Moviegoers longingly recall the cinematic experiences they narrowly missed out on

Have you ever rewatched an old ’80s movie and wished you were around to see it flourish at the box office? Maybe you were too young, hadn’t been born yet, or you simply got so swept up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life that the opportunity passed you by. If that’s the case, you aren’t alone. Even more recent movies are almost impossible to catch in theaters, what with inflation making the ticket prices skyrocket. There’s a number of reasons as to why one might miss out on a cinematic experience, but as sad as it is, we can’t turn back the clock. Thankfully, we can still catch all our favorite movies on demand, but even 4K streaming could never replace the feeling of high-definition sound and crystal-clear, gigantic screens.

Naturally, there’s some real classics that we’ve missed out on over the years. In fact, over on Reddit’s r/movies, frequent moviegoers have shared their dearly departed cinema releases with all the other mournful souls.

How could we not expect 1977’s Star Wars to not make the list? If you’ve ever seen the video tossed around on the internet of the real audience reaction inside a theater at the moment where Darth Vader reveals himself as Luke’s father, you’re seriously missing out. Wait, is that a sensitive topic right now? Anyhow, a lot of Star Wars fans were far too young to remember Lucasfilm’s original trilogy, but a lot of ’70s kids were able to catch The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in the ’80s, so surely that makes up for it to some extent.

Out of all the movies ever made, you might not assume to see Blade Runner 2049 mentioned, but even for its flaws, there’s no denying that Denis Villeneuve’s 2017 sci-fi sequel to the 1982 original went above and beyond as far as visual effects. Although it was nominated for countless awards, particularly for outstanding cinematography and VFX, Blade Runner 2049 was definitely deemed a box office flop. However, there are still loyal fans out there who would have sold a kidney to see it on the big screen.

We’re not sure whether it’s the combined star power of Matthew McConaughey and Jessica Chastain or the fact that space-themed adventures always make for visually stunning endeavors, but Interstellar was certainly a wild ride. Plus, when you’ve got Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) at the helm, you can’t really go wrong. Not only was it praised for its scientific accuracy, but Interstellar really made us feel at home in space, which is no small feat.

You could argue a case for a franchise as massive as Star Wars or a science-fiction epic as mind-blowing as Interstellar, but you might not see a Disney flick coming. Sharing some uncanny similarities with Interstellar, such as taking place in outer space (duh), WALL-E is hands-down one of Pixar’s most admirable efforts of all time. Even the more recent Pixar projects couldn’t hold a candle to WALL-E, which managed to make us feel empathy for a pair of robots. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that WALL-E is Pixar’s most aesthetically pleasing movie of its entire filmography.

There’s no wrong answer with this, but which movie do you wish you could have seen in theaters? Which movie do you wish you could have seen multiple times?