Why I don't like seeing films theatrically anymore (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

2. More comfortable seating is a problem as is booze being served. So, they have these great recliners now so I am nearly flat on my back watching the film. Add to this most of the cinemas near me serve booze...so now I am liquored up and lying down in the cinema...I have a high potential of falling asleep.

When I was a kid, I always found it funny that Dad could fall asleep in front of the TV at any second but the older I get, the harder time I was having staying awake when the lights would go down in a movie theater. It got bad enough that I started taking a nap before I'd go and that's cured the problem.

 

[John Dirk]

My theater has assigned seating but, since I'm the owner, I do all of the assigning. The practice works when properly applied.

 

[bmasters9]

My theater has assigned seating but, since I'm the owner, I do all of the assigning. The practice works when properly applied.

Looks like you have it made in the shade with yours!

 

[Jeffrey D]

So, honestly my wife asked me to go to a film with her during the winter. The place was packed and I was sitting in the very back row in this huge recliner. I had I think three adult cocktails, 2 prior to the film and 1 during the start of the show, within about the first 20 minutes I was sound asleep...as was the guy sitting next to me who was also seeing the show with his wife. The show ends and the theater is emptying out and me and the guy next to me are still out cold. I wake up to our wives (none of us knew each other) snapping photos of us with their cell phones. I grabbed the guy's arm and shook him awake and I said "Hey, they were snapping our pictures while we slept. We gotta get the phones so they don't post our photos on the internet." He was confused at first but then jumped up out of his chair and chased his wife out into the lobby. I heard him yell "Ah ha!" as he caught her.

So, this is one of my major issues with going to the movies now.

Funny story, Reggie. The reserved seating SNAFU that I mentioned earlier in the thread when Patriots Day was a new release- my brother talked to an employee about having the people move out of our seats. When we finally got in our purchased seats, my brother immediately fell asleep, and missed the entire movie. He had to borrow my BluRay to finally see the film.

 

[KPmusmag]

I am bothered by the lack of masking, the smallish screens and the TV-style adverts that run constantly before the actual program begins. The lack of masking on a smallish screen makes me feel like I am watching it at home.

Last November I was on a trip to Seattle, and I took the opportunity to see Bohemian Rhapsody at Seattle Cinerama. Great experience. Huge screen. Curtains that opened and close between the previews and the movie, which took me back to the roadshow era. No TV adverts prior. If going to the movies could be like that all the time, I would go far more often.

 

[skylark68]

I rarely go to the theater anymore but it's more of a problem with the fact that I'm just not interested in the majority of modern releases. I do try to go when a classic film is being shown though.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

My theater has assigned seating but, since I'm the owner, I do all of the assigning. The practice works when properly applied.

I bet you wouldn't make me sit too close to the screen, John.

 

[Malcolm R]

Last November I was on a trip to Seattle, and I took the opportunity to see Bohemian Rhapsody at Seattle Cinerama. Great experience. Huge screen. Curtains that opened and close between the previews and the movie, which took me back to the roadshow era. No TV adverts prior. If going to the movies could be like that all the time, I would go far more often.

Yes, if I had access to a theater like Cinerama, I'd go all the time. I was lucky enough to be able to see the re-release of The Exorcist at the Seattle Cinerama years ago. It was awesome!

I'm going to be out there again in July, but I'm not sure if there will be time for a movie.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

That's great that you seem to have a refuge from the problems of assigned seating (albeit assigned seating is a thing there)!

I understand all the complaints about how assigned seating is problematic in America. In Japan, it's a completely different story. I offer this information only to suggest that the system does not have to be so fraught with issues, and can actually work well and efficiently. Assigned seating is the only game in town here in Japan, and It works beautifully, for a number of reasons:

a) Reserving a seat is done on a "first come, first served" basis...as far as I've encountered, there's never been a problem with walking in and choosing any seat that is still free. The only time I've had to sit in the front row was due to it being a national holiday and arriving after nearly every seat had already been taken. I've never had any arguments or mix-ups with assigned seats here, most likely because people are used to the system and go to their assigned seats with minimal fuss.

b) The Japanese are extremely polite movie theater patrons, who uniformly hush up once the film starts, eat their snacks very quietly, and overall act in a considerate manner. You do occasionally see a few checking their smartphones, but generally only briefly and you'll NEVER see anyone speak on their phones during the movie.

c) Most cinema-goers here are rarely late, possibly coming in at the end of the trailers, but in my experience, almost never once the film has started. And they are always very careful to give the least disturbance possible as they work past you to get to their seat. It helps also that most theaters here have stadium-style seating and lots of legroom.

 

[bmasters9]

I understand all the complaints about how assigned seating is problematic in America. In Japan, it's a completely different story. I offer this information only to suggest that the system does not have to be so fraught with issues, and can actually work well and efficiently. Assigned seating is the only game in town here in Japan, and It works beautifully, for a number of reasons:

a) Reserving a seat is done on a "first come, first served"...as far as I've encountered, there's never been a problem with walking in and choosing any seat that is still free. The only time I've had to sit in the front row was due to it being a national holiday and arriving after nearly every seat had already been taken. I've never had any arguments or mix-ups with assigned seats here, most likely because people are used to the system and go to their assigned seats with minimal fuss.

b) The Japanese are extremely polite movie theater patrons, who uniformly hush up once the film starts, eat their snacks very quietly, and overall act in a considerate manner. You do occasionally see a few checking their smartphones, but generally only briefly and you'll NEVER see anyone speak on their phones during the movie.

c) Most cinema-goers here are rarely late, possibly coming in at the end of the trailers, but in my experience, almost never once the film has started. And they are always very careful to give the least disturbance possible as they work past you to get to their seat. It helps also that most theaters here have stadium-style seating and lots of legroom.

Looks like theaters where you are are an oasis, a breath of fresh air, compared to here!

 

[Jim*Tod]

I would agree with most of what has been said here. Modern audiences have no respect for their fellow audience members and talk and text and are otherwise distracting, though some chains like Alamo Drafthouse have a zero tolerance policy for behavior like that. I do miss curtains and proper framing on the screen.... a wide screen movie is meant to be seen larger than the regular aspect ratio, not letterboxed within it. Not all theaters seem to care about balancing their sound systems.... a recent visit to see THE FAVORITE was a night mare as the surround tracks were louder than the dialog, rendering much of the film unintelligible... I even tried moving to different places in the auditorium but it did not help. The sad thing is... movies really are meant to be seen with an audience. I remember seeing the 60's Bond films here in Richmond at the huge downtown Loews with a packed house of 1000 people... that experience is pretty much gone. As much as I love my humble little home theater, nothing at home can replicate the sense of being with an audience.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Looks like theaters where you are are an oasis, a breath of fresh air, compared to here!

Well, Ben, it does help that Japanese people are used to living in a crowded urban environment and are very conscious of bothering others around them. That's not to say that there aren't any rude people here...there are, of course, and the same coarsening of societal manners that seems to be plaguing Western nations is slowly creeping in over here. But so far, the exemplary conduct of movie theater patrons seems to be persisting. The high ticket prices probably have something to do with it as well.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

I haven't been to the cinema in over a year, so my opinion may be a bit out of date.

Most of these complaints about teenagers, babies, loud talking patrons have been going for decades. The new thing that gets under my skin is people who can't turn off their damn smartphones!

That is what pisses me off the most.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

Again, you have no way of knowing whether someone will come late & sit in an assigned seat; I have gone to plenty of movies where people come late, after the movie starts. So, you would have to wait a while to make sure someone doesn't sit in the seat - and even then you are not 100% sure the seat will go unused - since some people get to the theater really late (though I admit this is rare).

If you've never experienced assigned seating at movie theaters, be thankful. It's one of the biggest pains in the @$$ I've ever had to deal with re: going to the movies, and is close to my #1 reason why I choose not to see films theatrically anymore.



You've just proved my point here. I.e., if you didn't have assigned seating in this case, you could easily have moved your seat to get away from the coughing/sneezing people (I've had to do this on public transportation as well). However, with assigned seating you're essentially "stuck" in that seat, and are taking a chance moving your seat (as I've detailed above).

Where do you live?

 

[The Drifter]

I understand all the complaints about how assigned +seating is problematic in America. In Japan, it's a completely different story. I offer this information only to suggest that the system does not have to be so fraught with issues, and can actually work well and efficiently. Assigned seating is the only game in town here in Japan, and It works beautifully, for a number of reasons:...

This sounds truly amazing. Obviously, Japanese movie theater goers are the complete opposite of obnoxious American theater goers in all respects.

Adding to my previous posts about this, another reason I hate going to see films in the theater is the threat of violence. Sure, this can happen anywhere these days - but it seems there are an inordinate amount of incidents in movie theaters as a result of either insane people, arguments between patrons, or gang-related violence. As I've mentioned, I had to get into a heated argument with someone re: assigned seating at one point, and these types of things can definitely escalate. These are the animals that can ruin the experience for the rest of us:

https://www.thewrap.com/a-history-o...ors-gang-showdown-to-2015s-lafayette-tragedy/

https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/10/us/stand-your-ground-movie-trial/index.html

 

[Josh Steinberg]

To me, that’s indicative of a problem with how the theaters implement reserved seating, and not a problem with the actual concept of reserved seating.

It’s not enough to just slap some numbers onto seats. You actually have to put the effort in to make sure people are going where they’re supposed to.

Moviegoing was in decline in part because theaters weren’t putting in the effort to ensure a quality experience for the audience. Adding reserved seating and more premium screens are great ideas, but the theaters still aren’t putting in the efforts with their audiences, and that’s why we have threads like this one often. Most of these issues are actually very easy to solve, if only they’d put in the effort.

 

[KPmusmag]

I really don't get the problem with people "understanding" assigned seating. Sports events, concerts, and Broadway shows/tours all have assigned seating. Even many speaking engagements have assigned seating. It is not a new or foreign concept.

 

[The Drifter]

I really don't get the problem with people "understanding" assigned seating. Sports events, concerts, and Broadway shows/tours all have assigned seating. Even many speaking engagements have assigned seating. It is not a new or foreign concept.

However, it is a relatively new/foreign concept re: movie theaters. As has been mentioned, up until recently when you to the theater & got your seat, it was on a first come/first serve basis. All that has been thrown out the window with this relatively recent assigned seating. And, I kid you not - I have seen people get enraged when they're told they need to leave an assigned seat - even when they're shown proof that it's assigned.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

When did cinemas start "assigning" seating? This is a new one on me.

 

[TravisR]

When did cinemas start "assigning" seating? This is a new one on me.

In my area, it was nearly a year ago at the AMC (when it reopened after a remodel) and the Regal started over the summer.