Friday, September 16, 2011

Vocabulary on: Movies

In North America (Canada and the US), the word cinema is rarely used. Instead, we talk about going to the movies (where movies = the movie theatre):

Do you want to go to the movies tonight?
~ I don’t know. What’s playing?

In this context, What’s playing? = What movies are being shown [at the movie theatre]?’ 
[Note that in the above picture, it says now playing above the poster for 'Sex and the City 2'. Now playing = Now showing.]

Instead of cinema, you may also hear the word cineplex or mutliplex – a cinema with multiple theatres; Cineplex Odeon is also the name of a major chain of movie theatres in North America. The phrase movie theatre can refer to the entire cineplex or a single auditorium showing one movie.


In the listening practice video, I talked about how I got the times wrong:

There was no 6:15 show! … There was only a 6:15 show on the weekend, not on Monday! The next show wasn't until at 7:00pm …

When I use the word show, I’m talking about the different times the same movie [Sex and the City 2] is shown at the movie theatre.

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The first 'Sex and the City' movie was a blockbuster – a movie that was hugely popular and successful. It was a box-office hit - a movie that made a lot of money. In my opinion, the second 'Sex and the City' was a real dud – a movie that wasn't very good and didn't make a lot of money.

The box office is the place in the movie theatre where the tickets are sold. In the past, it really looked like a box! A cashier is the person who takes your money when you buy a ticket. Nowadays, you can buy your movie ticket online or at a stand-alone ticket vending machine at the theatre. Today, the box office also means how many tickets were sold and how much money a film made:

How did James Cameron’s new movie do at the box office?

Critics panned the film but it did well at the box office.

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In North American movie theatres, it is very common to buy snacks to eat during a movie – including hot dogs, pizza, nachos with cheese, ice cream, licorice … you name it! The most common thing to eat when you watch a movie is popcorn with butter! You can buy snacks and drinks at the concession stand (also called thesnack counter).

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In many countries around the world, English movies are dubbed into the local language. To dub a film means to replace the English voice with voices speaking in the local language [French, German, Japanese, etc.]