Retro Video Shows What a Trip to the Movies Was Like in 1987

Movie theaters experienced a golden age in the 1980s. The popcorn was cheap, the blockbusters were entertaining, and there were no smartphones to distract from the experience. Whether or not you were around for the decade, you can travel back in time with the video above from the YouTube channel Vampire Robot.

The retro footage shows a busy movie theater in Los Angeles, California, on the weekend of March 27, 1987. It opens with a clerk ringing people up and handing them their tickets before the camera shows customers buying snacks and drinks. Later in the video, the people crowd into the theater to select their (unassigned) seats. Movies playing at the cinema that weekend included Platoon, Hoosiers, and Crocodile Dundee.

Modern viewers will notice several differences between the video and today’s moviegoing experience. One is that people used cash to purchase nearly everything, which is no longer the case. According to Capital One, 47.8 percent of Americans don’t use cash at all in an average week, and 81 percent of U.S. consumers prefer to pay with card. The COVID-19 Pandemic is partially to blame for the shift, as Americans largely abandoned cash for contactless payment.    

Now movie theater customers typically purchase tickets online and check in with their phones. That would have been unthinkable in 1987—the only way to get a ticket back then was by standing in line on the night of a showing. It was’t until 2006 that Fandago first gave people the option to buy movie tickets on their mobile devices.

One of the most glaring changes is popcorn receptacle sizes. The large popcorn ordered in the video is significantly smaller than the massive buckets modern moviegoers are familiar with. Popcorn servings sizes aren’t the only things that have increased. The snack’s price has gone up over a 1000 percent since 1929, even when adjusted for inflation.

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