Three weeks and $9,000 in donations later, a movement called Take Back the Movies spread across the metro area.
The donations were enough to give away 1,300 tickets to unsuspecting moviegoers at five theatres in Aurora and Denver.
"I wanted to try and find something that was the exact opposite of what this guy did, in the dark, and to try to find a way to spread a little bit of light," Jason Cole said.
Cole organized the event.
Many of the roughly 50 volunteers, who stood outside the theaters with free ticket passes, felt compelled to help for personal reasons.
"Me and a friend of mine were in line waiting to see the movie, but it was sold out," Tyler Killingbeck said. "[It was] in that exact theater, actually," said volunteer Tyler Killingbeck, who almost saw Batman on July 20.
Killingbeck and his friend Alexander Jones couldn't get in to see Batman on July 20. They knew many who were actually inside the theater.
They said Take Back the Movies is important to help people realize it's OK to return to their day-to-day lives and not live in fear.
"That's a pure act of kindness, so that's pretty neat," Bill Richardson said.
Richardson and his wife were given free tickets Saturday night. Many of those who received and gave tickets knew somebody affected by the shootings.
"My oldest daughter had a friend who was shot three times," volunteer Christina Jones said. "My youngest daughter, at the last minute, made the choice to go to a different theater."
Jones and her son were among the volunteers trying to ease the pain by showing up and giving back.
(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)