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Mumsnet users share their cinema memories with ODEON

341 replies

JustineBMumsnet · 17/12/2018 16:08

NOW CLOSED

Whether you go often or it’s a rare treat, trips to the cinema often leave memories in a way watching a film at home rarely would. ODEON would like to hear about your memories of going to the cinema - either when you were a child or when taking your own children now.

Chris Bates, Commercial Director at ODEON UK & Ireland said: “The festive period is a special and magical time for the whole family, and what better way to celebrate than by enjoying one of the most highly anticipated films of the year – Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns. Across our cinemas, we’ve been busy sprinkling a little bit of extra magic on the cinema-going experience – including live performances from magicians, decorating our foyers, and a special Magic Mix deal on food & drink. Tickets to see the return of everyone’s favourite nanny are available to book now and we can’t wait to welcome guests through our doors to watch this truly magical film with ODEON."

Do you remember a particular film? Perhaps you have memories of a family member laughing so loudly it was embarrassing? Maybe you remember going without your parents for the first time? What are your favourite memories of taking your own children to the cinema?

All who post their memories below will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

Mumsnet users share their cinema memories with ODEON
OP posts:
bikerclaire · 19/12/2018 11:25

I remember going with 2 friends to see Arachnophobia on a saturday afternoon, we were 13 I think and it was a "12" film. Some younger kids tried to get in but were turned away and we felt really grown-up! Anyway we loved the film and it was a great day, being kids, doing kids things and just hanging out.

cpjoli · 19/12/2018 11:33

On my second date with my now husband we walked into the cinema screen. The film was on which I thought was odd but neither of us said anything ....we say and watched....it was thewrong screen, film time etc but we were both to polite to say err is this right. We left hysterically laughing as we both said at the same time...I think this is wrong as the credits rolled. We'd watched taken 3 instead of what we were meant to be watching. It's now our go to film when we're bored and always laugh about that disastrous date!

fatgirlrunning · 19/12/2018 11:33

My earliest memory of going to the cinema was the ABC cinema in my home town. We saw Snow White and I was so excited. We queued for tickets at the little booth and then chose sweets from the concession stand. I remember picking a little box of fruit pastilles. Anyone else remember them being in boxes?

It all felt so magical, we didn't go to the cinema often (or "the pictures" as we called it) as we didn't have lots of money.

I hope my children remember their cinema trips just as clearly and with the same nostalgia.

I've attached a photo of the old cinema which later joined up with Odeon to make a larger cinema further down the road.

Mumsnet users share their cinema memories with ODEON
anitagreen · 19/12/2018 11:46

I can remember going with my mum and siblings to see spy kids the movie and it was amazing, then the cinema was a right treat and we could only go maybe once a year as things was so tight for us, but we enjoyed it and now my kids loving going to the £1 movie mornings we have in our local one now

m0jit0 · 19/12/2018 12:40

When we were little we would always go to the cinema in the school holidays as a bit of a treat. When I was a bit older I often used to go with friends after school on a Friday as it was just a short walk away. It was the first taste of independence!!
Nowadays I find the cinema an expensive outing but we did take our daughter to several of the baby screenings at our local independent cinema in the new born days. Went to see it's a wonderful life this time last year with 3 friends and our babies and we were the only ones in, it was super, like our own private screening! Alas she is now a very lively toddler now so the cinema outings will have to go on the backburner again for a while.

DrZoidbergsTentacles · 19/12/2018 12:46

We went to a screening of Trolls, and i've never seen my kids faces light up, quite the way they did when all the music kicked off - it was incredible - they were dancing and all the other kids at the screening were up and dancing too - it was like proper audience participation!

asuwere · 19/12/2018 13:12

I take my DC to the cinema regularly, we generally go to the cheap kids showings. We all love seeing a movie on the big screen. :)

MyFullTimeJob · 19/12/2018 13:52

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mollysmammy · 19/12/2018 13:54

The first film I saw was 'The Hunchback Of Notre Dame'. I was about seven, my Dad was away on business in Cambridge and took me and my Mum for the stay. Whilst he was at work, my Mum took me to the cinema, later we went to Woolworths and she treated me to the Emsmeralda doll Smile

sharond101 · 19/12/2018 13:55

I remember one of my first dates with me
My now husband watching the matrix. I didn't understand it all. I asked some questions after thinking I was being subtle however he quickly informed meor was set inside a computer which made me even more confused and I felt very stupid.

MouseRatFan · 19/12/2018 14:45

My dad would take myself and siblings to the cinema every new years eve. In the afternoon and we would be allowed as much pic and mix as we wanted.... A rare treat!
We would go late in the afternoon as it was just getting dark and the Christmas lights in the city were all on. It just felt so magical and grown up!
I don't have many nice memories of time with my dad but that is one. I think it was the fact he kept the tradition up every year. I don't even remember the films, just the smell of the popcorn in the cinema foyer and the feeling when the seats would tip up.
feeling quite emotional now!

Pineapplepassion · 19/12/2018 14:56

My first film was ET the trip was for my cousins birthday, she was two years older than me and I was a bit scared of the dark. My Dad sat and held my hand for the whole movie and we shared a box of mint cream poppets. The last couple I dropped and heard them roll away under the seats.
I'm pretty sure I had to sit on my coat to be high enough to see properly, luckily these days there are booster seats for little ones.
A great memory and I've loved ET ever since.

WeeMadArthur · 19/12/2018 15:09

I remember going to see Fantasia with my Mum and brother. I was spellbound by the Magicians Apprentice and the ballet dancing ostriches and hippos. I had never seen anything more captivating, it was so exciting. When we got out of the cinema my Mum turned to my brother and said she had never been so bored and he agreed! I couldn’t believe we had watched the same movie and had such a different response to it!

ikltownofboothlehem · 19/12/2018 16:24

Apparently the first film I was taken to see was Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs (on a re release) when I was about 4. My folks told me I stood on my seat shouting 'DON'T EAT THE APPLE! DON'T EAT THE APPLE!' and brought the house down.

I also went to see Flash Gordon and the film broke down halfway through the tilting table fight. We all got a free choc ice.

Going home we always got a bag of chips from the chippy next door and ate them out of the paper as we walked.

SoftBlocks · 19/12/2018 17:55

I remember getting the train from our village to the nearest city to watch Star Wars ( the first, ‘70s one) when it came out. I was blown away by how it looked, it was so different to any science fiction or space stuff I’d seen before.

I used to like the Pearl and Dean music and the local restaurant adverts.

wannabestressfree · 19/12/2018 18:04

My first trip as a child to the cinema was on the double decker bus to watch Superman. I was blown away as going to do anything was a real treat and it involved a journey, snacks that weren't 'usual', being allowed pop and a huge screen. When I recently watched the same film I can't believe how far we have come on with special effects....

I have always enjoyed taking my sons to the cinema but there was a time it was prohibitively expensive- especially with snacks and other bits (don't even talk about pic n mix it once cost more than the tickets!) but I have found recently that the price has come down, I have disabled CEA cards and there are generally offers.

I have also liked the fact I can find autism friendly events for films that I think might be too much sensory wise eg avengers. The same goes for for 'alternative' cinemas If I don't fancy a massive screen/ ears blown out etc. My local very small cinema has a piano player and black and white films. They also involve local youths in picking films for events.

Anyway I have harped on long enough.... :)

CMOTDibbler · 19/12/2018 18:10

Until I was 17, the only cinema I went to was the little community run one in our town. The first film I saw was Star Wars, and it was amazing to me.

JC4PMPLZ · 19/12/2018 18:30

The Gaumont cinema near my house, when I was growing up. It was a beautiful 1930s building, much declined. We would see rats scurrying in there. Still loved it. Saturday morning pics were fabulous, shown in a loop, giving meaning to the phrase Isn't this where we came in. There was Children Club that we went to regulsrly. When a little older it was slapping on make up to get into X films and enduring the B movies. Makes me feel ancient but it wasn't so long ago, was it? Now a bus station is on the site.

Soozin · 19/12/2018 18:31

I didn't have an Odeon in the town where I grew up so we would take the rain from my home town of Paisley the few miles into Glasgow where there was an Odeon and a few other cinema's in the city. In my town the cinema only had one screen so if what you wanted to see was not on or the cinema's filed up before you got to the front of the queue then you would have to come back another day. I remember being so upset as a child lining up to see Superman on the big screen and having the door closed before we got to the front of the queue. I must have been about 7 and my Aunt who took me was only 16 and would often take me to the cinema as a way to go on dates with young men (boys) and telling my Gran and Mum that She 'wanted to take me out for the day' when she was just wanting to go on dates and get a shot on the back row . I would always be the first to tell on her between my brother and I. I loved it when we got the train to Glasgow to go to the Odeon. It was like a big adventure to me as a kid. It was only a few miles and in and off the train in 15 mins. The Odeon was so huge to me having more than 1 screen was brilliant to me and I always wanted to watch 1 movie after the other being so young. I'm sure if I did I'd have been fast asleep half way through the 2nd due to all the excitement. felt so big and adventurous and we even got to go to Macdonalds after as we didn't have one in my town till years later.

We still don't have an Odeon in Paisley but we have another multi screened cinema that is probably the same (and a few Macdonalds)

OrdinaryGirl · 19/12/2018 18:52

I remember seeing ET at the Odeon in Manchester eleventy-billion years ago. 😳
It was the first film I ever saw in a cinema and I can still remember the big red seats.

One of my favourite bits about going to see a film is staring at the person I've come to see it with and singing along quietly but meaningfully with the Pearl & Dean jingle.

BA-BA BA-BA BA-BA BA-BA bababa
BA-BA BA-BA BA-BA BA-BAAAAAAAA BA

sarat1 · 19/12/2018 19:08

I have two favourite memories from my childhood, both with my dad; Jurassic Park blew us both away, and watching Mrs Doubtfire around the time that my parents were getting divorced.

Ashhead24 · 19/12/2018 19:13

We all did the summer holidays Saturday morning cinema club one year. I watched Lost in Space every week for 6 weeks. It was brilliant!

Cataline · 19/12/2018 19:56

I remember when I was very young, being given the choice to see either 'Pinocchio' or 'Return to Oz' at the cinema.

Having loved 'The Wizard of Oz' I excitedly chose the sequel.

After the Wheelers made their first appearance, I can remember hiding behind my own hands sobbing 'I should've chosen Pinocchio!'

Unfortunately, the experience has left me still classifying that film as the most terrifying I've ever seen and I've never been able to watch it since!

JellySlice · 19/12/2018 20:00

When I was about 5, DM would drive my big brother and me to the local cinema, give DB money for the tickets and some sweets, and leave us there.

It was a rather fabulous Art Deco cinema, and had once been the largest cinema in Europe.

We'd watch the films, eat our sweets, and go back down the stairs to the exit, where mum would be waiting for us in the car.

But during the film the building would change Shock Somehow we would end up coming out of the cinema on a different road, in the dark, and the huge cinema would have shrunk down to a small cinema. This never happened when DF took us to the cinema and watched the film with us!

What I didn't realise for a good few years was that the cinema had a rather less grand entrance and a side street, which was where DM would pick us up, whereas DF would walk with us, not drive, so we always went in and out of the main entrance with him.

I swear I thought my DB had some kind of cinema superpower!

Treadlightly · 19/12/2018 20:13

The first film I went to see at the cinema was Mary Poppins! I must have been about 5 & I went with my mum. A trip to the cinema was a rare treat when I was little & I remember how excited I was

I can't wait to take my 2 kids to see the new Mary Poppins film, we're going on a special Christmas trip to see it next week!! We usually go to see a film every few months. Even when the kids were really small we'd go to baby showings & I remember a few trips to see peppa pig & Rastamouse 😀

I love going to see scary films too! The most memorable was probably seeing the exorcist at a special midnight Halloween event! 🙀