'90s movie theaters had all those outer space-themed carpets because you're disgusting

American cultural aesthetics have adopted some particularly strange fads throughout the decades, but few strike that particular chord of nostalgic resonance as well as late-’90s movie theater carpets—those thousands upon thousands of square feet of garish, neon-colored cosmic bodies, squiggly lines, and splatter paint set against dingy black backdrops. As it turns out, that strain of floor fashion can be largely traced back to Pattern Patient Zero: AMC Theaters’ “The Odyssey.”
What was The Odyssey, and what was its purpose? As Foster Kamer, writing for A24's blog, recently explained, “If those carpets could talk, they’d tell you a story about late-’90s economics, showbiz, multiplexes, and an era of world-building that changed moviegoing as we know it—maybe more than any other.”
…It also helped cover up the fact that we’re all disgusting, sloppy-ass snack pigs.
As it turns out, that look of “cartoon corporatism and hypermodernism getting smashed through a cultural particle collider” served some very specific purposes. As the age of the blockbuster reached its height, theater chains wanted their locations to convey that sense of excitement, adventure, and cutting-edge escapism. “They wanted something outlandish, that made you feel like you were at a theme park—and they got it,” writes Kamer.