How to watch all the films nominated for Best Picture for just $35 before the Oscars
In my family, we have always had an Oscar viewing party complete with party favors, themed drinks, and ballots. Unfortunately, this year proved especially challenging for me to see all best picture nominees prior to the big show.
The solution? Regal Cinema’s 2018 Best Picture Film Festival. For just 35 dollars you can go see any of the nine nominations for Best Picture at select Regal theaters in Charlotte between Friday, Feb. 23 and Sunday, March 4 (the big day for the Oscars Academy Awards!).
For ease of planning, every participating theater will run the movies on the same schedule. The complete schedule for all 10 days can be found HERE. If you want to book your tickets on the app, it’s incredibly easy once you buy your pass. You simply pick the time, theater, and movie, and it will ring you up at $0.00. Feel the power.
You can also bring proof of your ticket purchase to any participating box office, and you can get printed tickets that way if preferred.
Bonus: When you buy the “festival” ticket, it does entitle you to a $5 medium popcorn and soft drink with each movie – that’s a pretty good deal.
Theaters
There are three participating theaters in Charlotte:
Cinebarre Arboretum Stadium 11
8008 Providence Road
Amenities: A full menu and full bar – which can keep you content during a long day of watching movies. Food includes burgers, chicken wings and fingers, pizzas and salads. Drinks include craft cocktails, margaritas, or even a vanilla whiskey and Coke topped with whipped cream.
Regal Ballantyne Village Stadium 5
14815 Ballantyne Village Way
Amenities: They sell wine and beer and have a decent selection of drafts to get you through the long movie days.
Regal Phillips Place Stadium 10
6911 Phillips Pl. Ct.
Amenities: The obvious downside of this location is that there is no food or booze offered, outside of the standard movie theater fare like popcorn and candy. But this is SouthPark, which means close proximity to YAFO (720 Gov. Morrison St., #120) and Sabor (3920 Sharon Road). Plan accordingly.
Tips
A couple of hot tips as well for anyone looking to watch all 9 movies, but maybe lacking the commitment or drive – “Get Out” is available on HBO Go, and “Dunkirk” is available to rent on Amazon. You can knock out a couple in your very own home.
Know the movies, with these one-sentence summaries
“Call Me by Your Name”: This tale of romance encompasses an American-Italian man and a male, American student who meet in Italy in the summer of 1983.
“Darkest Hour”: World War II drama film, accounting the early days of Winston Churchill’s time as Prime Minister.
“Dunkirk”: A quick and powerful portrayal of the evacuation of Dunkirk in World War II – go for the score alone.
A scene from the film, “Dunkirk.” (Warner Bros. Pictures/Los Angeles Times)
“Get Out”: This modern-day horror film directed by Jordan Peele follows a black man as he discovers continuously more disturbing secrets about his girlfriend, as they visit her family for the weekend.
“Lady Bird”: A coming of age story of the endearing Lady Bird, her relationship with her mother, boys, and her decision to fly from the nest.
“Phantom Thread”: Both a powerful romance film and a historical period drama set in London’s couture fashion world in the 1950s.
“The Post”: Follow the true story of several journalists and newspapers attempting to publish the Pentagon Papers in the early 1970s.
“The Shape of Water”: What you may hear referred to as the “fish sex” movie – a fantasy drama that follows a mute custodian as she falls in love with a captive, human/fish-like creature.
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”: This drama follows a mother who rents three billboards in an attempt to call attention to her daughter’s unsolved murder.
Frances McDormand as “Mildred Hayes” in THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI. Photo by Merrick Morton, courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures/Island Packet
My itinerary
The times are spread out enough that you can create a lovely itinerary for yourself to get in all nine movies, or just the last few on your docket. I am going to be out of town the second weekend – so I have to squeeze in five movies in one weekend.
I am choosing to stay at one theater, Regal Phillips Place – a home base, if you will.
This is my itinerary:
Friday 2/23:
“The Shape of Water” at 4pm
“Call Me By Your Name” at 7pm
“Get Out” at 10pm (depending on how sleepy I am!)
Saturday 2/24:
“Three Billboards” at 1pm
“Darkest Hour” at 4pm
Sunday 2/25:
“Phantom Thread” at 1pm
Even if you can only get to a few movies over the course of the ten days, it’s worth the $35 investment, seeing as most movies are $10 to start. It also is a very interesting year for the Oscars, with all nine movies worth seeing, in my opinion – and I rarely feel that way. Don’t forget to clear your calendars for the Oscars, at 8 pm EST on Sunday, March, 4.
See you at the theater!
Featured photo: Merie Wallace/Sacramento Bee
This story was originally published February 21, 2018 at 8:00 PM with the headline "How to watch all the films nominated for Best Picture for just $35 before the Oscars."