What movies are best to see on the Big Screen

[Ed Gordon]

Old movies are returning to theaters.

What movies are best to see on the Big Screen

NPR | By Marc Rivers,
Adrian Ma, Stephen Thompson, Mallory Yu

Published March 22, 2026 at 5:28 PM EDT

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[Mike Blakesley]

Assuming you're seeing a movie in a good theater, I don't think I've ever heard of a movie where people would say "This would be so much better on the small TV at home."

[Bobby Henderson]

Any kind of movie should be acceptable to watch in a commercial cinema. Unfortunately the general public is trained on reserving trips to the cinema just for "big" movies. Gimmicks like D-Box, 4DX, Screen-X, etc. reinforce that thinking.

With that being said, a cinema auditorium with great looking projection and powerful, properly tuned sound does make a big difference. Quality picture and sound has a positive effect on any type of movie. If the auditorium is big and the screen is big that just makes the experience that much better. Some of my most memorable movie-going experiences have been in what I would call premiere-class auditoriums. Not every cinema can justify building such auditoriums. Still, I think really good quality surround sound should be do-able for most commercial cinemas.

It goes without saying the movie has to be good. Many people will check things like a movie's Rotten Tomatoes scores before risking what it costs to visit a theater to see that show. Project Hail Mary is currently doing pretty good business at cinemas. I think at least some of the positive moment is coming from its impressive critics score and audience score at Rotten Tomatoes.

The NPR program mentioned the trend of cinemas showing classic movies. That can work well in big city markets, particularly when the movie is shown via 35mm or 70mm film prints.

I like the points the radio program made about the good and bad aspects of watching a movie with a crowd of strangers. We all know the negative aspects (such as all the damned mobile phones). The crowd reaction can contribute greatly to certain genres, like comedies. When I saw "Wedding Crashers" at the cinema the audience was laughing hysterically at several scenes in the movie. That added to the experience.

A big cinema screen also makes a difference in how the audience takes in the performances of the actors on screen. Subtle and not-so-subtle facial expressions, gestures, etc. get magnified; the same expressions can get missed on an ordinary HDTV screen at home.

Over the past decade the differences between how movies and TV shows look have radically blurred. Most movies made for theatrical release are presented in 'scope aspect ratio. They're often shot using anamorphic lenses to get the 'scope bokeh baked into the image. Dozens of TV shows have been doing the same thing. It's a TV show, but it looks like it was shot in Panavision or CinemaScope. Some of these TV shows have big budgets and can put the same kind of production value one would expect in a feature film. A great deal of post production and visual effects work now gets outsourced to low wage shops in India or other developing countries. Lately artificial intelligence style techniques have been creeping into the work.

If the boundaries on what separates a movie from being a TV show are completely eroded the risk is the general public won't think a movie in theatrical release is anything special anymore. It will be de-valued. It's like finding out the pricey rib-eye steak you ordered at the restaurant was merely re-heated in a microwave oven.

[Ed Gordon]

THOMPSON: And so you're going to get these kind of tradeoffs. I think theaters have gotten a little bit better about - especially if you see a movie at some place where they have kind of rigidly enforced rules around talking and texting. I haven't had too many terrible experiences in recent years at theaters. Though, obviously, anecdotes aren't data. I - you know, tons and tons and tons of people have had rough times at movie theaters. I still really enjoy it.

It is nice the hear praise for theaters "where they have kind of rigidly enforced rules around talking and texting".

And I want to pick up on something Adrian said about comedies because I do think there is nothing quite like seeing a very, very, very funny movie in a room full of people who are enjoying it. You know, that "Naked Gun" reboot with Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson was the kind of experience watching it where it felt like the kind of movie that doesn't really get made anymore.

I have watched some pretty mediocre comedies in full theaters that had me laughing out loud. You can not get that feeling watching at home.

If you have the money you can create a pretty impressive home cinema with today's tech. You can also install a wall-to-wall immersive screen at home, but a 12 foot screen at home can't compete with a 40 foot screen in a theater. Another thing that is difficult to do at home is to isolate the audience from the external world. Those long quiet scenes that draw you in at a theater are just an excuse to look at your smartphone at home. Theaters demand your undivided attention.

[Mike Blakesley]

Usually anytime we go on any kind of a trip, we always wind up going to at least one movie.

I've found, lately, that the "moviegoing experience" in the auditoriums has been more or less fine. Sometimes the picture could use more contrast, or something like that, but I attribute that more to equipment limitations than anything else.

No, the big letdown lateliy is in the concession area.

Our last movie-going trip was to the AMC Pleasure Island 24 at Disney Springs, at Disney World. (They may have renamed it since Pleasure Island no longer exists.) This is a 24-screen venue, half of which is a standard theater and the other half is "dine-in." We went to a movie in the "standard" area. We bought our tickets via a kiosk outside the building.

I know nobody can find enough workers these days, so what's happened to concessions is probably just due to a lack of workers, combined with the fact that a 24-screen plex must be horrendous to try to keep profitable in this day and age. But the concession experience at that place, and probably other AMCs, (or any chain, maybe?) is just crappy. You go past "grab-n-go" candy displays, then proceed to a kiosk where you order (on a touch screen) your popcorn and soda. Then you proceed to the counter where the grouchy teenager hands you an empty popcorn container and an empty soda cup and rings up your order. Then you go to a dispenser machine that dumps popcorn into your bag, and then it's off to the do-it-yourself butter dispenser and the "Coke Freestyle" bad drink dispensers.

So you are paying premium concession prices, but basically have to build your order yourself.

I'll give them kudos in one department -- cleanliness. The place was sparkling. Even the area around the popcorn machinery, which is usually littered with corn to be stepped on, was spotless -- and it was a fairly busy evening.

But there was almost zero human interaction, no "welcome to the show!", nobody to tell us which direction to go in. It was, for lack of a better word, just kind of depressing. Not the vibe you would think they were going for.

But the movie itself was just fine. Nice picture, great sound, not too many ads or trailers.

All I can say is, the reviews we get at our theater almost always mention our friendly staff. If we replace them with a bunch of do-it-yourself machinery, our business would surely suffer.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I've seen this do-it-yourself style concession areas for the first time back in 2008 at the Kinepolis in Brussels, within a year or two they introduced the same concept into most of their European locations. Not shortly afterward, this 7-Eleven / Quick-E-Mart style concession area has become the new norm over here.

The latest iteration even has self-checkout, where you need to scan your concession items at a self-service cashier station. Zero humans involved anymore... The ticket booth was long gone already, but the only interaction with a human right now is the person scanning the QR code of your ticket at the entrance... In this case, they essentially run an 11-plex on two workers. They need to do everything: letting people in, restock concessions, help people with failing order terminals and clean rooms in-between shows...

Does this feel like cinema? No, not really... but I guess it's the only way to keep those places profitable nowadays...

[Ed Gordon]

...

No, the big letdown lateliy is in the concession area.
...

I know nobody can find enough workers these days, so what's happened to concessions is probably just due to a lack of workers, combined with the fact that a 24-screen plex must be horrendous to try to keep profitable in this day and age. But the concession experience at that place, and probably other AMCs, (or any chain, maybe?) is just crappy. You go past "grab-n-go" candy displays, then proceed to a kiosk where you order (on a touch screen) your popcorn and soda. Then you proceed to the counter where the grouchy teenager hands you an empty popcorn container and an empty soda cup and rings up your order. Then you go to a dispenser machine that dumps popcorn into your bag, and then it's off to the do-it-yourself butter dispenser and the "Coke Freestyle" bad drink dispensers.

So you are paying premium concession prices, but basically have to build your order yourself.

....

The drop in service is hitting every business it seems. I went to a local "gourmet burger" restaurant that I had not been to in about 10 years. The place used to be full at lunch, but today it was sparsely populated. The portions of food served had shrunk, but was good. The annoying thing was a tablet on the table. We did get a waiter to take our order, but when it came time to pay we did not get a bill. The waiter pointed to the tablet and tried to explain how to use it. I could not figure out how to add a tip to our bill. The waiter came back and explained I had to scan my credit card to pay first, and then I could add a tip. The last straw was the customer survey I had to complete on the tablet. The waiter had warned me about the survey and was helpful so I left a nice tip. However, I don't plan to ever go back there again. Automation can reduce staffing costs: it can also reduce returning customers.

[Lyle Romer]

Our last movie-going trip was to the AMC Pleasure Island 24 at Disney Springs, at Disney World. (They may have renamed it since Pleasure Island no longer exists.) This is a 24-screen venue, half of which is a standard theater and the other half is "dine-in." We went to a movie in the "standard" area. We bought our tickets via a kiosk outside the building.

.

It's officially the AMC Dine-In Disney Springs 24 now. Previously it was the AMC Downtown Disney 24 which, of course, followed the AMC Pleasure Island 10 and AMC Pleasure Island 24.

[Mike Blakesley]

I do miss the days of theaters actually having cool names like Orpheum, Rialto, (ahem) Roxy, Chinese, Egyptian, and such. The AMC name kind of telegraphs "there's no imagination in the decor here." Too bad Disney doesn't actually own that theater. They'd give it a theme, upgrade the concession experience, and probalby increase their attendance in the process.

[Frank Cox]

The problem with the cool names is that you end up with dozens of theatres with the same name.

When I picked a name for my theatre I went with Melville Theatre because I figured that would make it easy to find and it didn't matter much what its name was anyway, since everyone just calls it "the theatre" anyway.

I always thought Melville Theatre was unique, but years later I discovered that there's actually another Melville Theatre in Australia. https://melvilletheatrecompany.au/

I still get an occasional person signing up for my email mailing list by mistake, thinking that they're signing up with the Australian folks.

(The local Ford dealership is called Melville Motors. And there's another Melville Motors in Scotland. So it isn't just me.)

[Mike Blakesley]

The problem with the cool names is that you end up with dozens of theatres with the same name.

That is true. There are two other "Roxy" theaters in Montana that I know of. I don't know how many dozens of others nationwide there are. I tried asking the ChatGPT that question, and it said there were 29, but I'll bet there are more -- probably some that don't have websites.

Every couple months we'll get a call or an email from somebody in California or Lousiana or somewhere who bought a ticket to our Roxy online and now wants a refund. I fail to see how they can be so blind...our website has a very prominent picture of the theatre on it, and before you check out, you have to click in a box in which you agree that you're buying tickets for the Roxy Theatre in Forsyth MT. Yet they still forge ahead and buy them.

[Frank Cox]

I had never thought of that being an issue.

But now that you mention it, I can see it being a problem with online sales.

People can't read anything that doesn't say "Free Beer".

I'm starting Mario tomorrow (Wednesday) instead of Friday like I usually do. I put a big boldface notice on my website, "The opening day is Wednesday!" I guarantee there's still going to be a few people trailing in here tomorrow and Thursday wondering why Reminders of Him isn't still playing.

[Harold Hallikainen]

Tickets for the wrong theater reminds me of our recent online ticket purchase for Hail Mary Project. I printed the tickets from pdf, and the tickets did not have the theater name or address on them. Luckily we only bought them a few days on advance and could remember which theater. But it seems that info should be on the tickets.

[Marcel Birgelen]

The problem with the cool names is that you end up with dozens of theatres with the same name.

Luckily they're not all called AMC nowadays.

Popular names around here were stuff like "Royal", "Rialto" but also "Roxy" or some variation on "Palace". I guess back in the day, when those theaters were named, most of them weren't all that original either, as many of those names were obviously inspired by legendary big-city theaters.

[Jim Cassedy]

In 1930, Television was still mostly a laboratory curiosity. David Sarnoff, ruthless head of RCA
Corporation, made this prediction I found while browsing old electronics magazines online.
Sarnoff was an S-O-B, but he had a knack for making some accurate predictions about the future.

Sarnoff1930.jpg
(Electronics Industry Magazine, April 1930)

(I probably could have phrased that better.. . "predictions about the future" is a bit redundant, no?
You can't really 'predict' the past. . . )