KOTM Theater Experience

[Gojira-Fan]

Just got out of watching it for the 7th time. Caught on a matinee.

Nothing too notable. 8 people in the theater (including myself). A lot more parents with their kids at this showing. They seemed to like it, but there wasn't too much audience reaction this time around. I did hear a guy in the lobby say he liked the original Godzilla from "1958 or 1962" (lol) but he didn't like this new one. I kind wished I corrected him, but I get pretty anxious around strangers.

Jesus, do you live in the middle of nowhere or something? Lol

I live in a small city (like 70,000 people) in New England. Idk why this movie never has a lot of people when I go, but I guess it explains the box office gross. Tbh tho I don't think I'm going to watch this movie for a while. Money is starting to get tight and this is the most amount of times I have seen a movie in the theater. Also last time I watched it it was kind of stale. Can only watch the same thing multiple times in a short period and not get bored.

[Jeff-Goldblum2]

Just got back from my 4TH VIEWING. Noticed that the audience on multiple viewings audibly react to Behemoth's first on screen appearance.

I guess they did a good job of creating a giant monster that people haven't seen before.

[GojiDog]

I saw it 4 times in the span of a week and a half, and all of them were different experiences, but with similar reactions, if that makes any sense.

- The 1st was the early screening I attended a week before release. They were almost out of tickets when I got there, so I counted my blessings that I scored one of the last tickets. However, the theater wasn't packed to capacity, so I guess some people got the early pass and then just didn't go.

Anyways, the audience was mostly quiet all the way through, with a few "oohs" and "ahhs" here and there, so I couldn't tell how they felt about it, while I was sitting there silently going nuts in my seat loving almost all of it. And then when the movie faded to black, the audience applauded pretty enthusiastically, and I heard some people walking out of the theater saying "That was F***ing dope!", so I felt pretty good about it.

There were two scenes that made me cry the first time I saw the film. One was the final scene because it was like a dream come true for me to see the Big Guy get that kind of ending. The other was the result of the fight in Mexico. Lets just say I wasn't prepared for that and it reminded me of the first time I saw Transformers the Movie, lol.

The best part of this experience was one of the security people at the screening. I was the first in line to get in and I talked to her for a bit before going in. She was very nice and we talked about shows and movies we had watched and she mentioned to me that she had seen KOTM three times already because of these type of screenings. I then nervously asked her "Well...how is it?". And she told me she really liked it and if you're a fan, you'll eat it up. Later, as the credits rolled, she came up to me in my seat and asked "What'd you think" and I told her I loved it and I don't have the words for it, while scrambling to wipe the tears out of my eyes.


- The 2nd time I saw it was on opening night, and this was right after all the reviews started coming in, so I was kind of in a fog at this point. I mean, I loved the movie, so why is it getting trashed? I thought maybe I was wrong and maybe I just got too swept up in my love of the character and the franchise to see the film as the piece of crap the critics were designating it as. Like the early screening, I went by myself because nobody else was available, but I'm not missing Godzilla on opening night. Not a chance!

Anyway, I go in and the theater is pretty full, and there are definitely some fans in attendance. This was obvious during the film when the Oxygen Destroyer came up and one guy audibly yelled "OH NO!". The audience was very reactive to everything, and as I've said in other posts, they freaking loved Mothra. She did steal just about every scene she was in, and it showed based on the reaction to her on this night. The crowd loved it and, once again, applauded when the film faded to black and the credits rolled.

By this point, I had just accepted that there was a clear disconnect between the audiences and the critics, and wouldn't let that cloud the fact that I loved the film.


- 3rd Time, I saw it that Friday with my sister and a couple of her friends (these two particular friends are also G-fans by the way). This was a late Friday night showing and aside from the 4 of us, I think there were maybe 5 other people in the theater.

Now my sister remembers Godzilla because I watched all the films constantly as a kid and she appreciates them. She always understood why I loved them. As we've gotten older, she's actually come to like them more and more, little by little. She saw Shin Godzilla with me and loved it. She is a big Marvel fangirl as well and she went absolutely nuts for Endgame, and I was there with her for that, so she wanted to be there with me for my big geek out thing. Its a cool bond we have where we kind of feed into each other's nerdiness.

The other thing to note about my sister is that she hates about 80% of what comes out, and I'm being generous with that number. Seriously, bring up the live action Disney remakes, New Star Wars, Batman V Superman, or Captain Marvel in front of her, and watch the sparks fly. Movies that I thought were okay or meh, she will say is the worst piece of blankity blank blank ever made and an affront to humanity at large. She's very passionate about that stuff and there isn't much middle ground with her. And if she absolutely hated this Godzilla movie, she wouldn't have taken my feelings into consideration when it came to expressing her opinion either. There would be no "Oh I'll keep quiet and let my bro enjoy his thing". No no. If she hated it, she would have said so and then ranted and raved about it for an hour afterwards.

So imagine how pleasantly surprised I was when my sister not only liked the film, but went gaga for it. When the Oxygen Destroyer came up, her jaw dropped and she turned to me with a shocked look of horror on her face to which I replied "I'm shocked you even remember what that is". She went nuts for Fire/Burning Godzilla as well. As the film ended, she turned to me and said "Bro, nothing beats Endgame, but that was pretty close", and coming from a Marvel diehard, I'll take that for sure. Her friends loved the movie too and my sister got into talks with them about the film, leading to my favorite reaction "And who the fuck said the characters sucked? F*** the critics. I liked them!".

This then led to my sister doing her usual ranting and raving, but this time against the critics that gave the film a bad review. "Oh I bet all those same jerks liked Captain Marvel!". LOL. She later told me that most franchises from Star Wars to Star Trek to GoT to so many others have fallen apart and have disrespected their fanbase and that I should feel good that the Godzilla fans got treated well with this one. A nice sentiment for sure. She's an intense person, but I like the passion and energy and it was kind of nice to hear her defend my nerdy thing.

And a few days after we saw the film, we were on the phone talking and she asks me "So...can I borrow some of those Godzilla Blu-Rays and DVDs you have because I kind of want to see more of it".

Even though the theater was almost empty and it wasn't in IMAX, the third screening was probably my favorite just because it was fun to see my sister get fully converted into the Godzilla fan family.

And finally, the 4th screening I saw on the Sunday of opening weekend with some of my old college buddies that I hadn't seen in a while, so it was cool to reconnect with them. We had a nice lunch and then went into a theater that was pretty crowded and we were right in the center to see all the action. One of my friends insisted that she sit next to me because she wanted to see me geek out (and no, she wasn't hitting on me, she's married and has three kids, so not a chance there). I went with her family to see Endgame a few weeks prior and she wanted to see what I'd be like in something I was super passionate about. Granted, seeing the movie for a 4th time in less than 2 weeks makes it kind of tough to be super duper excited for it again, but she definitely noticed I waving my fingers and counting down to the really cool moments. She said "It was like you were conducting the film" lol.

It was me and 4 other friends, and once again, everyone loved the film, and it was met with applause when it was done. One of the group really really REALLY loved it and was going crazy for almost everything, and then turned and looked at us at one point to confirm "OK, you all are liking this too, right?". My college buddies were not Godzilla experts like me and only had a passing familiarity with it, so when we stepped out of the theater, they immediately asked me all the questions: "What monsters were missing that you'd like to have in there?" "How many movies have Mothra in it?" "Was this/that a reference to something?". The ladies in the group loved Mothra, while the guys really seemed to love Rodan (and then there is me who loves them all, lol). And finally, we all agreed to meet up against to see Godzilla Vs. Kong. That's on our must see list to meet up for next year!

[daveblackeye15]

Let's see the first two showings I saw on the 30th were pretty full. I'd say just about every time I left people seemed happy leaving. Though I just got back from my fifth showing just now and it was the smallest...the show was at 1:10 and it was me and a couple behind me. As I listen to the credit jams I turned around to say that 'I've already seen this but there is an after credit if you're wondering.' The woman was closer and pointed to her husband or boyfriend and was like 'oh he's already seen it too. I know.'

I remember at my second showing a kid seemed a little worried when Rodan was hit by Ghidorah's lightening, then happy when Rodan showed up to fight Mothra, then sad again, then happy when Rodan was still alive.

[GoWhaleTours]

My Thursday night theater was half full and my last week showing had me and 2 other people.

[G2000]

Just got back from my 4TH VIEWING. Noticed that the audience on multiple viewings audibly react to Behemoth's first on screen appearance.

I guess they did a good job of creating a giant monster that people haven't seen before.

Everyone loves Behemoth, it’s like Sonic turned out to be representative of the GA after all

[Jeff-Goldblum2]

Just got back from my 5TH VIEWING.

At this stage I expected the theatre to be empty. There was about 5 people, granted that's still pretty quiet but more than I thought. This was during the day on a Tuesday.

Good reactions at the Rodan scene where he eats the ejecting pilot.

[Hokmuto]

Went for my 5th viewing on Sunday. 2D at a screening of 10:35. I would say it was 60% full which did surprise me. It was a smaller theater of course, but nonetheless, a welcomed one.

[DirektorSplennic]

I went with my best friend yesterday to see it a second time, with her never having seen a Godzilla movie before. Since we went to a showing at 12:00 in the afternoon on a Monday, we were the only two people in the theater. I loved watching her audibly react to the movie. Mothra was her favorite and when she stung Rodan she let out a very loud "That's right bitch!" Safe to say she loved the movie.

Also, she thought Godzilla was cute. Thought that was interesting.

[Darth Kiryu]

I had a craptastic audience on May 29th (European premiere), though admittedly not nearly as bad as some of the worse ones mentioned here. We had a couple of American-sounding women behind us to the left (I'm American myself) who were making needless comments. During the oxygen destroyer sequence when Godzilla's heartbeat faded, one of them had the audacity to say "goodbye" out loud in a sarcastic tone, just wrecking the intensity of the scene for me. Then during the final battle, one of the guys to our left actually took out his phone and responded to some text messages. I wanted the movie to be over at that point, so the audience really affected my enjoyment of the film in a negative way. The only positive was that the theater was roughly 75% full on opening night.

I'm still hoping to see it again for a pure viewing of the film.

[Huan_of_Valinor]

The first time i saw it was the night before opening night, my group of friends and I basically took up the entire back row, and if I recall correctly the theater was about a third full. We saw it at a fairly late showing, and there was plenty of reaction from our group, it was a good time.

The second time was a mostly full theater on bargain night, with my sister and her future husband. It was a fairly fun showing as the audience was not shy about reacting to certain things in the film. The teenaged girls chattering in the front even got shushed at the beginning of the film. Scattered applause at the end, with several people saying it was a good movie on their way out.

Third time I saw it in an AMC theater, and although it was a very small theater (they all are in that location) it was completely full. My mother, one of my nieces and two of my nephews went with me for that one. The three kids only speak a little english (they are learning) so the boys were only really paying attention during the monster stuff, but the niece was glued to the screen the entire time and audibly reacted to Mothra's light show. The only annoyance was the oldest nephew fiddling on his cell phone during the fucking Boston battle for some reason.

I've had a great time watching this all three times I've seen it, though the second was my favorite.

[gottatalktothefake]

Third time around there were a group of 3 teenagers there who were being little shits. They were giggling the entire time throwing popcorn at each other. One of them wouldn’t stop belching loudly which made the other two hysterical.

Everybody but those three applauded at the end though

[Huan_of_Valinor]

Third time around there were a group of 3 teenagers there who were being little shits. They were giggling the entire time throwing popcorn at each other. One of them wouldn’t stop belching loudly which made the other two hysterical.

Everybody but those three applauded at the end though

I don't understand why someone would pay money to goof around in a theater like that. If you don't like the movie, leave, thanks for contributing to the box office though

Sorta like the couples that would use theaters to make out. Maybe I'm wired differently, but my logic is that if I just paid for a date to get into a movie with snacks and drinks etc, running me something like $50 on a Saturday night, we're watching the movie lol. If the girl wants to get friendly she can wait till after the movie is over with.

Glad it got applause in your third showing, at mine they just sorta left, although a few stayed for the post credits scene

[BlankAccount]

I saw it 4 times in the span of a week and a half, and all of them were different experiences, but with similar reactions, if that makes any sense.

- The 1st was the early screening I attended a week before release. They were almost out of tickets when I got there, so I counted my blessings that I scored one of the last tickets. However, the theater wasn't packed to capacity, so I guess some people got the early pass and then just didn't go.

Anyways, the audience was mostly quiet all the way through, with a few "oohs" and "ahhs" here and there, so I couldn't tell how they felt about it, while I was sitting there silently going nuts in my seat loving almost all of it. And then when the movie faded to black, the audience applauded pretty enthusiastically, and I heard some people walking out of the theater saying "That was F***ing dope!", so I felt pretty good about it.

There were two scenes that made me cry the first time I saw the film. One was the final scene because it was like a dream come true for me to see the Big Guy get that kind of ending. The other was the result of the fight in Mexico. Lets just say I wasn't prepared for that and it reminded me of the first time I saw Transformers the Movie, lol.

The best part of this experience was one of the security people at the screening. I was the first in line to get in and I talked to her for a bit before going in. She was very nice and we talked about shows and movies we had watched and she mentioned to me that she had seen KOTM three times already because of these type of screenings. I then nervously asked her "Well...how is it?". And she told me she really liked it and if you're a fan, you'll eat it up. Later, as the credits rolled, she came up to me in my seat and asked "What'd you think" and I told her I loved it and I don't have the words for it, while scrambling to wipe the tears out of my eyes.


- The 2nd time I saw it was on opening night, and this was right after all the reviews started coming in, so I was kind of in a fog at this point. I mean, I loved the movie, so why is it getting trashed? I thought maybe I was wrong and maybe I just got too swept up in my love of the character and the franchise to see the film as the piece of crap the critics were designating it as. Like the early screening, I went by myself because nobody else was available, but I'm not missing Godzilla on opening night. Not a chance!

Anyway, I go in and the theater is pretty full, and there are definitely some fans in attendance. This was obvious during the film when the Oxygen Destroyer came up and one guy audibly yelled "OH NO!". The audience was very reactive to everything, and as I've said in other posts, they freaking loved Mothra. She did steal just about every scene she was in, and it showed based on the reaction to her on this night. The crowd loved it and, once again, applauded when the film faded to black and the credits rolled.

By this point, I had just accepted that there was a clear disconnect between the audiences and the critics, and wouldn't let that cloud the fact that I loved the film.


- 3rd Time, I saw it that Friday with my sister and a couple of her friends (these two particular friends are also G-fans by the way). This was a late Friday night showing and aside from the 4 of us, I think there were maybe 5 other people in the theater.

Now my sister remembers Godzilla because I watched all the films constantly as a kid and she appreciates them. She always understood why I loved them. As we've gotten older, she's actually come to like them more and more, little by little. She saw Shin Godzilla with me and loved it. She is a big Marvel fangirl as well and she went absolutely nuts for Endgame, and I was there with her for that, so she wanted to be there with me for my big geek out thing. Its a cool bond we have where we kind of feed into each other's nerdiness.

The other thing to note about my sister is that she hates about 80% of what comes out, and I'm being generous with that number. Seriously, bring up the live action Disney remakes, New Star Wars, Batman V Superman, or Captain Marvel in front of her, and watch the sparks fly. Movies that I thought were okay or meh, she will say is the worst piece of blankity blank blank ever made and an affront to humanity at large. She's very passionate about that stuff and there isn't much middle ground with her. And if she absolutely hated this Godzilla movie, she wouldn't have taken my feelings into consideration when it came to expressing her opinion either. There would be no "Oh I'll keep quiet and let my bro enjoy his thing". No no. If she hated it, she would have said so and then ranted and raved about it for an hour afterwards.

So imagine how pleasantly surprised I was when my sister not only liked the film, but went gaga for it. When the Oxygen Destroyer came up, her jaw dropped and she turned to me with a shocked look of horror on her face to which I replied "I'm shocked you even remember what that is". She went nuts for Fire/Burning Godzilla as well. As the film ended, she turned to me and said "Bro, nothing beats Endgame, but that was pretty close", and coming from a Marvel diehard, I'll take that for sure. Her friends loved the movie too and my sister got into talks with them about the film, leading to my favorite reaction "And who the fuck said the characters sucked? F*** the critics. I liked them!".

This then led to my sister doing her usual ranting and raving, but this time against the critics that gave the film a bad review. "Oh I bet all those same jerks liked Captain Marvel!". LOL. She later told me that most franchises from Star Wars to Star Trek to GoT to so many others have fallen apart and have disrespected their fanbase and that I should feel good that the Godzilla fans got treated well with this one. A nice sentiment for sure. She's an intense person, but I like the passion and energy and it was kind of nice to hear her defend my nerdy thing.

And a few days after we saw the film, we were on the phone talking and she asks me "So...can I borrow some of those Godzilla Blu-Rays and DVDs you have because I kind of want to see more of it".

Even though the theater was almost empty and it wasn't in IMAX, the third screening was probably my favorite just because it was fun to see my sister get fully converted into the Godzilla fan family.

And finally, the 4th screening I saw on the Sunday of opening weekend with some of my old college buddies that I hadn't seen in a while, so it was cool to reconnect with them. We had a nice lunch and then went into a theater that was pretty crowded and we were right in the center to see all the action. One of my friends insisted that she sit next to me because she wanted to see me geek out (and no, she wasn't hitting on me, she's married and has three kids, so not a chance there). I went with her family to see Endgame a few weeks prior and she wanted to see what I'd be like in something I was super passionate about. Granted, seeing the movie for a 4th time in less than 2 weeks makes it kind of tough to be super duper excited for it again, but she definitely noticed I waving my fingers and counting down to the really cool moments. She said "It was like you were conducting the film" lol.

It was me and 4 other friends, and once again, everyone loved the film, and it was met with applause when it was done. One of the group really really REALLY loved it and was going crazy for almost everything, and then turned and looked at us at one point to confirm "OK, you all are liking this too, right?". My college buddies were not Godzilla experts like me and only had a passing familiarity with it, so when we stepped out of the theater, they immediately asked me all the questions: "What monsters were missing that you'd like to have in there?" "How many movies have Mothra in it?" "Was this/that a reference to something?". The ladies in the group loved Mothra, while the guys really seemed to love Rodan (and then there is me who loves them all, lol). And finally, we all agreed to meet up against to see Godzilla Vs. Kong. That's on our must see list to meet up for next year!

No offensive bro, but if I were you I wouldn't bring your sister. I'm glad it turned out well but why even bring someone who's could ruin the experience for you? I went to KOTM by myself cause I got fed up with certain people's immaturity. It sucks to see a movie by yourself but it sucks more to have someone just ruin the experience for you.

Glad it turned out well for you though.

[G2000]

No offensive bro, but if I were you I wouldn't bring your sister. I'm glad it turned out well but why even bring someone who's could ruin the experience for you? I went to KOTM by myself cause I got fed up with certain people's immaturity. It sucks to see a movie by yourself but it sucks more to have someone just ruin the experience for you.

Glad it turned out well for you though.

While I am sympathetic in regards to some of the things that have happened to you, he clearly has a good relationship with his sister and seeing movies together is a thing they do. Given their experiences together it seems 1) he was fully prepared for whatever opinion of the movie she was going to have and 2) it seems as if their relationship is good enough that she wouldn’t actively go out of his way to ruin his experience for him.

[GojiDog]

No offensive bro, but if I were you I wouldn't bring your sister. I'm glad it turned out well but why even bring someone who's could ruin the experience for you? I went to KOTM by myself cause I got fed up with certain people's immaturity. It sucks to see a movie by yourself but it sucks more to have someone just ruin the experience for you.

Glad it turned out well for you though.

While I am sympathetic in regards to some of the things that have happened to you, he clearly has a good relationship with his sister and seeing movies together is a thing they do. Given their experiences together it seems 1) he was fully prepared for whatever opinion of the movie she was going to have and 2) it seems as if their relationship is good enough that she wouldn’t actively go out of his way to ruin his experience for him.

Oh yeah, my sister and I have a great relationship. And honestly, I kind of like it when she goes nuts on something because its just so hysterical to watch her go off on one. For example, I thought Incredibles 2 was "half awesome, half meh" which balanced out to okay, and she went all out and said it was the biggest POS ever and F that movie, lol. Its just funny.

And even if she completely shit on the Godzilla movie, it would have been hard to ruin it for me considering I already saw the film twice beforehand, lol.

[Gothicserpent]

Third time around there were a group of 3 teenagers there who were being little shits. They were giggling the entire time throwing popcorn at each other. One of them wouldn’t stop belching loudly which made the other two hysterical.

Everybody but those three applauded at the end though

I dunno why but this made me crack up.

Just random belching during a Godzilla movie.

[G2000]

Finally got to see it a second time. Unfortunately it rolled out of the Regal I work at as well as the locally-owned theater about a half-hour in the other direction so I had to go see it in the local four-screen four-dollar theater. There are a couple larger AMC and Regal theaters still showing it up near Raleigh but I'm home for the summer and didn't want to drive that far out

In any case it was pretty alright. Not a crowd, but somewhere around ten people in the theater; mostly young teens and older couples. All quiet throughout the entire movie (there was, I think, one solitary snicker after one of Bradley Whitford's lines). Even so, they all seemed to enjoy it. One younger girl did a light clap at the end. Overheard several people talking about it on the way out, which was neat.

[Dynomy-DX]

Saw it again yesterday with my girlfriend. She had a ton of fun and loved Mothra and Rodan. She isn’t even that into Godzilla, yet she enjoyed the ride!

The audience was more chill compared to the first screening I saw, but I could tell there were dedicated Godzilla fans taking their friends to see it. Some went “this is the best part, watch!” and this one dude in front was SO PUMPED. Like he was rocking in his seat and hyping out in some of the coolest parts like Mothra’s arrival in the fight and Fire Godzilla.

Overall? Still a pretty good time. There was actually a decent amount of people in the theater so that was nice.

[Gojira-Fan]

Saw it for the 8th and likely final time (in theaters) yesterday.

Watched it at a matinee showing at the multiplex in a nearby city (the movie is no longer playing at my city's movie theater). I have to say this is probably one of my best times seeing KotM yet! The screen was considerably larger than my city's movie theater (this wasn't Imax or anything, just a regular showing) and the surround sound had a lot more "ooomph" and bass than what I was used to. It made it a much more cinematic experience that was viscerally enjoyable (and definitely worked for this Godzilla movie).

When I arrived in the theater I was alone (as I expected). However, before the previews started a mother and her young son walked in. I remember him talking and his Mom telling him to be quiet since there was another person in the theater. Probably the most cute moment was when the boy happily exclaimed "Godzilla!" when he appeared during the Antarctica scene. Also overheard the Mom whispering to her son and telling him about Mothra. So hopefully Godzilla made a new fan that day.

The last showings for any theaters in my area is on the 30th. I'm still debating whether or not to see the last showing possible, but money is also getting pretty tight (I'm out of work atm).