New Hampshire Culture

In New Hampshire, the locally-owned Spinelli Cinemas chain has theaters in seven different towns.[15] Other local chains include all stadium seating at Cinemagic Cinemas[16] and Chunky's Cinema Pub.[17] Several other independent theaters exist, including the IOKA Theater in Exeter,[18] the Wilton Town Hall Theater,[19] and The Music Hall in Portsmouth.[20] Three drive-in movie theaters still operate in the state, in Laconia, Milford, and Hinsdale.

• New Hampshire is the home state of fictional United States President Josiah Bartlet on the television drama series The West Wing.
• Peterborough is the inspiration for the town of Grover's Corners, in Thornton Wilder's play Our Town.
• The novel Peyton Place was inspired by Gilmanton, New Hampshire.
• Bob Montana, the original artist for Archie, attended Manchester Central High School for a year, and may have based Riverdale High School in part on Central.
• Dartmouth College is said to be the inspiration for the film Animal House, as one of the scriptwriters, Chris Miller, studied there.
• Al Capp, creator of the comic strip Li'l Abner, used to joke that Dogpatch, the setting for the strip, was based on Seabrook, where he would vacation with his wife.[21]
• John Knowles based the Devon School in A Separate Peace on the Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter. The prep school in John Irving's The World According to Garp was also based on the Phillips Exeter Academy. Irving's stepfather was a faculty member at the school, and Irving himself is an alumnus.
• Joyce Maynard grew up in Durham, New Hampshire and based several novels on life in the Granite State, most notably To Die For, which is loosely based on the Pamela Smart murder case.
• Portions of the Robin Williams movie Jumanji were filmed in Keene, New Hampshire, most notably the animal stampede scene.
• Most of the independent film Live Free or Die was filmed in Claremont, New Hampshire.
• Gravesend Academy, from the book A Prayer for Owen Meany, was based on the Phillips Exeter Academy. The book's author John Irving attended the school, as well as the University of New Hampshire.
• The setting for another book by John Irving, The Hotel New Hampshire, was inspired by his residence in the state.
• Jodi Picoult often uses the State of New Hampshire as a setting in her novels.