AC saved movie theaters

Air conditioning actually saved movie theatres. Before that, it was boiling hot, sweaty and sticky at the movie theaters so no one wanted to go and watch the movie in that hell-like atmosphere.

Back in the days, when Willis Carrier invented the AC in 1902 he wasn’t even had on mind saving movie theatres, instead he was thinking of how to reduce the humidity so that a printing company could get the ink to stick to the paper when it was too hot outside.

Years later, on one of those boiling hot days when movie tickets are at their all-time low and the last thing on people’s mind was to go into the movie theatre a completely new idea arises. Sid Grauman’s Metropolitan Theatre in Los Angeles installed Carrier’s AC machine and all the other theatres followed a good example.

In the 1930’s, people flocked to theaters to enjoy the films – but also to enjoy the cool air during the summer months. Marketers took advantage of this trend and saved their big hits for summertime releases. Thus, the term “Summer Blockbuster” became a part of our vocabulary.