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SOUTH JORDAN — Old movies seem to be new again, like “Top Gun,” “Ghostbusters” and even “Jumanji.”
But at Megaplex theaters across Utah, it’s the actual original ’80s movies that are a big hit right now.
The Utah-based theater chain reopened Thursday after nearly three months of being closed due to coronavirus concerns.
Since Hollywood hasn’t released any new movies yet and isn't expected to until at least mid-July, Megaplex decided to show some classics.
“I love dinosaur movies,” said Melaina Mansanarez.
She and her family traveled from their Stansbury Park home to visit the Megaplex 20 Theater in South Jordan to see the original "Jurassic Park."
“This was a pivotal dinosaur movie that kicked it all off,” she said.
There are also showings for “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “The Goonies” and “Back to the Future,” as well as more recent classics like “Batman,” “Wonder Woman” and “The Lord of the Rings.”
“They’ve got a lot of good ones,” said Chayce Williams, who lives in West Jordan.
Williams said the classics take him back to a time when things didn’t seem so difficult.
Especially after this year.
“It’s been insane, and it takes me back to being a child,” said Williams. “I’m going to see ‘Lord of the Rings’ and it was 2002. I was in second grade, I believe, when that came out, so it’s awesome.”
That’s the idea behind these movies.
“I don’t know if it was just the fun or the adventure, or if we just want to see the good guy win,” said Blake Andersen, president of Megaplex Theaters.
He said since Hollywood still has a month before releasing new movies, he figured why not show some older movies that will make people smile and escape for a little while.
“Help people to feel really good about just getting away from a really tough few months we’ve all gone through,” said Andersen.
There were hand sanitizing stations throughout the theater and workers were also constantly cleaning common areas.
There were social distancing markers throughout the lobby and in theaters, not every seat was sold so people could stay further away from each other.
