It’s 12:00 a.m. A huge throng of people mass around a dark movie theatre. Many of them are wearing costumes of some kind or another, and some have been there for hours. They are tired and hungry, but an energy of anticipation bristles in the air.
This is a typical scene outside of a movie theatre right before amidnightpremier of a major blockbuster. It can feel a lot like a cult gathering – and in many ways it is.
Midnigh tpremieres attract a very particular type moviegoer. People who are attached enough to a particular film they just have to see it at midnight must be willing to jump through some hoops.
The first of these challenges is finding tickets. When theatres expect large crowds on opening night, they start selling tickets far in advance. The crowd for midnight movies is small enough that competitions for tickets rarely reaches the cutthroat scalping that can be seen at some major concerts, but would be moviegoers have to be careful because threatres often do sell out.
Once a fan gets a ticket, he or she has to be willing to sacrifice a full night’s sleep.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One” was on a Thursday night, and I got home at 4:30 a.m. in the morning. I got two hours of sleep that night, but I have no regrets,” said Emily Garber ’13, “It was totally worth it.”
This sentiment is shared by many who have been to at leastone midnightrelease. Despite the hassle of finding tickets, dressing up, and missing even more sleep, the atmosphere of these events makes it irresistible to fans.
“The atmosphere made it so different, everyone was waiting and there was so much excitement. I had conversations with other Potter fans, even though I’d never met them. It brought so many people together,” said Shira Gitlin ’13 who went to see ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II.’” It was just a great big nerdy fan club,” added Rachael Shapiro ’12, another Harry Potter fan.
“Everyone in the audience knew every little detail of the book, and we were waiting for it in the movie. We all laughed, screamed, and cried at the exact same times – all the right times,” said Shapiro.
Some believe that midnight premieres are worth the effort because they condense all the energy of an entire fan base into a single showing.
“I didn’t want to pass up my last chance to see amidnightshowing of a Harry Potter movie. It was the last time I could sit in a theater with my robes and wand while surrounded by dozens of people that are just as crazy about the series as I am,” said Phoebe Corde ’13.
Excitement is continuing to build for upcoming midnight releases, even outside of the movie theatre. The highly anticipated “Hunger Games” movie releases on March 23, and an entire Myth and Bible class is planning to go to itsmidnightrelease, and the Westport Public Library is hosting its own rendition of the “Hunger Games” to celebrate the new movie.
As the success of past releases and the steadily increasing excitement for the “Hunger Games” indicate, midnight movies will continue to be a special event for Staples students.
