Students crowded the 450-seated theater at the New UC to catch a free screening of the comedy film, “This is The End,” hosted by the Student Program Board on Thursday. | Sara Samora/The Daily Cougar
As the members of the Student Program Board prepared the next batch of popcorn, students filled the 450 seats of the New University Center Theater.
The first movie showing of the semester featured “This is the End,” an apocalyptic comedy starring James Franco, Seth Rogen and two-time Oscar nominee Jonah Hill.
SPB cinema and novelty chair Taylor Rouleau said the film was originally planned to be shown last semester. Instead, they switched it with another movie and made the decision to save this comedy for the spring semester.
“With the new theater, I figured a lot of people want to come out and see it,” Rouleau said. “We choose movies to screen based on student surveys, and a recent survey gave ‘This is the End’ the best reviews — thus the decision to screen the comedic flick for the UH audience.”
Previously, films were shown outdoors at Lynn Eusan Park.
In the new theater, however, the surround sound boomed through the speakers, followed by the riotous laughter and applause, creating a true theater environment. Students also brought their own snacks from the food court.
The movie companies occasionally send free tickets for movies.
“When they bring them out, it’s just first come, first serve,” Rouleau said. “It’s free tickets to early screenings of movies, so you get to see it before anybody else.”
Although there were no movie tickets for this screening, tables offered surveys, Cougar trading cards and movie promotional items for the upcoming films, “Devil’s Due” and “I, Frankenstein.”
“I heard ‘This is the End’ was funny and that Rihanna was in it,” said psychology junior Sharnica Henderson.
Henderson hopes that SPB will show more horror movies.
“The new theater is really nice,” said education sophomore Kiana Jensen. “It’s huge but also really loud.”
Future screenings include “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “Thor 2,” “Gravity” and “Ride Along.”
The next event is a screening of “Grown Ups 2” at 7 p.m. on Jan. 24 in the New UC Theater, hosted by SPB and the Center for Student Involvement.
“The Student Program Board is putting tons of free events on campus for all the students,” Rouleau said. “They need to come out and check it out.”
For more information on upcoming Student Program Board events, visit its website at uh.edu/spb.
