Theatre can be traced back to the Ancient Greek civilization of Athenian in the 6th century BC. People would sit or stand on stone benches in arenas and amphitheatres to watch greek playwriting. This is where acting was creating. Slowly but surely, now in the 21st century, theatre entertainment is at a click of a button. Digitization has transformed theatre in arenas into films in theatres. Now, theatre is at the convenience of our own homes, with streaming platforms releasing new content daily. The more we step into the future, the more it seems that entertainment gets more accessible and more remote. It used to be an event. My grandma tells me about getting all dressed up on a Friday night to go watch a movie with friends. Whereas I watch movies as I get ready to go out with friends. Theatres back then cost 50 cents for admission, whereas now it can cost upwards of 15 dollars.

Is the quality of film going up or down? Movies can be produced at a faster rate than ever before, and in my opinion, that can sometimes hinder quality. That being said, the experience factor has never been higher. Theatres are trying to find new innovative ways to watch movies. We have UltraAVX, D-Box, and now VIP movies, which gives you food and alcohol options.

I was always a big fan of movie theatres. Throughout Elementary school, going to the theatre happened once in a blue moon, and it usually needed to be a special event. The theatres weren’t so extravagant back in my youth. If I was lucky enough to see a movie, there were two theatres I visited, Park Theatre on Cambie Street and the Oakridge Mall cinema. Both theatres had a long history, Park Theatre opened in 1941 and Oakridge cinema opened in 1985. Park theatre is still running, but Oakridge theatre closed in 2012.

Oakridge theatre was apart of our youth. Before eating cake and opening up gifts, we would often watch a movie. Just outside the entrance was a row of payphones. When you set foot into the theatre, there were a few booths for buying a ticket. All the future and present movies playing were postered on either side of the wall. A staircase separated the buying booths from the main area, where you could buy your candy and popcorn. Like every theatre, corresponding movies were advertised on different doors around the main area. My friends and I always tried to enter higher rated movies. We would nervously walk up to the teller and ask for the ticket, waiting to see if they would ask for our age. Usually, they did, and usually, they refused us entrance. Sometimes we had our parents there to usher us in. Our parents thought little of PG13 movies. They would try to reassure the teller.

For my brother’s 11th birthday, my mom set up a party to go watch RED. We were all very excited, a group of friends going to watch the newest badass movie. We all got to the gate, and my mom told the worker she wanted x amount of tickets for us. Like always, I was looking at the vendor’s expression. We were usually by ourselves while trying to sneak into an older rated movie, but this time we had my mom, so it was bound to be successful. Like clockwork, the vendor asked our age, and my mom responded correctly. The vendor then told my mom that we weren’t allowed to watch it alone. My mom disliked theatres, especially “cheap action movies,” so she would need to indulge in the entertainment if we had any shot of watching it. My mom was adamant about not going in and insisted that giving her consent was good enough. We considered other movies, but they were all so lame, and we were already anticipating watching RED. My mom, not wanting to trample on our dreams, she sat far away from us and watched RED in agony.

Back in 2009, one movie, in particular, broke the gates grossing $2.7 billion. The fusion between 3-D and CGI made this movie the talk of the town. I was nine years old and had never experienced a proper 3-D movie in theatres. My mom had seen multiple glowing reviews and surprisingly suggested we go watch Avatar on the weekend. Thankfully the movie was playing nearby at Park Theatre. It was the first time I experienced putting on glasses for a movie. You can smell the carpet when you walk into the Park Theatre. I think this rustic sense gives the place character. Park Theatre has always been small, with only one screen, one concession, and usually only a couple of workers. I don’t think I had seen the place so packed before Avatar. It was unlike any other experience.

Two weeks ago, I had tickets to Cineplex, two entries, two sodas, and one popcorn. I invited my friends to tag along and watch a movie. The plan was to go eat and then head downtown to Scotiabank. Unfortunately, we were running late, so we looked up the movie we wanted to watch, and to our surprise, it was playing at Park Theatre. The events of the night turned unexpected. We tried going into a bar to get food. We were caught off guard when we realized it was Stand Up Comedy Night. I had always wanted to go to a stand-up bar, so I was pleasantly surprised to have stumbled into one. The show was going to end just as the movie was starting, and the bar was neighbouring Park Theatre. After the awesome comedy show, we stumbled into Park Theatre. The nostalgia hit me, only two workers were there, and we bought our snacks from the small concession before walking in. Only us and a handful of other people were there. We could pick our own out of the sea of seats. Just like I remembered, the theatre was cold, carpet laid the floor, and the floor matched our seats. I couldn’t have been happier.