Zachariah Swope, a 32-year-old man from Pennsylvania, US, has achieved an extraordinary feat by securing a World Record for the most movies watched in the cinema within a single year. Over the period of 12 months, from May 2022 to May 2023, Swope spent a significant portion of his time in the Regal Cinema, as he watched a total of 777 movies, surpassing the previous record of 715. Swope’s movie marathon included a diverse range of films, he started with Minions: Rise of Gru and ended his mission with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. To celebrate his achievement, Regal Cinemas presented him with an award and made a generous donation of $7,777.77 (approximately Rs 6 Lakh) to the American Federation for Suicide Prevention.
Breaking a Guinness World Record (GWR) was not an easy task and Swope’s attempt came with strict guidelines. To qualify for the record, he had to watch each film in its entirety, without engaging in any other activities. This meant no napping, checking his phone or even eating or drinking during the screenings. Cinema employees closely monitored Zach to ensure he followed all the rules.
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Interestingly, Zachariah Swope took the challenge while working his full-time job, which was from 6:45 AM to 2:45 PM. Following his work hours, he would head to the cinema, where he would watch up to three films in a single evening, while on weekends, he dedicated even more time.
Zach undertook this challenge to raise awareness about autism, he told GWR, “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. Who knows, maybe I’ll go back and try to break my own record?”
Among the films he watched multiple times, was Puss in Boots: The Last Wish 47 times, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, followed closely behind with 35 screenings and Thor: Love and Thunder saw 33 times. However, it was Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse that held a special place in his heart. The film became his 716th movie of the year, the one that would push him past the previous record of 716 set by Vincent Krohn from France in 2018.
Initially, Zachariah Swope had an ambitious goal in mind, to watch 800 films within the year. However, as time passed, he understood that achieving that exact number might be impossible to reach. He then decided to conclude his cinematic journey on lucky number 777.
