What big summer blockbusters did you enjoy as a kid?

Child of the 80's over here so for me it was some of the real biggies; Raiders, Empire, The Dark Crystal, E.T., Explorers, Temple Of Doom, The Neverending Story, Back To The Future, Teen Wolf, Short Circuit, Labyrinth, Cocoon, Empire Of The Sun (the first 'grown-up' movie I was taken to), Crocodile Dundee, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Big, Willow, Batman (my god was that an event), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Gods Must Be Crazy, Last Crusade...

 

...it really was a pretty ace decade to be growing up a cinephile that was taken regularly to the local theater.

 

 

Those are just the films I remember being taken to at the cinemas, there were plenty, like your Die Hards, Lethal Weapons or Broadcast News and the like, that I'd discover on VHS home video and TV.

 

I can't tell you what I did yesterday, but I can recall each and every cinema experience with the films I've listed above.

Yeah I can't count Star Wars for example, I may have been one year old in '77 and mum and dad may have set my basinet up vertically against a chair in the front row with them either side, and it may have had all sorts of effects on my 12 month old developing brain (my parents said there wasn't a single peep out of me for two hours - a new record at that time), but at the end of the day, I have no memory of the event. So it can't count. My first cinematic memory is Raiders or Empire.

The earliest blockbuster I remember seeing in the theater is Jaws.  It was pretty well into the run, and my parents had seen it already and deemed it appropriate for me, but I remember little else besides hiding half the time.

 

I remember being in the back seat for a showing of Rocky at a drive-in, and my dad joking during the running montage how he'd have stopped after a block, and my mom adding, "Puking your guts out from the eggs."  Saw Star Wars at that same drive-in.

 

Then once I was older, it was pretty much me and my dad at every opening weekend through most of the 80s.

I vividly remember going to see Jurassic Park with my dad opening day.  He picked me up after school and we went straight to the theater.  He was a HUGE dinosaur nut as a kid, so he was even more pumped for this than me.  The sound system in the theater was phenomenal.  When that T-Rex lets out that first roar after stepping out of the pen, my seat literally shook.  I have never been so terrified in a theater.  EVER. 

 

I was the first in my class to see it, so I got to brag about how awesome it was to everyone, and I felt like THE SHIT because I saw it first.

I said who wants to fucking touch me?!??!?!

*kid touches me* 

 

"Ooooh....."

Star Wars, Empire, Jedi.  Battlestar Galactica (the first movie I saw with a good sound system, I can remember the seats rumbling as Galactica went across the screen).  Raiders, that sticks in my mind as the last film I saw that had an intermission right after Bomber Pat Roach's face hits the fan and the plane blows up).

 

I remember my dad taking me to see Jaws 2 when I must have been stupidly young.

 

I remember seeing a double bill of Every Which Way But Loose and Every Which Way You Can.

 

My mum took me to see Kramer vs Kramer to try and explain my parents divorce (I can DISTINCTLY remember the scene where the kid runs up to Streep and doesn't look back at Hoffman and my mum leaning over and going "you did exactly that".  Thanks.)

 

I can remember the blue haze that used to be in front of the screen because people could smoke in the cinema.

 

The woman that used to stand at the centre before the film started with crappy ice cream and kiaora.

 

Late 70's early 80's cinema is a really visceral memory for me.

Although it was a classic being replayed at a repertory theater, I have to say my first watching of Ben-Hur on the big screen at around the age of 11 or so was pretty phenomenal. That chariot race man...

 

 

Batman was the first major blockbuster that I was excited to go see.  I was watching it and reciting lines along with the movie I remembered from the onslaught of TV spots.

 

Alicia: "You look fine."

Jack: "I didn't ask."
Nooj: "I didn't ask."

 

At school, I kept saying, "C'mere, you gruesome sunuvabitch!  Come t'me!! Nehehehehe!" without knowing what it meant.  Got in trouble for that.

Batman '89 was off the charts as far as anticipation goes. Seriously unprecedented at the time, hell I still remember coming out of a movie in 1988 ffs and seeing this on the wall...

 

 

...by the time the film actually debuted it was no longer a movie, it was a fucking calendar event; toys everywhere, ads everywhere, every company had some sort of Batman tie-in, Princes album was top of the charts and the Batdance was number one. The shit was inescapable.

 

For those of us that never read comics as kids and had the Adam West and Superfriends Batman as our main point of reference, the movie was a fucking revelation anyway but with all the epic hype around it as well? Well, lets just say that there was a whole generation of Batman fans created in 1989, many of which are the reason Nolans films have done so well today.

 

Also, as crazy as it seems now, it was just so damn novel to be seeing a superhero brought to the big screen like that, the only other guy who'd been given that treatment was old Supes. 

CHUD: Origins: HarleyQuinn22

Complete with cartoony adamantium claws for scratching!

 

Summer of 1989. Words cannot describe it's glory, we were so spoiled: The Abyss, Lethal Weapon 2, Ghostbusters 2, Indy 3, Dead Poets Society, The Punisher, UHF, Look Who's Talking, When Harry Met Sally..., Tango & Cash, Uncle Buck, & Do The Right Thing. It feels like just yesterday too.

 

BATMAN was practically the Second Coming. Half of the clothing I owned that year was Batman merchandise. Bats was like The Beatles that year. After months of reading about it in Comics Scene magazine, I was expecting something dark & deadly serious like TDK & was let down by the cartoon-y Burton film (I've since come to love it to bits, though).

Best summer movie experience? Return Of The Jedi (I was 7). No film going experience was as transformative or transporting as an SW film upon it's original release. That big theater, the massive sound. The all-enveloping star field that opens each SW film swallows up the senses & the theater becomes a cinematic cathedral. Those original SW films were religious experiences.

Edited by Art Decade - 2/16/12 at 8:20pm

I was so completely underwhelmed by Batman I saw it twice just to make sure I wasn't in a bad mood the first time.  I wasn't.  Still don't care for the film.

 

Best summer movie experience for me has to be Raiders.  Pre-internet, there was a little hype -- it was Spielberg and Lucas joining forces, after all -- but I don't think anybody was prepared for what unspooled on screens that summer.  Being in audience seeing the swordsman get shot for the very first time?  Magic.

I remember as a kid of the 80's watching Predator through the holes of a blanket. My parents really did not care what I saw growing up. So I was subjected to Robocop, Terminator,  and a lot of Ghostbusters. God I watched a lot of Ghostbusters. My first movie going experience was Ghostbusters 2.

I remember feeling cheated by BATMAN. I was even more irritated by DICK TRACY the following summer, though I've seen clips of the film on television recently and appreciated its style.

 

I did get a kick out of seeing RETURN OF THE JEDI, NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, ROMANCING THE STONE, BACK TO THE FUTURE, THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, and INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE. Hugely enjoyable on the big screen.

It's really all about STAR WARS. I was 7 in 1977, and my parents took me to see it at the Cooper theater (RIP) in Minneapolis. This was one of those old school Cinerama type screens...simply HUGE. We sat in the balcony, and I moved away from my parents and found a spot in the front row of my balcony section. It was almost a religious experience.

I saw several other summer blockbusters in this theater...THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, DANCE WITH WOLVES, THE ABYSS. Too bad they had to tear that theater down to make way for highway 394.

I probably saw the same films as Richard otherwise. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and TEMPLE OF DOOM were quite memorable. I also remember my parents taking me to see THE TERMINATOR when I was 14. My mom loved Arnold and wanted to see it, so she let me experience Linda Hamilton's boobs. Good memories.

Superman II was another really fun theater experience.  Nothing like a big crowd cheering through the whole Metropolis fight, and the moment when Superman begins crushing Zod's hand and the fanfare kicks in brought down the goddamn house.  I remember one of the friends I saw it with standing up and shouting, "Way to go!" at that moment.  What do you want, we were 12.

I'd say the first big theatre memory I can conjure up is Aliens.  Front row seats because the asshole best friend I was with made us late because he was perpetually running behind.  I recall distinctly that my left arm was numb at the end of the movie because of the complete stranger next to me.  She had a death grip on my arm the entire film.  At least she apologized afterwards.

 

And then of course, as I've mentioned elsewhere, Batman.  I recall sitting in the middle of a very crowded theatre with my sister and several of her friends.  She had already seen it once and I had asked her if they showed Bruce's parents being killed and she said they hadn't.  Well, the opening scene I basically yelled at her for lying to me.  She told me to hush and then later on in the film I kinda yelled at her again when they actually did show it.  Then her and her friends, whenever Jack Palance was on screen, kept repeating over and over in that "You're my number one guy!" cadence and voice "Believe it!  Or not!"

 

In between, and I doubt this would qualify as blockbuster, I had begged my sister to take me to see Big.  I remember vivdly the day we were headed to the theatre.  Her first car was a '69 VW Bug and she blew a tire out on the way there and it took us several hours to get someone out to help us and get us home.  I recall sitting in the backseat of her car crying because we missed the film.

Not sure if "summer blockbuster" applies but TERMINATOR 2 was the big one for me. My brother took me to see it the first time and it totally blew my shit away. I then went to see it again, and again, and again...

 

BATMAN is about the first movie I can recall seeing. It was also my first time at the drive-in which made it extra special. I remember it was on a double-bill preceded by POLICE ACADEMY 6: CITY UNDER SIEGE which, as an 8-year-old, I fucking loved.

First two theater experiences were E.T. and Return of the Jedi...obviously both had a huge impact on me.

 

I grew with all the usual suspects: Ghosbtusters, The Indy trilogy, The Thing, Tron, Poltergeist, Dark Crystal, Weird Science, The Breakfast Club, Robocop, Terminator, Predator, Batman, Total Recall.

I'll never forgive my cousins for warning my mom about Jurassic Park being"too scary" for a six year old. I was thisss close to experiencing it on the big screen.

This thread is making me feel old.  But not the oldest.

 

Star Wars is the first movie I saw in theaters, but I don't remember it well.  I don't remember any film before 1980 (when I turned 6), but then I remember them all.  I saw most of the 80/90's blockbusters (sorry to the kids of the 90's - you got f***ed, with only really Jurassic Park as something enduring).

 

Empire Strikes Back

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Superman II

Cannonball Run

E.T.

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan

Grease 2

Return of the Jedi

Wargames

Romancing the Stone

Temple of Doom

Karate Kid

Ghostbusters

Red Dawn

 

My first R-rated film in theaters came when I was 10 - Beverly Hills Cop (1984).  What a great way to start R-rated films.  So from 1985 on.

 

Back to the Future

Rambo II

Rocky IV

Witness

The Goonies

Top Gun

Aliens

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (I saw 3, but don't remember it much)

The Untouchables

Predator

Die Hard

Beetlejuice

 

1989 was the first year I became a fledging cinephile.  I saw my first opening night movie and waited in line for it (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).  First big summer of sequels: ST5, LW2, IJ3.  And Batman.

 

Good times.

I think "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" was the first movie I saw multiple times in the theater. I must've been 8 years old at the time. That movie was magical for me.

 

Backtracking a bit, I vaguely remember going to see "Jedi" during its theatrical run. Funnily enough, I better remember getting the entire set of collector glasses from Burger King, which I still own, than seeing the actual movie.

 

Saw "Transformers: The Movie" in a sparsely populated theater when I was 6. Still remember my absolute shock at Prime's death and my childlike amusement at Spike saying, "Shit."

 

Saw "Die Hard" at a dollar theater with my old man. Even in that dingy venue with its smaller screen and popping sound system, that movie played like no other.

 

I remember seeing "Batman" with my mom in '89. That was the first movie I'd ever spoiled for myself, having read the novelization beforehand. My old man gave it to me after he'd read it and said, "Batman has a plane." That blew my mind at the time. I've been spoiling the shit out of every movie ever since.

 

"Jurassic Park" was another biggie. I had to wait a week after its release to see it because the movie came out the same weekend as my grandparents' 50th anniversary, so we were out of town. Then listening to the other kids at school describing the movie for five straight days was torture. Even worse, I remember the movie didn't come out on VHS until more than a year after its theatrical release.

 

I know it's schlocky, but I still have a soft spot for "Independence Day." I remember seeing it with a high school buddy of mine who's since passed away. The theater was so packed, he had to sit in the row in front of me. So I got to watch the movie in all its alien-punching, jingoistic glory as well as his reaction to it. That'll always be one of my favorite nights out at the movies.

I can still remember my Grandfather taking me to see Total Recall when I was visiting him in Israel. He had an absolute blast, just laughed and laughed at all the ultraviolence. For my 10 year old self, on the other hand, the film coupled with the fact that we sat in the front row was way too much. The moment it was over I ran out and started throwing up on the pavement.

I'm another "Child of Summer '77" here.  Not just Star Wars but The Spy Who Loved Me as well.  

 

Child of the 80s. So, yes, Batman was THE big event Even with all the mentions above, they still don't encapsulate how much of a HUGE deal that film was. And being in a black neighborhood, I can't even count how many guys got high top fades with the Bat symbol shaved in back.

 

Anyway, to this day, its also still the only movie I've ever been turned away from because every seat, every showing was sold out opening night. My mother and I had to go back to the exact same theater the next morning for a special early 9:00am showing. Which was also sold the hell out.

 

The first really huge event movie my parents took me to that I actually remember (supposedly, my first ever movie was Return of the Jedi. I was a year old, sat up, was awake, aware, and dead silent the whole time. The shape of things to come.) was Robocop. I was 5, and would not stop bugging my parents to take me. So, my mother, father, brother and me all went opening night. I was RAPT. Easily the most badass thing I'd ever seen up to that point.

A 5 year old enraptured by Robocop. Awesome.

 

I was just a year old in 1977 when I taken to Star Wars. I slept through most of it but the image of C-3PO on Tatooine with the giant lizard skeleton is my earliest memory in life. I remember not knowing if any of it was real or not.

 

When I was 10,  my church group took us to see Ghost in 1990.  During the love scene, I couldn't stand it anymore so I walked out and went into Total Recall, not prepared for what I was about to see.  Bliss followed.

 

Batman, Jurassic Park, and The Lion King were the big ones for me. They were everywhere and rocked my shit.

Though I wasn't a kid and it wasn't the summer, Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone was the last truly memorable event movie for me. I was in one of the front rows of a theatre PACKED with little kids. I remember settling in, and turning around and just seeing hundreds of kids in fake Harry glasses, wizard robes, and waving toy wands around. Those kids were enraptured with that movie, and everytime a new character would show up they'd fawn and scream the name. "awww HAAAAGRID!!!!", "RONNNN!!!!", "SNAPE, BOOOO!!!"....It was a great experience, and I can't watch that movie anymore with out remembering that night.

 

Independence Day was the first TRUE blockbuster experience I ever had.  I think it's the first billion dollar film.  I was 16 and went to the midnight show, getting there hours early, I wandered into a music store and bought the E.T. soundtrack.  There were other huge films, but there was nothing like the buildup of ID4...not even Batman could match it, because parents and girls weren't interested in that.  EVERYBODY wanted to see ID4 though.  And it was probably the best audience participation experience I've ever witnessed, with the possible exception of The Matrix.  I went to many screenings of ID4 opening weekend and each time the place was packed, people were putty in the filmmaker's hands...it just felt different.  
 

 

ID4 was insane.  It seemed like the crowd was actively rooting the aliens on.  Every attack by the aliens drew massive cheers and applause. 

Yep INDEPENDENCE DAY for me, I was 10 (underage!) and I made my mum take me to see it 7 times. Aliens and massive amounts of destruction was enough for me, I even got The Making Of video that was released on its own, which I think was hosted by Jeff Goldblum at "Area 51"? My mum didn't entirely suffer, she liked the film and still loves Pullman's speech. It took me a few years before I furrowed my brow at the depiction of the rest of the world sitting around waiting for the Americans to come up with something.

 

"Well it's about bloody time! What do they plan to do?"

Ninja Turtles! Oh man. 1st movie I saw twice!

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1985 I was 11 years old - I went to the first Saturday matinee of Back to the Future. I had no idea what the movie was about but my mum told me I might like it because I was done by the same bloke who directed ET (yeah, I know - it wasn't).

To me MJF looked so cool and the whole amplifier scene worked so well for me - I was instantly hooked. But the bit I remember most was the first time the car time-travels. I remember being totally engrossed as the car hurtled towards Marty and Doc - WTF was going to happen?? Then the car lights up and screams and looks cool as fuck and then BOOM!!!! WTF??? FIRE TRAILS!!! WHAT??? WTF???!?!?111??! My mouth just dropped open and I had my first nerdgasm right there and then. Such a vivid memory.

 

Good times only made possible by not being spoiled beforehand about what the fuck this movie was about.

 

Same here. Its easy to forget now - given the TURTLES meagre current pop-culture status - but that movie was a massive deal for a certain age group in 1990. I remember being in an utter state of awe for the entire film, absolutely amazed by the four leads (those weren't costumes dammit!) and thinking Shredder was perhaps the coolest villain ever. And Casey Jones, god damn what young male didn't want to be him?! It was also remarkably violent, which I appreciated very much. The foot clan didn't fuck around, and there was real impact to the punches and kicks.

 

I must have watched that movie at least 50 times on VHS. I had it memorized.

 

I also recall being very, very disappointed with Secret of the Ooze  just one year later.

 

 

 

Twice in the theater? Hell, I saw "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" FIVE times in the theater.

The first film I saw more than once in a cinema was The Hunt For Red October. I was finally old enough to go see films with friends rather than family and I caught that three times in about a week and a half. God damn do I adore that film.

 

Give me a ping Vishilly, one ping only if you pleesh...

I was 12 years old when Star Wars came out.  The perfect age.  Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons (the game) shaped me into the nerd I am today.  Star Wars, all on it's own, turned me into a life long movie theater goer.

 

Oh, and I vivdly remember Death Race 2000 at the Drive-In with my family.  I'm pretty sure that was before Star Wars. 

I have fond memories of the summer of '98. I was 14. First time I made it a point to see everything my local theater got (That I could get into, i.e. not rated R) from the money I earned during my summer job. Religiously caught up in the early days of the online movie-news scene going to Dark Horizons and Corona Coming Attraction daily. The "Meteor movie war" between Armageddon and Deep Impact (I liked both but preferred the latter). The Godzilla hype (To this day, one of the all-time great examples of all-hype, no pay-off. Who could forget this ironic "response" to its hype?). Seeing The Truman Show with a packed audience and everyone accepting a straight-faced Jim Carrey. Walking out of The X-Files and being so indifferent. My old man and I saw Armageddon opening night (He loved it and what stood out was his face turning red from laughing at the There's Something About Mary trailer) and my uncle took me to see Saving Private Ryan and being amazed that I was sitting in an R rated movie.

 

Every Saturday afternoon, I'd get my folks to drop me off at the Mall. Except for one movie, The Mask of Zorro. That trailer played in front of everything I saw leading up to its July release and you couldn't find a more excited kid to see a Zorro movie (and I wasn't even a fan of the character!) For that one, I went to its first screening Friday at noon. Banderas and Hopkins; their individual Zorros, their rapport. Zeta-Jones back when she was still an unknown (and not deemed an annoyance), the action, that James Horner score (Standing alongside Aliens, Bravehart and Star Trek II as his finest work). I ate up that movie. Though I have to admit even as a kid, I thought Matt Letscher wasn't much of a baddie for Banderas.

Edited by FilmNerdJamie - 3/7/12 at 6:30pm

Am I the only gen-xer or older that had Zorro kinda ruined for him by the time Bandaras donned the mask thanks to George frikkin Hamilton and his gay blade???

 

God, I loved The Gay Blade when I was a kid and I haven't watched it since then, afraid to tarnish my fond memories of it.