Which is why I think many theaters over look this when it happens. Many theaters I go to, they don't even check your tickets if you go in during the afternoon. I've never done it, but it would probably be easy to walk in there with an old ticket in hand, hold it up as you pass by the box office and stroll right on in with no problems. The theater actually makes so little off the ticket prices, most of it goes right back to Hollywood, so when you cheat on movie tickets, you're cheating Hollywood and the studios much more than the theater would ever be hurt.

But once you're in there, you maybe more inclined to buy the conession stand snacks, where the theater's profits come from. I am not saying I would advocate doing this, nor have I done it myself, but if people do it, it doesn't hurt the theater as much as they might think it does. Not buying their concession stand food? Now that hurts them.

I think the police would be more angry at the theater manager who would call them over this than the movie hoppers.

You are banished... to whichever screen is showing Deuce Biglalow

I have only done this once in my life, I think it was back during this past April I saw Kung Fu Hustle and then Millions, very satisfying afternoon that was. Never done it otherwise though.

You might be right. Especially in larger cities. In small towns where cops have nothing better to do, maybe not so much. But what is the theater going to prosecute them on? The pennies they lost on the movie ticket sale? It's not even worth the price of gas for the police cruiser to come to the theater, let alone worth the price of salaries involved and tax payer money if there is prosecution.

I do this whenever possible, and I'm so conscientiously apathetic about it that I'm not even going to bother justifying it to anyone here.

-JP

I used to do it during college but haven't done it since. We would watch 4 to 5 movies in one day. And since most of the movie theatres near my school had 16 to 20 theatres in one cineplex, it was easy. But sitting in the dark for that long watching movies always gave me a headache.

I'm usually ready to leave after one movie. However I can easily watch 5 movies in a row in the comfort of my own home. Maybe if my local AMC theatre let me watch movies in my socks and underwear only, I would be more prone to theatre hop. Stupid shoes, shirt, pants required rules.

I have stayed in the theatre to watch a movie I really like again once or twice.

I'm not opposed to it and have done it before, but it takes up a whole day and who has that kind of time?

I remember doing this once with a friend of mine. We went to movies about every weekend and one day decided to stick around for another one. Our second showing was a movie we had already seen the previous week, so we didn't use our hopping to full effect.

Well, you can't really ban or blacklist - they're hardly going to sit for a picture, and with most theaters' revolving-door hiring policies, the same person probably wouldn't be ripping tickets and watching for it. The best thing we can do is keep our eyes open and have good memories.

We've only called the police when there were repeat offenders or people were trying to "refund" tickets they found in theaters they had hopped to. Most of the time, we just kick them out.They tried something like this in test markets, where you could buy a ticket for the day and watch as many films as you'd like, with the theater figuring you'd keep buying popcorn and such. The fact is, it doesn't work that way. People who commit theft and trespassing by theater-hopping don't keep buying overpriced movie food.Wear nice comfy pajamas. Serious.

I get the feeling the people who can rationalize this probably are the same type of people who hide in car trunks to sneak into drive-ins. It's kinda fun when you're a kid, but when you grow up it just seems kinda...um...I don't know....lame. Don't rationalize, just don't go to the theater if you can't afford it.

Or do it, and don't worry about the people who don't see any rationalization.

-JP

Or do it, admit it's wrong and say you don't care that it's wrong.

That's why I only work on Sundays (day shift)... I've also, not only ignored the hoppers, but on the occasion help out... Provided they're honest about it...

True story...
I'm taking tickets, a girl walks up and asks, "What side of the theater is Wedding Crashers playing?" "Why?" I ask... "Um, I suppose to meet friends that are in it..." I give her the "stop bullshitting" stare. "Okay, some of my friends aren't 17 yet." I tell her... "See was that so hard? It's on the opposite side, and a Charile & the Chocolate Factory starts 5 minutes before it, have them buy those tix."

I've said it before and I'll say it again, "They don't pay me enough to give a shit..."

No,I couldnt stand sitting in those seats for more then 3 hour's,plus ima smoker.

As I stated way back on page 2, I've only done it once and probably wouldn't again, but I have a question for everyone who won't theater-hop because it's considered stealing:

Do you bring your own snacks into the theater? Since most of a theater's profits come from the concession stand, wouldn't that also be considered stealing? Not stealing food obviously, but stealing the opportunity for a theater to be profitable?

For the record, I frequently bring in my own soda or candy.

That's not quite the same. It's denying them a chance to rip you off.

I'll eat before or after a movie, but not during.

Obviously that's CLEARLY not the case here.

Do you post in my threads to try and piss me off? Cause it ain't working Mr Grown Up Adult Man!

Oh and for the record, I have a Blockbuster monthly membership AND I typically buy popcorn/soda or some other food while I'm there. Is it wrong? Obviously to some of you...but like NatrlBornThrllr said, I don't really give a fuck and I honestly don't have to justify it to DVDtalkers. I don't do anything else "wrong" per se and constantly rail my friends for downloading MP3's without buying the actual album. I figure, for the amount of times I have the time to spend 4 hours in a theater is a lot less than is being "stolen" on the net from everyone I know downloading albums. I can't even get people to buy albums if they're $10 like they are in NYC. One of the few cheap things we have here. But again...just the way I rationalize it to myself. Don't really care if you agree or not.

Just curious to see if others do it as well...and obviously they do.

But thanks for continuing this. I had totally forgotten about this thread since the last time I posted.

Haven't you put me on ignore yet?

This contradicts what you said previously. If it was really an issue of money, you certainly wouldn't be buying insanely expensive snacks. Basically, it's not that you can't afford going to movies, its that you can't afford going to the movies and eating at the movies. I'm sure the price of popcorn and a soda could have bought you that second ticket.

This is true.

Kind of hypocritical.

So, you steal. Just not as much as everybody else. Good logic there.

Fair enough. I really need to stop stalking you.

It's exactly the same as some people have rationalized theater hopping by saying ticket prices are a rip off.

You can't rationalize sneaking in food either. The fact remains that if ticket prices and snacks are too expensive in your opinion, you can "deny them a chance to rip you off" by not buying the snacks (without having to sneak any in, that's unrelated) and/or just not going to the theater.

I'm just playign devil's advocate. I have no problem with theater hopping or snack sneaking. As long as the snacks aren't noisy....

I've done it before but it's hard enough to see one movie let alone two or three.

Unless you're cute...in which case, if you can manage to stalk shirtless, that'd be sweet.

No you're not on ignore yet. I find you too entertaining.

I guess you could say that I could buy another ticket with that but I'm usually sharing the cost of the food with the person I'm with. And really, who the hell can go to the movies and deny some popcorn buttery goodness and a syrupy pepsi!

But I will throw some more fuel on the fire. A couple of times lately, i've been seen some movies for free admission...plus hopping. So I dunno about that. My conscious might have found its limit. But apparently I'm not alone. We saw some of the same people in both movies when me and my best friend did it. Quite amusing. It was a guy on crutches...so not like he could pass under the radar.

All future posts to your threads will be made shirtless with The Immaculate Collection playing in the background.

I wonder how this will go over at work.