Private Screenings at Georgia Theater Company

In an effort to reopen safely, the Georgia Theater Company started offering private screenings of movies around the middle of May.  The Georgia Theater Company owns a lot of movie theaters in Georgia.  I’ve written about them before, because they have the delightful Flashback Cinema.  The movie theater on the island is part of the Georgia Theater Company.

As soon as I read about the private screenings I wanted to do it.  For $100 you can watch the movie of your choice from a selected list.  Up to 20 people are able to attend.  The website also said that if you didn’t like the movies they were offering, you could ask about additional movies.

Because Tom and I didn’t see any movies we wanted to pay $100 to see in the initial list, we asked about additional movies.  The Georgia Theater Company immediately asked what we would like to see.  Tom and I spent a delightful hour making up a list of movies we were willing to pay $100 to see.  Number one on the list was “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” but we also had classics such as “Bridge Over the River Kwai” and “My Fair Lady.”  We sent the list to them and got a reply saying the only movie on our list they could get was “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”  That was fine with us and we were ready to book.

But, a few days later we got an apologetic call from the theater manager saying that special, requested movies were $200 instead of $100.  Tom and I thought that was too much, and the manager suggested we keep an eye on the listings available as they were adding new movies every week.

I have always been a big James Bond fan, and I especially like the ones with Daniel Craig.  The first week in June they added the movie “Casino Royale” as an offering for the private screenings.  Then the second week in June they added “A Quantum of Solace.”  I kept my fingers crossed that they would add my all-time favorite James Bond movie the next week.

And they did!  “Skyfall” was added to the offerings and I immediately sent an email asking for a private screening of “Skyfall.”  Last Sunday we got to go to our own private, large-screen showing of “Skyfall” with five of our coworkers.  We invited all of our coworkers, but only five came.  It was, after all, Father’s Day.

It was great!  Island Cinema has seven movie theaters and they do one showing of one movie in each of them.  Then they thoroughly clean and sanitize the theater.  So our group was the only one in that theater on Sunday.  We all wore masks, anyway, because we didn’t know how their air-conditioning system is set up.  The theater was the cleanest I’ve ever seen.  The concession stand was open and everyone in the group got popcorn except for Tom and me.

“Skyfall” is a great movie to see on the big screen.  The explosions, the chases, the wilds of Scotland, a villain bent on personal revenge.  Plus, there is a wonderful story-line in the movie.  Even though I’ve seen the movie many times already, I enjoyed every minute of it.  It was a special treat to see a movie in the theater after so long.

I don’t know how long the private screenings will continue.  The Georgia Theater Company could have fully reopened under Georgia guidelines in May.  AMC plans to reopen 450 of its movie theaters on July 15.  Once the theaters reopen, it may be a while before I feel safe to attend a movie.  But getting to see a favorite movie with a small group of friends was a lot of fun.

How about you?  Are there any movies you would pay $100 to see on the big screen?