"Watched 1,207 Movies in a Year": The Man Who Went to the Theater Every Day, and the Cost Per Movie Was...

Even Theater Staff Helped Plan His Schedule
Used a $28 Monthly Unlimited Pass
About 400 Won per Movie

A man in his 60s in the United States set a Guinness World Record by watching an astonishing 1,207 movies in theaters over the course of a year. That works out to more than three movies a day on average. He also used a $28-a-month (about 40,000 won) unlimited movie pass, bringing the cost per movie down to around 400 won.

On November 10, Yonhap News TV reported, citing UPI and Guinness World Records, that a man in his 60s living in Pennsylvania had watched a total of 1,207 movies in theaters over the past year, earning a Guinness World Record as the person who watched the most movies in theaters in one year. That comes to about 3.3 movies a day on average, or about 23 a week.

Mr. Glenwood Hoskin Jr., a retired tax official. Guinness World Records

Glenwood Hoskin Jr., a retired tax official, first decided to take on a movie-related record challenge after coming across Guinness World Records online by chance. Initially, he was also interested in the record for watching the same movie the most times. However, given the trend of movies moving quickly to streaming services after leaving theaters, he decided that watching one title hundreds of times would be difficult. Instead, he chose to try to set the record for watching the most movies in theaters in one year.

The previous record was 777 movies, set by American Zachariah Swope from July 2022 to July 2023. Hoskin watched 430 more movies, surpassing the previous record by about 55%. After beginning the challenge, his daily routine revolved around movie screening schedules. He checked showtimes every morning and planned his day to watch as many movies as possible, from morning until midnight.

At the Theater from Morning Until Midnight... Packed Meals and Walks Between Screenings

Theater staff and managers also helped him with his challenge. They recommended shorter films or checked screening schedules so he could watch more movies in a day. He also had a strategy for when to begin the challenge. Hoskin disliked driving in winter, so he decided to start in the spring, when the weather warmed up, and set a goal of beating the previous record of 777 movies before winter arrived.

Movie theater staff and managers also helped him with his challenge. They recommended shorter films or checked screening schedules so he could watch more movies in a day. Guinness World Records

He told Guinness that he "really hates driving in the winter" and explained that he had planned to break the record before winter and count any movies he watched afterward as an additional record. Fortunately, the winter weather in Pennsylvania that year was relatively mild, allowing him to watch far more movies than he had expected.

One interesting aspect was how much it cost him to watch all those movies.

Hoskin used Regal Unlimited, a monthly subscription for unlimited movie screenings offered by U.S. theater chain Regal. The monthly fee is about $28, which would total $336 (about 480,000 won) if he subscribed for 12 months. Dividing that by 1,207 visits works out to about 400 won per movie.

That is an exceptionally low cost for setting the record, given typical movie ticket prices. He also saved on food. He prepared meals at home and ate between screenings, and exercised by walking around inside and outside the theater while waiting for the next show after a movie ended.

Animation Was His Favorite Genre

So which movies did he like best after watching so many over the course of a year? Hoskin said animation and comedy were his favorite genres. He particularly enjoyed the 2024 animated film "The Wild Robot" far more than he had expected. He also mentioned Marvel's "Deadpool & Wolverine" as a movie that left an impression on him. "It is hard to say that there was a really bad movie or one I didn't like," he said.

Even when rewatching comedies he had already seen, he enjoyed watching other audience members laugh at the jokes. "I really enjoyed spending time outside the house," Hoskin said. "I have always liked having a challenge and a goal to achieve." He added that he was an organized person and had enjoyed the process of planning and preparing his schedule to set the record.

There are other Guinness World Records related to moviegoing, too. Ramiro Alanis of Florida watched "Spider-Man: No Way Home" in theaters 292 times between December 2021 and March 2022, setting the record for the most viewings of the same movie in theaters.

The total viewing time was about 720 hours, equivalent to 30 days. Alanis had previously set the same record in 2019 by watching "Avengers: Endgame" 191 times. After Arnaud Klein of France broke the record by watching "Kaamelott: First Installment" 204 times, Alanis took up the challenge again and reclaimed his record.

There is also a record for the longest continuous movie marathon. According to Guinness World Records, Suresh Joachim, who is from Sri Lanka, watched movies for 121 hours and 18 minutes in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2015, setting the record for the longest movie-watching marathon in a theater. There is also an unusual record based on a film's running time. The Swedish experimental film "Logistics" is the world's longest movie recognized by Guinness, with a running time of 857 hours, or about 35 days and 17 hours.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.