Just, holy crap!!!

Brand new theater just opened up a few weeks ago so most the town doesn't even know yet. Huge electric reclining chairs with electric leg rests, tables that fold out for your seat, brand spanking new, the seats smell like new car, and feel like it too. Really nice.

3pm matinee on a Wednesday, for ten bucks. Figured after three weeks or whatever it should be a good chance to avoid crowds.

Uh, yeah, I'm the ONLY PERSON in the place! I've seen movies in theaters before with as few as maybe 15 people in the place, but for a record smashing tentpole feature 3 weeks into release???

I couldn't believe what that did for the sound. I mean in several ways too - the first and most obvious being the level of immersion that comes with absolutely ZERO sound other than the movie itself and whatever sound YOU made. I didn't expect it, but zero ambient sound really made a difference compared to even a near empty theater with respectfully quiet people.

During quiet scenes I heard my own breath. I heard details that would certainly be missed with even a 20% full theater.

Then the dynamic range - without that "baseline ambient noise" of even a quiet crowd I just got deeper and deeper into the quiet parts, then when the loud parts would hit they just seemed to hit harder...

Then (in audio terms) the air itself. The venue itself obviously has plenty of draping to prevent echoes/reverberation, but without all the extra fabric of people's clothing absorbing sound it just made the theater sound bigger. Again, not because of any actual echo/reverberation, just so much less damping...

Oh, I probably spent 15 minutes of that 3 hours not only standing to stretch my legs (not that that was all that necessary with those seats!), but even walking around trying out other seats!

I can't believe my luck - I hardly ever go to theaters in the first place, and today was one of the most epic movies ever in the most epic circumstances possible! It almost felt like I was at some billionaires place for a private viewing! Better than having an airline flight to yourself!