Welcome to MovieJawn’s Split Decision! Each week, Ryan will pose a question to our staff of knowledgable and passionate film lovers and share the responses. Chime in on Twitter, Facebook, our Instagram, or in the comments below.

This week’s question:

On this day in 1894, the first ever commercial motion picture house opened in New York City. If you could see any film in a theater the year it premiered, what would it be and why?

Movie: Lethal Weapon 2. Tagline: The magic is back!

I would love to travel back to 1989 (I was a toddler at the time) and see Lethal Weapon 2 in a packed house. It’s a movie I’ve only ever seen at home, so seeing a truly hilarious comedy with an excited crowd would be a wonderful experience. –Ryan Silberstein, The Red Herring

I think it would have been interesting to have attended the premiere of Psycho, a film that terrified audiences at the time it was made. Part of the magic of seeing films in a theater is experiencing the communal response to something shocking or groundbreaking.–Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

Like Gary, my very first thought was Psycho. I loved the mysterious fanfare regarding the premiere. I love the legend of Hitchcock buying out all the copies of Robert Bloch’s novel so no one could read it beforehand. I love the whole advertising campaign stressing that NO ONE would be admitted to the theatre after the film started (“The manager of this theatre has been instructed, at the risk of his life, not to admit to the theatre any persons after the picture starts.”). I love the promo Hitchcock filmed on the set with the joyous and upbeat music that I have never forgotten. I love the story that it was absolutely pouring on the night of the premiere. My guy Perkins on the big screen! Wow! I wish I was there!.–Ashley Jane Davis, Staff Writer

My instinct was the same as Gary’s— I wanted to see something that’s since been totally spoiled, whether because of a twist or because of hype that you’ve already absorbed by osmosis by the time you care about movies. And I think I’d want to see Godzilla in 1954 (for this answer, I’d be in Japan and fluent in Japanese, not watching the Raymond Burr recut in 1956). I imagine seeing the suit and the miniature city at a time when that was as good as movies looked would be a stunning, scary experience. It’s probably as close to an “audience members jumping away from the train coming toward the screen” visceral reaction that you could get while still watching a legitimately great movie. If I could watch Godzilla fresh, if you could smuggle me into the theater with a bag over my head and then pull it off and show me Gojira itself laying waste to a city, I would be happy.–Alex Rudolph, Staff Writer

I would kill to see Fight Club back in 1999. Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club hadn’t reached the public’s consciousness until Brad Pitt’s interpretation of Tyler Durden, so everyone in the audience would be walking in blind, not knowing they’d be seeing the film that defined the 90’s. To be in the audience to the mind bending twist would be amazing. Everybody, unless you’ve read the book, didn’t expect the finale. This moment, in which everyone holds their breath as the rug is pulled under them, is a once in a lifetime event. Fight Club defined a decade of people who were sick of the status quo, and to be a part of the very moment in which they’d acknowledged the decade’s fucked-upness, would be my dream. Nobody knows that they saw it, but they do.–Miguel Alejandro Marquez, Staff Writer

It would be Suddenly Last Summer, that gorgeous Southern mess by Tennessee Williams. So crypto-gay in its actual release after the Hays Code got done with it. However, the reason I would want to see it in the theater when it came out was so I could sit behind my grandparents, mother and aunts and uncle, since my grandmother tricked my grandfather into taking the family to see it by claiming it was a “family” film. She knew what it was about, she just really wanted to see it. The thought of my grandfather turning red and my grandmother relishing every moment of it warms the cockles of my heart.–Anthony Glassman, Contributor

My favorite actress of all time is Audrey Hepburn. I’m really thankful my parents were able to afford cable for our house growing up, which is how I learned about her. In high school, I kept both Turner Classic Movies and American Movie Classics on repeat. Before it was all about original programming like Mad Men and Breaking Bad, AMC showed classic movies, much like TCM does. And between these two channels, I was introduced to Audrey Hepburn and all of her films. I was immediately intrigued by her style and wit and cheekiness - devouring her entire film catalog on tv or through the local library and reading any biography on her I could find. My bedroom walls were adorned with pictures of many classic Hollywood actors, but it was always Audrey at the center. I can’t imagine what it would be like to watch Roman Holiday upon its initial release in the theater, her first major starring role. And opposite Gregory Peck! What a buncha dollfaces! –Jaime Davis, The Fixer

The blockbuster sci-fi films of the late twentieth century. I was too young to see when they premiered, from Star Wars and Alien to The Terminator and Blade Runner.–Melissa Strong, Contributor

It seems that great minds think alike in terms of selecting the premiere of Hitchcock’s Psycho. I too would have loved to have been part of this event. From what I read the audience had chills down their spine when Mother was revealed and I would have loved to experience such a spectacular moment in cinematic history. Although, since it seems seats would have been filled for this event rather quickly amongst fellow MovieJawners I’m gonna go with Dracula. I would have loved to have been in the same venue as Bela Lugosi and seen him in his luxurious cape. I am guessing that this was a fangtastic premiere! –Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport