I was right on schedule as I got out of the subway exactly at noon. Before I could begin the movie portion of the event I had to head to Duane Reade first. I needed some supplies. Once inside, I bought boxes of Snocaps, Dots and Junior Mints as well as a liter of water and a 20 oz. bottle of coke (Fig. 1). The Snocaps and Coke were indispensible during the final hours of my adventure.

Fig. 1

The Event

Finally, it's time to head over to the theater. AMC has a ton of those automated ticket machines, which made it really easy for me to check out the location of each of my movies. Since I didn't want to whip out my notebook, I wrote down the auditorium numbers on the back of my hand (fig. 2) for a quick reference. This proved invaluable as I didn't have to wander around between each showing. As a result, I saved time and it didn't look like I was just lounging around the theater (which I was).

fig. 2

I leisurely walked up the escalators and found the entrance to be unmanned. Already it was clear that only I could bring my marathon to an end, as the employees of this theater were not paying much attention. They took my ticket at the frontmost entrance, which meant that that I could roam the rest of the establishment without being asked for my ticket by anyone. My only concern was having to cross through the main mezzanine a couple times. This proved to be a non-issue, but I stopped at the customer service desk on my way up to make it seem like I was a bit lost. I asked for a brochure for their MovieWatcher program and where screen 12 was. She told me and I just walked upstairs. Immediately I thought, "This is going to be easy as pie. Nay! It shall be easier."

I went upstairs and watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in a full theater at 1:50pm. I missed most of the previews, which was nice. Afterwards, I had no problem heading down one flight to Spartan. Their down escalators are not cut off from the rest of the theater and the employees only hang out around the concession stands, so it was no sweat. My next transition was easy as well as I stayed on the same floor. The following movie, from Dawn of the Dead to Osama, would be tough as the up escalator was right near the exit. Thankfully, AMC's wondeful employees let me walk right by them and up the escalator. It was honestly sad as it was clearly his job to keep me from doing that exact thing.

Sidebar: The oddest thing about Dawn of the Dead was that I sat next to a mother and her four year-old daughter. This was an R-rated movie and it deserved it, so I found it odd to see this young child sitting next to me. There was tons of blood, some swearing and even a little sex. Parenting at its finest. On the other hand this movie was great because the theater was huge and everyone was cheering on the good guys.

I had a decision to make at this point. Osama began at 8:15pm and my next scheduled movie, the Dreamers, started at 9:30pm. I would miss the beginning if I went. I could have seen 50 First Dates at 10pm, but I thought I'd give it a shot and just miss part of Dreamers. It had gotten mediocre reviews anyway.

After the Dreamers I only had to move one theater over to go see 50 First Dates at 11:45pm, but it wasn't there. I had 15 minutes to kill so I checked every single screen and the showing didn't seem to exist. In a move of desparation, and because this movie was my last stop, I thought I'd just ask someone.

"Hi, a friend of mine is supposed to be seeing 50 First Dates at 11:45 and I wanted to say hi. Isn't it in theater three?"

"Uh, lemme check. No, I'm not showing that on my schedule?"

"Really? That's odd. Thanks for your help."

"No problem."

So, it appears the AMC employees are incredibly helpful but not at all concerned with theater-hoppers. Fine by me, but it seems a bit odd.

When I left the theater, I wasn't all that tired, but once I started looking at things that weren't on a screen my eyes were not happy. In fact, I had a really hard time keeping them open. When I got home I went straight to bed only because it hurt to keep my eyes open. This is the only thing that would really keep me from doing it again, as the employees weren't a concern and I felt fine while seeing all the movies. I had fun. In the end, I saw 6 movies and ate a bunch of candy for about 16 dollars and with only one ticket (fig. 3).

fig. 3

Movie Thoughts

Triplets of Belleville - Eh. It was wonderful animation, but I wasn't blown away by the story. That song is catchy.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Really cool. Jim Carrey was fantastic. The ending was really good.

Spartan - A typical Mamet movie. If you like Mamet movies, you'll like this one.

Dawn of the Dead - Really bloody, but fun. I can see why people want to see this. It's scary.

Osama - The movie was kinda boring, but it's amazing it got made. You could probably read a description of it and that'd be enough.

The Dreamers - Better than I thought it'd be, but still just ok. Lots of sex.

Final Notes

If you're ever considering doing this yourself, I promise that the AMC Empire 25 will be a piece of cake. Unless, of course, if the manager reads my blog and decides to crack down, in which case you won't be fine. Nonetheless, the experience was a positive one and I knew I could do it. I'm so proud of me.