We Need to Bring Back Movie Theater Designs from the 90s and 2000s

Going to the movie theater is one of favorite things to do. I’ve mentioned it many times at this point, but usually it will be a time for myself and I love having that time. I always try to go once a week to catch whatever is playing. This works especially with having a regal unlimited subscription and being able to go when I want. As I go to the theater quite often, I’ve seen the local Regal I go to go through a huge renovation like adding recliners and going for the new look that most regals have been aiming for. I do feel quite mixed about these new designs they have been going for. While the inside of the theaters can look quite nice, the outside of the theaters do look bland and nothing feels special about it. It just feels like it blends into everything else which is not how I remembered seeing theaters like this as a kid. If there’s something I’m always going to have a soft spot for, it’s with the way that theaters looked in the 90s and 2000s.

I’m currently writing something about my childhood theater that I used to go to which is something you’ll see in the next week, but as I was writing about it, something that came to mind is how special the look of theaters felt back then. The theater I’m writing about was built in the early 2000s so it was a time when theaters had this special look to them that brings a sense of nostalgia thinking about it now. It was this that made me think of other theaters that I went to in my childhood and how they all looked as well. In general, l think there’s something about the look of things from the 90s and 2000s that felt special and really felt like creativity was at an all time high. Nowadays, everything feels so soulless and corporate. Everything feels like it blends right in with each other. But back then, it felt like this wasn’t a concern at all and theaters were doing this exact thing.

Neon lights, neon signs, colorful carpet, murals, movie theater times at the front of the theater, and arcade machines basically describes what these theaters would look like back then. Thinking about it right now brings me back to being a kid and walking into a theater. It felt like entering a space ship with the smell of buttery popcorn filling up the place. It’s interesting to think about now because I do wonder what was the reason for going for this type of design for the theaters. Maybe it was just to put as much color and lights into the design as possible to attract people in, but whatever it was, it worked like a charm. If you went to any multiplex during this time, it was a guarantee that it was going to have this type of design toward it. Even the cheaper theaters like the dollar theater (something that deserves its own write up in the future) always had a coziness to it despite being on the cheaper side. As I look up pictures of these theaters, it transports me back to this time. Maybe the movie itself wouldn’t be that great, but no matter what, it always felt magical entering the theater and I think credit is due to the designs of them.

It wasn’t just the inside of theater that had a fun design, the exterior look of the theaters would make their presence feel seen from all around the area. The childhood theater I would go to had these fake movie posters surrounding the building that made it feel like this theater was plopped from a different dimension which I think made it stand out. It felt like whoever was designing theaters did not care about the look in rest of the area and did whatever the hell they wanted which I love. Honestly a lot of buildings were doing this similar thing It’s something that does feel missing nowadays when a theater gets a new renovation. It just blends in with everything else and doesn’t standout among the crowd. But at that time, it felt like any multiplex stood out among the crowd.

I think what made these theater designs so special is how full of life they felt. I’ve talked about when I watch a movie in a theater, it does feel like getting transported to a different world for those couple hours, but back then, when I stepped foot into a theater, it felt like I entered a new world the moment I did enter the theater. Of course being a kid at this time, these type of things are always going to have nostalgic lenses attached to them, but I do look at pictures from these theaters at the time and you can see the color and spectacle that were filled with them. Now when you go to a theater that’s been renovated, while it looks nice and all, it is lacking the charm it once had and it’s just something that has become victim of the minimalism world we live in. I looked back at some of theaters I used to visit and most of them have had this identity stripped away. Even though most of these designs are gone now, it’s always going to be the first thing that pops into mind when I think of theaters.

Theater designs were just in a different ball game in the 90s and 2000s. The childhood theater that I’m currently writing about recently closed and it took me back to this time when theaters had a unique aesthetic attached to it. I really wish more theaters nowadays would be willing to be a little wacky with their designs. It’s not like all theaters have completely rubbed off this design though. There’s still a decent amount of theaters you can go to that still have remnants of those times. Plus if you go to an independent theater, they most certainly have a unique design to them. But as theater chains like Regal and AMC are renovating their theaters, this look is fading away. I can only hope that those theaters still standing from that time get to keep their unique designs for as long as possible. It brings back a time when theaters brought out a little creativity and I think in the times that we do live in, it’s something we need right now. Doesn’t matter how much time passes. This aesthetic for theaters will forever have a special place in my heart.