I went to the Stranger Things finale in theaters and the strangest thing happened | The Verge Skip to main contentThe homepage Tech The secret to Netflix’s biggest hit wasn’t its love of the past, but how it spoke to the present. The secret to Netflix’s biggest hit wasn’t its love of the past, but how it spoke to the present. A little background. Just about every mall is struggling now, but the Neshaminy Mall in Bensalem, Pennsylvania is more or less comatose. As Defector’s Dan McQuade, a lifelong Pennsylvanian and mall fan, wrote in his fond remembrance of the shopping center, the once bustling complex is mostly a shuttered ghost town, with half of it set to be demolished. There are only two real reasons to go there: a well-stocked Barnes & Noble and the AMC movie theater. And people do go there for the movie theater. It’s one of only three theaters in the Philly area with an IMAX screen, making it a destination for fans of prestige formats. I’m there often in my job as a critic, and I’m used to the IMAX auditorium being a full house. The parking lot outside of the theater at 8PM on New Year’s Eve, the night it’s showing Stranger Things 5: The Finale, however, was on another level. The concession…
Published: January 3, 2026 3:00 pm
Source: The Verge — Read original