Movie Theaters Blasting A/C Is Part of Their History

Even in a culture where pretty much every business has air conditioning, movie theaters are known for being particularly generous with the cool air. 

If you’re one of the people who complains about frigid screenings, and laments having to bring a jacket? I encourage you to instead embrace it as a sign of modern plenty, and fully embrace the chilly breeze of luxury. Plenty of businesses would be desperate to eke out any extra electricity savings at the expense of customers’ comfort. Movie theaters instead usher you into a positively Arctic environment, even on the hottest of days, and I’ll never find fault in that. 

Why, exactly, do they crank their cooling so liberally? It turns out it might just be a matter of pride.

Modern air conditioning was first invented as a solution for a book publishing company that was having problems storing magazines due to heat and humidity. (Though some form of cooling had popped up here and there before, this was the one that stuck.) Although the workers there quickly noticed how much more comfortable their office was, it wasn’t received by the public with the relief you might imagine. 

First of all, it was expensive. Less pragmatic reasons were also at play, however. There was, and I’m not kidding, a general sense among some that cooling rooms was sinful and bordering on a violation of god's will. Apparently, God himself had commanded Irish Catholics to be red and wet for half the year, and it was non-negotiable.

For one business in particular, though, the benefits outweighed any hesitation. Public movie theaters, as naturally dark, enclosed spaces, were unpleasant when combined with seasonal heat and humidity. Besides the simple discomfort of a hot room, they also had an unfortunate reputation for smelling like a room full of dozens of sweaty chairs might. 

So while the high expense wasn’t worth the blow to other businesses’ profit margins, movie theaters were the first widespread adopters of air conditioning, and for anyone who didn’t work in an industrial environment that required it, it was likely their first exposure to such a cool breeze. As you can imagine, once movie theaters weren’t all collectively struck by lightning for spurning God’s great thermostat, everyone quickly approved. 

By the time air conditioning became cheap enough to be feasible for smaller businesses and private homes, people were quick to embrace the idea of a living room that was actually comfortable to live in.