Man breaks Guinness World Record for most movies watched in theaters in one year

A man has broken the Guinness World Record for the number of movies watched in a cinema in one year.

Zach Swope, from Pennsylvania, undertook the impressive challenge in a bid to raise awareness for autism and suicide prevention. He decided to stick to shorter titles in order to maximise how many he could watch.

In fairness, watching the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King might limit your chances somewhat when it comes to the sheer length of the film.

Zach, 32, describes himself as a 'lover of films', and began the impressive feat on 5 July, 2022, with a screening of Minions: The Rise of Gru.

Guinness World Records

He said: “I am a suicide survivor and have lost people I care about to suicide.

“This was an amazing journey that I dedicated a year of my life to, and it was all for a good cause.”

Zach would visit the cinema and watch up to three movies a day during the week, as he worked full time early in the day. However, weekends were full on movie-marathons so that he could clock up the count for the record.

He finished his impressive feat in July 2023 with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

But, how many films did Zach need to watch to claim the world record?

777 to be exact!

He also set strict rules for himself which he had to follow.

Facebook/Regal Cinemas

Each movie had to be watched in its entirety. It also had to be watched independently of any other activity, that meant that he couldn't be checking his phone while the film was playing.

Zach also couldn't eat or drink during the screenings, and enlisted cinema employees to make sure that he was always following the rules.

However, the rules didn't stipulate that it had to be a different film every single time. So as long as Zach was paying attention he could watch the same film several times and it would still count.

There was one movie which was a clear favorite over the year which he watched some 47 times.

And what was the movie? Well, it was Puss in Boots, the Last Wish.

The previous record was 715, set by Vincent Krohn in 2018. Though Zach passed this when he watched Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse.

You might think he'd had enough of films for now, but Zach even joked he might try again.

He said: “Who knows, maybe I’ll go back and try to break my own record?”

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.

For US readers, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.