Just an FYI for those unaware since this is a rare, potentially once in a lifetime showing. Its the first time the movies are airing in American theaters.
You can find ticket and theater locations here:
https://www.fathomevents.com/events/gurren-lagann-the-movie-the-light-in-the-sky-are-stars/
Aniplex's subtitles are soulless but its still Gurren Lagann. The second movie is also the actual good one. It covers the second half of the series.
Gurren Lagann is one of those rare and special series with a lot of heart, soul and meaning packed into it, still my favorite anime after almost 9 years when I first watched it as a college freshman. I consider it the greatest anime of all time.
I checked out the first movie on this Tuesday, it was okay, more tolerable in theaters than when I watched it on my PC like 1-2 years ago since the theaters audio and environment help obscure the flaws and issues with it. Its no substitute for the series though.
If you haven't watched Gurren Lagann before, you can just watch episodes 1-15, then watch the second movie if you want to catch the theatrical release. The series is still largely better but the second movie is good enough that I can still recommend it as an acceptable way to experience the second half of TTGL (just make sure you watch the series conclusion afterwards too).
Ah well, that's a shame. Too busy?
And yeah, I had to pay attention to find out about this (even more so if I wanted to find a 4D theater to catch em in), its not something that's exactly heavily advertised or spread around easily, and the fact that its only a 1-day showing for each movie (well technically 2 but that's split between dub and sub) just makes it rough. The fact that its on weekdays only makes it even worse.
Unfortunately out of the state for work at the moment so it would be tough to swing. I'm not against going to things like that alone, and even actually like it every now and then for a change of pace, but I generally am not free until mid to late evening and by then I just want to go rest. Nearest showing is likely 45 minutes away by car anyway.
I really hope it does well. I love when movies like this have releases over in the States even if they're very small. My favorite is when they give away little things like a mini poster or a shikishi or something at the showings.
Ah, that's a shame but understandable.
I agree on the merch point. The Japanese theaters got some beautiful stuff for the Gurren movie re-releases and I'm very jealous of them. Sadly my local theater didn't have anything, and people have been saying similar things about their theaters so probably only a few, if any, got anything for this one.
I will say, if the theater in question is a Regal theater, those have a great refund policy. If you're considering going to it, you can buy and hold the ticket until literally an hour before the showing, and refund it if you don't feel you can go.
I ended up using that refund policy on Tuesday because I was initially going to a (very) far theater for checking out the 4D, but the weather made it far too dangerous so I cancelled my ticket an hour and a half before it started (I bought it over a month ago) and went to a local one instead lol.