Focus Features

Between school recess, vacations and all the new movies in theaters, most of us watch a lot of movies each summer. Projectionists and theater managers, however, really watch a lot of movies. Gone are the days in which blockbusters opened in June and settled in for comfortable long summer runs. Today, a full roster of blockbusters premieres each weekend, causing the folks at your local theaters to juggle not only stacks of giant platters holding reels of 35mm film but also larger crowds, concession-stand lines, and after-screening litter.

Still, despite all this, theater employees still manage to watch the films and usually have pretty good takes on them. Their opinions are based not just on a single screening but on the experience of living with films for a few weeks (or, at worst, in the case of a flop, a few days). FilmInFocus asked a combined group of projectionists and theater managers in San Francisco, Atlanta, and Burlington to tell us about their favorite summer movies. Here you’ll find responses from Jim Reeves, Assistant Manager, Regal Burlington Stadium 20, Vermont; Jeff Root, projectionist, Castro Theater, San Francisco; Thomas M. Lewis, First Assistant, Regal Tara 4, Atlanta, Georgia; Ryan Ditmars, projectionist, Regal Burlington Stadium 20, Vermont; and. Patrick Martin, projectionist, Regal Tara 4, Atlanta, Georgia; and Chris Fisher, manager, Clearview Cinemas’ Anthony Wayne Cinema in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and Bala Theater in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.