That's relatively similar to how things were around here when I was in school. Maybe not
quite that bad, but same end result - not uncommon for folks to drive to Roanoke to see bigger releases, if they had the time. Now, however, that old theater in the mall is community college lecture space, and we've got modern theaters to choose from. All reserved seating, with those massive power recliners in all of 'em, etc (does make 'em pricey). Though, we do have the historic single screen downtown theater that has done limited release stuff since ever too, and it's pretty cheap.
At the time, I found just having a multiplex nice. I'd only moved back to the US about a year prior, and on Yokota we had an aged single screen theater that was usually only running on the weekend. Prints would usually circulate to other bases, so you'd often only have something show a few times before moving on, and if it was popular...you were gonna get there pretty early to stand in line before the ticket window opened. So, it's always relative.
