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This is a subject that gets movie execs going based on the lively debate this morning at a panel about industry issues at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas. Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Jeff Blake kicked off the discussion saying that 20 years ago “kids would come every week” to the movies. But no more. “I’m concerned that the moviegoing experience isn’t just for baby boomers.” Regal Entertainment CEO Amy Miles says that her chain currently discourages cell phone use “but if we had a movie that appealed to a younger demographic, we could test some of these concepts.” For example, she says the chain talked about being more flexible about cell phone use at some screens that showed 21 Jump Street. “You’re trying to figure out if there’s something you can offer in the theater that I would not find appealing but my 18-year-old son” might. 
IMAX’s Greg Foster seemed to like the idea of relaxing the absolute ban on phone use in theaters. His 17-year-old son “constantly has his phone with him,” he says. “We want them to pay $12 to $14 to come into an auditorium and watch a movie. But they’ve become accustomed to controlling their own existence.” Banning cell phone use may make them “feel a little handcuffed.” That set off Tim League, CEO of Alamo Drafthouse — a small chain that makes a point of throwing out customers who talk or text during a film. “Over my dead body will I introduce texting into the movie theater,” he says. “I love the idea of playing around with a new concept. But that is the scourge of our industry. … It’s our job to understand that this is a sacred space and we have to teach manners.” He says it should be “magical” to come to the cinema. But Miles shot back that “one person’s opinion of magical isn’t the other’s.”
Execs had other pet peeves. For example, Foster decries ads for TV shows in movie theaters. “My tentacles go up,” he says. “How is this possible?” Blake says that moviemakers face “a real challenge” overseas where theaters often mix ads with trailers. The trailer “is the lifeblood of producers and the marketing department” — and one of the top three reasons why people go to the movies. “It’s so important to play those trailers properly, lights down at showtime.” League, whose chain serves meals, also said that there’s “kickback” among consumers on concession pricing — especially the core staples. “Those prices do seem high to me,” he says. “You can get a pint of beer for less than it costs to buy a large soda.”
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Is It Time To Let Movie-Goers Send Texts During A Film?
Um… no.
No. No and no.
This is an absolute JOKE RIGHT? Please tell me this is a joke. If kids want to be on their phones, they can just not go to the movies, seriously, if they can’t put away their phones for two hours, there is something wrong. I will never understand why people pay an admission fee and then continue to text or talk on the phone while a movie is playing. You allow texting and phone calls while watching a movie — you will lose 80 percent of the other moviegoing audience who actually want to be able to concentrate on watching a movie.
Exactly my thoughts! You will lose me as a customer at your theater if cell phones are allowed. It’s one or the other. Not both. And they definitely can learn manners. Money isn’t as important as that.
i think yes because i will admit i have text before and im able to turn the brightness down on my iphone so the light wont bother anyone and no one around me has complained before the movie so loud and if your phone is on vibrate or sound off while your texting no one going to hear it so why should it bother you. now talking on the phone in the theatre NO!!!!! The only thing i find dumb is this personal thing is why pay 10 dollars to sit in a movie and text the whole time and not watch the movie thats wasting your money. i mean as long as what you do doesnt bother anyone else in the theatre it should be ok as long as you can do it quietly.
Just reading this comment by the “writer” hurts my eyes. “F” for style, punctuation and content. Now you want me to “watch” the “writer” text this message with the lights up or down. Yikes! Jeem
Well put, Jeem!
It bothers someone. It always does. Just because no one has said anything to you does not mean it hasn’t bothered someone. No matter how low the brightness is, someone else will still see it. Please stop.
Please stop doing this. It’s extremely inconsiderate. In the privacy of your home you can do what you like, but when you’re sharing a darkened movie theater you should be respectful of other people’s moviegoing experience.
Agreed. I will stop going to movies if this is ever allowed. It’s a distraction. Children should have boundaries and rules.
It bothers people. It’s never down low enough. I know you think it is but it isn’t. I’m surprised hasn’t told you to stop being a douche and leave the theater to text. Where do you live?
When I went to see the Hunger Games, the woman next to me was texting and the light from her phone was very distracting and annoying. It’s like having a small flashlight aimed into your face. You say no one has complained–well I didn’t complain either, but nonetheless it really irritated me. And you can’t turn down the light enough so it doesn’t bother the people next to you and still be able to read texts. When you’re sitting in the dark, any light a few feet from your face is going to be annoying. There’s a reason cinemas are dark and don’t have any lights on.
The execs who want to allow the use of cell phones are very shortsighted. This may make a few people who are so addicted to their phone they can’t put it away for two hours happy, but it will make all their other customers unhappy.
Uhm… It doesn’t make a lick of difference if you lowered the brightness on your phone. I CAN STILL SEE IT!!! Please STOP THIS RUDE BEHAVIOR!!! Is that loud enough for you to understand???
Just for you, I’m going to express my displeasure with the next person that texts in a movie in front of me by grabbing their fucking iPhone and chucking it across the theater. It’s annoying. Disconnect for 90 fucking minutes and enjoy the film. Fortunately for me, I get to go to the Drafthouse and they’ll just throw your ass out. Problem solved. Tim League is the only one in the industry that gets it. He’s not having problems with ticket sales.
Don’t go to a movie if you’re so important. If you really have a good reason for texting in a movie that reason is probably more important than the movie your are watching. So don’t go to the movies until you can assure you don’t have important texts to write. I pledge from this day forward when I see someone texting and it interrupts my movies I’m asking for my money back and the person texting is going to get a “Excuse me sir or miss can you do that outside please!” What’s wrong with people? They have no self discipline or courtesy for others. Time for other people to start speaking up and doing something about this.
Just because you THINK nobody can see your phone pop on, doesn’t mean it’s not the case. I see people all the time who have their hands cupped over their phones, or have them tilted down or half in their pocket and the area around them is lit up like a flashlight came on. I’m sure they think nobody around them is noticing too. And just because nobody ever said anything to you doesn’t mean nobody has noticed. In this day and age of crazy retaliation, not everyone is so eager to tell a stranger to turn their phone off. But I can guarantee you, if you’re texting in a theater, you have about 20 people glaring at you, thinking you’re a real dumbass.
Just because no one has complained doesn’t mean no one was bothered by it. Last week a teen sitting behind me texted and talked throughout the entire film, eventually getting so worked up about her texts that she started shouting at the movie to “f-ng turn off already,” etc. She obviously bothered the whole theater and no one complained to her, though I notice her friends apparently ditched her after the movie.
Look, no one wants to complain because you never know what will happen. When I was a kid, I sat next to jerks at Batman and Flatliners. At uni, I sat next to a guy huffing butane throughout Pulp Fiction, and another guy the second time I saw it narrated the entire film. I asked some of these people to cut it out. They never did, and one guy even tried to hit me — that’s probably why no one asks people to stop texting, because they have no idea if you will lash out physically.
Don’t lie to yourself to rationalize this. You ARE disturbing people.
i also forgot to say i live in the orlando area and ive been going to movies forever im 23 and anyways i never seen anyone been thrown out for using there phone or texting at my theatre ushers dont even really come in and check the movie
Jamison, I would be ashamed to sit next to you in a theater.
Any chance you could take a moment to recall your 4th grade English class and use some punctuation? It’s extraordinarily easy to capitalize the first word of a sentence and conclude the same sentence with a period. The meta-language u uz wen txting duznt wrk wen talking w/adults.
Grow up already. You’re 23. Having the communication skills of a 12 year old makes you look like a troglodyte (use a dictionary for the last word and consider using it daily for awhile).
I am also 23 and English isn’t my first language (though I can easily make the distinction between their, they’re and there).
You make me lose faith in our generation. Selfish and inconsiderate, do yourself a favor and download movies, no one wants to sit next to you.
No texting, no cell phones, no crunching your popcorn in my ear, and NO PUTTING YOUR FUCKING FEET ON MY CHAIR…FILTHY ANIMALS.
No.
To build upon my simple ‘no’, the reason youth aren’t showing up to the theatre every week is because $13 is too expensive. Why would anyone in their right mind spend $13 on a product that, given the recent track record, is probably pure crap? There are cheaper, and frankly more entertaining options that teenagers are spending what little money they do have. Digital and 3D and vibrating seats and smell-o-vision aren’t going to bring back audiences when they can’t afford it in the first place.
Agree. That said, I gladly – GLADLY – pay the $16 for a movie ticket at a theater chain with no ads, clean seats, ushers who I’ve actually seen remove texters, reserved seating, and the occasional 21+ screening (which allows alcohol into the theater). Not naming the chain, but you LA folks know what I’m talking about.
The fact is, if you make the experience a pleasant one, those of us who are adults with regular incomes (not the 18 and unders who apparently want to text their way through a movie) will go, and will pay to go. That said, we still won’t pay to see Glitter on the big screen, no matter what the cost. So, yeah…improve content, too.
I’m sorry, since when does the Arclight actually remove texters? My friend complained about one and the usher came in and told the texter “This guy asked you to stop”. Then left without making sure he did.
Best movie theaters ever.
Oh, and the answer is no.
“…$13 is too expensive.”
This is the point. In 1962, a kid could buy a ticket for a matinee for $0.35. In today’s dollars, that same ticket would be $2.63. Only it’s not. It’s $10-$13. Do you know what $10 today would have been in 1962? It would have been $75.76.
And that, gentlemen, is why parents don’t fund their kids’ trips to the cinema as they once did.
Hi nomad, i don’t want to argue with you and i totally agree that the tickets are way too expensive, even for me, an adult with a decent salary. I just have a little math concern with your post..
If $0.35(1962) = $2.63(now), then $10(now) = $1.33(1962) and not $75 like you said.. i think you went the wrong way.. because indeed $10(1962) = $75(now).. I based my rates on your post, i haven’t checked anything.
But still, it means the cost of a ticket has been multiplied by 5!
This may be the best reply comment I’ve ever read here.
It makes a great point without also making an insult.
Good job, Nomad.
Do you mean $10 today would have been $1.32 in 1962? $75.76 in 2012 dollars is same as $10 in 1962 dollars but I do not see what that has to do with what you are arguing. You were writing about movies tickets costing $10-$13 in 2012.
Your economics put that way make it seem pricey. But movie entertainment with respect to other entertainment has not increased in price anywhere near as much. Why go back so far? Go to the 1980′s when tix were $3.50/4.50 in a medium sized market. Now they are $7/10. Doubled in price. How much did a paperback book cost? $3…a comic book… .35. Where are those prices now? More than doubled. How much have cover charges at night clubs gone up? How much have stadium prices gone up? “Why back in the day…movies were a nickel” argument doesn’t work when you don’t look at other relevant products’ increases as well.
With all due respect, the argument does work because it talks simply about the differential in economic impact on movie attendees. The article was discussing ways to increase movie attendance by younger people, and economics is the primary driver for the decline. The relative cost of other entertainment venues doesn’t answer why movie attendance by young people has declined significantly, but the significant increase in cost of going to a movie in real dollars relative to income does.
FWIW, attendance by young people at other entertainment venues you mentioned has decreased significantly as well. 50 years ago, it was common for middle class young people to attend Major League Baseball games with friends because it was affordable. Today, not a chance.
In order for the economics of movie ticket prices to change (decrease) sufficient to draw young people back, structural changes must take place in the industry. First of all, the exorbitant salaries paid for some A list actors is a huge driver of cost. Secondly, the cost of distributing a movie as a percentage of ticket sales vs. the revenue kept by the movie theater drives the cost of concessions to ridiculous levels. Solve these two problems and movie ticket prices can be made much more attractive to young people (and the poor, and even middle class families).
The minimum wage in 1960 was a whopping $1.00 an hour. In other words, for a 40-hour work-week, some kid washing dishes at a diner was making a grand total of forty bucks. Is $13.00 too high a price to pay for a movie ticket in 2012? Maybe. But the minimum wage has increased almost eight-fold, too, remember.
But the ticket price in 1960 was about 35% of an HOURLY wage. Today the ticket price is 179% of the minimum hourly wage at $13 for a movie ticket.
I love it when I spend $13 to see a movie and am constantly distracted by someone’s glowing cell phone screen. Clearly spending $13 to watch someone else browse facebook is super fun… really adds to the experience.
This exactly. I am baffled that this fact seems to escape the industry. Maybe there is something I haven’t taken into account, but I and almost every person I know used to go to movies regularly when they were more affordable.
With the costs now, we choose very carefully, and instead of going to see at least a movie a month, we go see three or four a Year.
The film industry made easily twice the money from me ten years ago than they do now. Multiply that by everyone who can say the same and the industry losses must be astounding!
The problem isn’t the movie experience, but the cost-to-experience ratio. If they would just lower the cost of tickets instead of increasing it, I am convinced that attendance and profits would increase across all age-groups.
As for the cellphone/texting issue… the day such inconsiderate behavior is allowed is the day I stop going to see movies in the theater.
I can assure you that if texting were allowed in movie theatres, I would never ever go to that particular theater ever again. Better to just watch it on blu-ray in my home theatre three months later than be annoyed by some txt addict who can’t sit still for two hours and enjoy a movie.
Yeah, they can text… while watching a movie they rent via Netflix!
Exactly my view.
Absolutely correct.
To add to the point, Netflix only costs $8 and some change (for streamed content) monthly to watch all the movies/TV shows one can absorb compared to a one-time cost of $10+ for a movie ticket, not to mention the crazy prices of concessions.
By the time one leaves a movie, if a drink and popcorn are purchased, the per person cost reaches almost $20! Taking my family (wife + 4 kids) to the movie costs almost $100; little wonder we don’t do it anymore. Simply put, this is economic madness, and yet no one in the article dared breach the topic.
We used to have Smoking and Non-smoking sections of restaurants, airplanes, etc, so designate screenings as either Texting or Non-texting and let the consumers vote with their wallets.
Yeah, that might be a good compromise. At 33, I’m no baby boomer, but I’m also not young enough to be in that constant text generation, either. I can’t stand texting in a movie theater, and would never opt to go to a theater that allowed it, but I can understand that it might make movies more appealing to the generation raised on cell phones.
Something else that might help (though it would still annoy me) would be if device manufacturers included a “movie mode” along the lines of “airplane mode.” Besides being totally mute (obviously), the important thing about movie mode would be a dark screen (maybe gray text on a black background). The most annoying part of cell phones in theaters is that that bright white Droid or iPhone screen lights up a whole row like a flashlight. Especially annoying when the oblivious user is sitting in the front of the theater.
That makes sense.
As some theaters have special “mommy” showings where parents can bring a child who, if they start crying, is not ruining the experience for the other movie goers. The other patrons are parents with small children themselves.
Have special “phones on” showings in addition to regular showings of movies that would appeal to young people.
…only if the texters are relegated to the front row.
No, keep them in the back row where no one can see them. If texters are in the front row, the entire theater will get annoyed by them facebook stalking the hot chick with the big t*ts from their high school.
You should charge the texters $20 and me $5….then I might consider it.
couldn’t have said it better myself!
NO! NADA! NEIN! NYET! ZERO! ZILCH!
Clear enough for you theater owners? Put ‘em all in the back row!
Yeah, great – separate seating so one half of the theater auditorium can watch the other half glow at varying intensities throughout the movie. It isn’t just the glowing, it is invariably that the texter has to share the responses from textee with their movie going companions, many times audibly and then discuss the text amongst themselves.
Last night went to see the TCM theater presentation of Casablanca. No texting, no cell phones, no ill ongoing conversations during the movie. What a delight to go to a movie as it should and used to be.
That is a good, constructive idea.
i heart alamo. kick them out if they can’t shut up or not surrender to their base level urges of having to check a phone that has nothing even remotely important on it. whenever i go to a big chain i try to go in the middle of a week day to avoid these people who seek to ruin my experience that i paid for. even so they always show up. i am now the crazy middle aged guy who walks over and tells them to shut up because moron working the lobby sure isn’t going to do it. really i think it is the end of the mega chains for seriously discerning theater goers. this is where the arthouses can clean up with affluent audiences and not worry about how VOD will effect their bottom line. Cater to people who can’t stand the idiots on their phones. Maybe even show a tentpole or two for those of us who abhor the chains.
Awww poor babies can’t go two hours without texting? Then wait till it comes out on DVD. “But they’ve become accustomed to controlling their own existence.” Guess what? Sometimes you have to play by other people’s rules. No wonder there are so many kids who feel a sense of entitlement. Theater managers start allowing this to happen and ticket sales will decrease even more.
Exactly. Sounds like pandering to spoilt kids who have a short attention span.
People need to learn to be more considerate to others.
Even if they limited this to movies aimed at certain target audiences it’s then opened the floodgates to say this behaviour is acceptable. It’s bad enough sitting next to the chatterboxes and phone users as it is. Don’t make it worse.
I get it, younger generations are sometimes harder to get to theaters (unless it’s Avengers or Twilight) and you want to make their ADD facebook twitter netflix me netflix me brains happy, and they will watch a movie on a pen cap if they could, but there is enough noise and distraction these days in the theaters, maybe have “text and act like you are in your living room” screenings only…. alongside “quiet, have respect for others” showings in separate theaters
Bad idea, it will only lead to talking……….Alamo DraftHOuse is coming to NYC, and I can’t wait!
you test it out like they have adult screens for drinking here at arclight… one side theater that allows cell phone use if anyone would rather be there.
but i imagine a 17 yer old doesn’t care about texting but when he gets older and he wants to actually experience a movie he will be bothered by it…
maybe this would shrink the audience even more to a narrower group… as if it isn’t nrrow enough already
might as well just keep the lights up and allow people to talk and bring their Ipads and laptops
heck why even show the movie… why not allow everyone in and they download it then watch it on their computers
hmmm… whe even go out… might as well stay home
BAD idea. And obviously driven my money…
“…But they’ve become accustomed to controlling their own existence.”
Exactly. That’s the problem. All the more reason they need to accept that there ARE limits. And having to sit in a theater for 2 hours without their beloved phone should be one of them.
Yes! This. I’d happily pay to go to a theater that had signal blockers that wouldn’t even permit a cell signal to get through. Take that, texters!
Also, I’d be happy to see them do a texting-only screening, as they do those screenings on the weekends at some chains which are baby-friendly. In fact, combine the two – let’s get baby + texting screenings, for people who WANT to be distracted during a movie. Of course, it would only be for G-rated movies, but why cater to people who are rude enough to text in a film, anyway?
Unfortunately those “signal blockers” are illegal in the US by FCC edict.
Boorish behavior + remakes, rip-offs and money grabs + pandering to censorship advocates = decline in moviegoing.
someone’s not telling the full story here.
Why in f*cks name would you want someone texting during the film? Don’t give me the bullsh*t “oh we is handcuffing le teens” garbage. There’s gotta be an ulterior motive here. I’m not sure what it is (perhaps getting them to text to advertising) but the idea sounds so inane there has to be a motive.
I think the chain owners are hoping the kids will text to their friends how great the movie is so they well also go see the movie.
That would be hilarious. Of the people I’ve seen texting or heard talking on the phone during the movies, NONE of them were doing so because they loved the movie. They were doing so because they hated the movie and were bored, but also too stubborn to leave. A guy at the first Lord of the Rings must have called 3 people to tell them how much he hated the movie; the girl last week at Cabin in the Woods texting and talking all through the film, then finally shouting “This is the worst fucking movie ever!” at everyone in the theater.
I wonder if you’re right, though, and these execs have no clue WHY people text during films. It’s a funny thought.
Heaven forbid anyone tell a teenager that there is a time and place for things, and the middle of a movie in a theater is not the place for text messaging and phone calls.
Just the notion that some theater owners think allowing greater distractions during a film is the answer to attendance issues shows how out of touch they are with the real problems. I have never heard a single person say “I would go see that movie, except they don’t allow me to use my phone during the show.”
A simple demonstration of 20-30 people texting, at the same time, in a darkened movie theatre, while a movie is projected onto the screen, should be enough to illustrate the distraction and disturbance this type of activity would cause.
And what about those young people who do NOT want to text and, simply, want to enjoy a movie the way it was intended – in a dark, QUIET (aside from the movie’s soundtrack, of course) movie theatre. Should they be subjected to this annoyance when they drop their good money (hard-earned or otherwise obtained) for a movie?
If theatres really want to entertain this idea to lure young people back into theatres, perhaps they could offer – and promote – a single, specific showing of the movie with texting allowed, but don’t try to reverse this policy globally.
P.S. Hollywood is trying to bring the young demo back into the theatres every week, and studios are scratching their heads, attempting to figure out the solution.
Well, the solution is quite simple: MAKE BETTER MOVIES!
Unlike in “Field of Dreams”, where all they had to do was “build it, and they will come”, Hollwood needs to build it GOOD . . . and, trust me, they will come.”
Making better movies alone will not address the issue which is primarily economic. Making better movies is always smart, but making movies more affordable for the middle class youngsters is common sense.
Given the current economics of the cinema, a return to the studio system sounds downright genius.
@CynicalCritic,
Do you have anything a skosh more specific than “MAKE BETTER MOVIES!”?
In what way do you want them to be better? Do you want better stories? Do you want higher production values? Stronger actors? Are you mad that there aren’t more lame Ashley Judd thrillers these days? Do you want movies to be shoddier-looking and poorly structured like they were in the 80′s? Do you want to return to the heyday of awful 90′s-era indies where people just sit around and smoke cigarettes?
Even just one example of what you’re getting at would help. Because people still seem to be going to the big movies in droves.
Of course they shouldn’t allow texting in the theaters! The cinema is one of the only places where one doesn’t have to deal with that nonsense. In that sense,I agree the movie theater is a magical place. If texting were allowed in there than it would become like any other place around town with the constant & annoying texting. If people want to text on a constant basis I have a suggestion- DON’T GO TO THE MOVIES! There are already so many distractions at a movie theater such as people talking loudly. We really don’t need to introduce any more distractions. Many teenagers(not all) just wanna hang out,text and whatever have you. Which is fine,but,please don’t give anyone yet another way to ruin the moviegoing experience for the rest of us.
Fuck. No. Never.
This is why I don’t go to movies anymore.
10 years ago I was hitting the movie theater at least once a week, but the ill-advised combination of stadium seating and rampant texting has driven me away. I’ll never understand why theater owners always assume that teenagers are the only ones who are willing to spend hundreds a month at the movie theater….
Let those kids who feel a ‘little bit handcuffed’ stay home. Texting requires bursts of light in a darkened theater and, therefore, creating points of distraction/conflict for those who’ve spent good money for a quality presentation.
Creating such distractions is the height of rudeness. If those ‘handcuffed’ kids can’t control their texting habit for the length of a movie, then we’re only giving them permission to be rude by letting them text in a theater.
If you want to have a theater that only admits these rude kids, then maybe that might work for them – but don’t be experimenting with them in any theater I’m in. There will be blood. Oh my goodness yes, there will be blood!
Movie theatre that allows texting? I’d never go and I’m not a baby boomer – there’s a time and place for everything and the movies should be one of no cell phones.
You want to know why kids don’t go to the movies as much anymore? Look at the prices. $12-14 = 12-14 Redbox rentals. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be inflation but $14 is a bit excessive. An Imax 3D movie here is $18.99.
As for concessions, I rarely buy them, but when I do they are options that aren’t ridiculously marked up. The theatre near me has real fruit smoothies for just over $4 and I’m sure they are making a nice profit on it but I don’t want to pay $20+ for two pops and a large popcorn.
when you can buy computer games at $20 (from $2.50 up to $90) with 8h of Story, and unlimited online play, there’s no reason for the young to go to the movies, the movies execs need to realized there’s more competition mostly the internet, which is always at easy access being on their phone and at home.
In economics, one of the basic tenets that drives total demand is the price of substitute products. Your example perfectly illustrates this principle.
Given that none of those quoted in the article seems aware of this principle doesn’t surprise me. Too few business owners today have even taken remedial economics or biz admin courses.
That headline made me sick to my stomach. Thanks for ruining my lunch Deadline.
Maybe theater owners can install toilets in all the seats and then we won’t miss a moment. Disgusting to watch movie theaters die like this while pathetically pandering to our worst manners.
And while we’re at it, let’s offer them a dollar for every time they kick the seat in front of them.
Awesome post, Doof!
Really? Regal “discourages” cellphone use? With that one card before the movie that nobody pays attention to? Eff you Amy Miles.
This quote: “…they’ve become accustomed to controlling their own existence.” fails to complete the thought. Youth have become accustomed to controlling their own existence EVEN IF IT’S AT THE EXPENSE OF OTHERS. This is about their ruining their own experience, it’s about distracting other pay customers. The fact that large chain owners don’t understand something so simple is EXACTLY why attendance is down. We need more forward thinking and RESPECTFUL exhibitors like League.
Correction: “This ISN’T about their ruining their own experience, it’s about distracting other payING customers.
It blows my mind that you can expend a fraction of your brain power on wondering why youth dont attend more movies at $13 a show, but then brainstorm the awful idea that it’s due to lack of texting. Maybe it’s because $13 is already outrageous, let alone shelling out $15 more for popcorn and a soda. Think harder.
Gold Class Cinemas. Pasadena. Check it out. Costs a lot (I think $22 a ticket?) You sit in a sofa seat, you have a button that summons a waitress, you eat, you drink, kids cannot afford it. Let them have AMC theaters. Text, make phone calls, give out handjobs… go nuts. Kids do what they wanna do. I’ll be going to my 4 movies a year with 6 other people in a studio screening room type vibe.
I will boycott any theater that allows texting. If I go to a film and find out that people are allowed to text I will walk out, demand a refund, and never visit again. If this happens, I hope there will be a website listing these locations so we can punish them financially.
Are they kidding? Even the best movies are ruined in the theater when someone’s Lady Gaga “Poker Face” ringtone goes off during the presentation.
I gladly pay the extra costs of going to an Alamo or an Arclight where they actively remind people to turn off their phones.