Every January, I go through the movie ticket stubs I acquired during the previous year and paste them into a small scrapbook. As I was going through my collection this weekend (while also ignoring the obvious signs of hoarding, of course), I noticed something. The oldest ticket stub is for Shattered Glass. I saw it in November 2003.
For exactly ten years I have been saving my ticket stubs. There are 220 ticket stubs in total. That’s seven Harry Potters, five Woody Allen movies, four Lord of the Rings, two Sex and the Citys, two Hunger Games and plenty more. Here is small a sampling of my stub collection.
1. 2003 to 2004
Shattered Glass; Lord of the Ring: Return of the King; Mystic River, Big Fish; Miracle; Jersey Girl; Mean Girls; Troy
This is the very first page from the scrapbook. I was 15 when I saw these movies. I can’t believe I saw Troy in theaters and I still can’t believe Mean Girls came out 10 years ago.
2. 2004 to 2005
Life Aquatic; In Good Company; Hotel Rwanda; Sin City; The Upside of Anger; Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants; Cinderella Man; Caterina in the City
My dad is still mad at me for making us see The Upside of Anger.
3. 2006
Superman Returns; The Devil Wears Prada; Little Miss Sunshine; The Departed; Marie Antoinette; the Queen; The Fountain; The Holiday
Marie Antoinette was one of the first times I went to the movies by my college. It took practically all day to take the PVTA to the Hampshire Mall and back.
4. 2007
Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix; Hairspray; Becoming Jane; The Bourne Ultimatum
I did not remember that I had seen The Bourne Ultimatum until about 20 minutes ago.
5. 2008
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2; Vicky Christina Barcelona; Man on Wire; W; Rachel Getting Married
I saw W on November 3, 2008. Barack Obama was elected president November 4, 2008. No, that was not intentional.
6. 2009
Up; The Hangover; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince; Funny People
Yes, another Harry Potter. Anticipating the release of these books and movies was everything for me and my friends back in the day.
7. 2009 to 2010
Precious; Avatar; Crazy Heart; Robin Hood
My sister and I saw Avatar at the Sony Center in Berlin. (I insisted. She’s still mad at me.) I was working on my undergraduate thesis on neorealism at the time and Avatar proceeded to drive me insane the rest of the year.
8. 2011
Midnight in Paris; Bringing Up Baby; Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; The Tree of Life; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2
It should be required by law to see Bringing Up Baby and the Lord of the Rings trilogy anytime they are playing in theaters. Also around this time my local cinema changed owners. Instead of the nice green ticket stubs I used to get, I now get these ugly white stubs. The paper quality is slightly better than receipt paper so you can save them but they still yellow. I have never forgiven Digiplex Destinations for this.
9. 2012
Ruby Sparks; The Expendables 2; Beasts of the Southern Wild; The Master; Argo; The Sessions; Skyfall
I saw Beasts of the Southern Wild three times. But you would never know because one of the ticket stubs was printed on receipt paper. (Don’t get me started on receipt paper.)
2013
Fruitvale Station; Blue Jasmine; Rush; 12 Years A Slave; Gravity; The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
2013 was a slow and boring year for movies. I barely went. These six were some of the only ones worth going to see in theaters.
