Pillowhead

Here's a thought.

Do you think people have started to misbehave in theaters more due to it being a larger theater and stadium seating? How about the widespread use of cell phones?

I remember when I could go to a theater about 6 years ago and it was a non stadium theater, and there was none of the cell phone rudeness, annoying audience members, etc... I don't believe it was as pervasive as it now is.

I don't know what the reason is, but in the last several years it's gotten progressively worse. I was at Cinderella Man last weekend and a lady answered her phone and had a conversation that lasted roughly 5 minutes. I shooshed her, but no one else did. It's just appalling at how inconsiderate people can be.

smackattack

yep, count me as another one who doenst go to the movies but once or twice a year. Nothing irks me more than getting the back of my chair kicked repeatedly by some kid. I love movies so ive invested a few grand into my home theater because of it. Add to the fact that even matinee pricing in my area is $8 now, ill wait for dvd, and ill wait for the dvd to be under $10

devilpants

You can't beat a great communal experience: Some of my best experiences was seeing a movie with a huge audience. I think the pleasure in a filmgoing experience depends on the theatre. You're not going to have trouble at a place like the Sunset 5 which shows a lot of alternative cinema (Storytelling, Napoleon Dynamite, Ghost World, etc.) but you're going to have trouble at a more mainstream place like the Grove which shows all the blockbuster movies. Sorry if I come off sounding snobby, but its the truth.

Squirrel God

Hey Gil, factor in the cost of the soda and popcorn at home as well you ass.

Mammal

I've been a regular moviegoer all my life, but now I have a quality HT setup and it's close enough to the theater experience that I recently saved a considerable sum by buying Old Boy and Layer Cake from R2. Hollywood needs to make some adjustments, especially on non-blockbusters.

lotsofdvds

Every movie theater needs to have chained doors and armed guards who taser anyone who talks or has a cell phone ring before I go back to the cinema.

taa455

People have been eating popcorn and candy during movies for decades. Some people like it. It's not a difficult concept to grasp.


I could drink a 32 oz soda and not have to pee for 3 hours. No problem. We all don't have bladders the size of a grape.

Not that I'm posting to piss you off. Just offering a different perspective.

Alan Smithee

I spent 10 years in the theater business, and sadly very few people in charge care about providing customers with a quality moviegoing experience. They want to rake in the cash, and that's it. Sadly they don't realize that they can't do that if they do enough to annoy their customers.
I went and saw Star Wars Episode 3 since I'm a fan and I suspect George Lucas might decide to change some of it when the DVD comes out. I waited til the 3rd week to avoid the crowds. The place I saw it at had already moved it to one of the smaller auditoriums, the screen was no bigger than a billboard. All their screens have top-down masking also, so 2.35 movies are smaller than ones shot in 1.85 (like letterboxing on video)- proper screens open up from the sides to show 2.35. I managed to have an annoying family sit right next to me, they kept making comments like "That was cool!" I would have shushed them, but there were other people making noise too. It would have done some good to have an usher check the theaters- I often checked all the theaters while running the films to make sure the sound was at the right volume and everything else was OK, and if any patrons were making noise I'd tell them to please be quiet.
The film print was still in good shape (looking MUCH better than the DLP showing of "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" I saw last month), and overall presentation was good despite the small screen size, but the ending was RUINED by placement of tape on the film to automatically bring the lights up at the end credits. Most theaters have the lights automatically triggered by placing something on the film, usually a piece of reflective tape. If this isn't done carefully, it can be seen as a flash on the screen and kills the mood of a movie's ending. Right during the final shot, it appeared as a dark stripe on the right side of the frame before the "Directed By George Lucas" credit appeared. I had complained to the company about this before, and they even sent me passes once, but their people still do not show any regard for proper placement of the automation tape. (Of course I'd prefer to just have the lights stay down during the credits, but that would just be asking way too much.)
I contacted the theater company's website again and informed them that would be my LAST visit to their theater. What's sad is that all the other places in the area are even worse.

sracer

I plan on installing a flush-mounted motorized movie screen in the ceiling of our living room that will lower directly in front of our HDTV monitor. Once we do that (and get a quality projector), I doubt we'll return to the theatres.

island007

Movie theater owners have shown me that they don't want my bussiness(piss-poor service), so I rather just save my money and buy the DVD.

Josh H

Actually, it has more to do with metabolism than bladder size.

I avoid drinking as well as it goes straight through me. I'm one of those people that can eat as much of whatever I want an not put on an ounce of fat.

Hell, I lift weights 5 days a week and eat around 3,500 calories a day and still only but on 3 to 5 pounds of muscle a year. Crazy raging metabolism.

Anyway, enough off topic.

gcbma

Pros of seeing films at movie theatres:
1. audience: I'll even go to the theater sometimes to watch revivals of movies I already have on DVD. The reason? A full audience response to a classic film on the big screen gives an entirely difference perspective than watching it at home alone or with just a few people.
2. movie going-experience: big screen, cup holder, coming attractions, no household distractions, and the aroma of freshly popped popcorn (rarer now at movie theaters though; too many now refill their popcorn bins with pre-popped corn from large plastic bags--I always avoid those places).

Cons:
1. audience: aforementioned problem with talkers and other inconsiderate theater goers
2. cost: jeez, the cost of going to the theaters nowadays! We can buy a DVD that anyone in the family can watch over and over for the price of one night at the movie for one person.
3. schedule: we can watch any DVD we own whenever we want. With theaters we have to conform to their choice of films and their schedule.
4. no special features!

ernestrp

Wheres the Poll?

Alan Smithee

to that, only because in the 10 years I worked at theaters, it seemed like most of the customers wanted to leave as soon as possible! I always thought that the people who can't sit for 3 minutes of end credits aren't likely to listen to the director commentary!
I went to a free preview showing of "Constantine" and a good number of people were getting up and leaving during the final scene, but before any credits had even started to roll!!! Something isn't right if you're THAT impatient to get out of the theater, if they're doing a good job you should be more likely to hide under the seats and see the movie again, or sneak into another movie! To top it off this movie had a scene after all the end credits were finished too, so those who left early are TRUE idiots.

matome

Hit the nail right on the head. People are inconsiderate a-holes. For the most part these distractions are absent from my home theater.

calhoun07

And not being snobbish either, but I have found the more affluent a neighborhood is the better the audience acts. There are a couple theaters near me, and one closest is in a richer area and I rarely have problems there. That is not to say there are NEVER problems, but there are other theaters where there are a lower class (economically) of people, and it seems there are more problems. Hell, the other theater feels the need to have police officers on site most of the time during peak business. And I agree that you hardly ever have problems like this at theaters that show independent movies.

calhoun07

But you are still coming off as an ass. It's not a difficult concept to grasp.

I can go out to eat before the movie and drink and be fine as well. Note that I said I don't drink anything a couple HOURS before the movie. If you drank your 32 oz drink two hours before the movie, you still have to get up and piss an hour into the movie with your large bladder.

And I would also like to point out that the comment, in context of this thread, regards people who COMPLAIN about the price of the crap at the concession stand yet still feel a compulsion to eat it. If the prices don't bother you, and you want to spend that much for that stuff, you go with your bad self.

badger1997

I guess it's just sad to me that the communal experience of going to the theater with a large crowd to all be collectively wowed and entertained is apparently dying out. Yes, there are some occasional annoyances, but nothing will ever replace going to the theater for me. Even if I were ever to get well off enough to buy a home theater system, I would still go to the theater to see movies. Going to see movies like Revenge of the Sith, Batman Begins and such and feeling the audience around you being thrilled at the same time, I can't get that experience sitting at home on my couch. Movie theaters are temples to me. It's sad that some people can't see it that way and have to make asses of themselves during shows (bringing in crying babies, young kids to late-night showings of violent movies, ringing cell phones, loud talking) but I simply don't let it ruin the experience for me.

On a side note, that Ledbetter guy mentioned in the story is just whacked out in general if you ask me. Another version of the story I read quotes him as saying actors aren't good role models because they are always getting married and divorced and sleeping around. Yeah, it's true that actors aren't real good role models in most cases, I will grant him that, but all he has to do is look around to see those problems he complains about aren't limited to actors or celebrities.

Alan Smithee

I only had to work snack bar for about a year, but a LOT of people would complain to me about the prices then go ahead and buy crap anyway. (I'm still so cheap avoid paying 65 cents for a single can of Coke when I can get them for about 25 cents each in a 12-pack!) I don't know how the snack bars are doing these days but they brought in a TON of money when I was working there, so there was no reason to lower the prices. More people need to understand the concept of voting with their dollars.

mookiemeister

I prefer to watch movies at home mostly because it's more convenient and I can watch it at the time of my choosing. Also, at home, I can pause the movie to get food/drink or to go to bathroom. You can't do that at the theater.

slcsnkman

I still enjoy going to movies everyone and then but with big screen HD DEF WS tv and the quickness of the DVD's coming out...its more enjoyable at home, no kids, nobody kicking the couch etc.

Dark_Sithlord

I go to the theater only a handful of times a year, and I very rarely have any bad experiences. I have to think really hard to even remember the last time I even had one. A watery Coke was probably the last bad experience I had. A lot of times when we are sitting there in the theater, there's a smattering of people on cell phones, an unruly kid, or people talking really loud, and I think to myself, "Damn I hope they don't screw things up." But they always shut up by the time the movie starts. I saw Star Trek First Contact on opening night, and people were cheering at everything but that's to be expected. I would almost call that night my best and worst movie-going experience.

Dan

I recently went to a screening of Revenge of the Sith with a few people, and about 10 minutes into the movie, one of them turned to me and said "man, it's so QUIET!"

I strongly prefer the Home Theatre experience for a bunch of reasons, but that friend of mine brought up a really good point. At home, I can watch movies as loud as I want, where, in contrast, the theatre usually has a specific volume that they must adhere to (the theatre near my work even has daily "baby-friendly" screenings now, where the volume is much lower and the lights aren't dimmed...). The theatre's choice of volume may be loud, but honestly, it feels weak compared to a decent 6.1 Home Theatre setup cranked to the loudest possible volume with no audible distortion.

I also like to look at it this way: I'm fortunate enough to have built my own home theatre the way I like it (nothing outrageously expensive, but still a better overall experiece than a corporate-owned movie theatre). So I can watch practically any film in my collection, and it's, for lack of a better comparison, like watching it in the "perfect" theatrical setting during its first run. I can throw in The Godfather during any time of day and play it at any volume I choose. Corporate movie-houses can't compare to that.

That said, I do plan to see Land of the Dead in the theatre, but that's more because I choose not to wait until the DVD release. I want to see it as soon as possible, so that means I have to spend some extra cash, but I'm okay with that.

kevin75

VERY well said. once i got my 65" tv, the number of movies that i have seen in the thater has dropped dramatically. it's just not worth the hassle except in very rare circumstances.

darkside

I did go and see Team America, Sin City and Star Wars RoTS at the theater, but by far I prefer to watch movies at home away from the a-holes (the first 10 minutes of Sin City was pretty much ruined by a-holes talking until we got them removed) and the overpriced snacks.

I have a nice home theater and I have kids. It can be expensive when you combine the price of a babysitter with the price of tickets. 99% of the time I opt to wait for the DVD.