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Higher-end cinemas like Alamo Drafthouse are already adapting to this. Designated seating, tight controls on audience behaviour to create a more reliably pleasa

Higher-end cinemas like Alamo Drafthouse are already adapting to this. Designated seating, tight controls on audience behaviour to create a more reliably pleasant experience, extra little perks like their great pre-movie content, plenty of showings of stuff other than current blockbusters, and much better food and beverages than the old overpriced popcorn and candy.

bcook 11y ago
Is audience behavior a problem? In my limited experience, it has never been a problem. The showings of non-mainstream media interests me, as a MST3K/RiffTrax fan.
- Sir_Substance 11y ago
  >Is audience behavior a problem? In my limited experience, it has never been a problem. I hate, deeply and profoundly, the sound of people eating. If it doesn't bother you then you might not have noticed this, but about 50% of popcorn eating cinema-goers cannot chew with their mouths closed.
  - bcook 11y ago
    No, it bothers me (a lot), but I have never noticed it. Usually I have to be in a bad mood to notice it, so that may be why I have never noticed in theaters. Regardless, does the theater in question seriously notify loud eaters to quiet down or risk being removed from the theater? That is way too strict. Or maybe the theater uses sound-cancelling tech?
    - Sir_Substance 11y ago
      They space the seats farther apart, which helps a little, but the reality is that given a choice between home or cinema, I'll always pick home.
  - adventured 11y ago
    Misophonia. [1] I have it as well. Extremely loud popcorn eaters are nearly the bane of my existence. I've developed a system for where I prefer to sit in movie theaters, based on certain very common crowd behaviors I've noticed, after carefully studying them for the last 15 years. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/health/06annoy.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/health/06annoy.html
- mikeyouse 11y ago
  I went and saw a movie in SF last weekend.. The couple in front of us, took off their socks and shoes and were dangling their bare feet over the row of seats in front of them.. I was appalled.
  - tuttifrutti 11y ago
    Ah, the commotion :)
- pyre 11y ago
  I sat through the (not so good) "White Noise" with some guy spending a good portion of the movie explaining loudly to his girlfriend why Michael Keaton would have been editing his audio files even faster if he was on a PC instead of a Mac.
- DrScump 11y ago
  <Is audience behavior a problem?> The only time out of the past six or so theater trips that I did not encounter rudeness (excessive/loud talking, cellphone use, etc.) was when I saw the new Star Wars at a late night showing a month or so ago. And that was mainly because I was (literally) the only attendee. Theater behavior was essentially churchlike before the advent of home video.
  - themartorana 11y ago
    I don't know if it was home video. Mobile phones (texting, taking pics, yes, even taking calls) are all things I've experienced in a theater. It might be the fact that we all carry decides capable of distracting us and everyone around us - and many feel perfectly entitled to do what they want when they want.
    - pandaman 11y ago
      I blame iPod - it appears that a lot of people have their hearing damaged (supposedly with prolonged listening to headphones) and talk very loudly because of this. I don't remember people yelling to each other during early 2000s movies (when home video had been already quite old but the iPod was not so popular and $200+ headphones were only for crazy audiophiles). For the past 5 or so years it's pretty bad. Especially children, who probably trained their voices to communicate with their half-deaf parents. It could be me getting older and experiencing the "get off my lawn" syndrome, however I'd imagine I should become less sensible to loud speech due to natural hearing loss with age.
- mattmanser 11y ago
  When I went to see the Martian some parents thought bringing their young baby to see it would be fun. The other big annoyance at the moment is people checking their phones. It's like getting flash lights out and shining them around.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - alexgrist 11y ago
    This happened to me recently, I asked a man of probably the age of 40 if checking Facebook was really important right now. He'd been scrolling through his timeline for a few minutes before I said anything, he put his phone away and started watching the movie but started checking every setting for iOS shortly after which I spoke louder so everyone could hear that he was being an annoying prick.
- quanticle 11y ago
  When I saw Furious 7, there was a large multi-family crowd in front of me who thought it would be a good idea to bring multiple (>3) 3-4 year old kids to watch the movie... and let them run around effectively unsupervised.
- ericabiz 11y ago
  If you like MST3K, definitely check out the Master Pancake series at the Alamo Drafthouse - https://drafthouse.com/austin/series/master-pancake https://drafthouse.com/austin/series/master-pancake . To be honest, it's one of my favorite things about living in Austin. It's live comedians heckling bad films. I've seen a ton of movies this way. Some movies, this is the ONLY way I'd watch them (I saw their mock of the second Twilight film--even they couldn't make that movie compelling to watch.) The only negative is that they are so popular that tickets often sell out nearly a week in advance. It's a great way to spend a Friday or Saturday night in Austin.

bcook 11y ago

Is audience behavior a problem? In my limited experience, it has never been a problem. The showings of non-mainstream media interests me, as a MST3K/RiffTrax fan.

Sir_Substance 11y ago
>Is audience behavior a problem? In my limited experience, it has never been a problem. I hate, deeply and profoundly, the sound of people eating. If it doesn't bother you then you might not have noticed this, but about 50% of popcorn eating cinema-goers cannot chew with their mouths closed.
- bcook 11y ago
  No, it bothers me (a lot), but I have never noticed it. Usually I have to be in a bad mood to notice it, so that may be why I have never noticed in theaters. Regardless, does the theater in question seriously notify loud eaters to quiet down or risk being removed from the theater? That is way too strict. Or maybe the theater uses sound-cancelling tech?
  - Sir_Substance 11y ago
    They space the seats farther apart, which helps a little, but the reality is that given a choice between home or cinema, I'll always pick home.
- adventured 11y ago
  Misophonia. [1] I have it as well. Extremely loud popcorn eaters are nearly the bane of my existence. I've developed a system for where I prefer to sit in movie theaters, based on certain very common crowd behaviors I've noticed, after carefully studying them for the last 15 years. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/health/06annoy.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/health/06annoy.html
mikeyouse 11y ago
I went and saw a movie in SF last weekend.. The couple in front of us, took off their socks and shoes and were dangling their bare feet over the row of seats in front of them.. I was appalled.
- tuttifrutti 11y ago
  Ah, the commotion :)
pyre 11y ago
I sat through the (not so good) "White Noise" with some guy spending a good portion of the movie explaining loudly to his girlfriend why Michael Keaton would have been editing his audio files even faster if he was on a PC instead of a Mac.
DrScump 11y ago
<Is audience behavior a problem?> The only time out of the past six or so theater trips that I did not encounter rudeness (excessive/loud talking, cellphone use, etc.) was when I saw the new Star Wars at a late night showing a month or so ago. And that was mainly because I was (literally) the only attendee. Theater behavior was essentially churchlike before the advent of home video.
- themartorana 11y ago
  I don't know if it was home video. Mobile phones (texting, taking pics, yes, even taking calls) are all things I've experienced in a theater. It might be the fact that we all carry decides capable of distracting us and everyone around us - and many feel perfectly entitled to do what they want when they want.
  - pandaman 11y ago
    I blame iPod - it appears that a lot of people have their hearing damaged (supposedly with prolonged listening to headphones) and talk very loudly because of this. I don't remember people yelling to each other during early 2000s movies (when home video had been already quite old but the iPod was not so popular and $200+ headphones were only for crazy audiophiles). For the past 5 or so years it's pretty bad. Especially children, who probably trained their voices to communicate with their half-deaf parents. It could be me getting older and experiencing the "get off my lawn" syndrome, however I'd imagine I should become less sensible to loud speech due to natural hearing loss with age.
mattmanser 11y ago
When I went to see the Martian some parents thought bringing their young baby to see it would be fun. The other big annoyance at the moment is people checking their phones. It's like getting flash lights out and shining them around.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- alexgrist 11y ago
  This happened to me recently, I asked a man of probably the age of 40 if checking Facebook was really important right now. He'd been scrolling through his timeline for a few minutes before I said anything, he put his phone away and started watching the movie but started checking every setting for iOS shortly after which I spoke louder so everyone could hear that he was being an annoying prick.
quanticle 11y ago
When I saw Furious 7, there was a large multi-family crowd in front of me who thought it would be a good idea to bring multiple (>3) 3-4 year old kids to watch the movie... and let them run around effectively unsupervised.
ericabiz 11y ago
If you like MST3K, definitely check out the Master Pancake series at the Alamo Drafthouse - https://drafthouse.com/austin/series/master-pancake https://drafthouse.com/austin/series/master-pancake . To be honest, it's one of my favorite things about living in Austin. It's live comedians heckling bad films. I've seen a ton of movies this way. Some movies, this is the ONLY way I'd watch them (I saw their mock of the second Twilight film--even they couldn't make that movie compelling to watch.) The only negative is that they are so popular that tickets often sell out nearly a week in advance. It's a great way to spend a Friday or Saturday night in Austin.