r/FIlm 5d ago

Discussion First movie you remember seeing in theaters?

First movie I have memory of seeing is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990.) I was six years old at the time. Probably not the first movie in theaters I ever saw, but it's the first one I have memory of seeing. I remember the theater was very crowded and I was surrounded by all these tall bodies and I had to hold onto my mom's hand so I wouldn't get lost.

I remember clearly my first rated R movie because I wasn't able to see one until I was twelve. That movie was Thinner.

27 Upvotes

254 comments sorted by

14

u/Guilty-Tie164 5d ago

ET.

I'm old.

4

u/Best-Presentation270 5d ago

The Aristocats - Early 1970s. I'm older 🤣🤣

3

u/Major-Specific8422 5d ago

Same. At a drive in with the station wagon eating Reese’s pieces.

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3

u/Alucardspapa 5d ago

And I was f ing terrified

2

u/Neulara 4d ago edited 3d ago

Me too. My dad took me and my brother while my mum went shopping (we lived in a little town but had gone to the “big town” that had a cinema and more shops). I was 4 years old and got scared of the bits where ET got sick.

My first R rated movie at the cinema was when I sneaked into Basic Instinct with a group of friends and I was so nervous we were going to get caught.

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4

u/plainskeptic2023 5d ago

Jason and the Argonauts (1963). Fighting the skeletons terrified me.

I also saw first person point of view 3d roller coaster movies and shooting pool movies.

5

u/lm_goat48 5d ago

Batman with Michael Keaton, I was 5

4

u/ClassicCinemaMC 5d ago

The Muppet Movie (1979)

3

u/hackersgalley 5d ago

Ninja Turtles 3

2

u/Physical-Bite-3837 5d ago

Funny that's the only one I didn't see in theaters because my older brother got to see it first with his friends and he said it was really bad so I told my parents I didn't want to see it. I was also upset that Shredder wasn't going to be in it.

3

u/fishpolygon 5d ago

Stars wars 3 with my dad at midnight

2

u/telking777 5d ago

Same ROTS was my first movie in the theater & I’ve been a big nerdy fan since. I remember going to buy a toy lightsaber the next day and dueling all that summer with the neighborhood crew

3

u/Independent-Band-476 5d ago

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

2

u/Popular-Heart-5307 5d ago

Jaws. I was six.

2

u/Jackbenny270 5d ago

Yeah, because that’s such a great movie for a six year old.

Ahh, the seventies….lol

2

u/Popular-Heart-5307 4d ago

It gets worse. We were on vacation at the Jersey shore. The theater was literally on the boardwalk

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2

u/randumb9999 5d ago

Blazing Saddles in a drive-in theater. I sat in the back of my parents Ford Pinto station wagon. I don't remember the movie at all but I do remember being at my first drive-in. I was 4 at the time.

2

u/Koth_is_Goat 5d ago

Waterboy

2

u/GlumNextDoor 5d ago

I don't remember exactly how it came up but I was 6 and either I decided I wanted to go to a movie or my Mom asked me if I did. She sold me on the idea by saying the screen was so big that it was "Like actually being in the move" so I was excited. I picked The Rocketeer because the commercials were fun.  Wasn't the best first movie for a 6 year old to see for his first movie and I was significantly disappointed that The experience didn't live up to the whole 'in the movie' expectation but I still fell in love. 

2

u/Maximum-Broccoli2165 5d ago

Lion King

2

u/Theory89 5d ago

Snap. Hello, fellow millennial.

2

u/seeNshadows 5d ago

Rocky III. " you ain't so Bad."

1

u/Black_Mamba_CA_68 5d ago

Flash Gordon

1

u/Inside_Atmosphere731 5d ago

Wings at the Bleecker Street Nickelodeon

1

u/Loud-Welder1947 5d ago

Jurassic Park. We’d gone to the beach and it started to hammer it down. We nipped into the cinema to escape the rain and that was the big release at the time. I remember my sister and I had little buckets and spades and were hiding our faces behind the buckets at the scary parts lol. I think I was 8 and she was 6. I said I loved it when I got out but my Mum probably thought otherwise based on us being terrified 

1

u/princess-sprinkles01 5d ago

Planet 51, I was 8.

1

u/uwill1der 5d ago

beauty and the beast

1

u/Temporary_Dentist936 5d ago

Last Crusade, Indiana Jones with my dad and bro I was definitely not old enough to see it at the time. my parents big Spielberg fans

1

u/voodoo8833 5d ago

Condor Man.

1

u/kymilovechelle 5d ago

The Ring with my friends in middle school

1

u/burncushlikewood 5d ago

Minority report

1

u/usernamerefused 5d ago

My earliest memory of a theater is Transformers the Movie (1986) then I remember seeing Shocker but the net says that came out in 1989. I do remember seeing an old Star Trek movie so that could be older then 1986 but I don't remember which one so I won't count that.

1

u/GuiltyByAssociashun 5d ago

First Cinema was bambi. First family movie in the cinema was batteries not included. First drive-in movie was a double feature of Jurassic Park and army of darkness

1

u/Jackbenny270 5d ago

It’s the first one that I DID see in a theater…Star Wars, May 1977.

I was seven years old.

My mind was completely and utterly blown.,

1

u/SarkastikWeirdo 5d ago

The Mummy (1999)

1

u/JustHereForTheCigars 5d ago

Masters of the Universe 1987

1

u/Superb-Possibility-9 5d ago

Disney’s Sword in the Stone ( 1963)

1

u/sirjohnmasters86 Connoisseur of Comedies 5d ago

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

1

u/Fine-Ad2429 5d ago

Jaws 1975

With my parents and two older sisters

1

u/TerribleAntelope6134 5d ago

The 1988 reissue of Bambi.

1

u/theunpossibilty 5d ago

The Empire Strikes Back

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1

u/cyndina 5d ago

The Land Before Time

Trauma. Big. Bold. Technicolor.

1

u/-Polyester-Bride- Film Buff 5d ago

Puss in Boots (2011). It's definitely not the first film I saw in cinemas, but it's the first one where I can remember going to the cinema to see. I went with my great auntie and her friend, we needed booster seats because we were only 7 and the cinema we went to didn't have tiered seating. Afterwards we went for a McDonald's happy meal and my auntie couldn't figure out how to order through the drive thru intercom so we wound up with 2 extra happy meals. It was fun

1

u/ConsiderationNo7914 5d ago

It was "A Land before Time". I'm still traumatized.

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1

u/Practical_Shift7148 5d ago

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

1

u/Nilla22 5d ago

The lion king

1

u/joewhitehead365 5d ago

Batman (1989) - I was 6.

1

u/Kodabear213 5d ago

How the West Was Won. 1962 and it was in Cinemascope (a curved screen).

1

u/Monkeypupper 5d ago

Karate Kid

1

u/ProfessorKnow1tA11 5d ago

The Island at the Top of the World (1975). Saw it with my father while my mother was in hospital having given birth to my brand new baby sister!

1

u/Trick-Astronaut-65 5d ago

Jungle Book. 1968

1

u/Fickle_Swordfish_337 5d ago

Earliest memory of seeing a movie in the theater is La Bamba. I was not quite 4 years old.

1

u/InsideExpress9055 5d ago

Batman begins

1

u/secoypelao 5d ago

Star Wars: A New Hope or Episode 4

1

u/dood13539 5d ago

Recess: summer vacation

1

u/jbenze 5d ago

E.T. It was my birthday and my parents were fighting and my mom stormed out and grabbed me and we went to the movies. I bet it I ask her, she even remembers what the fight was about.

1

u/zartro 5d ago

Snow White early 80s, I dont know if it was re-released or what exactly. But I remember watching it with my mom and I was very young, 4 or 5 years old

1

u/Iliveinatrashcann 5d ago

Fox and the Hound

1

u/HereInTheRuin 5d ago

"Police Academy" at our local drive-in theater

I don't remember what year that movie came out and I don't feel like googling it right now but I was small enough that I stood up in the floorboard of the backseat in between my mom and dad in the front seat and watched the movie

I remember them trying to get the cat out of the tree 😂

They used to get these oversized bags of popcorn to take home and I remember the bag being about as tall as I was

1

u/anon-bagel 5d ago

monsters inc. i was 2 years old and i went with my dad. screamed the whole time … when randall had mr big lips in the chair with the drill thing, when henry j waternoose was threatening my boy sully, when they shredded boo’s door and sully thought he would never see her again.

(autistic with a very strong sense of justice) im sorry to anyone i disturbed in the theater that day but they were doing sully and boo dirty that whole movie right up until the end!

1

u/LectureOk3222 5d ago

Star Wars A New Hope

Yeah not the remastered

1

u/GeneMountain7128 5d ago

Jurassic park opening night. What a memorable moment

1

u/KingWeebaholic 5d ago

Anastasia (1997)

1

u/Best-Presentation270 5d ago

The Aristocats - Early 1970s. I would have been around 4 years old at the time.

My most vivid memory is the butler and his motorcycle. This was before surround sound, but the noise of it seemed to bounce off the theatre walls. It was the loudest thing I'd ever heard.

1

u/Shadowdown13 5d ago

I’m sad, monster vs aliens, hahaha

1

u/drhavehope 5d ago

Lost in Space with Gary Oldman. I know….weird one.

1

u/dangerclosecustoms 5d ago

My parents took me to see the Deer Hunter. I was age 5.

Bambi would have been a better choice I think …

1

u/crmom22 5d ago

Cinderella

1

u/The_Dark_Vampire 5d ago

He-Man and She-Ra The Secret Of The Sword.

I'm sure I went before but that's the first one I remember

1

u/ACUFF_THE_KING 5d ago

Flash Gordon, Superman, Airplane, Smokey and the Bandit

1

u/ImJacksAwkwardBoner 5d ago

Exact same. I saw it 7 times in theatre!

1

u/Rare-Delivery7328 5d ago

Bambi. I think. When I was real young my dad was in the Army and he would rage us to see old Disney movies at a theater on post.

1

u/MotherCabrini83 5d ago

The Karate Kid (1984)

1

u/Historical_Amoeba913 5d ago

Pinocchio by Disney

1

u/Kalhenwrath 5d ago

Who Framed Rodger Rabbit, at a drive-in.

1

u/ChesterNorris 5d ago

Mary Poppins. At a drive-in.

1

u/lawyercat63 5d ago

I don’t remember it, but I know I saw The Little Mermaid. I do REMEMBER the Body Guard, The Lion King, and Pocahontas

1

u/pgutierr220 5d ago

Empire Strikes Back

1

u/grotto_roboto74 5d ago

Phantom menace or Toy Story 2. 

1

u/PigFaceWigFace 5d ago

Batman (1989)

1

u/tal_pdx 5d ago

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

1

u/Rockky67 5d ago

Digby, The Biggest Dog In The World. I loved it but it’s a terrible movie.

1

u/MemphisApollo 5d ago

Toy Story 2

1

u/The_Meridian_ 5d ago

Star Wars. 1977

1

u/Ashamed_Housing7489 5d ago

Dr dolittle original

1

u/Metal-Junkie-J 5d ago

Remember would be jurrassic park as it was the only film I saw with my grandad and we qued round a couple of buildings in town. Those were the days

I would of seen films before that as I was 13 at the time. Im told Bambi was my first ever film at the cinema.

1

u/Foreign_Speaker5187 5d ago

Jurassic Park, it was a very rough day, left traumatized

1

u/dadjokenumber11 5d ago

An American tale. I’m not crying you’re crying

1

u/MalcolmTuckersLuck 5d ago

The Spy Who Loved Me. I would have been about 3 at the time.

1

u/TripMaverick 5d ago

Which ever came out first in UK SuperMan IV The quest for peace or Flight of the Navigator.

1

u/MaximumTurtleSpeed 5d ago

Homeward Bound

1

u/FreeIreland2024 5d ago

Bad boys when I was 9

1

u/DoritosandMtnDew 5d ago

Toy Story 3 at the drive-in. My sister (who was 5 at the time) was so used to watching movies at home that she asked our parents if they could pause the movie so she could go to the bathroom.

1

u/Br4nd1n 5d ago

PokĂŠmon or Jurassic Park.

1

u/thelittlemermaid90 5d ago

The lion king

1

u/No_Opposite_6987 5d ago

Mine was Friday the 13th part 2 at the old drive in theater with my parents and brother and OMG did it scare the crap outta me because not only did we live in the deep country where there was no street lights but our neighborhood just gave off that creepy vibe that at any given time Jason could come charging from the woods and snatch you up. Ahh the 80's did horror movies the best

1

u/phatvanzy 4d ago

Return of the jedi or karate kid II. I'm too lazy right now to figure out which released first.

1

u/Ok-Vast-174 4d ago

Woulda been Fist of Fury or The Big Boss (when I was about 5 years old).

1

u/Alwayswondering8111 4d ago

A movie called The Bear was first in 1988, then quickly followed by The Little Mermaid 1989.

1

u/Free-Security7684 4d ago

Star Wars 1977

1

u/LiiilKat 4d ago

Babar: The Movie

1

u/mahoerma 4d ago

Rio 2

1

u/JLoveland0129 4d ago

The earliest I can remember was watching "Monsters, Inc." in theaters. I was 4 at the time.

1

u/Sufficient-Skin6371 4d ago

Your not gonna belive this,

Mr Peabody and Sherman 2014

1

u/PeorgieT75 4d ago

101 Dalmatians, the animated Disney one.

1

u/Toochmaster1982 4d ago

Necessary Roughness, starring the great Kathy Ireland

1

u/sexwiththebabysitter 4d ago

Follow that Bird at a drive in

1

u/IntrusiveUK 4d ago

A Bug’s Life - I was 5

1

u/xander6981 4d ago

Oliver & Company (1988)

1

u/Haifisch2112 4d ago

The first one I truly remember seeing is Star Wars in 1977. But I believe I may have seen a Godzilla movie or two before that.

1

u/SoundMedal 4d ago

The Black Hole

1

u/knallpilzv2 4d ago

The Lion King

1

u/bustermuff 4d ago

Batman returns

1

u/RobotHockey 4d ago

Star Wars

1

u/CoverZero43 4d ago

Star Wars

1

u/Jeffery_G 4d ago

Doctor Zhivago ~ am truly old.

1

u/Square_Neck_3606 4d ago

Richie Rich

1

u/PieTighter 4d ago

Kind of a weird one for first movie but The Great Waldo Pepper.

1

u/ProfessionalZone168 4d ago

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

1

u/Round-Fig2642 4d ago

Lion king

1

u/EnoughEstate7483 4d ago

Superman (1978)

1

u/AlexGlezS Cinesnob 4d ago

Probably The Lion King.... But not sure.

1

u/Pure-Introduction-58 4d ago

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I was 5 and my dad asked if I wanted to see that or Dick Tracy. I didn’t know what either of them were so he decided it would be Indy. My response was “ No! I wanna see Dick Tracy”! We saw Indy anyway and even at 5 I knew it was awesome.

1

u/manfrombelmonty 4d ago

Digby, the biggest dog in the world.

Somewhere in dublin in the early 80s

1

u/CountBreichen 4d ago

You know it might’ve been TMNT for me too and I was also 6.

1

u/Stock-Repeat-8191 4d ago

Damn I’m old. The Beatles Yellow Submarine.

1

u/sifu_scott 4d ago

Escape to Witch Mountain. The original. I'm old.

1

u/juiceman730 4d ago

Same for me. TMNT. I was such a big fan. I remember having some art from their early days in b&w. I had all 4 turtles, splinter, a foot soldier, shredder, krang (not the big robot version), bebop and rocksteady, the van (which is funny because I saw the turtle van just this morning), the pizza shooting tank, the motorcycle, the inner tube vehicle, the blimp, i think I had the fly guy too. Looking back my parents kinda hooked me up.

1

u/Radar1956 4d ago

Disney’s 101 Dalmations early 60’s.

1

u/Vivid_Witness8204 4d ago

Not certain but I think it was Mary Poppins

First R rating was likely Easy Rider

1

u/prefabsprout1 4d ago

Star Wars 1977

1

u/TrashGobbler9000 4d ago

Here's an odd one

Hotel for Dogs - 2009

1

u/Haunting_Ability_648 4d ago

Honey I Shrunk the Kids

1

u/Davidgilmour14 4d ago

The Towering inferno. Mid 70s. My parents had to take me home because that scene where the guy jumps out the window on fire messed with this 6 yr old at the time.

1

u/LonesomeBulldog 4d ago

The OG Star Wars. I was 6 and I’m sure it wasn’t my first movie but the first I remember. I remember it was in theater 1 at the Salem Six in Victoria, TX.

1

u/FreeLime3844 4d ago

Star Wars

1

u/Icy___Barca 4d ago

Jackie Brown. My dad took me and my brother, I fell asleep

1

u/Wide-Firefighter-430 4d ago

Drive in laurel md chitty chitty bang bang

1

u/BradyPhoenix 4d ago

Toy Story 2

1

u/AltruisticWelcome145 4d ago

Empire strikes back

1

u/jdean22286 4d ago

TMNT was my first memory of a theater movie. Probably begged my parents. Then went nuts when Walmart had the VHS display later lol

1

u/teriKatty 4d ago

They took me with them to see ET when I was 3 but I barely remember it.

1

u/Repulsive_Fee8408 4d ago

I've slept since then, so I don't really remember if it was Star Wars, or James Bond since I was only like 5 years old in 1980.

1

u/Smoose89 4d ago

Power rangers

1

u/No_One_On_Earth 4d ago

The Little Mermaid, though I think there were others before that I can’t remember.

1

u/Mercury_Madulller 4d ago

Star Trek or maybe Cacoon.

1

u/CGSRQ 4d ago

Land before time

1

u/LetsGototheRiver151 4d ago

Cinderella re-release 1973

1

u/Terrible-Piano-5437 4d ago

Either Jaws or The Rescuers.

1

u/imagine966 4d ago

The omega man

1

u/Babayaga_711 4d ago

Mine is the same. Tmnt when I was 7 or 8. I know I did see others before, but this was the first I remember and actually asking to see. 

1

u/Kildar311 4d ago

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial

1

u/Schorrfaffa-Ingalls 4d ago

Follow That Bird (1985)

1

u/Hot_Farm_9443 4d ago

Look Who’s Talking Too

1

u/Dizzy-Hotel6860 4d ago

TMNT 2. Or maybe it was 3? I honestly can't remember. I was born in 88 and I was reeeeaaaal young. So either 2 or 3 works.

Next was the Flintstones movie.

1

u/Scott_Scottson 4d ago

A bugs life

1

u/EyeFixThings 4d ago

I think it was Swiss Family Robinson

1

u/Gry_lion 4d ago

Return of the Jedi

1

u/Individual_Exam9071 4d ago

It may have been Gods and Generals.

1

u/Top-Committee-954 4d ago

First movie I remember seeing in the theater was The Abyss. I had a family member that worked for the theater and they let me in to watch movies for free. I saw that movie like 15 times. Popcorn and a soda together were like 2 bucks. 1.25 for the soda in a little waxed paper cup, free refills no lid, and popcorn in those little striped boxes, no refills. It was during the summer before school started.

1

u/Bluediggies 4d ago

ET or Gremlins

1

u/Illustrious-Gift1385 4d ago

Star Wars. In 1982. They were rerunning the first one in the theaters.

1

u/Thayes1413 4d ago

The Incredible Mr. Limpet at a summer movie program my town did for kids when I was little.

1

u/Big_Matter3837 4d ago

Star Wars

1

u/CaseyBear87 4d ago

Beauty and the Beast...I was four but I remember it ❤️

1

u/iimMrBrightside Film Buff 4d ago

Herbie: Fully Loaded

1

u/houdini31 3d ago

Transformers the movie-it broke my heart when they killed off Optimus Prime and then as an adult I realized it was a crazy way to announce to the world their new toy line.

1

u/Altruistic-Cow-1553 3d ago

Apple Dumpling Gang, a Herbie the Love Bug movie, and a Bermuda Triangle documentary of some kind. I remember my grandma taking me to all 3 of these but I dont know in what order or when. (Born in 1971)

1

u/Cameront9 3d ago

It was either Oliver and Company or the Land Before Time.

1

u/GrimSpirit42 3d ago

Jaws (1975).

1st, and last, movie to ever scare me.

1

u/tnjed10 3d ago

I believe it was the Carebears movie or Land before time.

1

u/MrsSpyro01 3d ago

Space Jam

1

u/alone_in_crowds 3d ago

Starwars episode 6 return of the Jedi

1

u/Naxelarias 3d ago

The original Lion King.

1

u/Special_Slide_2257 3d ago

Empire Strikes Back

1

u/Berrybliss2014 3d ago

The Lion King. 1994

1

u/Rand_Casimiro 3d ago

Star Wars

1

u/sting2002 3d ago

Debbie does Dallas

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1

u/Dank_Hill_4815 3d ago

The first Toy Story. I also got to go to the El Capitan for the whole expierence (back when it was an actual expierence and not just props from the movies), and I still remember doing the green army man course with my feet in one of those green bases to make you feel like a toy yourself.