le Big-Mac. 
Sometimes, it’s advertised as “Seance à 16h30, film 20 mn après”, so you know that you can come in 20 minutes later, but it seems more and more common just to mention the start time of the “seance”. Still, you know that you’re not going to miss anything by showing up 15 minutes late (except in art movie theatres, where there are few or no ads).
I suspect that a lot of people show up at the beginning of the “seance” more in order to get a seat than because they enjoy the ads, even though I happen to be one of those persons who want to watch them (I don’t go that often to the movies, so I often never had watched them before. If if was going there every week, it would probably becomes old in quick order).
As far as I know, there has been ads before the movie for at least 50 years, and I think much longer than that. Ads in theatres is almost a monopoly held by one company; its logo, a miner kid with a pickaxe, has been around forever and you can notice it in old documentaries, for instance. That’s how I know ads have be shown for a very looong time.
Last time I saw an intermission, I was still a kid, during the 70s. The main point was apparently to sell ice-creams, candies, etc… The usher would walk around the theatre with a basket full of foodstuff during it. And by the way, I haven’t seen an usher in a long time. I suspect they went the way of the dodo 20 years ago.
I don’t know if beer is available over here. I don’t like beer, so I never paid attention. I think not, but I’m not sure.
Finally, I must say that if I had not participated in (or maybe even started, don’t remember) a thread on this topic some years ago, I would still be fully convinced that movie theatres in the USA are almost as bad as the OP describes, because frankly it’s the general perception you get reading the threads on this board.
Haven’t been to Europe. But the US experience by me isn’t bad. It might depend on where you are. There’s a stereotype here of predominantly black audiences liking to talk back to the screen but I haven’t personally experienced that. Every once in awhile there is someone annoying but by no means is it ever more than an isolated incident. Matinees with a lot of kids even isn’t a guaranteed disaster. The US is a really big and diverse place though. I’m sure it varies. I do notice though that people don’t seem to be aware yet that although texting is quiet, the light from your phone blinds anyone in the rows behind you.
That said, while I wouldn’t like conversations, phones ringing, food throwing, etc, I do really like when the theater is packed with an excited audience which will cheer and clap at opportune moments.
I’m almost… or probably I am neurotic when it comes to sounds and watching a film. I found sound very disturbing when watching a film I’m the slightest interested in, since it continously breaks the illusion on the screen.
And since most people (I’m in Scandinavia) seem to go to the movies to eat something - popcorn, candy, perhaps over a casual conversation - the movies is just a waste of time for me. The LOTR movies are just about the only ones I’ve seen on the big screen during the 21th century.
I rarely have a bad experience at the movies. But then, I almost always go to an early showing, so maybe that is it.
Exactly. See films intended for kids at times when kids are not likely to be there. Never see a horror film on a weekend (when all the amateur movie-goers are out).
Sounds like Kerasote’s Webster Place. Or City North 14 on a Tuesday. I don’t know if it’s taste in movies, theaters, timing or just good luck, but in my years of seeing 2 to 5 films a week in Chicago and Kansas City, I’ve only had maybe half a dozen bad theater experiences.
Whenever one of these threads happens, somebody posts a rant about the theatrical experience that is so different from mine as to be in a different universe.
They claim that a night out at the theater costs them an amount that must include valet parking, and either Montessori child care or popcorn, large drinks and Jujubes for every member of their extended family. Huh? My wife and I take the CTA to the theater and buy AMC passes for $14.99 for a pair, so even the River North 21, which has a maximum ticket of $10.50 costs $7.50. And the AMC chain policy allows you to bring in your own food and drinks, so I have my bottle of Pepsi One and my own snacks in my backpack. Even including snacks, we rarely spend more than $20 on an evening out at the movies - shockingly cheap for an evening out in a great American city. And when I’m in Kansas City, the AMC Ward Parkway shows first run films in a perfectly decent set of 14 theaters for $5 Sunday through Thursday.
I can’t imagine living in their world.
Read very closely. The people who have the most problems hardly ever go to the theater! Either they haven’t been for years, or only go once or twice a year. Amateur moviegoers attract trouble for some reason. Regular and especially obsessive moviegoers (my husband and I are in that category) rarely have problems. People in big cities also seem to have less problems than those in small towns. Art house patrons too almost never have problems besides the occasional cell phone ringing.
It’s an odd thing, but don’t let the pikers skew your perception.
The thoughts of people jeering and throwing stuff at the screen just kinda makes the vermillion mist descend upon me, which means that I’m gonna avoid the cinema when I go stateside. I like my movies in SILENCE.
Last movie I went to was The Mist, a late show (11pm) on friday night… What the hell was I thinking. Plenty of drunk people, all of whom had no interest n the slow creepy pace of the movie. One row of assholes started cheering and yelling when a particularly hateful character got killed… It pissed me off, but I kinda saw where they were coming from. Still, I didnt cheer because I’ve got a leeeeetle bit of manners.
Now, all that being said, I do wish cinema crowds here (Ireland) would applaud certain movies… Like, really great cinema experiences. I’d love to be in a crowd that broke into applause after, say, The Dark Knight.
Tell me I’m being whooshed. Or at least, please tell me that you’ve not read a single word I’ve written in this thread.
The major difference in my European vs. American filmgoing experience was not so much the ambience but the formality. There was still a certain expectation of a special evening, that social construct of dressing for an evening of Theater, and enjoying it as such. There was Wein and Bier available, Wurst and Sugared Popcorn. A special continental showing of 007’s The Living Daylights dubbed Deutsch, IIRC.
I’ve been lucky, I guess. My American theater going experience has been nothing like the experience that I see on this board. I’ve always had pleasant and positive theater going experiences in the USA.
'lil from column A, 'lil from column B.