remember that Zimmer hadn't written a note for any film when JW was creating his iconic score. If Zimmer has taken his own cracks at minimalism that's cuz he's learned from the master(s).

2) "[H]acks" is an admittedly unmistakable swipe but "workmen" doesn't have to be such a bad thing! You might have seen moi describing my boy Novak as "workmanlike" and I don't use that as an insult at all! Rather I mean that his game is unobtrusive but clinically efficient and gets its job done. Not the most glowing praise, sure, but you could counter that especially in Zimmer's industry it's better to be dependable than to fluctuate between sheer genius and utter crap.

In the end, though, I do think that's the best that can be said of Zimmer. Forget Jaws or SW. What score by Zimmer can be favorably compared to, say, such JW classics as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Schindler's List, A.I.* or even Jurassic Park? I honestly can't think of any. There's no shame in that, of course, but it does show the big degree of separation between inspiration and craftsmanship.

*You might be surprised to see A.I. included in there, but I do think it's JW's most underrated score, much like the film itself though that's thankfully beginning to change. Take the much-maligned ending which struck many viewers, including yours truly at first, as cloyingly sentimental (alas I can't find a single clip on YT - looks like they've been taking it down as soon as it's uploaded), but as James Naremore has suggested in his book On Kubrick the viewer here isn't just weeping for the death of David's "mother," but also possibly that of humanity, photography and cinema itself. And as Spielberg himself has pointed out that wasn't Spielbergian mush wreaking its usual havoc but in fact Kubrick's own vision:


It's a deeply fatalistic vision, but one which I think has more to say about our current times than any other 21st-century cinema so far as the digital seems to take over the human and we're increasingly programmed to behave in certain ways dictated by our so-called identity which we may or may not adopt of our own accord.

And it wouldn't be able to exert its full power without Williams' suitably lavish score. Here's "The Reunion" which of course accompanies David's final day with his real/imagined mother:

Jurassic Park

Moose Malloy said:

So do revival theaters count? Saw Jaws at least three times in the last 20 years(it gets shown every summer somewhere in LA)

saw Titanic twice in initial run, once when it came out in 3D

There had to be more. Sometimes forget what I’ve seen in revival theaters. But not sure I saw any others more than twice in initial release.

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Of course revivals count...I mentioned TRHPS binge I indulged in. That was more than a dozen viewings over about three years or so. One theater had it on every Friday night at midnight.

NonP said:

I was mostly teasing ya, but two things:

1) Remember that Zimmer hadn't written a note for any film when JW was creating his iconic score. If Zimmer has taken his own cracks at minimalism that's cuz he's learned from the master(s).

2) "[H]acks" is an admittedly unmistakable swipe but "workmen" doesn't have to be such a bad thing! You might have seen moi describing my boy Novak as "workmanlike" and I don't use that as an insult at all! Rather I mean that his game is unobtrusive but clinically efficient and gets its job done. Not the most glowing praise, sure, but you could counter that especially in Zimmer's industry it's better to be dependable than to fluctuate between sheer genius and utter crap.

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1. Zimmer is notorious for not taking inspiration from existing works. His unwillingness to use anything of Elfman's themes when Zimmer began work on Batman Begins was one of the biggest criticisms the soundtrack received. I've listened and read enough of Zimmer's works over the years to know that he's the type to independently "invent" a wheel that already exists, then talk big game about his inspiration and his modus operandi of thinking up of themes in the tub before unveiling his magnum opus to much fanfare and subsequent disappointment when the theme turns out to be yet another 4 chord song with a foghorn accompanied by an unusual instrument. What he has seemingly never done is take a page out of someone like Williams' work and add his own twist to it. Plus, simply assuming Zimmer's lazy attempts at minimalism as evidence of Zimmer learning from Williams' work on Jaws when Williams is no inventor of the concept is a weird point to be making IMO (that would leave Bernard Hermann's work on Psycho for instance in a weird place).
2. I disagree with the term workman because that implies effort, and Zimmer has become increasingly lazy in his works on major films. Zimmer is popular because his innovation of using synthetic brass and enhanced bass has become synonymous with major blockbusters. You can thank Jerry Bruckheimer for that, as he was well known for hating woodwind in OSTs as he felt they were "wussy". Every film in the 00s onwards became a bombastic sonic clubbing over the head.

NonP said:

In the end, though, I do think that's the best that can be said of Zimmer. Forget Jaws or SW. What score by Zimmer can be favorably compared to, say, such JW classics as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Schindler's List, A.I.* or even Jurassic Park? I honestly can't think of any. There's no shame in that, of course, but it does show the big degree of separation between inspiration and craftsmanship.

*You might be surprised to see A.I. included in there, but I do think it's JW's most underrated score, much like the film itself though that's thankfully beginning to change. Take the much-maligned ending which struck many viewers, including yours truly at first, as cloyingly sentimental (alas I can't find a single clip on YT - looks like they've been taking it down as soon as it's uploaded), but as James Naremore has suggested in his book On Kubrick the viewer here isn't just weeping for the death of David's "mother," but also possibly that of humanity, photography and cinema itself. And as Spielberg himself has pointed out that wasn't Spielbergian mush wreaking its usual havoc but in fact Kubrick's own vision:

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I dunno about favourable comparisons because that's ultimately a matter of personal taste, but Zimmer to his credit has quite a few iconic / recognisable works that rank right up there with some of Williams' work.

Williams obviously has the edge in complexity and nuance owing to his classical training (which Zimmer did not have), but ultimately both Williams and Zimmer are composers of programme music and should be judged by their ability to be recognisable and tell a coherent story. Star Wars in that regard is probably Williams' greatest work, and Zimmer's earlier works (The Lion King, Crimson Tide, The Prince of Egypt) really don't get the recognition they deserve amongst OST aficionados--IMO largely on the basis that they're Zimmer's works.

Personally I didn't like Close Encounters or the ET soundtrack. I also am too young to have appreciated those films as they were enjoyed when they first released. I also think Schindler's List, as beautiful as the theme is, is ultimately repetitive although I understand that may well have been intentional in a way. Of the five OSTs you've mentioned Jurassic Park is the best one both in terms of listening experience and how well it works as a soundtrack.

The only movie I've seen more than once was Apocalypse Now: Final Cut in December-January. I saw it twice it. One of those rare movies that compels you to watch it on a big screen.

It is rare that I watch a movie twice, let alone twice in the cinema. Don't think I've ever gone thrice.

Last time I remember going twice to see a movie in the theater was The Dark Knight, going to see it with different groups of people.

I do watch a select number of films multiple times at home though. I watched Parasite in the theater and then once more as soon as it became available to rent at home. I've seen several Hitchcock films twice, Vertigo thrice I think. Citizen Kane was worthy of a revisit after a few years and will surely call for a third and fourth viewing some time down the years. Oh, and I've watched many or most Star Wars films and James Bond films countless times through childhood and every now and then after that. More of a shared-nostalgia-with-friends thing.

Sentinel said:

Bad Boys 1994

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Back then I had no idea the '' I want to be like Mike'' was about Michael Jordan.

Cause I'm a bad boy. Now I'm going to start singing badly out of tune.

What you gonna do when I sing for you?

Bender said:

I dunno about favourable comparisons because that's ultimately a matter of personal taste, but Zimmer to his credit has quite a few iconic / recognisable works that rank right up there with some of Williams' work.

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I think if you picked random people on the street and starting playing a few seconds/minutes of several Williams scores(like Jaws, Star Wars, Superman, Close Encounters, ET, Raiders) and did the same with Zimmer's best known works it would be no contest as to which would be more recognizable. A lot of people who haven't even seen Jaws or Star Wars would probably recognize the scores. Doubt the same can be said for Gladiator or Dark Knight.

Moose Malloy said:

I think if you picked random people on the street and starting playing a few seconds/minutes of several Williams scores(like Jaws, Star Wars, Superman, Close Encounters, ET, Raiders) and did the same with Zimmer's best known works it would be no contest as to which would be more recognizable. A lot of people who haven't even seen Jaws or Star Wars would probably recognize the scores. Doubt the same can be said for Gladiator or Dark Knight.

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TDK would be a poor choice since that score was deliberately written to not be “hummable”, in his own words.

I’d play POTC, Inception, Lion King, Interstellar, Wonder Woman, if I wanted people to recognise the scores. As much as I dislike the POTC and Inception OSTs, those two nowadays are going to be more recognisable than many of Williams’ work on films like Close Encounters, Superman, or Schindler’s List.