That’s because every sound-whether it’s the crinkle of popcorn, a seat being adjusted, a slurped soda, or, god forbid, a cell phone buzzing in someone’s pocket-is amplified when watching a film where such behavior is punished by a vicious death. Just as the Abbott family, led by Krasinski and his real-life spouse Emily Blunt, must remain silent for fear of being attacked, a fully immersed theater audience is compelled to follow their lead and stay quiet. Writer-director John Krasinski took a high-concept premise-the world has been overrun by monsters with acute hearing, so survivors must get by without making a sound-and implicated the viewer in its story. Perhaps the greatest endorsement for A Quiet Place, Paramount’s breakout 2018 hit, is that it’s a novel idea that is enlivened when watched in a group setting. (If you were in a theater when lost their head in Hereditary, well, real heads know.)Ħ6 Pressing Questions About ‘Cruella’ After a Year of Upheaval, HBO Max Has Carved Out Its Place There’s nothing quite like a good horror movie jolting you with a mix of fear and adrenaline and being part of an audience that’s feeling that jolt in concert.

An engaged audience falls into a collective silence compounded by dread-until a jump-scare fills the room with a procession of gasps, squeals, and unintelligible, despairing noises. The in-person experience of the horror genre is just as essential. It wouldn’t be the least bit surprising if Fast 9 makes a gazillion dollars-it’s a blockbuster perfectly calibrated to celebrate, and be enriched by, the theatrical experience. If Fast 9’s early international box office haul is any indication, audiences are absolutely ready to embrace the brash spectacle of cars attached to rocket engines at the movies. But certain films simply demand to be watched on the biggest possible screen, and those are the ones resurrecting theaters. Things aren’t necessarily returning to “normal”-home viewing remains a popular alternative after being the only sensible option in 2020. With more Americans getting vaccinated and tentpole releases finding some life at the box office, theaters are back-at limited capacity, but back all the same.

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