Where to see Episide III in SF?

May 5, 2005 2:41 PM

Which is the best theater in San Francisco to see the midnight showing of Episode III on opening night (in terms of picture size and sound quality, and, of course, ticket availability.) No snarks from the haters, please.

AMC 1000? Kabuki? Union Street? Metreon?

posted by robbie01 to sports, hobbies, & recreation (9 comments total)

I'd say your best bet now is the 12:45 showing at the Metreon. Digital's all sold out.

94107, robbie? You not get out much?
posted by Loser at 3:21 PM on May 5, 2005

I'm trying to organize an office-based crew to go. We're 3-4 blocks away from the Metreon so that seems a little pedestrian for us I guess. I usually do go to the Metreon, so much so that I'm asking because I don't know if any of the other theaters offer a significantly better experience (recent upgrades, etc.)
posted by robbie01 at 3:52 PM on May 5, 2005

i've got a friend who swears by the corte madera theater in marin for special screenings.

can't vouch for it personally, though.
posted by xz at 4:05 PM on May 5, 2005

With the closure of the Coronet, Metreon is going to be your best bet in the city. 1000 Van Ness would be my second choice. It's a pretty steep drop from there, even among the other AMCs.
posted by jjg at 5:00 PM on May 5, 2005

I can't believe you're all saying the Metreon.

Isn't there a beautiful, one-screen theater on Geary that showed Episode II?

Doesn't atmosphere count for something?
posted by Gucky at 5:04 PM on May 5, 2005

Gucky, I think the theater on Geary was the now-closed Coronet that jjg mentions, the last in scores of other one-screen theater closings in San Francisco in the past few years.

I agree about the Metreon & AMC 1000 being the theaters most likely to have big screens with good sound still available. Beware the Kabuki-- although they have a good screen or two, some of them are really bad, and the bad ones seem to be the ones they leave open the latest.

Marin's also not a bad idea as xz suggests, as there are so many Lucas employees up there. Corte Madera may already be sold out for that same reason, though. Go to a Star Wars movie in Marin & expect to hear cheers throughout the technical credits.
posted by obloquy at 5:33 PM on May 5, 2005

I would actually suggest avoiding the Metreon. The company that manages the theater there appears to be utterly incompetent at maintaining screens and projectors. I haven't been in every single one of the 15 or so theaters, but all of those I've been in have had improperly repaired screens. Even on opening night, when they screened Bullitt, the screens were in disrepair. Who the hell patches a front projection screen with shiny, reflective tape? The glare from these bad tape jobs is extremely distracting.

The 1000 is a better bet than the Kabuki and certainly a vast improvement over the Metreon. Your best bet would be to head over to the Grand Lake in Oakland or one of the other Renaissance Rialto houses. They are the best theaters in the bay area -- employing a union projectionist and taking more than a little pride in how well a film is presented -- and worth traveling for.

"Isn't there a beautiful, one-screen theater on Geary that showed Episode II?"

No. The Coronet, where I have seen every other Star Wars film to date, is out of business. An old folks home bought them out a couple of years back and finally shut them down. It's a shame, after the closure of the Northpoint and the Alhambra, that was the last really great screen in town that showed first run film.

Also, the Coronet was never beautiful. But it was always a good movie house!
posted by majick at 8:31 PM on May 5, 2005

In lieu of another thread, how about Chicago? McClurg was the best, now closed. Northside? North suburbs?
posted by erebora at 11:24 PM on May 5, 2005

xz - I can vouch for the Corte Madera theater. I was fortunate enough to go to a screening Tuesday night of the new Star Wars for Century Cinema employees. I'm not one, but my friend is. I even had my review posted on Aintitcool.com.
posted by xorowo at 7:04 AM on May 6, 2005