As I settle into my seat, I’m as excited as I would be if this was my first time seeing the movie, but myself and the movie goers around me have all seen it a hundred times. Today’s feature presentation is a rerelease.

While I was born in 1993, rereleases have allowed me to see some of the top films of previous decades on the silver screen. ET: The Extra Terrestrial (1982), Halloween (1978), The Shining (1980), Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), The Breakfast Club (1985), Easy Rider (1969), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), and Jaws (1975), Sleepaway Camp (1983), and Friday the 13th (1980).
It’s fitting that I enjoy classic films reentering the big screen because my first movie was a rerelease. I was 5, and The Little Mermaid had been put back in theaters. Years later a middle school teacher told my class about seeing it as a young child. The math didn’t add up, and a conversation with my Mom lead to the shocking truth that The Little Mermaid is actually from 1989. It was a film older than myself, but in a theater it had seemed brand new.

At one showing of Willy Wonka the crowd was leaving the theater, and a little girl was telling her Mom she thought they would make a sequel. Her Mom seemed a little shocked for a moment, and then preceded to explain, “This is a very old movie.” It’s nice to see the next generation connects so much with the classics, despite everyone saying they can’t picture a world without the latest gadget.
I have my current favorites, as well as classics. I don’t wish us back into a different time, because it wasn’t even my time, and I know things have gotten a lot better for various groups of people. I do however think certain films hold up enough to be shown outside of the home, on the big screen, for future generations to fall in love with them again.