Are We Actually Going To Let Industry Heads Advocate Texting in Theaters?
There's nothing more enraging to me as a moviegoer than that dreaded moment when, in the middle of a movie, the unmistakable, un-ignorable glow of a cell phone screen cuts through the glorious darkness in my field of vision and takes me out of the viewing experience. Texting, sexting, checking emails, Tweeting -- I don't care what your excuse is, it's not okay to ruin everyone else's experience by using your phone (or talking or shaking the entire row of seats with your nervous-boredom knee jiggle or letting your stank feet air out in the aisles or snoring, you selfish prick.) So why would theater owners or studio heads, whose job it is to deliver an enjoyable movie-going experience to their paying customers, ever even entertain the notion of allowing or encouraging texting in a movie theater?
That's just what some members on a panel discussion entitled “An Industry Think Tank: Meeting the Expectations of Today’s Savvy Moviegoer” at CinemaCon reportedly proposed today in a conversation about issues facing the industry. Deadline's David Lieberman reports:
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 that 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.
You know what else these hypothetical teenagers want when they go to a movie? To see R-rated boobs and sneak into other movies without paying, so let's just let them do all of that, too.
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.”
To which I say: Handcuff those kids! Teach them some self-control, for goodness sake. And what does it mean when the IMAX guy is totally okay with his kid being on the phone in a movie? In an IMAX theater there's literally no room in your field of vision to look at anything else, but interrupting your experience to look down and text is cool?
Which brings me to the first issue here: Kids. Not the kids themselves per se, but the fact that pretty much the entire hypothetical justification for allowing cell phone use in theaters stems from an attempt to solve the issue of dwindling attendance by blaming the teenagers. You think every kid out there is so ADD-addled and attached to their iPhones that they won't or can't focus on a movie for two hours? (I mean, maybe.) Does that mean we should let them or anyone of any age do whatever they want in a theater? HELL NO.
Here's the thing: You can't just let The Text-Crazy Kids blaze up Facebook in a theater in order to boost box office without messing it up for everyone else -- and that includes the rest of us old people and that segment of the teenage populace that, you know, doesn't need to compulsively check their phones at the movies and maybe, just maybe, hates it as much as the rest of us when other people do it. To officially allow texting in a theater is to effectively encourage texting in a theater. And while folks like Miles might experiment with outside the box teen baiting strategies --and good luck to her in that -- how can you even effectively host a text-friendly screening? By offering specialty showtimes, a la Baby Brigade or 21 and Up screenings, maybe?
Who knows? Such an approach might just work, and I'm sure the theater owners would rejoice in the box office boom and bathe in the shower of gold coins and allowance money that followed. But here's my request, if it comes to that: Keep those screenings segregated and instill a text-friendly screening surcharge; if moviegoers MUST TEXT during a movie, make them pay extra for the privilege.
The real problem with this line of thinking, though, is its potential effect on film culture at large: Once texting is allowed, why not talking, or any of the plethora of bad theater behavior that could snowball from there? The thing is, texting in a movie isn't just an issue of allowing overstimulated kids needing to be plugged into their apps and social networks and conversations at all times; it's a far more problematic issue of engagement at the movies. And not just for the texters, who might be half-paying attention to a movie while chatting up their friends, but for those around them who deserve to be able to watch a film without interruption or distraction.
By encouraging texters to engage half-way with a film and allowing their bad behavior to ruin fellow moviegoers' ability to escape into the magic of the movies, we'd be killing the sanctity of film culture. Audiences will learn not to pay full attention to a film -- and if you can't focus on a film, how are you to appreciate it? Why come back to the movies every week if you care less and less about movies themselves?
The exhibition and studio pros at CinemaCon seem to care less about the greater impact on film culture in their desperation to increase ticket sales. Thank goodness for Tim League. His Alamo Drafthouse cinemas, headquartered in Austin, Texas, take pains to protect the filmgoing experience -- recall the infamous anti-texting video that went viral last year -- and at CinemaCon it seems he was the lone reported voice of reason on the issue:
“Over my dead body will I introduce texting into the movie theater,” [League] 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.
Note that in response to League's laudable declaration, Regal CEO Miles reportedly retorted that “one person’s opinion of magical isn’t the other’s.” In Miles' world, "magical" probably means "profitable." In other news, remind me to never patronize a Regal theater again.
Going to the movies should be a magical experience, even for those casual ticket-buyers who just want to escape for two hours and who go to the cineplex maybe five times a year. My two favorite theaters in the world, League's Drafthouse and L.A.'s New Beverly Cinema, notably enforce a no-talking, no-cell phone policy because the people who run them and their patrons, for the most part, agree that movie-watching is a special experience. They love the movies, and I'm not sure I can say that Miles and Foster proved at CinemaCon that they do, too. Movies are meant to transport, and by their nature that's an intimate relationship between art and receiver. You should never have to compromise your movie-going experience because of some fidgety asshat in the row in front of you.
So: Am I alone in this, or do other people have to fight the urge to wrestle texters' cell phones out of their hands during a movie and hurl them at the wall whenever that dreaded light illuminates the dark? And at what point should we become alarmed if industry execs keep batting these ideas around to boost ticket sales?
Sound off.
Photo: A sign reminds people of strict rules regarding cell phones in the theaters on opening day of the 28th Telluride Film Festival August 28, 2001 in Telluride, CO. A ringing phone during a screening will result in immediate ejection from the theater and no refund. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
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Comments
No texting in movie theatre auditorioums...PERIOD. It infuriates me and must stop.
Amy Miles is an idiot...and Regal Theatres are operational disaster areas.
A resounding hell no.
I told someone I didn't know to stop using their phone last time I was in a theater. It's time to start speaking up. Politely, less politely if necessary, complain to the management - everybody, we gotta start making some noise about this. I have a giant projector at my house and I'll just stay home if this shit keeps up.
Speak up, everybody.
Agreed, if texting were to become more prevalent and theater management did not enforce etiquette for the sake of everyone else I'd just want to stay home. Or go to your house and watch that giant projector. 🙂
As long as there's no IQ test before entering a theater, or having to surrender the
electronic device, there will be morons texting or talking on their phones in the dark.
I've talked about CELL PHONE JAMMERS/DISRUPTORS before-- a couple of the
big ones in a theater would blanket everyone in a nice warm electro-magnetic pulse,
jamming phones, screwing up GPS....of course, if you don't know where you are in
a theater, you're in trouble.
CELL-PHONE DISRUPTORS, Jen. Blessed relief, also available in pocket-size!
KRIS THE KLINGON
I heart you, Kris the Klingon.
Every theater already has a cel phone distruptor. Four of 'em, in fact: the walls. Throw that sumbitch against a wall, and it's gonna get disrupted real good.
I take my movie going experience very seriously. Under no circumstances should there be texting or talking period!!!
I pay to watch and enjoy the movie. Two hours of of staying put and being quiet isnt a lot to ask for.
ABSOLUTELY NOT. Even considering the idea of doing anything BUT watching the movie is a slap in the face to the filmmakers and to the rest of the audience. Why even go? Seriously people, if you can't avoid the urge to use your phone for two hours after paying $10-20 for a ticket then that is just sad. And you should feel bad.
Every time someone texts during a movie in a theater, God kills a kitten. Just remember that.
If I wasnt scared of getting stabbed in the face, I'd probably just ask the 10 yr old kid in the row in front to switch his phone off.
You shouldn't have to do it yourself, that's what theater management should be doing. Which is why the New Bev and the Drafthouse are so fantastic and other theaters... not so much.
About a week ago I wanted to watch Stalker in my home and waited for the optimum moment emotionally and in a sense of my surroundings and avoidance of potential distractions. I still haven't seen the film due to the first 3 minutes being distracted by my Dad moaning at what film I may be watching, because it wasn't to his taste, now...
If I can't watch a film in peace in my own home, then where does one go to seek sanctuary and watch a film
In silence, in the dark and in comfort, oh yes... The cinema...
Amy Miles is having an absolute laugh!! I mean has she had some kind of cerebral hemorrage or what? Social networking (primarily Facebook) to me is a massive problem amongst today's youth. When I was young I played on my bike and did things normal kids do, but today the norm is to have a mobile phone glued to your hands and to check Facebook every second of the day, and to add to the matter I'm a massive culprit, the difference is, I DO NOT do it at the Cinema, i just don't!!
It is a place to escape life, to enjoy the work and effort the filmmakers have put so much money and time into creating for our pleasure, it's bad enough these days with YouTube adding to a lack in the average persons tolerance levels when watching media content, so to advocate texting in the cinema is preposterous, it's hard enough to engage offenders already, nevermind by adding another distraction. I might start paying to go swimming and begin doing bombs into the experienced swimmers lane, why? because apparently ruining the experience of the paying public is accepted now, traditional values don't count for shit. Money making at its finest! I for one will not be partaking in any screening where mobile phones are accepted, even when the trailers haven't started I make sure that if i do use my phone, to get that social media fix, the brightness is all the way down so it is not an annoyance to other viewers, when the trailers start... Off!!
"It is a place to escape life, to enjoy the work and effort the filmmakers have put so much money and time into creating for our pleasure"
AMEN to that.
I had to tell this asshat in front of me during Cabin In the Woods to stop texting. He just dimmed the screen and sank lower in his chair, and kept getting up to leave throughout the movie. Why even bother going? What the hell is wrong with this world?
And theaters need to enforce it more. No more half-assed Lorax beating around the bush nonsense. Flat out have have Danny Trejo tell you to knock it off with the texting! Machete don't text, and neither should you!
"No more half-assed Lorax beating around the bush nonsense"
Exactly.
So basically, the plan is to fight sagging movie theater attendance by making going to the multiplex MORE like half-watching a movie in your own home? And breeding a whole new generation of moviegoers to think that there's no need to show common courtesy in a theater?
I think it's a great idea. They could also make the screen smaller...and pipe in noises of your neighbors arguing...and let me bring my dog.
Having a designated night, say Saturday, and making that the texting-allowed night at the multi-plex would give all of the text-haters (me included) a night we know to skip while giving text-addicted "viewers" what they are wishing for.
If this is a question of which brings in more money, clearly an actual controlled test of how many texters vs how many "I'm gonna stay at home" people there are would be called for.
Additionally, you have extra ammo when you tell the texting teen "You should just come tomorrow night when texting is allowed, dickweed." Behaviors that break rules when there is an identical "space" that allows that behavior are much harder to justify to yourself and others. Like smoking in the non-smoking part of a restaurant (before they just banned it, and good riddance!)
Alternately, if the last four rows are allowed for texting, you would never notice the bright screens, would you?
Isn't that already the texting-allowed night? That is when all the morons who would rather text than watch the movie usually go. Though saying the last four rows are safe-texting zones is rather ingenious.
But isn't the fact that this conversation having two sides proof that movies are only for kids? I went to see 21 Jump St too. Apparently the moron at Regal didn't want me there.
I totally agree with you Jen. Movies are a magical experience, but in this modern world we live in corporations are forsaking everything to boost profits. The comments from the Regal and IMAX bosses are higly irresponsible. It pisses me off as well when people use their phones and/or talk too much in theatres, especially when the movie is really absorbing and of high quality. I hope the issue is addressed, because soon we'll find people prefer watching the movie when its out on dvd, rather than going to the cinema were their movie experience will be ruined.
These dolts at the top of the chain fail to understand that they have trended their target audience younger and younger. This means they have an audience more interested in socializing than in watching a film. They behave like cattle, and this drives out the cinema lovers. (I'm not the only one who avoids opening-weekend releases because of the teen-tours arriving in loud packs.)
So what is their solution to dwindling audiences? To pander further to the very group that is chasing off their core audience. Brilliance in action.
Thing is, I used to go to the movies all the time when I was teenager, and I'm sure I was one of those loud, distracting jerks at the time. The difference is that no one at the theater actually pandered to me and my jerky teenage ways. If I was being obnoxious, they'd ask me to be quiet or kick me out. As well they should have.
Teenagers will always be annoying at the movies. And they'll always be some of the more reliable customers. But that's no reason to tolerate the behavior that ruins things for everyone else.
Solution: texting/non-texting segregation of screening rooms, like with smoking.
Totally agree. And I love the idea of a text-friendly screening surcharge, too.
Maybe the solution to keeping people more interested in the movie than in their cell phones is to make more interesting movies.
Ugh, this is an easy out statement. There are PLENTY of solid and interesting movies out there that people are just as apt to get mystified by their precious EffBeez anyway.
The solution is teaching manners and simple courtesy while the theatres continue to say "No" and actually show some care for the product they're selling.
The day that they allow texting in theaters is the day that I stop going to movies.
Three words: Tweet Seat Boycott
No, no, no to the "compromise" on this. NO to the last row being "OK". NO to the smoking/non-smoking analogy!
Manners, man!!! Basic, freaking, no-longer-taught MANNERS!!!!
Sit down. Shutup. WATCH the movie. And if you're bored enough to want to have to fiddle with your phone...walk right out the door. It is that bloody simple.
We're a country full of entitled stupidity...enough compromise! Learn basic courtesy and be a decent human being, teens (and adults who are just as guilty when I go to the theatres).
Stop it....just stop it.
Probably the main reason I haven't been back to the theater in a couple of years. It's just so annoying. Watching movies at home is far more relaxing and enjoyable.
“'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." -- Amy Miles.
Your 18 year old might also find the idea of lighting up a fattie appealing. Going there, too? I'd rather have doobie-OK theaters than texting-OK theaters.
Thank FSM I live in Austin.
You know what we could do is write actual letters to Miles and the IMAX guy and have them arrive through the mail, not e-mail and not via telephone. They usually shrug off e-mail complaints and send a couple of passes, but if you send actual mail you'll get their attention. And you know who WON'T get their attention? Assholes who want to text in movie theaters - because they won't send physical letters to a single person. Ever.
I would not like it too many screens were lighting up the darkness and distracting me from the movie. If I thought a theatre was relaxed about these kinds of things, I would probably stop going. I don't need theatres to clamp down hard, I just want to know that they are providing an environment where everyone can watch the film without distraction. We all have phones, we all have lives outside of the cinema, it's not just teenagers.
Besides pricing, isn't audience etiquette one of the big reasons theater attendance is down anyway? I know the big reason I stopped going to the movies on a weekly / bi-weekly basis was the assholes who couldn't stay off their cell phones, stop talking, stop shaking popcorn bags every 5 seconds, or sit still for longer than 2 hours. Is it unreasonable to believe that, besides pricing, part of the significant drop in attendance is due to people who would rather watch a movie at home, with the lights off, where there isn't some prick who can't stay off his / her Facebook page sitting two rows in front of you.
In my opinion, allowing texting at theaters is just going to create a bigger drop-off of audience members. Yes, teens are a reliable audience, but if everyone else stops going...?
And advocating text-friendly screenings at a surcharge is a good idea in theory. But consider how stupid / brain-dead the average teenager is. For Christ's sake, they don't turn off their phones in movies now, even though there are numerous reminders to do so. Giving them a text-friendly show isn't going to change their behavior if they wind up in another show. Why not just encourage a second-screen experience too, where they can bring their Ipad and simultaneously watch the movie on TWO screens.
If theaters start actively encouraging patrons to be rude, they should have everyone sign a liability waiver, so people like me don't get sued when we hurl some prick ingrate's Iphone against the theater wall.
Militant clamping down is the only way to deal with this. Phone lockers at the entrance or something.
Always turn your cellphone off or at silent mode and never engage communicating while watching inside the movie theaters. As for texting, it's still your own discretion as long as the message alert tone is turned to silent mode as well.
The only reason they want to allow it is so they can wash their hands of addressing the problem. Weak. I will not patronize a Regal Cinema again. Regal, you just lost my business.... and I see a LOT of films. #GodBlessAlamoDrafthouse
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