Top 10 Reasons to be an Irresponsible Adult and Attend a Midnight Premiere

I’m a gainfully employed adult who must arrive at the office by 8AM every day of the week. It’s a fact of life that doesn’t always mesh well with my inner nerd who loves to stay up until 2AM watching 80s movies or an entire season of a TV show in one sitting.

These days there are very few occasions in which I break my strict 10:30 PM bedtime. But, there’s one sacred event that happens a couple times a year.

The glorious midnight premiere.

Here’s 10 reasons to shun responsibility and attend a midnight premiere:

1. The anticipation of seeing your favorite book turned movie (see, The Hunger Games, The Harry Potter Series) on the big screen is *almost* on par with waiting for the next book to come out. There will never be another Hunger Games book, but I won’t let that dampen my joy for seeing each of the books adapted.
2. The fandom comes out in full-force for a midnight premiere. There’s something special about sitting in a room with 300 other Batman fans just waiting to see if it will meet your expectations.
3. Avoiding social media spoilers can most easily be achieved through being the first of your friends to see the flick. Be warned though: Don’t be the jerk-off that gives away a major plot element or change in a status update.
4. Reusing your Halloween costume or better yet, strategically plan next year’s Halloween costume so that you can wear it again to another midnight premiere!
5. Buying tickets online has made one of my favorite midnight premiere traditions go extinct: waiting in line for 5 hours before the show to buy your tickets. While this may no longer be necessary, I still show up several hours early to all my midnight premieres in reverence of this tradition.
6. Spot number six is reserved for people who show up with blankets and pillows. I’ve seen this and I have to admit that I’m not brave enough to try it myself. It looks gloriously comfy though.
7. Eating popcorn at 1AM has a special place in my heart and my stomach. Is it just me or is the popcorn saltier, warmer and fresher in the middle of the night?
8. Next time you’re sitting at a midnight premiere, waiting for the movie to begin, just remember this: At this moment in time, literally hundreds and thousands of people are doing the exact same thing. It’s nearly a spiritual thought, isn’t it?
9. If you’re the responsible adult who attempts to go to work the next morning, here’s to you and your midnight premiere hangover. It’s kind of fun coding with a popcorn coma anyway.
10. PTO. Paid time off is glorious. If it wasn’t made for the midnight premiere hangover, I don’t want to know what it’s really for.

Elizabeth Giorgi is a writer and filmmaker from Minneapolis. She blogs about mixing life as a nerd with her career at beinggeekchic.com. In 2010, she was nominated for a Webby and won an Emmy for Science of Watchmen. Follow her on Twitter: @lizgiorgi