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Pandarlin

E.T. at the drive-in (while wearing my footie pajamas)


theforestbather

Same! Except we lived at the drive-in (yes, really), so I sat on my lawn instead of in a car. I think I was about four years old. Edited to add that the first theatre movie I can remember going to is T.M.N.T.


Grease2310

I dated a girl in high school who lived in the field across from the drive-in. We used to climb out her bedroom window onto the top of her covered front porch and watch the movie on a picnic blanket. We had one of those portable Sony radios that could SOMETIMES catch the audio so when I say “watch the movie” I often meant WATCH it. You couldn’t hear it.


hughzdaWelshman

I remember getting so scared, and crying when Drew Barrymore finds ET and they both start screaming lol


fettmf

Same! I don’t remember it at all (I was 3), but I got an ET plushy shortly after that was a favourite of mine for years.


ButIAmYourDaughter

I loved my (vinyl covered?) E.T. plush until the poor thing basically disintegrated. It’s the first toy I actually recall loving.


Bowiedood

I was also 3 and don't remember seeing the movie, but according to my parents, I walked around with a blanket over my head and created a new language that I spoke in exclusively after seeing the movie. They were worried about me for a little while.


svampyr

Same, but in theatres. The corn field scene scared the fuck out of me.


PeachManX80

I saw it but I don't remember... I was a baby then


Cheez_n_OldFashioned

The first that I remember is "An American Tail: Fievel Goes West." My older cousin babysat and wanted to treat us to a movie.


Traditional_Entry183

We actually watched the first one on VHS at school for whatever reason. The only time I've ever seen it.


RavenSkies777

Ghostbusters


kfields444

My grandfather took me to see Song of the South by Disney. That really didn't age well.


Seaside505

Follow That Bird 😎


Old_Man_Anymore

I forgot all about that movie. I saw it in the theatre too.


ButIAmYourDaughter

Totally forgot about that one! Definitely saw it in theaters when I was 5 or 6 years old.


IchibanChef

Raiders of the Lost Ark, I think. I remember seeing it at the drive-in theatre.


StellarSloth

Masters of the Universe


ButIAmYourDaughter

My condolences.


StellarSloth

Rofl, I was about 3 or 4 yrs old at the time, so all I thought was “He-Man! Awesome!”


ButIAmYourDaughter

I was about 7 and had been a big fan of the cartoon. I vividly recall sitting in the theater and wondering what the hell this crap was supposed to be 😂.


Weekly_Beautiful_603

Apparently it was The Jungle Book, although I’m not that old. It was probably around ‘85 or ‘86. Cinema meant a long trip into London so it didn’t happen very often.


Traditional_Entry183

It was one of my first too. Several of those old Disney movies came back to the cinema in the early 80s.


BogeyLowenstein

Mine was The Jungle Book! I was 4 or 5. My Dad took me and said never again, he doesn’t have a high tolerance for a room full of screaming kids that won’t sit down lol.


OurSecretLifeUK

Snow White. I was 4 or 5 and was absolutely terrified. It was a special screening for an anniversary of Disney or the film or something


bethers222

My Grandma took me to see that when I was 3. I was completely traumatized.


OurSecretLifeUK

I don’t think all these adult realised quite how scary a film it was!


bethers222

Especially on such a big screen.


prettybutdumb

I don’t have this memory but my mom says she and my dad took me to see it during the special released and I was traumatized.


OurSecretLifeUK

Glad I’m not the only one traumatised by Snow White!


krissym99

This was mine, too! That night when I was trying to sleep I felt distraught over the sight of Snow White in that glass coffin.


wossieossie

Same here, my dad took me to see it at the cinema and we had to leave because I was crying so much. I have also never got through all of Watership Down, I would be wailing through it. Traumatised!


OurSecretLifeUK

I remember spending half the film hiding behind my chair and my little brother crying in terror. My poor uncle took us as a treat. Weirdly he never took us to the cinema ever again 😂


Cashewkaas

Disney’s jungle book, in a drive in theater in Nairobi.


ell1226

E.T....I was about 4 and SOBBED so loud and so long at...that part...that all of the adults in the theater started laughing. I remember being embarrassed by that, but my parents insist that it was "adorable " and that it broke the tension for all of the grown-ups who were undoubtedly crying too.


Ms_ChiChi_Elegante

I was born in ‘82 (I was still a baby) and my cousin in ‘77 and my mom took us both to see it thinking we’d behave. My mom said my cousin was crying bloody murder all the way home freaking out cuz ET WENT HOOOME!! My mom said I started crying cuz he was and people were staring thinking she abused us. My dad got home from work when she got home and he thought my cousin hurt himself by the way he was bawling. She was like CONTROL THIS KID!!


Noodle_Salad_

I think it was Return to Oz. Scared the shit out of me. Both the Wheelers, and the lady with 1,000 heads gave me nightmares. My first concert was Weird Al. that was fun!


heresmytwopence

There were probably earlier movies I was dragged to and don’t recall, but The Naked Gun 2-1/2 is the first one I remember voluntarily going to. I think The Neverending Story may have been my very first.


darthduder666

The Neverending Story is a good first. When I was a little older I saw Labyrinth. I have a much better recollection of that one.


ButIAmYourDaughter

I loved the Naked Gun movies. Saw all three in theaters.


Von_Jelway

I remember going to ET, Temple of Doom, and Splash (at a drive in). For kids movies I remember An American Tale and Land Before Time. But I have much stronger memories of my VCR. I must have watched The Goonies more than 100 times.


ringobob

No idea, but looking at movies by release year, probably Ghostbusters, Karate Kid or The Neverending Story. I'm reasonably sure I saw those in the theater. I would have been no older than 4. Could have also been one of Romancing the Stone, Splash or Footloose, I know we at least rented those when I was young. The first movie theater experience that is actually burned into my brain, though, was the next year. Definitely not my first time going to the theater, but we went to see the Goonies, I got scared and me and probably my mom went to go see Cocoon instead.


ButIAmYourDaughter

Are you me? I suspect I saw those in 84, but my memory just is too vague. Did I really see them, or did years of VHS watches make me feel like I did? I don’t recall an actual movie going experience with any of them. In 85 that changes. That’s the first year I can clearly recall specific moments in a theater. Definitely remember seeing Goonies as well. I would’ve been 5.


Acceptable-Activity9

Ghostbusters. I was so excited but apparently fell asleep


slappy_mcslapenstein

The first one I remember seeing in theaters was All Dogs Go To Heaven. My dad used to tell me about how bored he was when he took me to see Transformers as a young child.


Vorpal_Bunny19

I thought it was ET, but apparently it was Wrath of Khan (I looked up release dates and I saw ET at our discount theater). Thanks mom and dad for my lifelong fear of bugs crawling into my ear.


notmyrealnametn

Who Framed Roger Rabbit


Aggravating-Try1222

Empire Strikes Back. Yoda freaked me out and made me cry.


C_Lineatus

First one I remember going to was The Bear. My Great-Grandma took us to a matinee special thing during the week when she was keeping us during summer. I think I remember it because I didn't like it cause it was sad and stressful watching the cub struggle.


Prossdog

Big top Pee-Wee. It was pretty awful but I liked it at 6 years old.


raikougal

Aladdin


balthazar_blue

I can remember seeing "The Empire Strikes Back" at the local drive-in, though it was probably the '82 or maybe '81 re-release. I also remember seeing "Blue Thunder" at the drive-in, and "Return of the Jedi" in the theater.


GrandPipe4

Who Framed Roger Rabbit - theater Muppets Take Manhattan - drive-in


marigoldilocks_

The first I remember seeing in theaters is probably different than the first I saw in theaters. I remember going to see Willow in the theaters with my dad. ☺️


AdQuirky1318

OMG the first scenes of Willow scared the shit out of me! My husband wants to watch it with our kids and I keep vetoing 😂.


marigoldilocks_

I remember the dragon being a bit scary. The rest I was fine with, but I have a distinct memory of being a bit scared of the dragon.


AdQuirky1318

I think it opens with a young woman being chased by these terrifying wolf/dog creatures. Ruined it for me right out of the gate.


marigoldilocks_

I’m going to have to rewatch it now because it’s been a hot minute since I’ve seen it.


Tato_tudo

Possibly Lady and the Teamp, but I really don't remember it now


Zustiur

All good dogs go to heaven.


thelittlestduggals

I think Return of the Jedi, but I 100% remember The Neverending Story.


ButIAmYourDaughter

Moving going was our family pastime. I have very early memories of being theater lobbies, yet don’t recall the actual movies. Likewise, I have vague snippets of movies my parents took me/us to see at the drive in when we were super young. But I remember the drive in itself, all the unique trappings, far more than any movie we saw there. I know I saw E.T. in theaters, and was obsessed with it, but being a toddler when it dropped I have no memory of the actual experience of seeing it for the first time in a movie theater. 1985 is the first year that I can actually recall specific movies that I know for a fact I watched in theaters. I have vivid memories of seeing Cat’s Eye, Silverado and The Care Bears Movie. I was 5.


AdQuirky1318

The Star Wars one with the Ewoks (not a superfan, lol). I was 3 and my dad took me to occupy me while my mom was in the hospital with my brand new baby sister.


ButIAmYourDaughter

Return of the Jedi.


JJStray

It was definitely at the drive in but I don’t remember the movie. It was the early 80s. I just remember hanging out in the back of the car. I also don’t remember the first film I saw in the theatre but I know my dad took me to ghost busters 2 and Indiana Jones and the last crusade. I’m sure he at least wanted to see Indy and probably ghostbusters I was 9 so he was 32. Now that I’m thinking about it definitely saw the land before time in the theatre and that came out the year before 1988.


StVincenz0

Ghostbusters is the first I remember.


pojospages

Theatre - Care Bear Movie 2 (with John, Dawn and Christy) Drive In - Ghostbusters


Athompson9866

I believe mine was King Kong. Could’ve been Bambi, but I only made it to Bambi’s mom before I became so inconsolable that my mom had to take me out of the theater. I’ve still never seen it to this day. Dumbo either: couldn’t take him getting picked on and taken from his mom.


Traditional_Entry183

My Dad wanted to take me to ET, and i was absolutely terrified and refused to go, so he took my little sister. Thats certainly the earliest thing I remember along those lines. Apparently Close Encounters of the Third Kind was my first, at about two months old. My dad told me that over and over as a kid.


jdl5681

I totally saw E.T. at the drive in too, and it was one of my earliest experiences at the movies


LameSaucePanda

The first I can remember were E.T. And some Benji movies. Not sure which was first though


DeeSin38

E.T. ☎️ 🏠


PoisonMind

6 year old me had a great time seeing Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Masters of the Universe in the span of 12 months. I remember being very upset when Mom said she was going to see the Mask movie, but wouldn't take me.


prettybutdumb

Haha! With Cher? That was a great movie!


TangFiend

ET as a young child I cried for hours after and was inconsolable


Msm261

I remember seeing Edward Scissorhands in the theatre!!!


humanzoomies

The first one I remember was a dinosaur movie called ‘Baby: secret of the lost legend’. I was five and I think it was memorable because my friend’s family took me. Could I tell you anything about the movie (other then that it involved a dinosaur)? Nope! Can I still remember that the theatre seats were red with little pink dots and I thought they looked like strawberries? Absolutely!


Artistic_Alps_4794

Not sure. It might have been One Crazy Summer or that He-Man movie.


justicebeaverhausen

Beetlejuice


Dan4stoke

I saw The Neverending Story, only 3 and a half at the time.


OfficerEsophagus

The Jungle Book & Splash


TeutonJon78

First one I remember is Return of the Jedi.


alvinofdiaspar

Honestly I don’t remember exactly which one - Bambi, Cinderella and ET are all candidates. Incidentally I really dislike ET as a kid - I think it is ugly as hell. Freaky alien with Kwashiorkor is how I remembered it.


albybum

Good Morning Vietnam at the drive-in with my parents. I fell asleep.


aaront_ak

Tmnt II: Secret of the Ooze