Following in the tradition begun by the Majestic’s Founding Executive Director, Jeffrey Gabel, and inspired by the history of Ike and Mamie Eisenhower attending westerns at the Majestic on Wednesdays, the Summer 2025 Classic Movie offerings represent six different decades of American film across various genres.
“The Majestic’s Summer Classics bring our community together every week to experience, or experience, films collectively. Nothing can replace the thrill of gasping, crying, or laughing with hundreds of friends and neighbors while seated in the theater that has showcased cinema arts in Gettysburg for almost a century,” said theater executive director Brett Messenger.
Last summer, the Majestic broke its previous record with a nearly sold-out screening of The Princess Bride, resulting in Messenger taking a whipped cream pie to the face in front of the audience of 761. The challenge remains this season, should attendance surpass that number for any of the screenings.
The twelve films scheduled in the historic 1925 theater include film noir, western, comedy, action, thriller, drama, and a musical. The list includes several titles from the hundreds of audience suggestions from last year.
2025 Summer Classics Schedule:
All shows begin at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $9
June 4: The Third Man (1949)
June 11: The Great Outdoors (1988) June 18: Strangers On a Train (1955)
June 25: Sister Act (1992)
July 2: Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989)
July 9: The Omega Man (1971)
July 16: Neverending Story (1984)
July 23: Gremlins (1984) Christmas in July!
July 30: Harold and Maude (1971)
August 6: Spaceballs (1987)
August 13: Magnificent Seven (1960)
August 20: Ghost (1990)
The season kicks off on June 4 with the classic film noir from 1949, The Third Man. Post-war Vienna is the shadowy backdrop for Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) to investigate the murder of his old pal, Harry Lime (Orson Welles). The mystery unfolds to a jaunty yet moody score performed on the zither by Anton Karas. On June 11, Dan Akroyd and John Candy demonstrate how funny it can be when family vacations go wrong in the 1988 family comedy, The Great Outdoors. Noir returns on June 18 with the 1951 psychological thriller by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, in his Strangers on a Train.A psychopath tries to recruit a tennis player to collaborate on the perfect crime- a double murder where they both murder the other’s most hated person. The month of June is bookended by the oldest and newest films of the 2025 season concluding with the 1992 musical, Sister Act starring Whoopi Goldberg. Goldberg plays a nightclub singer who finds herself entering a convent while in hiding from the mob. Musical hilarity ensues as she upends the modesty and rigidity of the nunnery turning the convent’s choir into a soulful chorus. Vespers are traded for Motown in this fun film that will have the Majestic’s audiences dancing in their seats!
On July 2, the 1989 family comedy, Honey I Shrunk the Kids tells the story of the scientist father (Rick Moranis) whose new invention shrinks his teenage kids, who find themselves on a great adventure in their own back yard. On July 9, Charleston Heston portrays the last man on Earth in 1971’s The Omega Man, only he is not alone! This action-packed dystopian sci-fi ends with an iconic motorcycle chase just in time for Gettysburg Bike Week. On July 16, imagination becomes reality as a troubled boy dives into a wondrous fantasy world through the pages of a mysterious book in 1984’s epic fantasy, The NeverEnding Story. Celebrate Christmas in July with another hit from 1984, Stephen Spielberg’s Gremlins. Patrons who wear a Santa hat will receive a free small popcorn, though don’t eat it after midnight lest you become clever, mischievous, dangerous Gremlins! July concludes to the sounds of Cat Stevens who scored the 1971 idiosyncratic counter culture gem, Harold and Maude on July 30.
After appearances earlier in the series, a diminutive Rick Moranis, and fuzzy John Candy return to the Majestic screen in Mel Brooks’ quirky parody from 1987, Spaceballs. Paying homage to the days when Ike and Mamie Eisenhower attended westerns at the Majestic, the star-studded The Magnificent Seven takes us back to our roots with one of the greatest westerns ever made on August 13. The season closes with the unexpected blockbuster of 1990, Ghost. Re-live the iconic moments from this romantic drama starring Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze, and Whoopi Goldberg.
Tickets for the Summer Classics are $9 and are available now at the Majestic Theater Box Office, 25 Carlisle St., Gettysburg, by calling (717) 337-8200 or online at www.gettysburgmajestic.org. Free parking is available at Gettysburg College’s Constitution Parking Lot. Metered parking is available at the Gettysburg Borough Parking Garage in Race Horse Alley as well as along Carlisle Street.
Featured image: A still from “Dial M for Murder.”