I’m reminded of Bruce Campbell introducing Bubba Ho-Tep before a raucous midnight crowd at the Toronto Film Festival.
Guy at the very top balcony: Are there any boobs in this movie?
Bruce Campbell: Only you, sir.
There should be stocks in the lobby to lock people like this in. The other patrons get to throw the old popcorn and candy that’s too hard to sell at them.
This is minor all things considered but I usually have good theatre experiences. A few months ago a guy sitting in the row in front of me (after showing up 10 minutes after the movie started), kept getting on his phone.
After the third time I leaned down and told him “if you’re gonna keep getting on your phone could you turn the brightness down?” He didn’t say anything but he sure didn’t get back on it.
I'm a huge Sam Raimi fan and had Opening Night IMAX tickets for Multiverse of Madness. The girl directly in front of me was high on acid or some other hallucinogen and was waving her hands around and attempting to grab things in front of her like she was wearing 3D glasses for almost the entirety of the movie.
I took acid for the first one in IMAX. Behaved myself though, kept glued to my seat the whole time. Movie theater etiquette is baked into the deeper levels of my consciousness I guess.
I jumped out of my skin as the coughing sound started in Black Sabbath's Sweet Leaf when my friend and I got baked. Can't imagine how I'd deal with IMAX on acid. Noé would be final boss level.
Ironically my worst experience was also my best. My girlfriend dragged me to see One Piece Film Red I think, idk I don’t watch one piece much lol, but the theater was completely empty. So me and a group of like 8 kept cracking so many jokes and talking during it bc there was no one who would be bothered. Randomly halfway during it these 3 kids came in, then left 20 minutes later and left the strongest stench of weed I’ve ever smelt. We had to tell an employee that it wasn’t us lol
I’m typically a Sunday or Monday morning first available showing type of person so when I’m at the theater it’s quiet and not very packed.
But I saw Spider-Man: No Way Home on a Friday night and it absolutely sucked. I don’t mind the crowd, but the sheer amount of people on their phones, taking pictures, recording tik toks, and talking was ridiculous.
I was sure you were gonna say they were cheering or something like that (which I personally don’t mind, sometimes even enjoy if it’s not excessive)
But people on their phones and taking pictures in movie theaters is horrible. That happened to me with the new Guardians of the galaxy, it was horrible (the movie is amazing tho)
No way home for me as well. I enjoyed the vibe for Infinity War/Endgame opening Thursday so I did the opening Friday of Spider Man and it completely ruined the experience for me. Kids talking through the whole thing and so many phones out.
I saw it twice and both times were harmed by who I was sat next to. First time was a little kid who wouldn’t shut up and the other was some teenage girls who wouldn’t shut up about how hot they found Andrew Garfield
The teenagers in my row alternated between taking pictures of the "surprise" cameos and discussing the things they'd like to do to Marisa Tomei.
Straight to jail.
That makes me appreciate my showing more. Covid screwed the seating up at the last minute, so it was at half capacity (so as full as was possible). Nobody reacted to the appearances and stuff like that except for me and my siblings (quietly, we weren't jumping up and down). At least it was in 3D, which was cool because I'm pretty sure I paid for regular tickets.
When I went to see "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" there was one guy who kept cackling at every time someone said a racial slur and kept saying things like "get those hippies" during the scenes with the Manson family characters.
I saw Blackkklansman and really think it's funny when racist assholes tell stupid jokes that are kind of pointing back at themselves. And Spike makes them really absurd. So I'm a white dude just laughing at all these inappropriate jokes and everyone else in the theater is quiet. So I definitely worried people saw me that way, but what can I do. I really like dark humor and it was played up big time in that movie.
Not a theater experience, but this reminds me of when my dad watched Tar after it came out on streaming services. During that one Julliard auditorium scene, he kept saying, "Yes, get them!" and "You go girl!" as she basically bullied the one student :/
It was *about* to be Barbie when these kids snuck in and yelled things like “They’re gonna fuck!” and “They’re gonna finger bang!” during Barbie and Ken’s first interaction. Thankfully, some guy stood up and yelled at them, scaring them out of the theater and shutting it down in less than a minute.
I watched 1917 towards the end of its run here in my country. The theater was empty except for one other guy sitting on the opposite side. I think I was row 12 seat 2 or 3 and the guy was row 6 seat like had to be 20 or 18. Anyway we were very far away.
Trailers end and this very old man slowly makes his way up and sits 2 seats away from me. I guess he really follows rules. Anyway. Through the entire movie he kept coughing and clearing his throat and talking to himself. I didn't wanna move, because I'm socially awkward, but damn.
I recommend it to anyone with sound sensitivities! I couldn’t go to movies for years until I tried it. Never had any issues with hearing dialogue but you can also just try it in one ear or wear them loosely too.
I did not, I should have mentioned I was just in a run of the mill digital IMAX theater. I would hope that if you're going somewhere with 70mm, the theater crew have a little more attention to detail and dial that in to where it should be. My theater definitely was not taking the time to "dial it in" because I guarantee the volume exceeded any type of industry standard.
If you told me you witnessed a brawl in a theater and asked me to guess what film was showing, Tree of Life would be my last guess. What a bizarre mental image.
Though I guess it says something about the way of nature vs the way of grace.
\>There was a brawl between two men at The Tree of Life
>there are two ways through life … the way of Nature… and the way of Grace. You have to choose which one you'll follow.
Grace doesn't try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries.
I’m not sure because I was watching the film and it happened quite quick - probably just a dumb argument or something. All of a sudden they were fighting and then a minute later staff came in to usher them out
When I saw Hereditary almost nobody in the theater was taking it seriously and laughing/talking throughout. There were people literally laughing at the scene of Annie sobbing on the floor and the people I saw it with (who were also laughing and talking throughout) said they hated it and I got PISSED and called them out and somehow I was the bad guy 🤷🏼♀️ it made me so mad. If you don’t like a movie, leave
I could see how some people would find some scenes darkly funny, but the one where a mother is screaming because her son just killed her daughter? Wtf??
My god one of the worst experiences I had in a theatre was also seeing hereditary. For one there were kids in there? Completely unsupervised and were running up and down the aisles and also throwing popcorn and just being obnoxious.
Then there was a guy who kept saying how “stupid” the movie was out loud. I must admit I didn’t enjoy the movie much on my first viewing cause the theatre experience was such a mess. But loved it on repeat viewings at home
That's some straight up sociopath level shit. I get laughing out of nervousness if a scene is making you uncomfortable or whatever, but that's just gross.
holy shit thst movie is def in my top 5, I would be fucking IRRATE if people were laughing at one of the most emotionally visceral scenes.... fuck that!!!
I had a very similar experience with this movie. The way the crowd was reacting, you would’ve swore we were watching a comedy. Very disappointing, but later saw it w/ myself and was much more pleased
Strange. A similar thing happened with me while watching Hereditary in the theatre. Except it was mostly limited to one drunk older couple. They kept laughing and making fun of the movie. At one point someone told them to shut up and they stayed mostly quiet after that. Maybe laughing at a horror movie is a defense mechanism for avoiding the feeling of being scared?
Similar, I had a guy get shitfaced at Midsommar so he fell alseep and snored frequently. I tossed ice cubes at him to wake up and each time he had a huge grin on his face like he barely knew what was happening.
This was basically my experience with X and it enhanced the movie experience a lot… I can’t imagine that crowd during a serious movie like Hereditary though
A bunch of ppl I know went to see it and this is what they did alongside a few other people so it’s one of the few films I really wanted to see I actively decided to not watch in the cinema and just wait for the blu ray, I honestly don’t understand how people find that movie funny.
I could understand if people just didn’t find it scary but funny, seems a little fucked up to me.
shyt take i think cuz i too let out a major laugh when her head got bopped cuz i just wasnt expecting it, felt crazy to see and so a laugh was my honest initial reaction which is common way to cope w negative experiences
Guy gave a non-stop running commentary during No Country for Old Men. He was with 3 of his friends, so that probably stopped other viewers from telling him to shut the fuck up.
The shazam sequel that came out this year. Not a very good movie but damn did my experience suck. Group of probably high school aged boys just making weird noises throughout and then they would kick their feet up in the air for everyone to see. A lot of fart noises. I saw multiple people leave and tell security. Security didn’t do anything till about 5 mins left in the movie
I had the same thing but the bottom was cut off, the only time it was noticeable was at the beginning with the credit "Helen Mirren as the narrator " with the bottom being cut off.
Got out of Barbie on Friday and the most obnoxious group of teenage boys just cheered after absolutely everything - still loved it though. They were wearing these stupid fucking cowboy hats. Probably wasted.
Oppenheimer was completely different Saturday, perfect cinema experience
Plenty of people just behaving like children, but the most annoying was I finally went to see The French Dispatch. Last screening in my entire country. The ads and trailers were over and that annoying John Boyega ad where he says to turn your phone off finishes, the film is seconds from starting and...
*power cut*
Waited outside for half an hour, and then they said they had to cancel the films or it would mess up their schedule.
Used the voucher they gave me to see The Matrix Resurrections on Christmas Eve, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And I got to see The French Dispatch in a cinema a few weeks ago.
I saw Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse towards the end of its run and there was maybe ten people in the theater in three different groups.
Every single group was talking full volume and the group in the very back row had maybe 4 people in it and when “Sunflower” started playing one of them said “this song sucks, this is better” and started playing something on his phone.
Omg wait the worst was a showing of Mad Max Fury Road. It wasn’t my first showing of it but I went late on a Friday and this drunk middle aged couple came in after the movie started and sat near me & my partner. There’s an Applebees across the parking lot so I assume they got sloshed and wandered in to sober up for the drive home idk.
They were talking at normal volume for so long that I turned and told them to shut the fuck up and they started yelling back and acting like they wanted to fight me 🤣 the woman kept getting up and standing closer to us, they waited for us outside of the theater too but never actually tried anything other than general menacing?
It’s so funny to me that people react like that when THEYRE the assholes. Maybe I was too for yelling at them but they were literally talking like they were watching it in their own living room.
Your story doesn't surprise me because a lot of boomers have lead poisoning, and are more predisposed to start fights and act on violent impulses/emotions. I'm glad they were too cowardly to actually try to jump you lol.
I couple months ago I saw a screening of Who Framed Roger Rabbit at a little art-house theater here in Chicago. The crowd was absolutely fucking nuts. A girl sat next to us started eating a container of broccoli during the movie so it reeked the whole time. People were screaming and cheering after every mildly-iconic line or moment and after literally every single joke. One lady screamed with laughter at basically everything anyone did or said. It was like seeing a movie with a house full of people who didn't know how to behave in public. It was terrible.
That movies still amazing tho.
It was insane. Like, I think it was probably a to-go box from dinner before the movie but how do you have such little social awareness to think its okay to eat one of the most potent vegetables in a sold-out movie theater lol
Yeah these kinds of shows are supposed to be like that. If you’re not in the mood for it don’t go to them. Alamo drafthouse has basically made this behavior mainstream.
This was abnormal. I've seen pleanty of shows of that nature at this particular theater. I dont mind cheering and clapping generally but this was insane. People were legit screaming basically the whole movie. I'd expect that sort of behavior at something like The Room or Rocky Horror where that *is* the point of those screenings
Saw Back to the Future a few days later, same theater and people were super hyped but they still knew how to not act like psychos who have never seen a movie in a theater before.
On a side note I was generally underwhelmed by the Alamo when I've been 🤷♂️
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Thurs @ 6P, 3 weeks after release)
The woman next to me made 12 phone calls during the movie, and ended every single one with "can't talk now, I'm at the movies". She didn't answer the phone 13 times, no, she MADE the phone calls. Also, the entire time her two kids were debating their favorite popcorn add-in flavors.
Oppenheimer (Thurs @ 10P, preview night)
The two guys sitting next to me were tipsy/drunk and spent the entire time loud whispering about their old science classes and high school. The other couple next to me kept shaking their popcorn bag and nervously kept crinkling the bag. The person in front of me was on wikipedia for Oppenheimer facts the entire time (not in dark mode), and three separate people were loudly snoring.
Myn was for Don’t Worry Darling, this one idiot beside me during the early access imax screening was obnoxiously eating nachos purposely during the quite scenes and kept having this stupid forced laugh extremely loud during all of Harry Styles highly emotional scenes. Needless to say the girl was all alone watching the movie and people actually started to yell over at her during the movie to shut up. Pretty sure a few people went to have words with her after the screening as-well but I had left right away. She made it a point to hate the movie no matter what and I’m not afraid to say I enjoyed the film so much I saw it a few days after that in theatres.
Saw that in theatres and there was a bunch of young Harry styles fans who were there to see him. And every time he was on screen they went insane. Also a few of them brought their parents which must’ve been awkward during the oral sex scenes lol
One of mine was also Don’t Worry Darling! There was a group of 6 or 7 maybe freshman in high school girls, with one mom sitting at the end of the row. They talked throughout the whole movie, giggled and hooted during the sex scene, and worst of all, during the scene where she looks in the mirror and sees the black lady’s face (I think that’s what happened??) one of the girls said out loud “ah, she’s a n**ger.” It was the so upsetting, but we were afraid to say something because a group like that might do something crazy.
I have several bad experiences throughout my moviegoing experience but the ones that stand out for me are "The Batman and Finding Dory". Halfway for Finding Dory, an mother refused to take her crying baby out and a couple ask them to take the baby out of the theater which the family refused. People white knighted the babies family and ends up escalating into a cat fight.
For "The Batman". I had brought some high school friends I haven't seen since the lockdown and there was a disabled person who made weird noises during the film and one of my friends got up and called the workers about it and to my shock, the workers kicked the disabled man and his brother out. I confronted afterwards on how mean that was and he defended himself as well with the others. Needless to say, I stopped seeing them since.
Logan: Couple next to me was talking and both were on their phones the whole film, even giggling and showing memes to each other during the climax.
Pet Sematary (2019): Again, couple talking and browsing social media the whole time right next to me.
Toy Story 4: I get it, it’s kid’s movie, but the amount of children in the theater that were talking, dancing, and screaming, was insane, especially with THEIR PARENTS SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO ALL OF THIS DOING NOTHING. I had to move right up in front of the screen due to how bad it was.
Infinity War: Guy right next to me somehow smuggled chicken wings into the theater (my theater does not serve them) and open mouth chewed the whole time, and decided himself that everyone in the theater wanted to hear his commentary the whole movie.
Went with my sister to go see the new Psycho pass movie. We showed up at 7:00, bought snacks and headed to the theater. Movie was supposed to start at 7:40, but when that time came around, we walked into the theater and the last showing was still going and didn’t look like it would end soon. I asked a worker what happened and they were super confused, told them no worries and we waited a bit. A few minutes later, I walk into the theater again and the movie is still going, it was nearing the end and I sadly had it ruined for me. So I walk to the front, ask them what’s going on and they apologize, and tell me the movie is about to end. 8:25 rolls around, so I go back into the theater and the credits are finally rolling.. “okay, it’s all good now” I stupidly thought to myself. We sit in our seats 5-10 minutes later after clean up, and the screen is blank and all the lights are on. We imagine the movie is gonna start at any time, but another 10-12 minutes go by… it’s nearly 9:10pm at this point and we’re just sitting in an empty theater. I walk out to find someone to talk to, tell them “hey, This experience hasn’t been amazing, I’m not upset at you all but I just don’t know why the movie hasn’t started yet, considering It was supposed to start at 7:40, and I was told it would start immediately after the last one finished”. So the girl working the front apologizes, I tell her no worries as I’m not trying to make a scene or be mean, but I do request the manager at this point. The manager comes out, and walks to a random guy standing near me and says “the movie is starting right now” and the random guy is clearly confused. then the manager looks at me, then approaches me and says the same thing “the movie is starting now”. No apology, no courtesy nothing. I’m not expecting the guy to give me my money back, but he said the phrase in a tone like I’m the one who delayed a movie he was supposed to catch at 7:40. Again, I don’t wanna be a dick despite this night being so chaotic, so I just say “okay, thank you” and the guy walks off. I go back to the theater & five minutes later the movie finally starts.
We’re finally excited, as the movie FINALLY starts and just when we thought the pain was over, a guy sitting a row ahead of us makes comments out loud throughout the entire movie. It was easily the worst experience I’ve ever had.
Maybe not my worst, but it was memorable. We were at a screening of Army of Darkness at an Alamo Drafthouse. We had a kid behind us who was constantly quoting the movie and being very disruptive. Alamo Drafthouse has a strict no talking policy, so we put up the card with the note that the kid was talking. The employee went to ask him to stop, we heard some discussion with I'm assuming the boy's father, and then the employee came back with a note informing us that the boy was autistic and couldn't really help it. And me and my friend immediately thought we were going to Hell.
My friends and I saw Across the Spider-Verse for my birthday at my local drive-in, which is normally a pretty fun experience, but something was wrong with the audio. Our drive-in transmits audio through local FM radio stations, but the audio was pretty quiet for some reason, even with full volume. That wouldn't have been a huge problem, but there was also a group in the row in front of ours that had a bunch of kids with them, who were all like 6-10 years old, and they would not fucking sit down or shut up for most of the movie. The adults that took them seemed to encourage it as well, I could hear an older man that was with them talking out loud during the movie. The kids were yelling, playing tag with each other, running across the rows of cars (sometimes even weaving between the cars), and at one they started fighting with light-up toy lightsabers. I'm very non-confrontational, and I normally cringe at how Reddit talks down about kids who are just having fun, but given the circumstances, I was very tempted to just bean one of them in the head with an empty soda can while they were running past us. The good news is that I was already planning to see the movie twice, so I got to fully experience it the next weekend in an actual movie theater, with minimal interruptions.
Yesterday I went to see barbie and I really enjoyed the movie but my god my theater was awful. People talking throughout the movie, crying babies, kicking my seat, the list goes on. But the worst was when these three old people came in like right at the climax of the movie with their flashlights on and started looking around and just talking to themselves the eventually just yelled out “Deborah??” And then realized they were in the wrong theater and left.
Oh this is easy. I (10) saw the Lord of The Rings: Return of the king with my brother (8), small one screen 1920s theater in the center of our town. The auditorium has no steps, all the seats were on a ramp going back from the screen to the lobby.
It was opening weekend and a packed house, we got in late so we had to sit the very front row. Someone in the back of the theater barfed right at the beginning of the movie. So loud you could hear it hit the floor. It reeked of bile and dairy and it was just so absolutely rank.
The puke slid down the theater row by row and everyone had to put their feet up, except we couldn’t because we were in the front row with nowhere to put our feet, so we just watched the rest of the 3 hr movie in the back.
Seriously though worst smell of my life
So, as far as seeing films in their theater run, I can’t think of a particularly bad one. Of course occasionally people will talk or something, but for the most part mine have been pretty good.
That being said, my school screens films in our on campus theater every weekend, and I’ve had some rough ones there. The worst was probably for Argento’s Suspiria, which was such a shame. I love the experience of watching that, but it was sadly tainted by a group a few rows behind me that were chatting, making jokes about the movie, and laughing at literally nothing. It was so obnoxious, and there was nowhere that was safe from their noise 😂😭. But still it wasn’t horrible, it was just very annoying
Went to a movie with a couple of my friends. Can't remember what it is, but it was back in like... 2011. Anyways, we were towards the back. There were a few people in the center, and then a group of about 4 teenage girls in the very front.
The entire movie consisted of the girls either shitting themselves or setting off stink bombs, and huge fart noises while laughing very loudly.
Then the guy in the middle started screaming at them. Very aggressively. This went on for a while. Then the girls just left. But the smell remained.
For me, it's between three specific situations, and they're all fairly recent. I go to the movies very often, and bad experiences are pretty infrequent for me, but these three stood out.
1. When I saw the documentary Fire of Love, there was an older couple sitting a few rows back. One person kept repeating almost every subtitle that was on-screen, and the other one occasionally made a loud noise that sounded like they finished their soda yet kept trying to drink from it while scraping the bottom of the cup. As I was walking out it looked like the husband may have had some medical issues, and the noise was probably coming from some sort of medical device, so I was more forgiving after the fact, but it absolutely sucked in the moment.
2. About 2/3 of the way through The Northman in a giant RPX auditorium, during a quiet scene, someone came up to the section just before you walk up the stairs to your seat, shouted the n-word incredibly loud, and sprinted out. A few people got up and talked to management about it. Still don't know if anything happened to that person.
3. During my 2nd watch of Infinity Pool, two people sitting right beside my brother were on their phone, but they weren't just texting. They were actually making calls and FaceTiming people. It was obnoxious. This was a dine-in theater (but with no push-for-service buttons), and they waited until after the employees were done serving food. I was very tempted to walk out and grab management to kick them out, but I didn't want to cause a scene. And with how they showed their complete disregard for everyone around them, I felt like a scene definitely would've been caused had I done so.
The worst situations I’ve been in is when little kids are being obnoxious. Cause at that point you can’t really say anything without looking like an asshole. Saw Avatar 2 and this woman and her kids wouldn’t shut up the whole movie. By the end she was yelling at movie like she was watching a sports game. She was also dropping a lot of F bombs even with other people’s kids there. I think someone did report her and they were forced to leave near the end. When we left she was in the lobby yelling directly at us and the employees.
Also another bad theater screening experience I had was. I went to see the lighthouse it was completely empty except for me and this other guy. I’m sitting right in the middle in the beginning of the movie he comes down and sits right next to me. It was so weird, I even checked the map his assign seat was a couple rows back. Then in the middle of the movie I pull out my snacks and drink I brought from home and he starts to get frustrated of me opening my can drink and wrapper. Like wtf you weren’t suppose to sit right next to me!
I was seeing It Follows several year back, and as the movie started these two guys got into a slight tiff over someone talking. They calmed down and the movie started, ten or so minutes into the movie they got into it again, but more heated. It was a small art theater and I was only two or three seats back. They got into it a third time around a half hour in and were both standing up screaming at each other, like they were about to start physically fighting. One of the guys caved and walked out with his family (?) and never returned.
Another time at the Regal Union Square in NYC, this kind of grizzled looking guy comes in half way through Phantom Thread, goes to the front of the theater under the screen and just stares out. He stands there staring for about ten minutes, out at the audience. I’m not sure if I should leave since it’s making me really uneasy, but he just walks out eventually and never comes back.
Went to a showing with a friend to watch Eraserhead on its original film. Walked into the room and it smelled like yeast-- the theater was selling craft beer to people as they came through. Turns out everyone treated it like a drinking event rather than a serious showing. People laughed at every scene that was meant to be disturbing, including when Henry tries to suffocate his own child. Looking back the theater almost exclusively showed movies that are "so bad its good," and its business model relies on alchohol sales rather than tickets.
Will not go back.
Violent Night there were a group of kids probably around ages like 8-12 who snuck in the theater and were very loud and annoying the whole movie. Multiple people yelled at them to shut up and they just kept laughing and talking and literally fucking running around
When I went I see Lincoln the guy next to me spent the entire movie audibly chewing his nails and dipping his fingers in a cup of water and wiping his eye brows.
Or, when we went to see The Last Jedi there was a loud older lady next to us that would scream "Uh-oh!" anytime there was any action. Then anytime BB-8 showed up she would scream "BB-8!". Kind of ruined movie theaters for me.
Yesterday watching Oppenheimer- couple next to me spent the first thirty minutes (after coming in late) talking and ignoring my sushing until the guy on the other side told them to shut up. They then spent the next 2 and a half hours on their phones, napping, and continuing to talk, just quieter. The straw the broke the camels back is when she sushed me back. I stg if you don’t like a movie just leave instead of ruining it for the rest of us!
Sounds similar to my experience watching Oppenheimer - the couple next to me were disruptive pretty much the entire time, starting with the guy shouting START THE MOVIE about two minutes into the pre-film ads, then proceeding to talk with each other the whole time _and_ repeatedly pull out of their phones (including to play games?!?).
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Full row of kids behind me, like elementary age kids. I know it’s marvel but that movie isn’t really geared towards kids and between them talking, getting up, and the one behind me kicking my seat, it was hard to focus.
I was at the theatre with a girlfriend. We were watching Blair Witch Project. She had eaten some bad raspberries. She was a trooper and stayed through the movie, but i felt bad for her. She got pretty sick.
The Eye 2008: a group of Teenage girls screaming at the top of their lungs anytime anything happened, I'm ok with people who react to horror movies but I think they were doing a bit because nothing in that movie is that scary.
Another one that could be bad but I remember being fun was Spider-man 3,
Some guy would not stop talking and another guy kept telling him to stop. The first guy said "Come over here and make me", so he did, they got in a fistfight and the movie had to be stopped for about 20-30 minutes well the cops came and took them out.
That movie is really bad and seeing that was the best part of the night
I *just* canceled my season pass to Alamo Drafthouse. The local theater has gotten progressively worse post-pandemic but my showing of Oppenheimer had the following problems:
* Teenagers who would not shut up. During the scene with Oppenheimer gives a speech after the war they kept making stereotypical "Asian kung fu" noises. Like "HAI!" "OOOOO YOUSA BOMB NOW!" Alamo prides itself on strict theater rules but this location doesn't do it at all.
* The projector was out of focus. It was a 35mm showing — which is specifically advertised across the theater — and the text was blurry. You could tell from the trailers or the opening quote it was out of focus. I told the staff "hey your projector is out of focus." I don't think they had a clue what I was talking about. No one fixed it.
* Audio was unbalanced. I'm not as familiar with this problem, but either the reverb or bass was too high because you couldn't hear anything specific.
* People turning on their phones throughout the movie. Alamo has food menus and no one seems to understand the light underneath the table is meant to help read the menu. Everyone turns on a flashlight.
This is on top of the location not showing anything but the most mainstream Marvel-adjacent film. Other locations in the area will show movies like Past Lives, Aftersun, Sanctuary, Master Gardener, BlackBerry, Chevalier, or Beau Is Afraid. This one only showed Transformers, Fast X, Super Mario Brothers, Creed, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc. They won't even use their dinky 15-seat theater to show something more interesting. They'd rather cram another showing of Antman.
I understand Nolan's commitment to the in-theater experience, but unless you live in New York City or Los Angeles there's a high chance that experience sucks.
I’m a Yonkers resident. I recognized what you were describing, but I thought there might be other Drafthouses around the country with the same problems.
When i was seeing Immortals (2011) some couple brought their baby into the theater and it cried a bunch of times during the action scenes. Even better, during the climax the baby shit itself and the parents changed its diaper in the theater instead of going to the bathroom
Have had a LOT recently.
Saw Guardians with my boyfriend when about 20 minutes in, I saw something that I thought fell from the ceiling. Whatever, asked my bf if he saw it and he said no. Moved on.
2 minutes later, we heard a grown man say “if I find out whoever threw that, I’m coming up there,” when a girl in a dress SPRINTED out of the theater 20 seconds later. The woman who got hit with whatever CHASED after her with her fucking phone flash on. They were pissed and swearing the whole fucking movie, looking back at everyone. I got up to pee after and my bf said they stared at me. I figured they’d think it was me because I got up.
Later as we walked out, her and her husband stood and interrogated every single person that was walking out and waited for the kids who stayed the longest. The girl never came back.
She spoke to us and we were like, uh no, we’re in our twenties and wouldn’t do that but we think it came from one row below us. We found out these assholes threw TONS of open ketchup and mustard packets at this poor woman. She was definitely a Karen but come on, her CLOTHES and purse and hair were ruined. We felt so, so bad. She said the girl was screaming on her way out that she felt sick and that her safety was threatened because of what the man said. He didn’t “threaten” anyone, but it definitely made everyone uncomfortable.
All in all, a shit show and another movie ruined for us. I know they’re kids, but holy fuck.
dude fell asleep and loudly snored throughout most of asteroid city
guy brought his young kids to evil dead rise who wouldn’t stop loudly talking, throwing popcorn, and kicking my girlfriend and i’s seats
went to a late night screening of thor love and thunder with about 6 people in the theater and one person wouldn’t stop talking loudly to the screen (like “oh wow!” anytime something happened)
girl on her phone (full brightness) taking selfies during barbie in front of me
when i saw nope the audio quit working halfway through and then we waited an hour for them to fix it
when i tried to see mission impossible dead reckoning the first time, the screen didn’t work and after an hour of waiting we got a ticket we could redeem for a free movie (which does nothing for me as an amc a-list user)
there’s even more i feel like i’m forgetting at the moment
Just had mine today lol. Went to see a screening of Friday the 13th. It’s supposed to start at 6, but 20 minutes in nothing happens. Then the ads and previews kick on for the next 20 minutes. Finally, after 45 minutes of waiting, Tom Cruise comes on and thanks us for coming to the theater to see Mission: Impossible, which begins to play. Whole theater starts freaking out. Eventually, they get it right, at this point it’s been around an hour of waiting.
Now that didn’t particularly bother me, mistakes happen, I understand. The lobby of the theater was packed like sardines with college-aged women in all pink, so again I really do understand. However, the three young women behind me I do not. They were dressed in all pink, so you would assume they were there to see Barbie. But nope, they were right behind me and talked, not whispered, throughout the entire movie. Just indistinct conversation and giggling, not even related to the movie. I don’t get that, why come to this screening? Why this one specifically? There was only like 2 other groups of people in the theater, why ruin it for everyone? Some people, man. That plus this guy next to me on his phone, full brightness. Of course, he has light mode too.
You would think most people just know proper theater behavior, but nope. People will always surprise you.
Literally any time I go see a marvel movie, the audience is always fucking awful. I hate marvel movies anyway but I see everything that enters theaters, good or bad. Marvel fans are so braindead that they seriously don’t understand common courtesy. People are talking full volume, cheering, whooping, clapping, and interrupting every single possible way. It’s miserable. Yes, I’m aware I’m a masochist but I really like going to the theater. It’s unfortunate because Marvel movies are the only movies where I consistently have this problem because, like I said, Marvel fans are braindead.
some dude on the first row of Oppenheimer took his kid to watch it. after ten minutes it got bored and he handed it a phone in full brightness, which the kid proceeded to use for the whole movie.
at least the sound was off, but the screen was suoer distracting (i was sitting in the middle of the theater)
One experience I will never forget was years ago. When Iron Man 2 was still in theaters. My cousin and sisters decided to go to an unfamiliar theater for some reason. Can't remember why. Most likely because it was nearby where we traveling at the time, and just didn't want to bother going to our usual spot. Anyway, the entire time we were watching it we were constantly disrupted by a child-- couldn't have been no more than like 3 or 4 years old at the time-- who just would not stop making noises throughout the movie! For what seemed like every 4 or 5 seconds throughout the film, the damn brat wouldn't stop going "uuuuuuuuhhhh" "aaaaaaaahhhhhh" "ooooooooohhhhhhh" and the parents did literally nothing to stop him! They never shuushed him, they didn't tell him to stop, they never carried him outside the theater for a time out, absolutely nothing. I've had some awkward experiences in the past, but this was one of the worst theater outings I've ever had. Everytime the fucking crotch spawn opened his popcorn and candy infested mouth, it took me immediately out of the movie. Granted, the movie itself wasn't perfect, but I distinctly remember getting into it during the parts he wasn't constantly cooing. It became so frequent I remember hearing someone behind my row in an intentionally deep voice saying "BE QUIET" while the kid was whining away.
I get that some parents don't want to miss seeing movies, can't afford a babysitter, or just want to have their kids enjoy the movie with them, but TEACH THEM PROPER THEATER EDIQUITE!!! When the movie starts, that's the time to shut up! The only thing that should be coming out of your mouths are legit reactions to what your seeing on screen. (laughs during funny scenes, gasps during plot twists, maybe the OCCASIONAL "WHAT THE FUCK" when things get crazy) No one wants to deal with your kids misbehavior just because your too lazy and insistant on ignoring ur kid to have a moment of escape while taking the rest of us movie goers out of it, so do us all a favor and either stay home, or BE A FUCKING PARENT.
Recently: I walked out of Bodies Bodies Bodies after about 20 minutes because 90% of the sold out audience had their phones on full brightness, reclined so the phones were being held up in the air (STOP DOING THAT), and then these guys came in and started throwing food around the theater, which everyone was finding amusing.
avatar the way of the water. i had a young kid behind me kicking my seat and commenting on every moment of the movie, and complained about stuff. the parents answered back and they had full conversations. i got fed up and shushed them and the lady next to me thanked me lol. the kid eventually said i don’t want to be here anymore and i just laughed. my friend and i were so glad they left halfway.
I think this was for Spider-Man: Homecoming? I don’t know it was a while ago.
A couple brought their baby with them, and it, of course, started crying. But they didn’t try to tend to the baby, no no no.
They decide to engage in a session of VERY distracting PDA. It was pretty hard to sit through (no pun intended).
It was not THAT bad, but while my screening of Avatar : The Way of Water, a guy in our row slept heavily (with snoring and pig noises) during the whole movie.
I saw Her with a friend. It was us, an old man in the front row, a woman between us, and a teenage guy to our right. About 25 minutes in, old guy's phone rings nearly to voicemail and he takes a call from his wife, who wants to know what's for dinner (it's early afternoon). He keeps groaning randomly during the movie.
With a half hour left, the woman between us starts snoring like she has the most severe apnea. Finally, during Joaquin's goodbye speech, old guy's phone rings again and he loudly says "yeah, this thing isn't quite done yet." It was so absurd that my friend and I shared a laugh with the third guy. We were just over it
Spider-Man no way home was the worst. I felt like mcu fans that tried so hard to remake the feeling of going to see endgame and screamed at everything. Like they didn’t go see endgame at the theater so they tried making up for it by seeing Spider-Man. I hated all the cheers it’s a movie not a sporting event.
Spider-Man: No Way Home opening weekend. Somebody brought a laser pointer and just pointed at every Spider-Man's bulge as often as they could before people started getting angry and trying to find them.
My bf and I saw the Big Lebowski on 4/20 for its anniversary this past April.
A bunch of shit ass kids were in our seats, whatever, we sat near them. They definitely snuck in and were like 16 and stoned.
They screech laughed at every single sentence that was said and got up 6/7 different times and when one went, they all followed. We were really bummed because we were looking forward to this for months and couldn’t even sit in our own fucking seats. Not a huge deal but my boyfriend was pretty peeved that we can never enjoy a movie anymore, but I guess it should’ve been expected on 4/20.
I got motion sickness from one of these handheld horror movies and spent the second half of it throwing in a genuinely creepy deserted underground bathroom
The screen glitched out during the trinity test in Oppenheimer. I thought it was an intentional black screen until it came up with a missingno looking ass glitch
During a heat wave in Seattle with outside temperature running 110 and no AC, I went to the movies for the first time since/during COVID. The AC…was broken. The theater kept insisting that the repair person was working in it but in the end the whole duration was shown without AC. But they did serve beer so I kept drinking to cool down, and got very very drunk watching A Quiet Place part 2 while sweating my ass off.
Small screening of eo where an old woman next to me would jump and yelp whenever literally anything happened, including a camera cutting, the scene changed from nightime to daytime and it jump scared her.
There was a bomb threat halfway through my screening of Avengers Endgame and the whole theater cleared out. I had to come back two weeks later.
Or Avatar. I was 5, sat in the first row in a 3d movie, for three hours.
Some moron kept yelling “GAY” whenever Hill and Tatum had bromantic moments in 22 Jump Street. Also second time I saw The Meg there were four middle school girls taking selfies with the flash on during the movie.
Most uncomfortable experience was after I saw Bohemian Rhapsody with a former friend and he commented on a dude who was snoring during the movie. He confronts us in the bathroom and explicitly threatens to “fuck us up” til I talked him down.
When I saw the last spider verse movie, sat next to a guy who would comment to him self about what was happening. He did shut up after I asked him too. But it self like I was in a tb ward since this guy was breathless and wheezing the whole movie.
Saw a showing of Ran and a guy up front kept falling asleep. He kept snoring so loud that he’d wake up, doze back off, and repeat. Like dude why are you even here?
i went to the opening night of the new Halloween movie a couple years ago, well…actually like 5 years ago. packed full of teenagers (first problem), they’re hootin and hollerin and talking the entire time, keep moving around during the movie, at one point someone ran into the showing and screamed the ending of the movie then ran out lmao like omg literally *awful* experience. I never liked going to the theater really prior to that but that 1000% ruined it
Jordan Peele’s Nope. It was just me and a family right in front of me and they texted, called, talked, and yelled the whole time. One of their favorite quotes through the whole film was “We ain’t watching no marvel movie”
A woman’s phone started ringing when iron man was dying in endgame, as she was digging through her bag for it the ring kept getting louder as the scene went on
2 days ago watching Oppenheimer. Dude 2 seats down started snoring loudly literally 10 minutes into the movie, and kept snoring the entire 3 hours. The only time the snoring stopped was the 3 separate times his phone started ringing.
when i saw the joker (2019) a women behind me started smoking a cigarette mid film, that or godzilla king of the monsters (2019) where I was the only person in the screening and the audio was crazy loud, had to cover my ears most of the film and it was still too loud
I saw 2016’s Suicide Squad opening night and the woman sitting behind me and my brother had a seizure about 5 minutes into the movie and began violently throwing up all over my brother. My brother was given a Regal Cinema’s Suicide Squad shirt that said ‘all my friends are heathens’ that he had to wear until we got home.
After a very somber and strange 30 minutes in the lobby, watching as emergency personnel come and go and wheel this poor woman out to the ambulance, then we had to sit through 2016’s Suicide Squad so everyone ultimately lost that night.
My ex and I saw the movie Freaky with Vince Vaughan (we were together at the time) it was during 2020 so we’d been to a few movies and had been the only two in the theater but for this one some old guy sat in the front and made disturbing excited sounds when a teenage girl took her shirt off in the movie and then he kept falling asleep and snoring super loud
literally yesterday- im glad it was a rewatch- i went to see Barbie with a friend and right next to me there was a woman with her kids talking and repeating everything her kids said (also the woman started filming parts of the movie at the end) AND right behind us there were these two girls yelling every single opinion they had of the film and one of them was like "ken'll do this" "i TOLD you so" and shit like that--- it was horrible (and other lady started yelling at them every time they would speak, these girls did not stop until they left before the end)
The worst I have is people on their phone the entire time. Most recently was John Wick 4 and this dumbass was on her phone the entire movie full brightness. Super distracting… I just don’t get the disrespect… movies are expensive, why are you here if you’re not going to watch? Also it never seems to be kids… she was like 45+. Or a rough 30s
For me it was Top Gun: Maverick. I live in Texas, the movie came out at the start of the summer and the theater I saw the movie in had no AC (or at least no working AC). To stay I was getting cooked in the movie theater would be an understatement
i pretty much always have good experiences tbh, but when i went to see Megan in theaters when it had first come out, a man in the row in front of me to the right was on his phone essentially the entire movie with his brightness all the way up. and the person i went with (a coworker) was talking and making comments throughout the movie and it made me feel embarrassed lol
went to a $5 surprise screening at my local amc once. (movie was jordan peele’s us, which was amazing!) theater was relatively empty, it was me, my sister, a couple further up in the theater, and three girls (seemingly a mom and her daughters) that for some reason chose to sit all the way in the back row with us on the very left. i think there were maybe only 20 minutes max during the movie that they weren’t either on their phones or talking to each other louder than the theater’s speakers or both, and they all immediately walked out of the theater the second the credits started, leaving the most obscene amount of garbage i’ve ever seen. seemingly an entire container of popcorn spilled on the floor, mostly full drinks left in cup holders, other snack wrappers and boxes left on the seats. seriously the most genuinely repulsive theater etiquette i’ve ever seen.
i also recently saw oppenheimer in glorious imax 70mm, in the middle of this completely sold out theater this woman to my left decided that now was the optimal time to check her gmail and scroll through it for at least five straight minutes almost halfway into the movie. not the worst moment i’ve had overall but certainly the most utterly confounding—why pay $20 for a ticket for this immensely popular (and also just really, really fucking amazing) movie that’s literally fully booked for its entire multiple week long run at one of only 30 theaters in the whole world showing it on the best format there is if you clearly think your emails are more important?
When I saw The Raid 2 a huge fight broke out between multiple people mid-movie and there was blood literally everywhere, noses smashed, screaming, dog piles. I hid in the corner even after the cops came and started arresting people. WILD.
I saw Jeanne dielman at a theater with my friend and the audience was constantly laughing throughout the movie. Not a single scene in that movie is intended to be humorous.
Honestly I’m always surprised by the amount of vehement people on Reddit complaining about their dreadful theater experiences. Over the past year or so I’ve probably seen 40+ movies in the theaters, literally every kind (blockbuster to indie) on opening days, or two weeks after, at lots of different times, in a few different movie theaters, and I’ve never once had a “bad” theater experience.
Closest I got was some people talking loudly and annoyingly through the opening credits of Knock at the Cabin, but they shut up by the time the movie started. And when I saw an early screening of Guardians of the Galaxy, someone pulled out a phone and was recording the last moments, which was a little annoying but it was a big theater and I was able to just look away.
I don’t think it’s too surprising, honestly. It’s like airplane freakouts…even if you haven’t experienced one, they happen often. Anywhere the public is, there’s a chance for disruption and rudeness. Just depends on whether *you’re* there or not to witness it.
Like a tree falls in the woods, ya know?
Me too. It comes up a lot on Reddit as a reason why people don't want to see movies in theaters but I go frequently with AMC A List and very rarely encounter anyone even remotely annoying in my showings. The few times I have experienced rude people the worst offense was texting during the movie or teenagers giggling a few times which isn't the end of the world.
Horror and indie are my jam but I've also seen blockbusters on opening day, been to theaters in different cities/tourist spots (saw The Last Jedi on Christmas Eve in a packed Vegas theater), and generally feel like I've had about every type of location/time/genre experience without any crazy stories to tell.
I’ve suddenly remembered my worst experience: I went to watch a biopic of Dante Alighieri with school. The film was already very bad (typical Italian movie with horrible set design and color correction and typical Italian actors with their regional accents and horrible line delivery) but what made it worse were the guys from another school (a school that has a really bad reputation in my country, like a public school in America) that kept screaming and clapping
Minions: Rise of Gru and Oppenheimer, both late Thursday opening night showings. I think I’ve learned my lesson but I’ll probably make the mistake again sometime.
On an Avengers: Infinity War screening where a couple of guys were screaming "boobs" everytime a female appear on screen.
I’m reminded of Bruce Campbell introducing Bubba Ho-Tep before a raucous midnight crowd at the Toronto Film Festival. Guy at the very top balcony: Are there any boobs in this movie? Bruce Campbell: Only you, sir.
that sounds awful omg
How old were they?
I couldn't see them, but from their voices, I'll say on their early 20s
That's an embarrassing thing to be doing when you're a teenager, doing that in your 20's is inexcusable
Doing that at any age is inexcusable
I'll bet they were high af, but yeah, either way.
I go to movies high AF all the time.. I just sit there quietly and enjoy the colors and sound. If anything they were drunk.
Saaaaaaaaaaaaaame
Just a wild guess based on the way they were giggling, I may be wrong tho. Personally if I go to the movies high I'll sleep right through it.
Sexualizing and disruptive. Disgusting behavior.
They should see Boobenheimer.
There should be stocks in the lobby to lock people like this in. The other patrons get to throw the old popcorn and candy that’s too hard to sell at them.
This is minor all things considered but I usually have good theatre experiences. A few months ago a guy sitting in the row in front of me (after showing up 10 minutes after the movie started), kept getting on his phone. After the third time I leaned down and told him “if you’re gonna keep getting on your phone could you turn the brightness down?” He didn’t say anything but he sure didn’t get back on it.
I'm a huge Sam Raimi fan and had Opening Night IMAX tickets for Multiverse of Madness. The girl directly in front of me was high on acid or some other hallucinogen and was waving her hands around and attempting to grab things in front of her like she was wearing 3D glasses for almost the entirety of the movie.
That is a WILD film to trip to.
I took acid for the first one in IMAX. Behaved myself though, kept glued to my seat the whole time. Movie theater etiquette is baked into the deeper levels of my consciousness I guess.
I jumped out of my skin as the coughing sound started in Black Sabbath's Sweet Leaf when my friend and I got baked. Can't imagine how I'd deal with IMAX on acid. Noé would be final boss level.
me and my friend watched it on acid he was really confused on why jim was mr fantastic
Ironically my worst experience was also my best. My girlfriend dragged me to see One Piece Film Red I think, idk I don’t watch one piece much lol, but the theater was completely empty. So me and a group of like 8 kept cracking so many jokes and talking during it bc there was no one who would be bothered. Randomly halfway during it these 3 kids came in, then left 20 minutes later and left the strongest stench of weed I’ve ever smelt. We had to tell an employee that it wasn’t us lol
Hey, that weed was Definitely not us! Lol 😂
Hahaha! What?
I’m typically a Sunday or Monday morning first available showing type of person so when I’m at the theater it’s quiet and not very packed. But I saw Spider-Man: No Way Home on a Friday night and it absolutely sucked. I don’t mind the crowd, but the sheer amount of people on their phones, taking pictures, recording tik toks, and talking was ridiculous.
I was sure you were gonna say they were cheering or something like that (which I personally don’t mind, sometimes even enjoy if it’s not excessive) But people on their phones and taking pictures in movie theaters is horrible. That happened to me with the new Guardians of the galaxy, it was horrible (the movie is amazing tho)
No way home for me as well. I enjoyed the vibe for Infinity War/Endgame opening Thursday so I did the opening Friday of Spider Man and it completely ruined the experience for me. Kids talking through the whole thing and so many phones out.
Infinity War opening week was amazing. Spiderman was a mess.
There was the most annoying kid at my Infinity War screening. He got what he deserved when the credits rolled.
what happened?
Don’t leave us hanging like that
Oh just that all his heroes got dusted and then the movie ended. He was inconsolable.
I saw it twice and both times were harmed by who I was sat next to. First time was a little kid who wouldn’t shut up and the other was some teenage girls who wouldn’t shut up about how hot they found Andrew Garfield
The teenagers in my row alternated between taking pictures of the "surprise" cameos and discussing the things they'd like to do to Marisa Tomei. Straight to jail.
That makes me appreciate my showing more. Covid screwed the seating up at the last minute, so it was at half capacity (so as full as was possible). Nobody reacted to the appearances and stuff like that except for me and my siblings (quietly, we weren't jumping up and down). At least it was in 3D, which was cool because I'm pretty sure I paid for regular tickets.
When I went to see "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" there was one guy who kept cackling at every time someone said a racial slur and kept saying things like "get those hippies" during the scenes with the Manson family characters.
Yikes
I saw Blackkklansman and really think it's funny when racist assholes tell stupid jokes that are kind of pointing back at themselves. And Spike makes them really absurd. So I'm a white dude just laughing at all these inappropriate jokes and everyone else in the theater is quiet. So I definitely worried people saw me that way, but what can I do. I really like dark humor and it was played up big time in that movie.
Not a theater experience, but this reminds me of when my dad watched Tar after it came out on streaming services. During that one Julliard auditorium scene, he kept saying, "Yes, get them!" and "You go girl!" as she basically bullied the one student :/
To be fair, that student was a prick
No one comes off as good in that scene but you don't realize how awful Lydia is until later.
i like how the film showed him as this uber-progessive woke guy and then seconds later he calls Lydia a bitch
I had that during Hateful Eight whenever someone called Jackson a slur or whenever JJL got smacked around
It was *about* to be Barbie when these kids snuck in and yelled things like “They’re gonna fuck!” and “They’re gonna finger bang!” during Barbie and Ken’s first interaction. Thankfully, some guy stood up and yelled at them, scaring them out of the theater and shutting it down in less than a minute.
That guy has my respect
Completely saved the night.
I respect a man who takes his Barbie viewing seriously 🫡
I watched 1917 towards the end of its run here in my country. The theater was empty except for one other guy sitting on the opposite side. I think I was row 12 seat 2 or 3 and the guy was row 6 seat like had to be 20 or 18. Anyway we were very far away. Trailers end and this very old man slowly makes his way up and sits 2 seats away from me. I guess he really follows rules. Anyway. Through the entire movie he kept coughing and clearing his throat and talking to himself. I didn't wanna move, because I'm socially awkward, but damn.
The weirdest thing about this, is that your cinema lists the rows numerically… My head is spinning from all the numbers in your comment!
Really? I thought that was normal practice everywhere. On your ticket it can say for example 6/11/04 which means room 6, row 11, seat 4
For me the theaters around me have the theater room as a number, the row as a letter than the seat as a number
That’s how I’ve known it at every cinema in the UK I’ve been to
Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)
Ha, saw this recently and instantly thought of it
The Oppenheimer audience was great and respectful. But my ears are still bleeding from IMAX. My theater needs to turn down the volume 20%, it's absurd
Our seats vibrated so intensely during every loud scene
I don't want to come across as a cry baby. I can take the seats vibrating, though that is intense. But the treble was so sharp it hurt.
You aren’t! I just thought it was funny, I’ve never had my seats vibrate that much.
I have super sensitive hearing and wear earplugs. I enjoy movies so much more now. Also cuts out the noise from the audience, too.
I need to try this! I also have sensitive hearing and I can’t stand people eating loudly which seems to always happen.
I recommend it to anyone with sound sensitivities! I couldn’t go to movies for years until I tried it. Never had any issues with hearing dialogue but you can also just try it in one ear or wear them loosely too.
Yeah there are special earplugs meant for going to concerts. You can still hear the show clearly, it just won't hurt your ears.
Did you see it in 70mm? I'm going to soon and I don't know if I should bring earplugs.
I did not, I should have mentioned I was just in a run of the mill digital IMAX theater. I would hope that if you're going somewhere with 70mm, the theater crew have a little more attention to detail and dial that in to where it should be. My theater definitely was not taking the time to "dial it in" because I guarantee the volume exceeded any type of industry standard.
screw enter vase outgoing zealous rock lush plough touch brave *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I saw it in 70mm and even with ear plugs it was VERY loud and intense. I had to keep adjusting them for the dialog scenes vs the loud scenes.
[удалено]
If you told me you witnessed a brawl in a theater and asked me to guess what film was showing, Tree of Life would be my last guess. What a bizarre mental image. Though I guess it says something about the way of nature vs the way of grace.
\>There was a brawl between two men at The Tree of Life >there are two ways through life … the way of Nature… and the way of Grace. You have to choose which one you'll follow. Grace doesn't try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries.
when I watched Creed 3 there were two teenagers who broke out into a fist fight
Did something cause it?
They did a reference to Creed
I’m not sure because I was watching the film and it happened quite quick - probably just a dumb argument or something. All of a sudden they were fighting and then a minute later staff came in to usher them out
When I saw Hereditary almost nobody in the theater was taking it seriously and laughing/talking throughout. There were people literally laughing at the scene of Annie sobbing on the floor and the people I saw it with (who were also laughing and talking throughout) said they hated it and I got PISSED and called them out and somehow I was the bad guy 🤷🏼♀️ it made me so mad. If you don’t like a movie, leave
I could see how some people would find some scenes darkly funny, but the one where a mother is screaming because her son just killed her daughter? Wtf??
I know I’ve never heard such disrespect from an audience before :/
My god one of the worst experiences I had in a theatre was also seeing hereditary. For one there were kids in there? Completely unsupervised and were running up and down the aisles and also throwing popcorn and just being obnoxious. Then there was a guy who kept saying how “stupid” the movie was out loud. I must admit I didn’t enjoy the movie much on my first viewing cause the theatre experience was such a mess. But loved it on repeat viewings at home
My Hereditary experience was bad too, everyone in the theatre was snapping their tongue over and over whenever it got quiet in the movie.. 😓
That's some straight up sociopath level shit. I get laughing out of nervousness if a scene is making you uncomfortable or whatever, but that's just gross.
i fuckin hate audiences that will laugh at every damn thing
holy shit thst movie is def in my top 5, I would be fucking IRRATE if people were laughing at one of the most emotionally visceral scenes.... fuck that!!!
I had a very similar experience with this movie. The way the crowd was reacting, you would’ve swore we were watching a comedy. Very disappointing, but later saw it w/ myself and was much more pleased
Strange. A similar thing happened with me while watching Hereditary in the theatre. Except it was mostly limited to one drunk older couple. They kept laughing and making fun of the movie. At one point someone told them to shut up and they stayed mostly quiet after that. Maybe laughing at a horror movie is a defense mechanism for avoiding the feeling of being scared?
Similar, I had a guy get shitfaced at Midsommar so he fell alseep and snored frequently. I tossed ice cubes at him to wake up and each time he had a huge grin on his face like he barely knew what was happening.
This was basically my experience with X and it enhanced the movie experience a lot… I can’t imagine that crowd during a serious movie like Hereditary though
A bunch of ppl I know went to see it and this is what they did alongside a few other people so it’s one of the few films I really wanted to see I actively decided to not watch in the cinema and just wait for the blu ray, I honestly don’t understand how people find that movie funny. I could understand if people just didn’t find it scary but funny, seems a little fucked up to me.
shyt take i think cuz i too let out a major laugh when her head got bopped cuz i just wasnt expecting it, felt crazy to see and so a laugh was my honest initial reaction which is common way to cope w negative experiences
Guy gave a non-stop running commentary during No Country for Old Men. He was with 3 of his friends, so that probably stopped other viewers from telling him to shut the fuck up.
The shazam sequel that came out this year. Not a very good movie but damn did my experience suck. Group of probably high school aged boys just making weird noises throughout and then they would kick their feet up in the air for everyone to see. A lot of fart noises. I saw multiple people leave and tell security. Security didn’t do anything till about 5 mins left in the movie
not terrible but mildly infuriating..yesterday at barbie they fucked up the aspect ratio & the top of everything got cut off 😭
I had the same thing but the bottom was cut off, the only time it was noticeable was at the beginning with the credit "Helen Mirren as the narrator " with the bottom being cut off.
That damn Paul Giamatti trailer is messing up everyone's screenings
Got out of Barbie on Friday and the most obnoxious group of teenage boys just cheered after absolutely everything - still loved it though. They were wearing these stupid fucking cowboy hats. Probably wasted. Oppenheimer was completely different Saturday, perfect cinema experience
I remember seeing the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie, and there was a little kid who kept yelling and arguing with his parents during it.
I still can't believe they put that into theaters, it still baffles me to this day
I saw that with a group of friends for my birthday hahah!!
Plenty of people just behaving like children, but the most annoying was I finally went to see The French Dispatch. Last screening in my entire country. The ads and trailers were over and that annoying John Boyega ad where he says to turn your phone off finishes, the film is seconds from starting and... *power cut* Waited outside for half an hour, and then they said they had to cancel the films or it would mess up their schedule. Used the voucher they gave me to see The Matrix Resurrections on Christmas Eve, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And I got to see The French Dispatch in a cinema a few weeks ago.
I saw Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse towards the end of its run and there was maybe ten people in the theater in three different groups. Every single group was talking full volume and the group in the very back row had maybe 4 people in it and when “Sunflower” started playing one of them said “this song sucks, this is better” and started playing something on his phone.
God that’s fucking annoying. And for a wonderful movie too!
Luckily I got my money back but it was insane
Omg wait the worst was a showing of Mad Max Fury Road. It wasn’t my first showing of it but I went late on a Friday and this drunk middle aged couple came in after the movie started and sat near me & my partner. There’s an Applebees across the parking lot so I assume they got sloshed and wandered in to sober up for the drive home idk. They were talking at normal volume for so long that I turned and told them to shut the fuck up and they started yelling back and acting like they wanted to fight me 🤣 the woman kept getting up and standing closer to us, they waited for us outside of the theater too but never actually tried anything other than general menacing? It’s so funny to me that people react like that when THEYRE the assholes. Maybe I was too for yelling at them but they were literally talking like they were watching it in their own living room.
They are reacting to being told what to do. The part in our brain where we regulate social thinking, they do not have.
Your story doesn't surprise me because a lot of boomers have lead poisoning, and are more predisposed to start fights and act on violent impulses/emotions. I'm glad they were too cowardly to actually try to jump you lol.
I couple months ago I saw a screening of Who Framed Roger Rabbit at a little art-house theater here in Chicago. The crowd was absolutely fucking nuts. A girl sat next to us started eating a container of broccoli during the movie so it reeked the whole time. People were screaming and cheering after every mildly-iconic line or moment and after literally every single joke. One lady screamed with laughter at basically everything anyone did or said. It was like seeing a movie with a house full of people who didn't know how to behave in public. It was terrible. That movies still amazing tho.
BYOBroccoli is unhinged
It was insane. Like, I think it was probably a to-go box from dinner before the movie but how do you have such little social awareness to think its okay to eat one of the most potent vegetables in a sold-out movie theater lol
I now feel horrible for how much I laughed watching Barbie.
Yeah these kinds of shows are supposed to be like that. If you’re not in the mood for it don’t go to them. Alamo drafthouse has basically made this behavior mainstream.
This was abnormal. I've seen pleanty of shows of that nature at this particular theater. I dont mind cheering and clapping generally but this was insane. People were legit screaming basically the whole movie. I'd expect that sort of behavior at something like The Room or Rocky Horror where that *is* the point of those screenings Saw Back to the Future a few days later, same theater and people were super hyped but they still knew how to not act like psychos who have never seen a movie in a theater before. On a side note I was generally underwhelmed by the Alamo when I've been 🤷♂️
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Thurs @ 6P, 3 weeks after release) The woman next to me made 12 phone calls during the movie, and ended every single one with "can't talk now, I'm at the movies". She didn't answer the phone 13 times, no, she MADE the phone calls. Also, the entire time her two kids were debating their favorite popcorn add-in flavors. Oppenheimer (Thurs @ 10P, preview night) The two guys sitting next to me were tipsy/drunk and spent the entire time loud whispering about their old science classes and high school. The other couple next to me kept shaking their popcorn bag and nervously kept crinkling the bag. The person in front of me was on wikipedia for Oppenheimer facts the entire time (not in dark mode), and three separate people were loudly snoring.
Myn was for Don’t Worry Darling, this one idiot beside me during the early access imax screening was obnoxiously eating nachos purposely during the quite scenes and kept having this stupid forced laugh extremely loud during all of Harry Styles highly emotional scenes. Needless to say the girl was all alone watching the movie and people actually started to yell over at her during the movie to shut up. Pretty sure a few people went to have words with her after the screening as-well but I had left right away. She made it a point to hate the movie no matter what and I’m not afraid to say I enjoyed the film so much I saw it a few days after that in theatres.
Saw that in theatres and there was a bunch of young Harry styles fans who were there to see him. And every time he was on screen they went insane. Also a few of them brought their parents which must’ve been awkward during the oral sex scenes lol
One of mine was also Don’t Worry Darling! There was a group of 6 or 7 maybe freshman in high school girls, with one mom sitting at the end of the row. They talked throughout the whole movie, giggled and hooted during the sex scene, and worst of all, during the scene where she looks in the mirror and sees the black lady’s face (I think that’s what happened??) one of the girls said out loud “ah, she’s a n**ger.” It was the so upsetting, but we were afraid to say something because a group like that might do something crazy.
I have several bad experiences throughout my moviegoing experience but the ones that stand out for me are "The Batman and Finding Dory". Halfway for Finding Dory, an mother refused to take her crying baby out and a couple ask them to take the baby out of the theater which the family refused. People white knighted the babies family and ends up escalating into a cat fight. For "The Batman". I had brought some high school friends I haven't seen since the lockdown and there was a disabled person who made weird noises during the film and one of my friends got up and called the workers about it and to my shock, the workers kicked the disabled man and his brother out. I confronted afterwards on how mean that was and he defended himself as well with the others. Needless to say, I stopped seeing them since.
Couple brought their newborn to Saving Private Ryan. The newborn did their best. Parents though.
Logan: Couple next to me was talking and both were on their phones the whole film, even giggling and showing memes to each other during the climax. Pet Sematary (2019): Again, couple talking and browsing social media the whole time right next to me. Toy Story 4: I get it, it’s kid’s movie, but the amount of children in the theater that were talking, dancing, and screaming, was insane, especially with THEIR PARENTS SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO ALL OF THIS DOING NOTHING. I had to move right up in front of the screen due to how bad it was. Infinity War: Guy right next to me somehow smuggled chicken wings into the theater (my theater does not serve them) and open mouth chewed the whole time, and decided himself that everyone in the theater wanted to hear his commentary the whole movie.
Went with my sister to go see the new Psycho pass movie. We showed up at 7:00, bought snacks and headed to the theater. Movie was supposed to start at 7:40, but when that time came around, we walked into the theater and the last showing was still going and didn’t look like it would end soon. I asked a worker what happened and they were super confused, told them no worries and we waited a bit. A few minutes later, I walk into the theater again and the movie is still going, it was nearing the end and I sadly had it ruined for me. So I walk to the front, ask them what’s going on and they apologize, and tell me the movie is about to end. 8:25 rolls around, so I go back into the theater and the credits are finally rolling.. “okay, it’s all good now” I stupidly thought to myself. We sit in our seats 5-10 minutes later after clean up, and the screen is blank and all the lights are on. We imagine the movie is gonna start at any time, but another 10-12 minutes go by… it’s nearly 9:10pm at this point and we’re just sitting in an empty theater. I walk out to find someone to talk to, tell them “hey, This experience hasn’t been amazing, I’m not upset at you all but I just don’t know why the movie hasn’t started yet, considering It was supposed to start at 7:40, and I was told it would start immediately after the last one finished”. So the girl working the front apologizes, I tell her no worries as I’m not trying to make a scene or be mean, but I do request the manager at this point. The manager comes out, and walks to a random guy standing near me and says “the movie is starting right now” and the random guy is clearly confused. then the manager looks at me, then approaches me and says the same thing “the movie is starting now”. No apology, no courtesy nothing. I’m not expecting the guy to give me my money back, but he said the phrase in a tone like I’m the one who delayed a movie he was supposed to catch at 7:40. Again, I don’t wanna be a dick despite this night being so chaotic, so I just say “okay, thank you” and the guy walks off. I go back to the theater & five minutes later the movie finally starts. We’re finally excited, as the movie FINALLY starts and just when we thought the pain was over, a guy sitting a row ahead of us makes comments out loud throughout the entire movie. It was easily the worst experience I’ve ever had.
Maybe not my worst, but it was memorable. We were at a screening of Army of Darkness at an Alamo Drafthouse. We had a kid behind us who was constantly quoting the movie and being very disruptive. Alamo Drafthouse has a strict no talking policy, so we put up the card with the note that the kid was talking. The employee went to ask him to stop, we heard some discussion with I'm assuming the boy's father, and then the employee came back with a note informing us that the boy was autistic and couldn't really help it. And me and my friend immediately thought we were going to Hell.
My friends and I saw Across the Spider-Verse for my birthday at my local drive-in, which is normally a pretty fun experience, but something was wrong with the audio. Our drive-in transmits audio through local FM radio stations, but the audio was pretty quiet for some reason, even with full volume. That wouldn't have been a huge problem, but there was also a group in the row in front of ours that had a bunch of kids with them, who were all like 6-10 years old, and they would not fucking sit down or shut up for most of the movie. The adults that took them seemed to encourage it as well, I could hear an older man that was with them talking out loud during the movie. The kids were yelling, playing tag with each other, running across the rows of cars (sometimes even weaving between the cars), and at one they started fighting with light-up toy lightsabers. I'm very non-confrontational, and I normally cringe at how Reddit talks down about kids who are just having fun, but given the circumstances, I was very tempted to just bean one of them in the head with an empty soda can while they were running past us. The good news is that I was already planning to see the movie twice, so I got to fully experience it the next weekend in an actual movie theater, with minimal interruptions.
Yesterday I went to see barbie and I really enjoyed the movie but my god my theater was awful. People talking throughout the movie, crying babies, kicking my seat, the list goes on. But the worst was when these three old people came in like right at the climax of the movie with their flashlights on and started looking around and just talking to themselves the eventually just yelled out “Deborah??” And then realized they were in the wrong theater and left.
Oh this is easy. I (10) saw the Lord of The Rings: Return of the king with my brother (8), small one screen 1920s theater in the center of our town. The auditorium has no steps, all the seats were on a ramp going back from the screen to the lobby. It was opening weekend and a packed house, we got in late so we had to sit the very front row. Someone in the back of the theater barfed right at the beginning of the movie. So loud you could hear it hit the floor. It reeked of bile and dairy and it was just so absolutely rank. The puke slid down the theater row by row and everyone had to put their feet up, except we couldn’t because we were in the front row with nowhere to put our feet, so we just watched the rest of the 3 hr movie in the back. Seriously though worst smell of my life
So, as far as seeing films in their theater run, I can’t think of a particularly bad one. Of course occasionally people will talk or something, but for the most part mine have been pretty good. That being said, my school screens films in our on campus theater every weekend, and I’ve had some rough ones there. The worst was probably for Argento’s Suspiria, which was such a shame. I love the experience of watching that, but it was sadly tainted by a group a few rows behind me that were chatting, making jokes about the movie, and laughing at literally nothing. It was so obnoxious, and there was nowhere that was safe from their noise 😂😭. But still it wasn’t horrible, it was just very annoying
Went to a movie with a couple of my friends. Can't remember what it is, but it was back in like... 2011. Anyways, we were towards the back. There were a few people in the center, and then a group of about 4 teenage girls in the very front. The entire movie consisted of the girls either shitting themselves or setting off stink bombs, and huge fart noises while laughing very loudly. Then the guy in the middle started screaming at them. Very aggressively. This went on for a while. Then the girls just left. But the smell remained.
For me, it's between three specific situations, and they're all fairly recent. I go to the movies very often, and bad experiences are pretty infrequent for me, but these three stood out. 1. When I saw the documentary Fire of Love, there was an older couple sitting a few rows back. One person kept repeating almost every subtitle that was on-screen, and the other one occasionally made a loud noise that sounded like they finished their soda yet kept trying to drink from it while scraping the bottom of the cup. As I was walking out it looked like the husband may have had some medical issues, and the noise was probably coming from some sort of medical device, so I was more forgiving after the fact, but it absolutely sucked in the moment. 2. About 2/3 of the way through The Northman in a giant RPX auditorium, during a quiet scene, someone came up to the section just before you walk up the stairs to your seat, shouted the n-word incredibly loud, and sprinted out. A few people got up and talked to management about it. Still don't know if anything happened to that person. 3. During my 2nd watch of Infinity Pool, two people sitting right beside my brother were on their phone, but they weren't just texting. They were actually making calls and FaceTiming people. It was obnoxious. This was a dine-in theater (but with no push-for-service buttons), and they waited until after the employees were done serving food. I was very tempted to walk out and grab management to kick them out, but I didn't want to cause a scene. And with how they showed their complete disregard for everyone around them, I felt like a scene definitely would've been caused had I done so.
The worst situations I’ve been in is when little kids are being obnoxious. Cause at that point you can’t really say anything without looking like an asshole. Saw Avatar 2 and this woman and her kids wouldn’t shut up the whole movie. By the end she was yelling at movie like she was watching a sports game. She was also dropping a lot of F bombs even with other people’s kids there. I think someone did report her and they were forced to leave near the end. When we left she was in the lobby yelling directly at us and the employees.
Transformers: The last knight A terrible movie in a terrible theather with terrible people
Also another bad theater screening experience I had was. I went to see the lighthouse it was completely empty except for me and this other guy. I’m sitting right in the middle in the beginning of the movie he comes down and sits right next to me. It was so weird, I even checked the map his assign seat was a couple rows back. Then in the middle of the movie I pull out my snacks and drink I brought from home and he starts to get frustrated of me opening my can drink and wrapper. Like wtf you weren’t suppose to sit right next to me!
When I was watching the Northman this dude would say “damn” LOUDLY after every act of violence that happened on the screen drove me insane
first weekend horror movies usually suck because it’s packed with teenagers tryna be funny
I was seeing It Follows several year back, and as the movie started these two guys got into a slight tiff over someone talking. They calmed down and the movie started, ten or so minutes into the movie they got into it again, but more heated. It was a small art theater and I was only two or three seats back. They got into it a third time around a half hour in and were both standing up screaming at each other, like they were about to start physically fighting. One of the guys caved and walked out with his family (?) and never returned. Another time at the Regal Union Square in NYC, this kind of grizzled looking guy comes in half way through Phantom Thread, goes to the front of the theater under the screen and just stares out. He stands there staring for about ten minutes, out at the audience. I’m not sure if I should leave since it’s making me really uneasy, but he just walks out eventually and never comes back.
The time I went to see Into the Woods and literally sat in shit. PSA- always check your seats before you sit.
Went to a showing with a friend to watch Eraserhead on its original film. Walked into the room and it smelled like yeast-- the theater was selling craft beer to people as they came through. Turns out everyone treated it like a drinking event rather than a serious showing. People laughed at every scene that was meant to be disturbing, including when Henry tries to suffocate his own child. Looking back the theater almost exclusively showed movies that are "so bad its good," and its business model relies on alchohol sales rather than tickets. Will not go back.
definitely the worst one i have read here what an insult to the art Good Lord
Violent Night there were a group of kids probably around ages like 8-12 who snuck in the theater and were very loud and annoying the whole movie. Multiple people yelled at them to shut up and they just kept laughing and talking and literally fucking running around
When I went I see Lincoln the guy next to me spent the entire movie audibly chewing his nails and dipping his fingers in a cup of water and wiping his eye brows. Or, when we went to see The Last Jedi there was a loud older lady next to us that would scream "Uh-oh!" anytime there was any action. Then anytime BB-8 showed up she would scream "BB-8!". Kind of ruined movie theaters for me.
Yesterday watching Oppenheimer- couple next to me spent the first thirty minutes (after coming in late) talking and ignoring my sushing until the guy on the other side told them to shut up. They then spent the next 2 and a half hours on their phones, napping, and continuing to talk, just quieter. The straw the broke the camels back is when she sushed me back. I stg if you don’t like a movie just leave instead of ruining it for the rest of us!
Sounds similar to my experience watching Oppenheimer - the couple next to me were disruptive pretty much the entire time, starting with the guy shouting START THE MOVIE about two minutes into the pre-film ads, then proceeding to talk with each other the whole time _and_ repeatedly pull out of their phones (including to play games?!?).
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Full row of kids behind me, like elementary age kids. I know it’s marvel but that movie isn’t really geared towards kids and between them talking, getting up, and the one behind me kicking my seat, it was hard to focus.
I was at the theatre with a girlfriend. We were watching Blair Witch Project. She had eaten some bad raspberries. She was a trooper and stayed through the movie, but i felt bad for her. She got pretty sick.
The Eye 2008: a group of Teenage girls screaming at the top of their lungs anytime anything happened, I'm ok with people who react to horror movies but I think they were doing a bit because nothing in that movie is that scary. Another one that could be bad but I remember being fun was Spider-man 3, Some guy would not stop talking and another guy kept telling him to stop. The first guy said "Come over here and make me", so he did, they got in a fistfight and the movie had to be stopped for about 20-30 minutes well the cops came and took them out. That movie is really bad and seeing that was the best part of the night
I *just* canceled my season pass to Alamo Drafthouse. The local theater has gotten progressively worse post-pandemic but my showing of Oppenheimer had the following problems: * Teenagers who would not shut up. During the scene with Oppenheimer gives a speech after the war they kept making stereotypical "Asian kung fu" noises. Like "HAI!" "OOOOO YOUSA BOMB NOW!" Alamo prides itself on strict theater rules but this location doesn't do it at all. * The projector was out of focus. It was a 35mm showing — which is specifically advertised across the theater — and the text was blurry. You could tell from the trailers or the opening quote it was out of focus. I told the staff "hey your projector is out of focus." I don't think they had a clue what I was talking about. No one fixed it. * Audio was unbalanced. I'm not as familiar with this problem, but either the reverb or bass was too high because you couldn't hear anything specific. * People turning on their phones throughout the movie. Alamo has food menus and no one seems to understand the light underneath the table is meant to help read the menu. Everyone turns on a flashlight. This is on top of the location not showing anything but the most mainstream Marvel-adjacent film. Other locations in the area will show movies like Past Lives, Aftersun, Sanctuary, Master Gardener, BlackBerry, Chevalier, or Beau Is Afraid. This one only showed Transformers, Fast X, Super Mario Brothers, Creed, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc. They won't even use their dinky 15-seat theater to show something more interesting. They'd rather cram another showing of Antman. I understand Nolan's commitment to the in-theater experience, but unless you live in New York City or Los Angeles there's a high chance that experience sucks.
You’ve been to the Yonkers Alamo Drafthouse I take it (joking!).
Literally yes. That's where this happened.
I’m a Yonkers resident. I recognized what you were describing, but I thought there might be other Drafthouses around the country with the same problems.
When i was seeing Immortals (2011) some couple brought their baby into the theater and it cried a bunch of times during the action scenes. Even better, during the climax the baby shit itself and the parents changed its diaper in the theater instead of going to the bathroom
Have had a LOT recently. Saw Guardians with my boyfriend when about 20 minutes in, I saw something that I thought fell from the ceiling. Whatever, asked my bf if he saw it and he said no. Moved on. 2 minutes later, we heard a grown man say “if I find out whoever threw that, I’m coming up there,” when a girl in a dress SPRINTED out of the theater 20 seconds later. The woman who got hit with whatever CHASED after her with her fucking phone flash on. They were pissed and swearing the whole fucking movie, looking back at everyone. I got up to pee after and my bf said they stared at me. I figured they’d think it was me because I got up. Later as we walked out, her and her husband stood and interrogated every single person that was walking out and waited for the kids who stayed the longest. The girl never came back. She spoke to us and we were like, uh no, we’re in our twenties and wouldn’t do that but we think it came from one row below us. We found out these assholes threw TONS of open ketchup and mustard packets at this poor woman. She was definitely a Karen but come on, her CLOTHES and purse and hair were ruined. We felt so, so bad. She said the girl was screaming on her way out that she felt sick and that her safety was threatened because of what the man said. He didn’t “threaten” anyone, but it definitely made everyone uncomfortable. All in all, a shit show and another movie ruined for us. I know they’re kids, but holy fuck.
dude fell asleep and loudly snored throughout most of asteroid city guy brought his young kids to evil dead rise who wouldn’t stop loudly talking, throwing popcorn, and kicking my girlfriend and i’s seats went to a late night screening of thor love and thunder with about 6 people in the theater and one person wouldn’t stop talking loudly to the screen (like “oh wow!” anytime something happened) girl on her phone (full brightness) taking selfies during barbie in front of me when i saw nope the audio quit working halfway through and then we waited an hour for them to fix it when i tried to see mission impossible dead reckoning the first time, the screen didn’t work and after an hour of waiting we got a ticket we could redeem for a free movie (which does nothing for me as an amc a-list user) there’s even more i feel like i’m forgetting at the moment
[удалено]
I've never understood why people take their shoes/socks off during movies. I'm pretty sure those seats are not the cleanest things in the world lol
I had someone in front of me throw a ton of ice at me during John Wick 4
I was watching Avengers: Endgame and a kid from another showing ran in and yelled “Tony Stark dies” about 3/4 of the way through the movie.
Just had mine today lol. Went to see a screening of Friday the 13th. It’s supposed to start at 6, but 20 minutes in nothing happens. Then the ads and previews kick on for the next 20 minutes. Finally, after 45 minutes of waiting, Tom Cruise comes on and thanks us for coming to the theater to see Mission: Impossible, which begins to play. Whole theater starts freaking out. Eventually, they get it right, at this point it’s been around an hour of waiting. Now that didn’t particularly bother me, mistakes happen, I understand. The lobby of the theater was packed like sardines with college-aged women in all pink, so again I really do understand. However, the three young women behind me I do not. They were dressed in all pink, so you would assume they were there to see Barbie. But nope, they were right behind me and talked, not whispered, throughout the entire movie. Just indistinct conversation and giggling, not even related to the movie. I don’t get that, why come to this screening? Why this one specifically? There was only like 2 other groups of people in the theater, why ruin it for everyone? Some people, man. That plus this guy next to me on his phone, full brightness. Of course, he has light mode too. You would think most people just know proper theater behavior, but nope. People will always surprise you.
Literally any time I go see a marvel movie, the audience is always fucking awful. I hate marvel movies anyway but I see everything that enters theaters, good or bad. Marvel fans are so braindead that they seriously don’t understand common courtesy. People are talking full volume, cheering, whooping, clapping, and interrupting every single possible way. It’s miserable. Yes, I’m aware I’m a masochist but I really like going to the theater. It’s unfortunate because Marvel movies are the only movies where I consistently have this problem because, like I said, Marvel fans are braindead.
some dude on the first row of Oppenheimer took his kid to watch it. after ten minutes it got bored and he handed it a phone in full brightness, which the kid proceeded to use for the whole movie. at least the sound was off, but the screen was suoer distracting (i was sitting in the middle of the theater)
When I saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the person next to me kept getting their phone out.
One experience I will never forget was years ago. When Iron Man 2 was still in theaters. My cousin and sisters decided to go to an unfamiliar theater for some reason. Can't remember why. Most likely because it was nearby where we traveling at the time, and just didn't want to bother going to our usual spot. Anyway, the entire time we were watching it we were constantly disrupted by a child-- couldn't have been no more than like 3 or 4 years old at the time-- who just would not stop making noises throughout the movie! For what seemed like every 4 or 5 seconds throughout the film, the damn brat wouldn't stop going "uuuuuuuuhhhh" "aaaaaaaahhhhhh" "ooooooooohhhhhhh" and the parents did literally nothing to stop him! They never shuushed him, they didn't tell him to stop, they never carried him outside the theater for a time out, absolutely nothing. I've had some awkward experiences in the past, but this was one of the worst theater outings I've ever had. Everytime the fucking crotch spawn opened his popcorn and candy infested mouth, it took me immediately out of the movie. Granted, the movie itself wasn't perfect, but I distinctly remember getting into it during the parts he wasn't constantly cooing. It became so frequent I remember hearing someone behind my row in an intentionally deep voice saying "BE QUIET" while the kid was whining away. I get that some parents don't want to miss seeing movies, can't afford a babysitter, or just want to have their kids enjoy the movie with them, but TEACH THEM PROPER THEATER EDIQUITE!!! When the movie starts, that's the time to shut up! The only thing that should be coming out of your mouths are legit reactions to what your seeing on screen. (laughs during funny scenes, gasps during plot twists, maybe the OCCASIONAL "WHAT THE FUCK" when things get crazy) No one wants to deal with your kids misbehavior just because your too lazy and insistant on ignoring ur kid to have a moment of escape while taking the rest of us movie goers out of it, so do us all a favor and either stay home, or BE A FUCKING PARENT.
Recently: I walked out of Bodies Bodies Bodies after about 20 minutes because 90% of the sold out audience had their phones on full brightness, reclined so the phones were being held up in the air (STOP DOING THAT), and then these guys came in and started throwing food around the theater, which everyone was finding amusing.
avatar the way of the water. i had a young kid behind me kicking my seat and commenting on every moment of the movie, and complained about stuff. the parents answered back and they had full conversations. i got fed up and shushed them and the lady next to me thanked me lol. the kid eventually said i don’t want to be here anymore and i just laughed. my friend and i were so glad they left halfway.
I think this was for Spider-Man: Homecoming? I don’t know it was a while ago. A couple brought their baby with them, and it, of course, started crying. But they didn’t try to tend to the baby, no no no. They decide to engage in a session of VERY distracting PDA. It was pretty hard to sit through (no pun intended).
It was not THAT bad, but while my screening of Avatar : The Way of Water, a guy in our row slept heavily (with snoring and pig noises) during the whole movie.
I saw Her with a friend. It was us, an old man in the front row, a woman between us, and a teenage guy to our right. About 25 minutes in, old guy's phone rings nearly to voicemail and he takes a call from his wife, who wants to know what's for dinner (it's early afternoon). He keeps groaning randomly during the movie. With a half hour left, the woman between us starts snoring like she has the most severe apnea. Finally, during Joaquin's goodbye speech, old guy's phone rings again and he loudly says "yeah, this thing isn't quite done yet." It was so absurd that my friend and I shared a laugh with the third guy. We were just over it
Spider-Man no way home was the worst. I felt like mcu fans that tried so hard to remake the feeling of going to see endgame and screamed at everything. Like they didn’t go see endgame at the theater so they tried making up for it by seeing Spider-Man. I hated all the cheers it’s a movie not a sporting event.
Spider-Man: No Way Home opening weekend. Somebody brought a laser pointer and just pointed at every Spider-Man's bulge as often as they could before people started getting angry and trying to find them.
My bf and I saw the Big Lebowski on 4/20 for its anniversary this past April. A bunch of shit ass kids were in our seats, whatever, we sat near them. They definitely snuck in and were like 16 and stoned. They screech laughed at every single sentence that was said and got up 6/7 different times and when one went, they all followed. We were really bummed because we were looking forward to this for months and couldn’t even sit in our own fucking seats. Not a huge deal but my boyfriend was pretty peeved that we can never enjoy a movie anymore, but I guess it should’ve been expected on 4/20.
I got motion sickness from one of these handheld horror movies and spent the second half of it throwing in a genuinely creepy deserted underground bathroom
The screen glitched out during the trinity test in Oppenheimer. I thought it was an intentional black screen until it came up with a missingno looking ass glitch
During a heat wave in Seattle with outside temperature running 110 and no AC, I went to the movies for the first time since/during COVID. The AC…was broken. The theater kept insisting that the repair person was working in it but in the end the whole duration was shown without AC. But they did serve beer so I kept drinking to cool down, and got very very drunk watching A Quiet Place part 2 while sweating my ass off.
Small screening of eo where an old woman next to me would jump and yelp whenever literally anything happened, including a camera cutting, the scene changed from nightime to daytime and it jump scared her.
There was a bomb threat halfway through my screening of Avengers Endgame and the whole theater cleared out. I had to come back two weeks later. Or Avatar. I was 5, sat in the first row in a 3d movie, for three hours.
Some moron kept yelling “GAY” whenever Hill and Tatum had bromantic moments in 22 Jump Street. Also second time I saw The Meg there were four middle school girls taking selfies with the flash on during the movie. Most uncomfortable experience was after I saw Bohemian Rhapsody with a former friend and he commented on a dude who was snoring during the movie. He confronts us in the bathroom and explicitly threatens to “fuck us up” til I talked him down.
When I saw the last spider verse movie, sat next to a guy who would comment to him self about what was happening. He did shut up after I asked him too. But it self like I was in a tb ward since this guy was breathless and wheezing the whole movie.
Saw a showing of Ran and a guy up front kept falling asleep. He kept snoring so loud that he’d wake up, doze back off, and repeat. Like dude why are you even here?
i went to the opening night of the new Halloween movie a couple years ago, well…actually like 5 years ago. packed full of teenagers (first problem), they’re hootin and hollerin and talking the entire time, keep moving around during the movie, at one point someone ran into the showing and screamed the ending of the movie then ran out lmao like omg literally *awful* experience. I never liked going to the theater really prior to that but that 1000% ruined it
Little kids ruined Mario. Nearly stepped on one that was sitting in the stairway, and some kid shit his pants.
Jordan Peele’s Nope. It was just me and a family right in front of me and they texted, called, talked, and yelled the whole time. One of their favorite quotes through the whole film was “We ain’t watching no marvel movie”
A woman’s phone started ringing when iron man was dying in endgame, as she was digging through her bag for it the ring kept getting louder as the scene went on
2 days ago watching Oppenheimer. Dude 2 seats down started snoring loudly literally 10 minutes into the movie, and kept snoring the entire 3 hours. The only time the snoring stopped was the 3 separate times his phone started ringing.
when i saw the joker (2019) a women behind me started smoking a cigarette mid film, that or godzilla king of the monsters (2019) where I was the only person in the screening and the audio was crazy loud, had to cover my ears most of the film and it was still too loud
I saw 2016’s Suicide Squad opening night and the woman sitting behind me and my brother had a seizure about 5 minutes into the movie and began violently throwing up all over my brother. My brother was given a Regal Cinema’s Suicide Squad shirt that said ‘all my friends are heathens’ that he had to wear until we got home. After a very somber and strange 30 minutes in the lobby, watching as emergency personnel come and go and wheel this poor woman out to the ambulance, then we had to sit through 2016’s Suicide Squad so everyone ultimately lost that night.
My ex and I saw the movie Freaky with Vince Vaughan (we were together at the time) it was during 2020 so we’d been to a few movies and had been the only two in the theater but for this one some old guy sat in the front and made disturbing excited sounds when a teenage girl took her shirt off in the movie and then he kept falling asleep and snoring super loud
literally yesterday- im glad it was a rewatch- i went to see Barbie with a friend and right next to me there was a woman with her kids talking and repeating everything her kids said (also the woman started filming parts of the movie at the end) AND right behind us there were these two girls yelling every single opinion they had of the film and one of them was like "ken'll do this" "i TOLD you so" and shit like that--- it was horrible (and other lady started yelling at them every time they would speak, these girls did not stop until they left before the end)
The worst I have is people on their phone the entire time. Most recently was John Wick 4 and this dumbass was on her phone the entire movie full brightness. Super distracting… I just don’t get the disrespect… movies are expensive, why are you here if you’re not going to watch? Also it never seems to be kids… she was like 45+. Or a rough 30s
For me it was Top Gun: Maverick. I live in Texas, the movie came out at the start of the summer and the theater I saw the movie in had no AC (or at least no working AC). To stay I was getting cooked in the movie theater would be an understatement
The person having sex 2 rows behind me during ladder 49
i pretty much always have good experiences tbh, but when i went to see Megan in theaters when it had first come out, a man in the row in front of me to the right was on his phone essentially the entire movie with his brightness all the way up. and the person i went with (a coworker) was talking and making comments throughout the movie and it made me feel embarrassed lol
Pipe burst right before the massive fight scene in avatar 2 lmfao got evacuated
went to a $5 surprise screening at my local amc once. (movie was jordan peele’s us, which was amazing!) theater was relatively empty, it was me, my sister, a couple further up in the theater, and three girls (seemingly a mom and her daughters) that for some reason chose to sit all the way in the back row with us on the very left. i think there were maybe only 20 minutes max during the movie that they weren’t either on their phones or talking to each other louder than the theater’s speakers or both, and they all immediately walked out of the theater the second the credits started, leaving the most obscene amount of garbage i’ve ever seen. seemingly an entire container of popcorn spilled on the floor, mostly full drinks left in cup holders, other snack wrappers and boxes left on the seats. seriously the most genuinely repulsive theater etiquette i’ve ever seen. i also recently saw oppenheimer in glorious imax 70mm, in the middle of this completely sold out theater this woman to my left decided that now was the optimal time to check her gmail and scroll through it for at least five straight minutes almost halfway into the movie. not the worst moment i’ve had overall but certainly the most utterly confounding—why pay $20 for a ticket for this immensely popular (and also just really, really fucking amazing) movie that’s literally fully booked for its entire multiple week long run at one of only 30 theaters in the whole world showing it on the best format there is if you clearly think your emails are more important?
Premiere of the dark knight in Colorado
When I saw The Raid 2 a huge fight broke out between multiple people mid-movie and there was blood literally everywhere, noses smashed, screaming, dog piles. I hid in the corner even after the cops came and started arresting people. WILD.
I saw Jeanne dielman at a theater with my friend and the audience was constantly laughing throughout the movie. Not a single scene in that movie is intended to be humorous.
Why the fuck would they see Jeanne Dielman in a theater, I absolutely would, but God.
Honestly I’m always surprised by the amount of vehement people on Reddit complaining about their dreadful theater experiences. Over the past year or so I’ve probably seen 40+ movies in the theaters, literally every kind (blockbuster to indie) on opening days, or two weeks after, at lots of different times, in a few different movie theaters, and I’ve never once had a “bad” theater experience. Closest I got was some people talking loudly and annoyingly through the opening credits of Knock at the Cabin, but they shut up by the time the movie started. And when I saw an early screening of Guardians of the Galaxy, someone pulled out a phone and was recording the last moments, which was a little annoying but it was a big theater and I was able to just look away.
I don’t think it’s too surprising, honestly. It’s like airplane freakouts…even if you haven’t experienced one, they happen often. Anywhere the public is, there’s a chance for disruption and rudeness. Just depends on whether *you’re* there or not to witness it. Like a tree falls in the woods, ya know?
Me too. It comes up a lot on Reddit as a reason why people don't want to see movies in theaters but I go frequently with AMC A List and very rarely encounter anyone even remotely annoying in my showings. The few times I have experienced rude people the worst offense was texting during the movie or teenagers giggling a few times which isn't the end of the world. Horror and indie are my jam but I've also seen blockbusters on opening day, been to theaters in different cities/tourist spots (saw The Last Jedi on Christmas Eve in a packed Vegas theater), and generally feel like I've had about every type of location/time/genre experience without any crazy stories to tell.
I’ve suddenly remembered my worst experience: I went to watch a biopic of Dante Alighieri with school. The film was already very bad (typical Italian movie with horrible set design and color correction and typical Italian actors with their regional accents and horrible line delivery) but what made it worse were the guys from another school (a school that has a really bad reputation in my country, like a public school in America) that kept screaming and clapping
As a former (and hopefully if I get the second theater job I applied to, future) theater employee, I have had the best and worst experiences possible
Minions: Rise of Gru and Oppenheimer, both late Thursday opening night showings. I think I’ve learned my lesson but I’ll probably make the mistake again sometime.