One new event that is popping up on campus is SAC’s Moonlight Movies series. This new event is a chance to see a movie that has recently come out in theatres for free. This event is a great opportunity to make friends, eat snacks, and take a much needed break from studying. The event is held late at night in the Proscenium Theatre, where students pack the seats wearing comfy clothing and are armed with fuzzy blankets.
This event was originally started in order to bring people together and give students a chance to relax during their busy schedules. In the past, many of the SAC events have been more on the competitive side, but this kind of event allows things to be more dialed back. Another benefit of these movie nights is that SAC has been able to get these movies at a reasonable price, so students are able to see these movies without ads just like in a theatre.
Part of the criteria for a movie is that if you have seen the trailer within the last 6 months, it could be a movie that they will show. The genres are wide, from adventure, sentimental, and even thrillers.
The first movie that was shown this year was “How to Train Your Dragon” (2025) in August. One of the event coordinators, Zeke Stansbery stated “It was a massive hit. Over 100 students attended and absolutely loved it.”
The amount of crowd interaction elevated the viewing experience with clapping, booing, and silence at proper moments. Another big hit for the movie night was the snacks, which surprisingly did not include popcorn. Overall, the whole theatre was filled with good vibes, snacks, and a chance to take a couple hours to escape the daily grind of college life.
A student who attended this movie, Ella Erickson, said the event was a good time to hang out and watch a movie together as a community instead of a small group. Erickson also said that it was her first time seeing the movie, so she was grateful that she got to see it for free. Erickson and other students enjoyed the movie and are excited to attend more movies in the future. Speaking of the future, many students are excited for the upcoming movies including “Wicked: Sing Along.” which will be shown just before “Wicked:For Good” comes out on November 21st/ Another student, Natalie Pederson, enjoyed watching “How to Train Your Dragon” because of how nostalgic it was to the original. She thought it was neat to see this movie come to life in a brand-new way.
As for what to look forward to in the future, get ready for dinosaurs, aliens, musicals, sequels and threequels. The next movie is on September 19th at 9:00p.m. with the showing of “Jurassic World: Rebirth.” As time goes on, there will be one movie shown every month. The planned movies for the rest of the year are “Elio” on October 10th, “Wicked Sing-Along” on November 19th, “Zootopia 2” on February 20th, and “Avatar: Fire and Ash” on March 22nd. There may also be more, so check out the Yapp app and SAC emails for more details
