Matinee

DATE: Thursday, July 31
TIME: 7:30PM
VENUE: Gateway Theater Fort Lauderdale

After four years and over 130 screenings, Popcorn Frights returns to its haunted home for a final blowout event at the Classic Gateway Theater—and we’re going out with a bang! Join us for a special presentation of MATINEE, Joe Dante’s wildly imaginative, heart-filled love letter to the magic of moviegoing and the glory days of genre cinema.

Set during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, MATINEE follows larger-than-life showman Lawrence Woolsey (a pitch-perfect John Goodman), who storms into sleepy Key West to premiere his atomic-age monster flick MANT!—complete with wild gimmicks, buzzing seats, and the kind of movie mayhem that only happens on the big screen. As the town holds its breath for the world to end, a group of teens discover that the best kind of escape might just be a night at the movies.

Blending sincere coming-of-age storytelling with satirical jabs at Cold War hysteria, MATINEE is Dante’s masterpiece—a riotous, warm, and deeply nostalgic celebration of B-movie madness and the power of cinema to distract, delight, and even heal.

Join us for one final Popcorn Frights show at the Classic Gateway Theater as we celebrate the cult classic that reminds us why we fell in love with the movies in the first place—and why we’ll never stop!