Memories of seeing the films in theaters?

[Pvt. Hicks]

What was it like back then, seeing some of the A/P films? Big crowd? Overall satisfaction? Anything interesting or exciting? It could be any of the films.

[SM]

Aliens just blew me away.  All the high tech stuff with the relentless action for the last 45 minutes was like mana from heaven for a 14 year old, and it stayed with me for years after.  I had some clips on tape from a movie review show that I played over and over to friends who'd missed it at the theatre, while we waited months and months for it to come out on video.

Alien3 was kinda surreal.  For the first time I'd read the novelisation before the film came out, and was disappointed - in a juvenile way - that they hadn't used the story from the comic series to continue on after Aliens.  I read portions of the book over and over to make sure I'd read them right - when Hicks and Newt were killed and then the last page when Ripley dies.  I was completely shocked, and, as I said, disappointed.  But when I walked out at the end of Alien3, I got it, and felt it was much more in keeping with the previous films than the more gung-ho comics.  Some of the effects were clunky, but overall I loved the film.

Resurrection was just great fun.  I watched it about 2 months before general release in a cinema chockoblock with sci-fi fans, who loved it.  At the end a friend said "Well that made up for Alien3".  i watched it again when it was on general release with another friend and she thought it was okay, but thought the Newborn was too funny to take seriously.  I still really dug on it and picked up a bootleg VCD as soon as I was able.

[Pvt. Hicks]

"I watched it about 2 months before general release in a cinema chockoblock with sci-fi fans, who loved it."

Where was this?

For me, I've seen 5 out of the 8 in the theater.

(In order)

Alien: Resurrection when I was around 4. Obviously I don't remember much of it, but remember looking at the pictures in the newspapers prior to release and was so excited to see an Alien film in theaters.

AvP I saw either twice or three times in the cinema. I wasn't a hater of it back than as I was just a kid, but now it comes to realization. My friends and I biked to the cinema, me being the most siked. I was mad about it being PG-13 I remember, but thought it was cool that I could see it without an adult. We went in half an hour early, I was very excited. I went up and down the aisles asking people who they wanted to win, including some guy reading the novelization who was kind of annoyed. Overall I remember being shocked at how short it was but thought it "decent". I guess I was just unwilling to accept that THAT was what I waited all these years. (As a kid I kept rewinding the Alien skull scene in Predator 2. )

Alien(DC) when it came out my dad and I immediately saw it. I remember it being very surreal seeing it in the theaters. For some reason I can't remember it much. Probably because I didn't appreciate the quality of it back then, being a dumb kid.

Alien and Predator I saw at some festival a few months back, along with some AvP-R clips. Boring audience, but I savored every second I saw both of those on the screen. Didn't blink once. It was a huge screen, and was immensely amazing.

AvP-R-Left me with an empty feeling inside. A very "Is THAT it?" kind of feeling. I remember it was opening day, and the theater was very packed. I remember wishing it was longer.

Now all I need to see are, Aliens, Alien 3, and Predator 2.

[SM]

Where was this?

In Melbourne.  We got Resurrection just after Christmas 1997/ early 1998 from memory.  The local sci-fi fan club arranged a screening in November, which I think was around the time it was released in the US.

Never bothered with going to watch AvP shite in the cinema.  Wanted to go see the Alien DC, but it only had a limited run and I never had the time or money.  Seen Alien a few times on the big screen, but not on initial release.

[Uncanny Antman]

Resurrection was just great fun.  I watched it about 2 months before general release in a cinema chockoblock with sci-fi fans, who loved it."

Yeah, me too.  Sounds like there's every chance we saw the same screening. 




As for the others, I've rarely come out of a cinema and felt such a buzz across the entire audience as with Aliens.  You could see it on everyone's faces...they'd just been blown away.

I came out of Alien 3 so conflicted.  I thought the film was beautiful, but felt utterly betrayed by the storyline.  It wasn't until the VHS that I began to discover that there was a pretty damn good film hiding under the red veil I'd originally seen it through.  The audience echoed what I was feeling, to a certain extent.  There was a lot of puzzled looks, from what I remember.

[SM]

Same when I saw Alien3.  The general reaction seemed to be "Oh... um... okay."  Not out and out hostility, but not positivity either.  I think a lot people took it as a real kick in the guts with Ripley dying at the end.

I remember the Alien3 trailer aired with the Aliens SE a few days before it was released, and it got me really pumped.  Final product - not so much.

But I'd fallen in love with it enough to shell out $20 for a 2nd hand ex-rental VHS of Alien3 some time later.

[PREDATOR KING]

I dident see them in theaters. 

[Ratchetcomand]

Alien 3 cameout in my lifetime but i was only 1 year old at the time.

The movies i saw in theaters

Alien Resurrection: I was 6 years old at the time and i don't remember that much. My mom took me to see it because my Mom and Dad coun't find a baby siter. I remember seeing the first 6 minutes of the movie then i feel alseep because i was too tried. After the movie i woke up and i ask my mom "How was it". She said "It was cool but very scary". I was gald that i did not see all of it or i would be scared of the movie.

Alien (Director Cut): At the time was not a huge fan but i did like the video games and comics. My mom told me that Alien geting put back in theaters again. I said "Cool" and i wanted to check it out. I saw it and i love it but the new scene in the movie was nothing specail though.

AVP: I saw either twice or three times in the cinema. I saw it the first time in Summer Camp and i like it. The second time i saw it by self because i was bored. I like it back then because i was a fan but not a huge fan like i'm now. After i saw it on DVD, i hated it and i trun it off after the first 20 minutes.

AVPR: I saw it when i came out and i like it. Saw it on DVD and i still like it but not as much. For some reasson i'm slowing disliking the movie everytime i look like at this movie  .

[XenoVC]

The only movies I got a chance to see in Theaters were

Alien: Resurrection,AVP,And AVPR

[gameoverman]

Alien 3:  saw this when I was 10 years old - the only thing I remember was there being this awesome statue of a life-size alien in the foyer of the theatre.  It looked awesome.

Alien Resurrection:  saw this when I was 16 and saw it 8 times.  I absolutely loved it back then - the score and visuals were amazing I thought so I checked out the director's other movies (Delicatessan and The City of Lost Children at the time).  My opinion of A:R has changed since then but I still love it.

Alien DC:  saw this in 2003 when I was 21 or 22.  There was only one other person in the theatre at the time.  I don't remember being that engaged with it at the time for some reason.

AVP:  Saw this in 2004 but wasn't very impressed because I had to wait months for it to be released here and I had already seen it on a crappy bootleg.  My opinion of AVP has changed greatly after AVPR, though.

AVPR:  Saw it on Christmas Day 2007 and liked it the first time but hated the teen scenes.  Second time I saw it liked it even less and now I pretty much consider it the worst of the franchise. 

Predator, Predator 2 and Aliens I haven't seen at the theatre but hope to one day (particularly Aliens).

[Mike’s Monsters]

I hadn't seen any of the films until 2001, of which was Predator 2 on AMC during the Halloween season. That kinda got me into the whole thing...
That had to have been my 9th grade year in school.
I finally caught Predator on the movie channels or something, and became very interested.
During that years spring break, I headed down to California, to Old Town Sacramento to be exact.
There was an arcade there, that was called. "Aliens vs Predator"
BOOM.
Loved the little game.
I was hooked.

I hadn't even seen the Aliens movies yet, but I was in my Dad's face trying to get as much knowledge out of him as possible that whole week down in Cali... I learned about the creatures, but still, really didn't know what they were, or looked like, besides the arcade game.
I remember the covers for the movies though...
I always knew they were scary movies, cause frankly... The movie covers kinda creeped me out. *but now they are masterpieces in my opinion*
Finally, the day we got home from the trip, I forced my dad to drive down the the local rental store, and rent Alien, unfortunately no DVD, just VHS. We settled with that...
I thought it was the best film ever made, next to a little film, about a big shark...
From that day on, I was in love with the creatures.

2 years later, we had a re-release of the film that started it all.
And I saw it on Halloween. One of the best nights I have experienced in a movie theater.
Mind you, I had probably seen the film more times than Paul Anderson. So I knew it like the back of my hand.
The trailer... The trailer played for AvP. The first time we had all seen it, and the audience of Aliens and Predator fans, cheered, and applauded. And then the film started.
It was great.
Hearing two teenage girls scream, bloody murder, at the top of their lungs, in fear, at the chestburster scene, is a moment I will savor for the rest of my life.

AvP.
Loved it the first time, stood in line with a crowd for 2 hours at the midnight premier... Who was in the front of the line? This guy.
I loved hearing the crowd cheer. The PG-13, wasn't so cool in my book at the time, but I WAS SEEING ALIENS AND PREDATORS ZOMG!!!!
Saw it a second time, and realized, it wasn't as good...
Got it on DVD, fell asleep.
Got the Unrated... Not much better...

AvP:R
Had high hopes... R rating... The friends were pumped... I was nervous...
The film started... And instantly, when I saw how fast everything was moving, and being paced...
I knew I wasn't gonna be happy...
The Aliens designs bothered me, way too much.
The friends loved it.
I wasn't happy, and they said I took it too seriously...
They finally saw my bedroom, and saw my... Collection...
And realized why I was so upset...

I hope to see Predator 2, ALIENS, ALIEN 3, and A:R in the theatres...
That will be the day...

[The Chibi Kiriyama]

Wish I had some of the cool cinematic experiences you guys have had.

Alien vs. Predator...pretty silent, to be honest. There were some groans and sighs with the slow buildup, and a whole bunch of "huh?" once the team-up happened. At the end, it was sort of mixed- some of the younger people and older fans thought the PredAlien was a nice touch, and others just walked out already talkin' smack about it. Personally, I was very confused. A small part of me was happy to see the creatures again, but a big part of me was wondering why the film failed to show me the intensity Aliens captured.

Requiem was not pleasant at all. Most people treated it like a B movie. The kids were listless and looked bored, the teens and adults either laughed or snickered, and there was only one other fan (who seemed to be the only person excited and not confused with the ending). I just pulled my cap over my face and sunk into my seat once the "belly-bursting" happened...it was worse than I anticipated.

[Blood]

I've been watching these films at the cinema since the initial release of Alien, biggest factors in those days were:
1. No internet, so I didn't know too much before seeing them. Coverage was trailers, scenes on TV shows and magazine articles that coincide with the release. No nitpicking first draft scripts a year before anything's filmed.
2. No mobile phones, the target demographic (on the whole) actually watched the films rather than discuss their love lives with their mates all the way through.

[B-Rad G]

I saw Alien 3, A:R, AVP and AVPR in theaters.

[War Wager]

Saw AvPR on it's release day, Januray 18 at 9.30pm. Had mixed reactions on it but disliked it more and more as time went by. Can still the good parts though.