asianxcore

I've never worked in a theater, but I have to agree with that.

When I saw Black Swan in the theaters, the sound was a little low during the trailers/film introduction.

Someone in the audience, instead of running to get someone, just started yelling crazily, "I can't hear anything. I want the Dolby Digital! I came from the Dolby Digital! Dolby Digital!".

Even in an area where the average annual income is $83,000, you can't buy brains and common sense

Michael Corvin

As for the list I have to call BS on The best thing to do if something is wrong with the picture or a customer is bothering you is to tell management. Don't ignore any problems.

I've gone to management a half dozen times, each time to no avail. They never do shit, so I quit leaving the theater and started ignoring whatever problem arises.

Crocker Jarmen

I call exception to the demand for patrons to "snitch" on underage kids going into an R-rated movie. As long as they are sitting there watching the picture, let them be. A lot of my fondest childhood movie-going memories were at R-rated movies (such as Mr. Saturday Night, Alive, Six Degrees of Seperation and Ed Wood). If you're old enough to be out on your own and figure out how to get into the fucking auditorium, you're old enough to see the movie.

Abob Teff

I'm a former theater manager and I give the list

I agree with Michael Corvin though - I've complained to "managers" (translated: 18-year old with keys) in Springfield theaters numerous times with ZERO satisfactory results. Now I drive 30-45 minutes (Lincoln or Jacksonville; locally owned theaters) if I want to see a movie or I wait until I am traveling out of town.

Draven

I agree with Corvin. I am hyper-aware of everything my kids do, and shut them down quickly if I even get a hint of disturbing others. I took my daughter out of Wall-E after the first few minutes because she was acting up, couldn't get her calmed down in the lobby so we went to the car while my wife and son finished watching. And that was a children's movie.

It's not that parents think their kids are exceptions...it's that many parents are oblivious assholes.

Ropes Pierre

I think parents as a whole are a lot more lenient and lax these days. Parents were crazier and more fun in the late 60's and 70's.

My mom had no one to watch me, so i went with her all the time as a baby, toddler, etc. She told me that if i made a sound, she would smother me with a pillow. Saw the Godfather at maybe 3 years old. Did not do anything more than breathe when they shot Sonny, Moe Green got an eye exam or the horse's head appeared. Parents kept their kids under control back then.

(as an aside she wasn't a nut who didn't let me emote, just where it was appropriate. i skinned my knee around the same era and was crying, some woman said mom should beat me into shutting up. mom told her to shut up and keep walking or she'd beat her and give her a reason to cry. i knew my mommy loved me)

Michael Corvin

Teens are easy to blame because of texting, talking, etc. but I agree with this. You have to at least give them a chance.

I saw a group of 4-6 come into some R rated movie I was seeing(sometime in the past year) and my gut reaction was to get them pitched. They were obnoxious during the previews, (texting, talking, being loud, etc.) but since my theater doesn't do shit anyway (see above post), I decided to let 'em be just to see how it played out. Once the movie started , they couldn't have been more well behaved. Didn't see a phone light up, and didn't hear a peep out of them.

So snitching on underage patrons isn't the thing to do, snitching on problem patrons is.

Deftones

I call bullshit. I'm completely aware of the noise my kids make. I've taken my son to exactly 2 movies in his life (he turns 3 next week). 1st was Cars 2 last summer. He wasn't ready for the movie experience yet and my wife took him out of the theater multiple times when he was disruptive. Fortunately, it was a daytime showing with tons of families and kids so being disruptive wasn't that bad. The 2nd movie was Madagascar 3 a few months ago. He was much more ready to sit in a chair for the time to watch the movie. He got antsy a few times, but didn't say a peep. Had he begun to get disruptive, I would've yanked his ass out of the theater at the first sign of trouble.

Just because some parents are horrible and don't deal with their kids, doesn't make all parents like that. I get infinitely annoyed with a kid ruins my movie experience (of a non-kid movie), so I'm completely cognizant of how my children behave in a movie if I were to take them.

Matthew Chmiel

Based upon my recent experiences, teens aren't as bad as adults when it comes to texting during a movie.

I spent an entire five-minute period firing off spitballs during an IMAX showing of The Amazing Spider-Man to some asshole who couldn't put his iPhone away during the climax.

Obi-Wanma

I took my 3 year old twins to their first movie today, Brave.

They didn't make it. One of them wouldn't stay in her seat and kept wanting to go to the bathroom, even though she didn't have to go. We left 20 minutes in.

Alan Smithee

I worked in the theater business for 10 years, mostly as a projectionist but started out doing mostly snack bar and door. I had never seen dumber people in my life before then. Lots of people would complain about the snack bar prices, but then go and buy a ton of crap anyways. More people need to know the concept of voting with your dollars- if NOBODY bought anything at the snack bars, they might lower the prices! As it is enough people pay the inflated prices that they don't need to do that.

I know from experience that comment cards are ignored, at least by United Artists which has got to be the WORST theater chain in existence. One of their theaters here in Sacramento has had tons of inexcusable projection problems (maybe they'll get better since they're at least in the middle of going digital), EVERY time I sent snail-mail comment cards and later online, but nothing ever improved. I finally gave up on that theater altogether when I used a free pass from a previous ruined showing to see "Minority Report" and they had the sound system set to MONO the whole time. (I went out to complain, it was never fixed, so I snuck into another movie where at least the sound was working.)

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

No they would close the theater.

superdeluxe

That last item has never happened, this must be at non-corporate theaters, not chains.

And we were 40-50 movies a year at the theater regulars.

mickey65

I usually brought my own food to the theaters. Fuck paying those snack bar prices!

Alan Smithee

Riiight, there would be absolutely no other way they could try and make some money in a more ethical manner.

Mr. Cinema

There's several Regal theaters in my area and they do a pretty good job handling issues. I saw Ghost Protocol at a Regal and the first 10 minutes was extremely out of focus. It took a few people complaining to finally get it corrected, but after our screening, the manager gave everyone a free movie pass.

So is a lazy projectionist the one to blame for the out of focus presentation? I don't understand how a film can even begin being severely distorted.

Also, I usually go to matinees on Sundays as there's less chance of dealing with teenagers from Hell and other factors, so they usually aren't an issue. My only other problem is the volume. The Regal theaters have the best setup of the choices I have and their audio is superb. But there's a couple other places I frequent and the audio is hit and miss. Makes me wonder if they keep it low for the old fogies who are there on Sunday afternoons.

Draven

It's my understanding that movie theaters make money in two ways - tickets and snack bars. The studios get a majority of the money for opening weekend from tickets, and as the weeks go on the studios get less and the theaters get more. So selling out opening weekend does nothing for the theater. And with so many movies coming out, theaters can't keep movies for months and months like they used to. So they have to bump their snack bar prices up to make up the difference.

How else do you suggest they make money?

Matthew Chmiel

Whoring out their hot, young female staff members? No?

We usually purchase from the snack bar at our local theater to support them, but I honestly wish they offered better and somewhat healthier options.

Kmical

Matthew Chmiel

I shall now suggest this idea the next time I encounter the general manager of my local theater. I hope she likes it!

mhg83

This

By lowering the snack bar prices? If you make it more affordable, the people that sneak food and pop into the theater would actually buy from the concession stand.

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

Last time I saw some numbers, theaters get about 10% of the box office. The rest comes from concessions. It worked that way when I worked in a theater. Lowering concessions would kill smaller regional based chains. Yeah its expensive, but if no one buys from the stand anymore you wont have a theater to sneak snacks into.

Abob Teff

I had this happen during X2 and Casino Royale. For both films I went out the first time and asked if the movie was supposed to be in digital sound; the "manager" (read: kid with keys) said "oh yes, DTS!" Each time I had to make two more trips out to inform him the movie was not even in stereo, it was in mono. Somebody would go up to the projection booth, the sound would kick in and out as they tried to fix it, and they eventually would just give up and overcrank the mono sound "to compensate." I went home with some of the worst headaches I have ever had.

Abob Teff

Well, probably a lazy projectionist/manager ... I'm guessing he had to do a lens change at some point and didn't bother to check it. If he had to do it manually, he didn't get the lens on properly (been there, done that). If it was a turret, something malfunctioned and it did not complete it's process (been there, done that). Either way, you will never get it in focus by adjusting the focus ... you have to remove the lens and get it in/on right and then adjust. I'll say he was lazy for not watching the start of the film to ensure eveything was fine.

Also possible he got something on the lens and didn't clean it.

Either way, shouldn't have taken ten minutes to fix ... unless it took them ten minutes to get to it.

Abob Teff

Hell yeah!