Well… it almost seemed that way.
Buying tickets online looked the same on the app but, it felt as though I might not have never done it before. How did something become so unfamiliar so quickly? It’s not like we haven’t seen any films for the last 22 months. But really, it wasn’t anything more than the “going out for the experience” part.
It was time though, at least for a couple of us. we were shy three tickets though because not everyone was ready to “don the mask” for 2 hours and 12 minutes (all-the-while lacking drinks and snacks). I know lots of people are “good to go” with carrying on as normal, within the current day parameters, but we all weren’t. So two of us, masks and sanitizer, in-hand, hauled ourselves out to watch “Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings”. For us, having anticipated this one for a while, we found the thought of waiting it out (while doing our best to avoid spoilers) was not posssible. I, for one, typically like to get a couple screenings in before I make judgements, so waiting another 45-days for my first one on Disney+ was hurdle I did not want to endure. In the end, the time seemed right and we went for it.
So how did it go? So far so good… When we arrived, it was much different. There were no groups lingering either leaving or waiting to go in, rather just a few people leaving , heading to their vehicles. As we went inside, no one! The consession stand was open, but no one behind the counter. I imagine, had we headed that way, an attendent would have popped out to scoop up some popcorn or collected a soda for us, but we agreed before hand this trip wouldn’t include either of those. We made our way up the escalator and around the corner to the ticket checker who scanned our QR code and away we went to Theater 14. Once inside, we found our seats and began our own sanitization process. We are super careful to stay as safe and as healthy as anyone can expect. (Besides we were the weirdos you saw wiping down the seats, trays, and cup-holders with anti-bacterial wipes before the global pandemic, so it’s not like we are gonna short-change the other viewers in the theater from the show before the film now). We went super late, and the last day of a 4-day weekend… and just as planned we were the only two in the whole theater, so even better. It was kind of like we were at home (except of course the masks, the pre-clean, and no snacks drinks… so, kinda not like at home at all! So that was it, we laughed, we cried and it was over. Things looked largely the same but it was eerie to have a place, which was once so bustling, be so quiet and sparse of people.
Have you ventured out for a film yet this summer? we’d love to hear from you about your new theater routines and experiences. We hope you’ve found a way to make it work. Where do you see Shang-Chi fitting into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the future?
Check out the full review (coming soon) on the collectorlevel YouTube channel.
Let’s talk again soon, it’s been too long (and since this is the first blog post, never, but who’s counting)! We’ll be here, building up our collectorlevel…
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