There's a lovely vintage Art Deco cinema (as we call venues that show films here in the UK and also in Australia) just up the road from me, and it would be wonderful to see a new Narnia movie there. But as it's going to be released by IMAX, it'll only be shown in IMAX cinemas, and those are naturally all very modern in style. I do have one of those within easy reach, at the Trafford Centre in central Manchester, about 20 minutes' drive away.

In the end, I'm not really concerned about the surroundings, fun though it is to watch a classic-style movie in a classic-style venue. It's what's happening on the screen that's important. A really nice cinema adds a bit to the experience and it can make a good film feel just a little more special, but it can't make a bad film better. And if the film itself is REALLY good, that in itself transcends everything about the venue, at least for me.

Posted by: @narnian78

To some an IMAX theater might seem a little too modern even though it might offer better technology. 

Oddly enough, if you go to a proper IMAX 70mm theatre, it's one of the few places which actually uses traditional film projection these days. 

Almost all of the regular theatres these days use digital projectors which aren't as good.

@courtenay 

I remember first seeing the 1968 movie Oliver! in a small auditorium on a college campus, which was at the same college that I graduated from. It was shown on an old fashioned projector with reels of film. I have to say that the location made me feel very nostalgic back in the 1970’s when I was a student there. It added to the vintage experience and the atmosphere of watching a musical based on Dickens’ novel. Seeing a Narnia film in a similar location might do the same thing. At least I wouldn’t be distracted by too much modern technology.  But yes, it is mainly the movie itself that provides the experience. But where you see it can make a difference in how much you enjoy it. 

This thread just got me finding out about a drive-in cinema about an hour or so from where I live that shut down in the 1980s.  Whilst I would love to watch the movie in an old-style cinema, I am quite okay to watch it in any cinema.  Besides, as @courtenay basically put it, my feelings are similar - if the film is good enough, I'd enjoy it wherever it is released

I don’t think movie theaters will ever become obsolete. There is something about viewing a Narnia movie or an any other vintage film in an auditorium with a big screen which no television set can duplicate.  It is something like hearing music in a concert hall versus playing it in your home. Most people do not own the sound system or the large screens that a movie theater can provide. The dark room eliminates most distractions so that a film has your undivided attention.

There are no old ones in my city.(Earthquake of 2011, rebuild of most of central city)

I'd have to drive quite some distance to watch movies in an older style cinema.

But as far as I'm concerned, once the lights go down, I don't care what the decor is like. 

We do have a new theater a few miles away, which was built just a few years ago. I like seeing films in a friendly environment, and it does offer much of that experience. But two of the older theaters which were built at the same time as a mall (around thirty years ago) are now becoming neglected, and I doubt if they would play a Narnia film if it was available. If the theater is well maintained it can offer a friendly, positive experience. There is another theater which is owned by the college that I graduated from.  It is almost a century old, and I have pleasant memories of watching films there from decades ago. It is a restored old fashioned theater, and it would be a charming place to watch a Narnia movie. The same college still offers a C. S. Lewis course, and hopefully the students would be encouraged to watch a good Narnia film. It can encourage young people to read the books for themselves.