The most exciting original motion picture event of all time: KING KONG.

In Dino De Laurentiis’s mega-hyped 1976 Kong remake, a team of mustache twirling oil reps (Led by slimeball extraordinaire Charles Grodin) heads off to an unexplored island in the Indian Ocean on the hunt for a massive wellspring of untapped oil. What they discover goes beyond their imagination: Kong, the King of Skull Island and the Eighth Wonder of the World. Unaccustomed to guests, the natives kidnap Dwan (Jessica Lange), an actress whom the crew rescued from a life raft, and offer her as sacrifice to Kong. While crew photographer & paleontologist Jack (Jeff Bridges) leads a rescue mission, the oil gang, with dollar signs in their eyes, plots to steal away the ape. After all, imagine the dough that a giant ape can rake in on Broadway — what could possibly go wrong?

Part of Nitehawk’s March LARGE AND IN CHARGE screening series.

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Eli Marienthal, Harry Connick Jr., Vin Diesel, Christopher McDonald, James Gammon

Brad Bird’s classic tale of a child who befriends something scary that the government wants to kill. Taking place at the height of Cold War hostilities, Hogarth, a nine-year-old Mainer hopped up on comic books & cornball sci-fi, investigates a meteor that crashed into a nearby forest. Eager to find an invader from Mars, or at least a space rock, Hogarth discovers a massive iron robot with no memory of its purpose or its origin — naturally, they become fast friends. Trouble arises, though, when a paranoid government agent rides into town determined to find and destroy the Giant.

Starring: Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno, Russ Tamblyn, George Chakiris, Richard Beymer

Part of our recipe book series NITEHAWK CINEMA PRESENTS. Show your ticket at the bar after the movie to buy a copy of the book for only $20!

Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ Academy Award winning musical film, West Side Story, is a modern take on Shakespeare’s classic doomed love story, Romeo and Juliet. But instead of the Montagues and Capulets, there are The Jets and The Sharks! The Jets, a white gang on New York’s explosive West Side, is getting ready to fight the rival Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks. Riff, the leader of the Jets, tries to enlist the help of the co-founder of the gang, Tony – but Tony has quit to work an honest job, and he goes along only to keep the peace. At the neighbourhood dance where the gangs meet to arrange the rumble, Tony meets and falls in love†with Maria, later learning that she is the sister of Bernardo, leader of the Sharks. At the rumble, Tony tries to limit the weapons to fists, but the fighting gets out of control and the warring clans’ feud takes a tragic turn.

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, John Cleese, Robbie Coltrane, Richard Harris, John Hurt, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman

Harry Potter is just an orphan boy living underneath some stairs in Surrey, a typically dreary place for Britain. On his eleventh birthday, a friendly giant named Hagrid comes a-knocking, and reveals to Harry that he’s no ordinary boy — but a wizard, the Boy Who Lived; the only person in the whole of the world to survive the wrath of the evil Lord Voldemort. Before long, Harry’s got himself a wand and a broom, and is off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – a secret academy where young magic users hone their craft. Along with his two new friends, B-student Ron and egghead Hermione, Harry sniffs out a conspiracy to bring back He Who Shall Not Be Named, and the trio set out to stop it by recovering the powerful Sorcerer’s Stone. Expelliarmus!

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Tom Felton, Emma Thompson

Sirius Black has escaped! One of Voldemort’s most devilish supporters, Sirius is notorious for betraying Harry’s parents, and has clawed his way out of the wizarding world’s own Gitmo in order to get his hands on Harry. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, Prisoner of Azkaban is when the series really hits its stride. Richly visual and loaded with new goodies (Dementors! Werewolves! Time travel!), the film follows Harry – now entering his dreamy Tigerbeat phase – as he and his friends learn first-hand about the true dangers that come with being a wizard. Expecto Patronum!

The dark force threatens Hogwarts School in the Chris Columbus sequel directed HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS.  

J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” was published in 1998.

Only a second-year wizard and already a hero, young Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts for another year of quidditch, crazy ghosts and another suspicious Defense Against the Dark Arts professor (Kenneth Branagh at his Kenneth Branaghiest). Aside from a busted flying car and an annoying house elf popping up, year two goes pretty well for Harry – that is, until someone opens the Chamber of Secrets and unleashes a monster on the school that petrifies all who see it. Obliviate!

Part of Nitehawk’s Booze & Books HARRY POTTER 20 brunch series.

Love and tragedy are abound in the David Yate’s directed HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE.

J.K. Rowling’s penultimate “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” was published in 2005.

War has come. The Dark Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters wreak havoc on the worlds of both wizards and muggles alike, and as death rains down from above, Harry Potter and his friends return to the relative safety of Hogwarts. Guided by Dumbledore and a mysterious book of spells once owned by “The Half-Blood Prince,” Harry begins investigating Voldemort’s past, hoping to find the secret behind the Dark Lord’s immortality. Sectum Sempra!

Part of Nitehawk’s Booze & Books HARRY POTTER 20 brunch series.

Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore

Based on the short story The Greatest Gift, Frank Capra’s annual holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life has a somewhat bleak undertone that morphs into a celebration of being alive during the most wonderful time of the year. After businessman George Bailey wishes that he’s never been born, an angel is sent down to Earth to make George’s wish come true. It’s only until then that George can realize how many lives he’s changed and impacted and how different the world would be if he had never been there.

Nitehawk opens the vault of horror with a film that puts a little spirit into the holidays, the Amicus anthology TALES FROM THE CRYPT.

A 35mm presentation.

Tales From the Crypt adapts five stories from the EC archives (though, only two are actually Tales from the Crypt titles), all told through the frame of the Crypt Keeper telling five unfortunate souls their inevitable, grizzly fates. Hailing from all sorts of wretched walks of life (and, notably, all from privileged lifestyles), the film’s stars—including Joan Collins, Ian Hendry, Robin Phillips, Richard Greene and Nigel Patrick—have run-ins with a variety of ghoulies who teach them all harsh life lessons by brutally murdering them. And while the creepiest Santa imagery you’ll ever see is in the first segment, “And All Through the House”, there’s an Xmas spirit of redemption in all of them.

Read our blog post about TALES FROM THE CRYPT by clicking here!
Part of Nitehawk’s December NITEHAWK HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR series!

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sinbad, Phil Hartman, Rita Wilson, Robert Conrad, Martin Mull

Workaholic Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger) wants to make things up to his son, Jamie (Jake Lloyd), and wife, Liz (Rita Wilson). He promises to get Jamie the hottest toy of the season, Turbo-Man — even though it’s Christmas Eve and the toy is practically sold out. As Langston hunts down the elusive gift, he runs into mailman Myron (Sinbad), another father on the same quest. With the clock winding down, Langston’s moral code is tested as he starts to learn the real meaning of Christmas.