Movie Hopping

[Baker, John]

        Today's Zits comic strip mentions "movie hopping," a term new to me:  "Nobody sees 'a' movie anymore, Mom.  You start in one theater, but as soon as it gets boring, you switch to another theater and watch that movie until it gets boring, and so on.  It's called 'movie hopping'  Everybody does it."

        Google has 696 page references.  The earliest use on Google Groups is from 7/3/92:  "Steve and I went to see Boomerang tonight.  It was a really good movie.  I reccomend it for when you get back from your trip.  We also saw Batman Returns...we went movie hopping at Tigard Cinemas."

        The L.A. Times is slightly later, with 7/25/92 and a slightly different definition:  "'It is true you can buy a ticket and go in a theater and movie hop to any movie you want,' said one 11-year-old. Movie hopping,  she explained, is when your parents drop you off at a multiplex  theater, you buy a ticket for a PG-rated show, then once inside  switch theaters to any R-rated show you want to see.

John Baker