Movies on the Monterey Peninsula

For those of us who hail from big cities, the Monterey Peninsula requires some adjustment where moviegoing is concerned. You won't find a theatre every few blocks the way you will in LA or San Francisco. Apart from film festivals and other special screenings that take place in various locations, a movie-lover on the Peninsula has four theatres to choose from. Fortunately, they're all good choices.


Monterey
Cinemark Monterey 13

Located in Monterey's Del Monte Shopping Center, this is the main spot for mainstream moviegoing for citizens of Carmel and Monterey. A nice, big, standard multiplex with stadium-style seating and a fairly lavish "Café Cinema" for snacks, it shows every major release and fills all of the average moviegoer's needs.






Osio Theatre

A tiny, nonprofit "arthouse" theatre on Alvarado Street in the heart of downtown Monterey. This is the place to go on the Peninsula for foreign films, independent and alternative films, and classic film rereleases. It also offers educational programming in filmmaking and film literacy to community members of all ages. It shares its space with the charming Café Lumiere, so visitors can enjoy plenty of food and drinks besides the standards theatre snacks.






Pacific Grove
Lighthouse Theatre

Citizens of Pacific Grove can enjoy all the major mainstream releases at this small, quaint and comfortable theatre in the heart of downtown, with its iconic peach-pink facade and crowning clock. Its charms have changed little in decades: this blogger still vividly remembers seeing The Muppet Christmas Carol there at age five.




Marina
Century Marina & XD

Another good mainstream multiplex with stadium-style seating, this one serving the moviegoing needs of Marina citizens. In addition to its regular screens, it also features XD, or Extreme Digital Cinema: a wall-to-wall screen with a state-of-the-art projector and surround sound, to make viewers feel as if they're inside the movie.