Movie audiences....Getting worse?? (1 Viewer)

[Carlos Mendoza]

I've noticed this lately at stadium theaters:

Kids have discovered that while walking up and down the aisle stairs during the movie, if they stomp their feet as hard as possible, it will reverberate through the entire auditorium. What a source of fun and amusement!

I thought Jurassic Park was playing next door!

 

[Craig S]

There's a common thread running through a lot of these posts, and that's how many young kids were brought to screenings of The Hulk this past weekend. When I went on Saturday (afternoon, of course, I NEVER attend evening shows - especially on weekends), I thought I had accidentally walked into a house playing Finding Nemo. Of course, there were a lot of noisy, restless kids thoughout the film.

I don't blame the kids, though. They were just being kids. I blame the damn parents. I wanted to scream at these people - "WAKE THE F&^% UP!! That PG-13 is there for a reason!" It means you should actually set aside 5 minutes or so and READ A REVIEW of the film before dragging your under-10 brood into it. Pretty much every review out there made note of the length of the film, the adult themes, and the long stretches that had no action. Any moron could figure out that most kids were going to be bored throughout much of this movie.

I'm sure a lot of kids saw ads for this on TV and begged to see it. But part of parental responsibility is not giving into your kids on everything. This is one instance when a lot of parents should have done a little research and said "no".

I had a black couple behind me...

Uh, can we leave race out of this? Rudeness (and civility) comes in all colors.

 

[Jeff Adams]

I HATE,HATE,HATE when people bring their younger kids to movies. Especially the more adult orientated movies. People have no common courtesy,no maners and they just don't give a damn about anybody else but themself. I have two kids and if I can't get a babysitter, then I am waiting for the dvd. It is that simple. There are so many other complaints that I have at theaters, the only reason why I still go to the theater is due to the fact that some movies I just can't wait for dvd and I like to get out once in awhile, but the whole theater experience is not what it used to be. Not only due to all the rude and annoying people there but the theater itself. I have found that the audio at the theaters are terrible. Low volunme, no LFE, no surrounds. I enjoy a movie at home 10x more than at the theater.

 

[Bill J]

that on-screen theater warning may or may not be there before the movie starts.

But shouldn't people have enough common sense to realize that they could possibly cause a distraction?

 

[MarkHastings]

But shouldn't people have enough common sense to realize that they could possibly cause a distraction?

Exactly! It's like getting on the road, not seeing a speed limit sign, and assuming you can do 80 mph.

No EXCUSE!

 

[ThomasC]

But shouldn't people have enough common sense to realize that they could possibly cause a distraction?

Shoulda, woulda, coulda...

They should, but the warnings are there for those who haven't got it yet. There should be more people like one of my friends; as soon as we walked in the theater to see The Matrix Reloaded, he took out his cell phone and turned it off. I saw him fiddling with it but didn't know what he was doing, and later on while we were sitting in the theater waiting for the movie to start (we got there 30 minutes early), I asked him to turn it off, unaware that he already did, but he took it out to show me that he did and to make sure.

 

[Galen_V]

In NYC they have a law where you get fined if your cell phone goes off in a theater (movie or stage), so people have been scared into turning off their phones that way (although there is no real way to enforce the law). Furthermore, with all the little kids, I am starting to think that they should really make stricter age limits in theaters. For example, anyone under 10 cannot go see a PG-13 movie, and if you are between 13 and 10, you can go with an adult. After all, how many 9 year olds are going to buy a ticket to a PG movie and go into a PG-13 movie-not many I gather. Lastly, I would recommend going to a theater (if possible) with serious theatergoers, such as the Ziegfeld in New York, the Drafthouse in Texas, etc., where people actually appreciate the movie, and don't try to bring the circus to town.

 

[MarkHastings]

There should be more people like one of my friends; as soon as we walked in the theater to see The Matrix Reloaded, he took out his cell phone and turned it off.

It's funny how we are talking about how annoyed we are when other peoples cell phone go off, but when I saw Star Wars II, I turned off my phone so my phone wouldn't bother ME!!!!

Don't people want to watch a movie without the phone ringing? I HATE when I'm trying to watch a movie and people call me. Back in the 80's, when I didn't have a VCR and new episodes of Cheers were on, I made sure all of my friends knew not to call my house during Cheers or else I'd never speak to them again

 

[Josh Dial]

I'm not sure if Canadian theatres are different in some strange way, but there isn't that bad of a problem where I live.

Of course, my city has an enforced curfew of 11 PM for those under 16, which means the majority of trouble makers under that age CAN'T see movies that run past that time. So I simply avoid all matinees and cheap seat nights (avoid cheapasses who think they're still in the living room) and go to the LATEST possible showing. I also try to go monday's, which seem to be the most dead as far as people go.

My worst theatre experience was the fault of the theatre personel. My g/f and I went to see Pitch Black. Oddly enough, the lights stayed on for the ENTIRE time. I asked the manager if he could turn them down, and he said they were broken. Ummm, you'd think that they would maybe swap and movie like pitch black into a theatre with working lights

cheers!

Josh

 

[Darcy Hunter]

It's odd that I read this thread right after I saw The Hulk last night. For the most part, I usually don't have many problems with bad crowds, but I guess The Hulk isn't what most people were expecting, and you could tell the crowd was getting restless. People were making stupid comments about what was going on like "OOOO look, it's like picture in picture!", (referring to the comic-book panel transitions) but I could tune them out for the most part, but some a****** started throwing M&Ms from the back row of the stadium theater! FREAKING M&Ms!!! WHAT ARE YOU? LIKE 5 YEARS OLD? Even after his girlfriend was audibly trying to stop him, he kept doing it! What the hell is wrong with some people?

 

[Ben Osborne]

I would encourage everyone to write a letter to your local theatre when you have a bad experience there, especially when it's due to a technical problem. When I went to 10:00 PM showing a movie that didn't start until 10:20, with no explanation or apology from the theatre personnel, I wrote them a letter with a copy of the tickets stubs of myself and two of my friends enclosed. Within a week the manager sent me a letter of apology and three free passes (the theatre was Marcus Westown in Waukesha, if anyone's interested).

If the manager of a movie theatre has any business sense, he knows that when someone has a bad experience at his theatre, the customer will tell many more people about it than he would if he had a good experience. If you give the manager a chance to make things better, odds are that he / she will. Here's what I wrote. Feel free to plagarize :

Dear Sir or Ma’am,

On 5/16/2003, three of my friends and I attended the 10:00 PM showing of “X2: X-Men United” at your theatre. We had an unpleasant experience that makes us very reluctant to attend a movie at your theatre in the future.

The main thing that upset us was the fact that the projector did not start rolling until about 10:20 PM. I’ve come to expect movies to not start exactly at the listed time due to the previews, but in this case even the previews didn’t start until twenty minutes after the scheduled start time. In addition, towards the end of the movie, the sound dropped out several times, making much of the dialogue inaudible. When paying first-run prices, such a glitch in the presentation is unacceptable.

Finally, after the movie let out, there were no theatre employees anywhere to be found. I wanted to voice my concerns to one of them, but there was no one around to talk to. I would think it would be a professional courtesy to have at least one member of your staff available to assist customers after a movie lets out, especially when the movie began twenty minutes late. If there had been an employee in the lobby after the movie apologizing for the mishap, all would have been forgiven. The fact that there wasn’t seemed like evasion to my friends and I, and we left with a very negative impression of the quality of our theatergoing experience.

If you could do something to restore my confidence in the quality of the service at your theatre, I would appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Ben Osborne

 

[Patrick Sun]

Can you make the case that home video has had an impact letting people think they can behave boorishly in a theater because they are accustomed doing so in their own homes with little regard to the enjoyment of others in a communal setting?

 

[ThomasC]

Can you make the case that home video has had an impact letting people think they can behave boorishly in a theater because they are accustomed doing so in their own homes with little regard to the enjoyment of others in a communal setting?

It's been made here before, and it sounds perfectly reasonable.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Can you make the case that home video has had an impact letting people think they can behave boorishly in a theater because they are accustomed doing so in their own homes with little regard to the enjoyment of others in a communal setting?

Yes.

Not just home video, but HBO, Showtime, et al. People have gotten used to watching uncut movies in their homes with all sorts of talking and distractions, and feel free to go to a theatre and do the same thing. I started working in theatres 24 years ago and crowds were much better behaved back then. We patrol our theatres as best we can, and we tend to have quiet audiences (The Hulk has been a problem as most people, especially teens, are bored by it) because we do *not* hesitate to throw out the idiots and their friends. We also do not allow kids under 3 at any time (except for G-rated pictures).

 

[Richard Kim]

I don't blame the kids, though. They were just being kids. I blame the damn parents. I wanted to scream at these people - "WAKE THE F&^% UP!! That PG-13 is there for a reason!"

I think this has to do with the marketing of the film to kids. Since early 2003, there's been a shitload of Hulk merchandise, Hulk action figures, Hulk dolls, foam Hulk hands, Hulk cereal, ad nausium, so I'm sure kids were all hyped to see the movie and begged mommy and daddy to go see it.

 

[MarkHastings]

I started working in theatres 24 years ago and crowds were much better behaved back then.

Probably because movies were considered a "treat" back then. Now, they're just "time killers" to most people :frowning: (i.e Something to do when there's nothing to do) :rolleyes

 

[Michael Reuben]

Can you make the case that home video has had an impact letting people think they can behave boorishly in a theater because they are accustomed doing so in their own homes with little regard to the enjoyment of others in a communal setting?

Some of us already have.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...780#post379780
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...394#post381394

M.

 

[Seth Paxton]

I don't think its home video though because the other topic that we always end up bringing up is the general change in public behavior. It seems like (I stress seems) since the 60's cultural revolution blew out the proper social norms in favor of free expression that we have slowly been slipping downward into a free-for-all social pattern.

See, I think at the time the hippies were coming from a very respectful place just looking to do their own thing without being oppressed. They had been raised in a culture where good social behavior was respected, and were only pushing for more equal respect for all ideals anyway.

But now that we have several generations removed from that kind of disciplined social structure that emphasized respectful public behavior you now see free-thinking done without respect for other people, which is not at all how the "revolution" looked in the late 60's/early 70's or so I assume/slightly remember.


To be honest I have started to pick up a vibe over the last few years that American society is slowly growing intolerant of rude behavior and certainly the NYC law indicates such a mood. Like so many things I think we might be able to expect some backlash to the "anything goes" social attitude to one in which people no longer tolerate such behavior.

Hopefully after such a swing we might eventually reach a stable, happy median between free-thinking and respect for others in public.


Sidebar to a seperate example of this change in behavior - have you been to a dressy restaurant lately where you didn't see at least one, apparently rich, asshole in his shorts or something being as boorish as he wants to be. There was a time when the place would ask you to step out, but no longer. Probably afraid of the freaking lawsuit that would happen.


A third influence is likely the breakdown of the nuclear family and the modern 2 working parents or single parent households. But its hard to say what effects this has for sure and I wouldn't want to insult any parents in this position. While such positions might make child raising more difficult I do think good parents still are able to influence their kids in a positive way.

 

[Tommy Ceez]

To be honest I have started to pick up a vibe over the last few years that American society is slowly growing intolerant of rude behavior and certainly the NYC law indicates such a mood.

The NYC law has nothing to do with intolerence for rudeness and everything to do with getting your name in the paper. In news market #1 you have to do outlandish things to get noticed.

 

[Bill Williams]

Tell me about it, I know exactly what you're all saying. When I went to see X2 on opening weekend, the theater was packed, and what basically ruined the enjoyment of the film was hearing the endless smart-a__ comments from three or four teenage boys throughout the entire movie about the movie and everything else. And they were loud, and they were continuous throughout the entire film. People were telling them to be quiet, and they just ignored everyone and kept on talking loudly and making their smart-a___ comments throughout the film. A number of people, including me, went to the front to inform the usher and the manager about it, and shortly after I got back to my seat, the usher made a sweep through the theater one time. ONE time only. And those teenage boys kept right on with their comments. If I want to listen to an audio commentary through a movie, I'll put the DVD in and listen to it at home, not when I'm watching a movie in the theater with other people.

I agree about the cell phone thing. When I go see a movie, I make it a point to turn off my cell phone and leave it off. The only time I turn it on is to check the time on the phone, then I turn it back off, and that's it.

Smokers annoy just about anyone and everyone in the theater. I remember when my parents and I went to see Return of the Jedi back in '83, this one fat smelly guy decided to light up cigarettes during the entire film. And this was in the row opposite to me. The manager came in and made the fat smelly smoker guy leave the theater.