Went to a private screening of "The Walk" tonight...

[MontyCircus]

...by that I mean, we were the only 2 people in the entire theatre! Tonight was the last night and last showing in my town.

Has that ever happened to any of you? An entire theatre to yourselves?

(Also, I wouldn't recommend it. The documentary "Man on Wire" is much better.)

[dardan]

Went to one of the last showings of Marketa Lazarova (4k restoration) where 10/150 seats were filled. I'm sensitive to sounds to the point of those 10 being somewhat too much already. Probably not going back to the theatres for a long time.

[philamental]

I love when that happens! I know some people prefer watching a film with a good crowd, but I prefer a quiet theatre for the 'private screening' feeling you mentioned. For most of my life I could generally only attend screenings held at the most popular times, but since I moved house last year the local cinema is far more accessible to me and I have more options. As a result, I've started going at times that would be less popular such as 6pm on a weeknight when most people are commuting home from work or having their evening meal. Because of this I've had quite a few screenings where there were less than 10 people, and a couple where there were less than 5. The closest I've come to being the only one there was Fury Road 3d on the last week of it's run when I was alone until another couple came in just as the main presentation was about to start. I reckon it's only a matter of time before I have my first true private screening.

[ribcage]

I hate going to the theater on weekends and am a morning person so i frequently go to the first or second showing of the day so near empty theaters are the blissful norm for me.

The only time I've had it utterly empty was when two friends and i went to a special meat loaf event back when bat out of hell 3 came out. It was a lot of concert footage so we went wild and ran all around the place. We even convinced the manager to let us have their poster for the screening since it was one night only and we were the only attendees.

[Pickpocket]

This has only happened to me once and it was the movie Constantine in 2005. Sadly, one of the worst movies I've ever seen so I didn't even get to enjoy the peace and quiet

[MmzHrrdb]

I live in a small town, so this happens all the time. Can't think of an example this year, but when I saw Tomorrowland, Mr. Holmes, and The Walk, there was less than 10 people in the theater (and those were all on their opening weekend, excepting Mr. Holmes). In semi-recent years, empty theater viewings included The Last Airbender (understandable), my second viewing of The Adventures of Tintin, and Pirates! Band of Misfits. I'm sure there are others that I'm just too lazy to recall.

[philamental]

Actually, something I've been occasionally curious about and it fits this thread, what happens to a screening if nobody buys a ticket? I presume they stop the projector, but at what point? 10/15 mins in?

Do they even start the projector if no tickets are sold? Again I presume they would have to in case somebody showed up exactly as the film was due to start.

Anybody know for certain how it works in the cinemas you have visited/worked in?

[ShogunRua]

This has only happened to me once and it was the movie Constantine in 2005. Sadly, one of the worst movies I've ever seen so I didn't even get to enjoy the peace and quiet

For Fast and the Furious 4, there was only me and one Asian dude sitting in the entire theater. This was at a discount $3 theater a few months after the film premiered.

About midway through, the number of people sitting in the theater was cut in half when I decided I would rather get a sandwich from Subway (and I don't even particularly like that place!) than suffer through any more of that shitty movie.

[Daigoro]

Happened to me and my family with the Alex Rider movie. The movie was kind of lame anyway, even for a kid who was into the books.