If you’re new around here, you might not realize that Preston and I are OBSESSED with going to the movies, talking about movies, and all the other things that come with cinema. I’ve published several movie review on my blog, but they have sadly died off with theaters being closed and movie releases halting. We checked our Regal account and saw that our last movie was actually on February 22nd when we went to see Birds of Prey. We didn’t *love* that movie, and I remember joking, “wow that stinks if that’s the last movie we saw for a month!’
Flash forward to mid-August, and we were finally able to go to the movies again! While only a few new b-list movies premiered this weekend, Regal is hosting a $5 classic deal and showing movies like Jaws, the Goonies, Star Wars, etc. We ended up choosing Inception because I had actually never seen it before, and Preston is a big fan of Christopher Nolan and wanted to catch up on Inception before we see Nolan’s new film, TENET.
I thought it would be helpful to recap our experience at the movies in case you’re curious about going to the movies soon and want a little insight before you go. I will say this experience relates solely to Regal, we haven’t heard anything about other theater chains!
Safety Precautions
Regal requires masks be worn in the theater at all times unless you are eating/drinking your concessions at your designated seat. They also encourage social distancing by limiting the self check out kiosk locations, encouraging buying tickets beforehand, allowing mobile-concessions ordering, etc. They also limit the seats available to the audience drastically. There are honestly not that many seats available, and we were worried we weren’t going to get into the movie even though we got there 35 minutes before the movie started.
Everyone we interacted with/saw wore their masks during all necessary times. We personally took our masks off when we were sitting through the movie (even after we finished our popcorn!) because we were sitting in the very front and no one was walking/getting up/going to the bathroom even near us. If we were in the more populated section of the theater, we would have worn our masks the entire film (besides when we were eating our popcorn!).
Would I recommend going to the movies?
YES!! There isn’t a single reason I would say avoid going to Regal theaters right now. It felt completely safe to us. It’s also just so enjoyable to “check out” of reality for a little bit and sit down for two hours without needing to think about the world around us. The $5 movie deal is also really reasonable, and if any of the classics don’t sound that appealing, try thinking if they would be better in a movie theater setting if that makes sense? Some movies are just different in a theater!
If you have ANY questions, I would love to answer them for you. I want everyone to be able to experience the movies again! If you’re in a place where it’s unsafe for you to be in an indoor public space, try going to a drive-in movie if there’s one near you- definitely check out the post I did of our drive-in experience.
