For many of us, some of our earliest childhood memories can be tied to movies, whether it’s watching a favorite flick for the first time or forming a great memory with others. Dads are often ones who help make those memories, introducing us to their own childhood favorites, taking us out for a special day, or just bonding over the shared joy of experiencing a fun movie together.
For Father’s Day, the Atom Tickets staff share some of our favorite movie memories we’ve ever made with our dads.
Watching USA’s ‘Saturday Nightmares’ Block Together
Alisha Grauso – Editorial Lead
Okay, mine’s a bit of a cheat, I admit, as my favorite movie memories created with my dad never happened in a theater. Instead, they happened in our basement. Every Saturday night, USA Network hosted “Saturday Nightmares,” a block of B horror and sci-fi movies. They were campy, low-budget and often terrible, but I was a little kid and they scared the pants off me. Almost every Saturday, I’d have a nightmare about what we’d watched (1987’s Uninvited really messed me up; I saw a mutant orange tabby in my nightmares for weeks) and my mom would forbid me from watching with my dad next week. But every Saturday night, my dad would relent and sneak me down into the basement where I’d perch on the arm of his broken-down chair. I loved those nights, even if I spent half of them watching through my fingers. They were bonding times with my dad, a fan of all things horror and sci-fi and camp, who passed that love onto me. It was a love my mom and sisters never shared, and it always made me feel special that I was allowed to stay up late to hang out with my dad on “our” night with “our” movies.
Standing In Line For ‘The Empire Strikes Back’
Seth Freilich – General Counsel
Obviously The Empire Strikes Back has a strong “father” connotation. But it’s not my favorite father/movie memory because of that, or even because of the movie itself. Rather, it’s because of my memories of standing in line with my father beforehand. It was the first time I was at what felt like a real event, and for at least two hours we stood queued up, each of us feeding off of the other’s excitement and anticipation of this next chapter in this Star Wars universe. It was awesome to see my father as hype for something as little kid Seth was, knowing that the magic maybe never goes away. Those hours really cemented my love for the movies, that anticipation of what’s about to roll across that big screen.
Going On Father-Daughter ‘Die Hard’ Dates
Amber Tarshis – Head of Marketing
I have so many wonderful memories of going to the movies with my dad, but perhaps my favorite was our tradition of doing a father-daughter night to see each of the Die Hard movies the evening they’d come out. It always felt special to see a movie that was a little too mature for me and a little past my bedtime with a huge tub of popcorn and candy — like we were breaking all the rules. My love for movies today definitely stems from those special nights with my dad.
Uproarious Laughter While Watching ‘Christmas Vacation’
Lisa Konen – Director of Brand & Content
We watched a lot of movies with my dad growing up, but one of my favorite memories is seeing National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation together. We pretty much watch it every year during the holidays. The movie itself is hilarious, but for me, it sparks pure joy simply because of how much joy it brings to my dad. My dad has one of those distinctly loud belly laughs and hearing it roar while a tiny squirrel and a sinus-infected Rottweiler destroy every room in the Griswold house warms my heart more than eggnog in a glass moose mug. As a kid, his laugh used to embarrass me when we went to the movies. As an adult, it’s one of my favorite things about going to the movies with him.
Having ‘The Godfather’…Of Dad Jokes
Jake Mehring – Senior Director, Advertising Operations
My dad is also obsessed with Christmas Vacation. We watch it every year and he laughs at the same jokes every time. Such a classic. Otherwise, I always think of my dad when The Godfather comes up. It’s his all-time favorite movie and he makes the same joke every time someone suggests we watch a movie at my parents’ house: “How about The Godfather?!” He only makes the joke if my mom is around though because he knows she’ll roll her eyes since he’s seen it so many times.
Discovering ‘To Wong Foo’ Was Definitely NOT A Martial Arts Movie
Jessica Cohen – Senior Director of Marketing
As an only child, my dad took me to the movies often to see movies a young girl would love. Well, once he took me to go see The Babysitters Club and unfortunately, we went to the wrong theater. I was learning karate at the time (I had only completed one month when I decided being a ninja was not my life goal) and my dad saw a movie named “To Wong Foo” on the marquee and thought it was perhaps a martial arts film. As it turned out, it was not. He took his 8-year-old daughter to a film about drag queens with some legendary actors – Patrick Swayze, John Leguizamo, and Wesley Snipes. We stayed for the whole movie. As my dad tells it, he knew I had no idea what was going on but he was enjoying the film. To this day, it’s still one of my favorite movies to watch and think back on my dad freaking out about what he had taken me to.
Experiencing The Magic Of A Drive-In Movie Theater For The First Time
Derek Koehler – Senior Manager, Brand and Digital Marketing
My favorite movie memory with my dad is going to the drive-in movie theater for the first time. I must’ve been no older than ten, but I vividly remember my dad loaded our Toyota Landcruiser with blankets and our favorite treats and asked my brother and I to hop in the car for an adventure. We had no idea where we were going. We headed to the West Wind Drive-In Theater in San Jose. My dad backed the car up in the parking spot incline and opened the back of the Landcruiser, which was lined with half a dozen blankets. He then tuned our radio so we could hear the movie audio, and our minds were blown. We watched Rush Hour 2, snacking on Cheetos and Kit-Kats. It’s a memory I will never forget.
Finding The Fun In Giant Snakes And Kung Fu Fighting
Tara Kistler – Senior Manager, Marketing and Promotions
I have two favorite memories: The first is when he took me at 6 and my sister, who was 4, to see Anaconda and made it funny when the people got eaten and bit by snakes. We were laughing the entire time, but this one guy came up to my Dad and was very upset such young girls were watching that movie. I always think about that.
The second is when my Dad (who is an avid kung fu movie watcher) took me to see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and since I loved to read, he let me whisper all the subtitles to him while he watched. None of my other sisters got to go so I felt really special that day.
Playing Hooky To See The Terminator Save John Connor
Jedd Weise – Software Developer
My dad felt that being educated about great movies was just as important as anything I would learn in school. One of my best memories of going to the movies with my dad was when he picked me up from school on Wednesday, July 3rd, 1991. I mean he didn’t pick me up after school, he literally picked me up about 10 minutes after my mom dropped me off. I asked where we were going and he said it was a surprise. And was it ever. Before I knew it, we arrived at the world-famous Cinerama Dome in Hollywood and the marquee read Terminator 2: Judgment Day. We lined up for what felt like forever because we were both so excited to see the first showing on opening day. We got into the theater and immediately went to the first row of the balcony to claim our seats in the middle. The whole experience was amazing and it didn’t hurt that we were watching arguably the greatest action film of all time. I gained a new respect for the power of film and how great it can be to watch a movie with someone who is just as excited as you are. My dad gave me a lot of gifts over the years and this one is right up there with the best. We must have said, “Hasta la vista, baby!” a hundred times on the way home and it never got old, just like going to the movies with my dad.
And for our last Atom staff memory, this one comes with a bit of a twist…
Creating Memories And A New NASCAR Bond Together
Michael Windler – Head of Customer & Venue Support
Instead of a memory with my dad (I actually don’t recall ever going to a movie with him as a kid), it’s a memory of me as the dad with my son. I remember taking my then 4-year-old son to his first movie that was just the two of us (without mom). We went to see Pixar’s Cars opening weekend. He was so excited as he was already collecting cars in the months leading up to the release. While the movie itself was great, it also created a new bond between us. He was fixated on a cameo appearance by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and began asking lots of questions about NASCAR. I knew nothing about NASCAR at the time, but quickly learned. The following year we traveled to Dover, Delaware to attend our first NASCAR race together. To this day we have a bond through NASCAR that came out of that first movie we ever saw together as father and son.
Happy Father’s Day, everyone!
