The record for most times at the movies in a year was 777. This man smashed that

Is it normal to see Moana 2 over a hundred times, in theatres? Maybe not for your typical movie goer, but if you're trying to break a record for most movies seen in theatres in a year, then it might just be a necessity. Glenwood Hoskin Jr. set out to break that record, previously set at 777. Between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025, Hoskin Jr. saw 1,207 films in the theatre.

Glenwood Hoskin Jr. went to the theatres over a thousand times, including 132 viewings of Moana 2

Philip Drost · CBC Radio

· Posted: Nov 05, 2026 5:18 PM EST | Last Updated: November 5

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As It Happens5:56The record for most times at the movies in a year was 777. This man smashed that

Is it normal to see Moana 2 over a hundred times, in theatres? Maybe not for your typical movie goer, but if you're trying to break a record for most movies seen in theatres in a year, then it might just be a necessity. 

Glenwood Hoskin Jr. set out to break that record, previously set at 777. Between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025, Hoskin Jr. saw 1,207 films in the theatre. 

"I love going to the movies," the 60-year-old retiree from Pennsylvania told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. "It was never a drudgery or any sort of bad thing. It was always fun to do."

His record has since been verified by Guinness World Records.

How Thor failed him

Hoskin decided he would take aim at a world record as he approached retirement. He had just had a kidney transplant, and since he was feeling better, he decided it was time to put his feet up. 

More specifically, he was going to put his feet up at the movie theatre. 

At first, Hoskin Jr. had another record in mind. He set out to see the same movie as many times as he could. 

Record-holder Ramiro Alanis of Florida had gone to see Spider-Man: No Way Home a total of 192 times in theatre, after owning the previous record for seeing Avengers: End Game 191 times. 

So with another Marvel blockbuster, Thor: Love and Thunder, set to release the day he retired, he had his goal. He started going to showing after showing of Thor: Love and Thunder. The problem? The fourth Thor movie was not well received, and was out of theatres before Hoskin Jr. could hit his target. 

His attempt was happening at a time when people weren't going to the movie theatres as much, as attendance had yet to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

People arrive to watch a late night film in Berlin on the first day that cinemas reopened there during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

According to Telefilm, box office revenue for theatrical releases in Canada dropped to $837 million in 2025, which is 17 per cent lower than 2019, with similar struggles in the U.S. And those struggles were making it harder for Hoskin Jr. to achieve his goal.

After Thor flopped, he started going to the next big Marvel release, Guardians of the Galaxy 4. That was also pulled too early for him to break the record, followed by The Marvels, which performed poorly, once again leaving him short of the record. 

"I said, 'The heck with this. I'm going to try to do the 'as many movies as I can in a year' thing," said Hoskin Jr.

Kid movies came in clutch

Achieving this record wasn't all cushy seats and popcorn. After each movie he needed two witness statements, and a statement signed by the managers. 

"They'd see me after my movie, walking toward them with my notices and be like, 'Oh, here he comes,'" said Hoskin Jr. 

It averaged out to 3.3 movies a day, with his fullest days featuring six movies. 

"I would try to get as many movies in any day that I could, knowing that there could be days where I might not be able to get so many in," said Hoskin Jr.

Thankfully for him, his local Regal Cinema in York Haven, Penn., had a deal that allowed him to go to as many movies as he wanted in a month for $25 US.

Some of his highlights from the year included Deadpool vs. Wolverine, as well as The Wild Robot. 

And it was the kids' movies that helped him ultimately achieve his goal. Typically children's movies run around 90 minutes. So going to see Despicable Me 4 or Moana 2 is much shorter than longer movies such as The Brutalists' 215 minute runtime. 

And what did he see the most? Moana 2, a total of 132 times.

More movies to come

Hoskin Jr. admits that once he surpassed the record of 777, he took it a bit easier. He wouldn't go out if the weather was bad. But he didn't want to totally slow down. 

"If I only stopped at 700 or 800 or something like that, somebody else might be able to beat me. So I mean, I just kept going until the end of the one-year timeframe," said Hoskin Jr.

Now with his world record secure, his movie viewing has significantly slowed down. He goes most Thursdays, when new movies come out. And then he'll go to a few more throughout the week depending on what's going on in his life. But he certainly isn't seeing three movies a day. 

"I'm not going as much as I used to," said Hoskin Jr.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Philip Drost is a writer and editor for CBC Radio based in Fredericton. You can reach him at philip.drost@cbc.ca.