Weird movie theater thing (1 Viewer)

[Jason Seaver]

So, I'm watching a matinee today, and there's only about eight of us in the theater. And one guy chooses to sit way the heck off to the side a couple rows in front of me (and I tend to sit pretty far forward).

Why do people sit far off-center when there's plenty of better seats available? I always hate it when I get stuck in one of those seats, so what makes them desirable to others?

 

[Henry Gale]

[c]A THEORY[/c]
He has poor vision and bad hearing in one ear so he doing surround balance the only way he can in a theater.

 

[Malcolm R]

After this first sentence, I thought you were going to say he sat in the seat right next to you.

Some people just like to sit on/near the aisle, I guess?

 

[Holadem]

I used to have to sit dead center, around 1/3rd of the room away from the screen. Now I mostly sit off center. I like having the screen slightly off instead of dead ahead. Dunno why.

It seems most people want to sit as far back as possible. I never understood that.

--
Holadem

 

[Malcolm R]

My Mother likes to sit in the back row if possible so there's no one behind her kicking her seat.

This seems epidemic in today's theaters, especially those with stadium seating where everyone seems to feel they have an open invitation to put up their feet on the seats in front of them.

I had to sit in the back row for "The Matrix Reloaded" recently (got there late). Didn't really like it as the back row in this theater is recessed into the wall so the rear surrounds were above and about 2 feet in front of me.

 

[Philip_G]

I generally sit back row, on the aisle.
two reasons, I'm 6'3 and need the aisle room.
second, if I have to P it's an easy exit.

I like the back row so I can see the whole screen without having to look around

 

[ThomasC]

It seems most people want to sit as far back as possible. I never understood that.

So there aren't any people kicking my seat and talking behind me. If I can, I choose the center back row.

 

[Karl_Luph]

Good point ThomasC. I try to get a seat centered on the front row of the second level because there's a railing I can prop my feet up on. Only problem is, it can be just a bit too close to the screen.

 

[Jack Briggs]

I thought I was the only one to wonder about this.

Seriously, I've often seen people in sparsely occupied commercial theaters choose seats located to the extreme left or extreme right (and toward the back half, usually). I keep wondering: Do they like craning their necks to the left or the right for two hours at one sitting?

(The human tendency is to stare straight ahead, not off to the side.)

 

[Greg*go]

I like sitting in the middle. About 6-10 rows from the back. A friend of mine used to work in a theater and he discovered that these are the "best" seats in the one theater around us. You can hear the rear speakers, you're still centered, and you're not too far from the screen.

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

I have to sit in an aisle seat or if it's not busy, I choose the last row because it has the most leg room. I have terrible knees and if I had to keep them bent for two hours to watch a movie, I'd pay for it for the next week.

Bruce

 

[David Preston]

I thought those seats were for the people that were not 100% interested in the movie. So they can make out without someone sitting beside them. Say the guy just takes the girl to a movie she wants to see he will probably say lets sit on the side where we can be alone. I myself like back row center so no one behind me is throwing crap or kicking the seat.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Don't theatres in the US have centre aisles or walkways? It varies of course according to the size of the theatre, but for instance at one of the largest ones here, apart from the end aisles, there are two aisles in amongst the seats, splitting the seats into three chunks, so an aisle seat next to one of these puts you only slightly off-centre but with an aisle for leg room. My preferred spot.

In this large cinema, the main entrance is actually up through the middle, like a stadium. So there's a cross-wise aisle at this entrance, and the seats that are at this walkway obviously have superb legroom, so my absolute preferred seat is one on this row and next to the aisle, so I don't have to jostle elbows with a third party.

Some smaller cinemas have only a single aisle down the middle, with side seats right up against the wall.

 

[Eric Samonte]

You guys ever seen someone watching TV with their heads turned slightly to one side? Maybe he just has astigmatism that sitting off center doesn't have to make him do that anymore.

 

[JayV]

Some people just prefer the aisle seat for ingess/egress. Wasn't it Siskel and Ebert who asked us to save them the aisle seat?

-j

 

[Philip_G]

Don't theatres in the US have centre aisles or walkways?

most I frequent you enter from the side, between the stadium wall and the theater wall, and there's just an aisle up each side, a row of 4 seats, aisle, row of like 30+ seats, aisle, then 4 seats. Not a very efficient design.

 

[Malcolm R]

The trend in newer theaters seems to be aisles on each side with all the seats in the middle. Older theaters seem to have center aisles.

 

[MarkHastings]

Maybe the guy didn't want to be "bothered". Not everyone who goes to the movies is 110% gung ho on the movie. This guy may have been killing some time and relaxing and figured no one would sit close to him if he picked a seat to one side of the theater.

Or maybe he had a stiff neck and could only look to one side without pain

Again, not everyone is such a movie fanatic that they need the "perfect" seat to enjoy the movie.

p.s. What was the movie?

 

[DonRoeber]

I'll admit it. I'm one of those guys that sits in the handicapped accessable isle seats when the theater isn't very crowded. Of course, whenever anyone handicapped or elderly walks in, I'm the first to offer my seat. I just really like the extra legroom, and the fact that there is a wall behind me, so nobody can kick my seat. The asile traffic before the show is worth it.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Years ago when I was having hearing problems on one side I used to sit way on the side in classrooms, theaters, etc. just to be able to make things out. Could be that, or could just be weird.