Seeing movies for free before they hit DVD or Netflix sounds great, right? Cyclone Cinema makes that possible for all of Ames. 

Every week, Thursday through Sunday in Carver 101, students get a chance to see features they may have missed in theaters. The weekend event is a fun and cheap activity for students to enjoy the magic of the movies.

Making their movie schedule dynamic with dramas, comedies and horrors, Cyclone Cinema screenings range from Hollywood blockbusters to Academy Award winners.

Last spring, Cyclone Cinema showed films such as “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and “A Star Is Born.” Many of the summer blockbusters will be on the fall schedule, while movies from the Oscar season land on the spring schedule.

The event is popular — Friday and Sunday being the most packed nights. Showings are at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Snacks and drinks are priced as low as $2. The event is free to the public, meaning anyone can attend, and is in a popular and convenient location. On Sundays, Cyclone Cinema offers open-captioned screenings. All other screenings can be open caption as well, as long as the request is made to the staff before the movie starts.

Movies that will be shown this fall semester include Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood,” “Avengers: Endgame,” and the 2019 live-action remake of “The Lion King.” Dates for each movie are yet to be announced. 

Cyclone Cinema even offers a punch card, which attendees can use after three punches to enter a drawing for prizes.

The event has been made possible by the Student Union Board’s Cyclone Cinema committee since 2011.