ROCHESTER — On Christmas Day, Teresa Fette was standing next to an air hockey table at Marcus Theatre, watching her granddaughter and one of her sons battle it out. They were there to see the slapstick humor of “Anaconda” with Jack Black and Paul Rudd. And with the air hockey table in the lobby, it was a chance to relive some old traditions, and pit a younger generation against a slightly older one.
Fette had driven more than 20 hours in a day and a half from Florida to be with her family over the holiday. It was an opportunity hard to pass up since one of her sons was back in the country from his military assignment in Germany.
“We’ve always had a competitiveness about playing air hockey,” she said. “This is only the second Christmas in, like, 15 years that all four of my children and I have been together.”
Although it was a unique get-together for Fette and her family, a trip to the movies has become a tradition for many. This year, some came in pajamas covered with festive reindeer patterns. Others came with fluffy blankets wrapped around their shoulders.
They drizzled butter over their bowls of popcorn, and filled up their cups with soda. As 9-year-old Joanna Miller waited in line for the snack counter, she was ready for the experience with her 3D glasses, and a headband that held up her pink unicorn horn.
While Fette and her crew meandered off to see “Anaconda,” others went to watch “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” or “The Housemaid” or “Wicked: For Good.”
Jordan Shearer / Post Bulletin
Across town, Pop’s Art Theater was showing “Marty Supreme,” which tells the story of a 1950s table-tennis player.
“It’s one of the busiest theater days of the year,” said Nathaniel Nelson, co-owner of Pop’s Art Theater. “Movies are a classic way to spend that day.”
Ironically, neither of Rochester’s remaining theaters were showing Christmas movies on Christmas Day itself. Instead, that was what they did for the lead-up to the holiday. At Marcus, they played classic titles like “The Grinch,” and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”
At Pop’s, they hosted a number of more off-beat holiday movies earlier in the Christmas season like the holiday horror “Silent Night, Deadly Night,” and the 2003 anime film “Tokyo Godfathers.”
But even if they weren’t there on Christmas to see a Christmas movie, many people were still there to either celebrate a tradition they’ve always known or continue one they began when an older one was no longer available.
Daniel Cranston was at Pop’s this Christmas with his girlfriend and his mother to see “Marty Supreme.” It’s a tradition that began with his grandmother, and that they’ve continued ever since she passed away.
At Marcus Theatre, Terese Hinkley was on her way to see “Zootopia 2” with her husband and their adult children. It’s something she said they’ve done for the past decade after her parents passed away.
“We needed a tradition of our own,” she said. “This was it.”
For Nelson, going to the movies for Christmas was a tradition he grew up on. And now as an adult — in between the logistics of running the theater — Nelson still catches the year’s holiday showing. He may grab one of the seats when there’s one open. Or, he may watch it from the projection booth.
Why?
“Because that’s Christmas,” he said.
“Going into a movie theater with your family and enjoying a new film is as synonymous with Christmas as opening gifts to me,” Nelson said. “And I think there’s a lot of people out there who feel the same.”
Jordan Shearer / Post Bulletin
