# Infants/toddlers in movie theaters **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 16, 2002, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456 "2002-05-16T23:06:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/41 "2002-05-19T05:44:32Z")
I would like to find the person who initiated the sale of popcorn and other noisey commestables in theatres, and scald their genitals with hot Golden Topping[sup]tm[/sup]. But the poison is established, there’s no going back. I really don’t like distractions in theatres. That being said, anyone who wouldn’t take their \>5yo kid to see a _Star Wars_ movie in the theatre is unspeakably cruel. Some things aren’t the same on the TeeVee. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/42 "2002-05-19T07:48:56Z")
At our local cinema they used to de-bag confectionary into thin plastic bags when you bought it, to minimise crackling and rustling. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/43 "2002-05-19T14:57:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SlightDistrurbance \* > \*\*Msrobyn… its because you’re pregnant right? I will never go to a movie pregnant again… I missed the last 20 minutes of Pearl Harbor because even though I tried to hold it, after a half hour, I couldn’t take it anymore and practically flew out of the theater. I kept whispering to my husband, do you think it’ll be over in like a minute? Not that I missed much, but still… I ended up not going back into the theater cause I thought as soon as I went in, I’d be tackled by people leaving… If I do go, next time I’ll make sure I have the isle seat. I always feel like an ass if I have to go during the movie and need to get by all those people. \*\* It is, but not for that reason. (I go before the movie and don’t drink a lot during, so the bathroom isn’t an issue.) Mostly, I just don’t want to subject my baby to a lot of loud noise. Most movie theaters blast the sound at a very high level and I don’t want to endanger his hearing that young. Given the fact that the baby doesn’t care about the movie anyway, I’d just as soon find a babysitter and make a date of it. Besides, Aaron startled several times during Spider-Man, and I don’t want to subject anyone to the distraction of a screaming baby should the noise awaken and scare him, which is a real possibility. So, any movies I want to see in the theater, I’d best see before I give birth. After that, it’s babysitter time until he’s old enough to appreciate the experience. Robin ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/44 "2002-05-19T15:22:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*There’s a second-run theater near where I live that has Monday nights as Baby night for one of its two screens. This theater has sofas, too, so the baby night is always a big hit. (Never been myself, though–thank God! 😛 ) \*\* There’s a downtown theater here that does that every week for the Monday matinee. First-run movie, but that’s the slowest time of the week so they were losing money anyways. They sell tickets in every other row, standard matinee price for the adults and free for the babies, and advertise it very heavily as the “baby matinee” so you couldn’t accidentally wander in. Theater management says they have a lot less problem with people trying to bring infants into evening movies now, and they’re losing less money because they’re selling more seats (and concessions) even running at half-capacity. And would you believe some people write letters to the editor to gripe about how babies don’t belong in movie theaters **even when the theater invites them**? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/45 "2002-05-19T18:16:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by flodnak \* > \*\* > They sell tickets in every other row \*\* Weird… every theater I’ve been in you buy your ticket and then sit wherever you like… they don’t have a row or seat on them. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/46 "2002-05-20T00:06:47Z")
Maybe they’re recommending that people spread out, so there’s not a dense concentration of “wah” in one area. Or maybe **flod** meant that there’s one of those cute old-time ushers in every row, smiling beneath his little cap as he takes your money and squaring his shoulders under the epaulets as he hands you the ticket…[sub]Where did that come from?[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/47 "2002-05-20T00:14:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OpalCat \* > \*\* > Weird… every theater I’ve been in you buy your ticket and then sit wherever you like… they don’t have a row or seat on them. \*\* If Norway is anything like England regarding theatres, seats are assigned when you buy your ticket. Personally, I’d love to see that happen here also. This way you can buy your ticket in advance and don’t have to camp out in the theatre for thirty minutes to get the good seats. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/48 "2002-05-20T00:14:54Z")
> [@](#): > > When he’s done, he burps and sometimes has an explosively loud bowel movement. You know, I’ve been known to do that exact thing in the theater. It’s horribly embarassing. Zette 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/49 "2002-05-20T01:16:54Z")
Scene: _Spiderman_, yesterday. **Brat Sitting Behind Me:** Four eyes! At which point I turn around, glasses and all, and stare at him and his parents. And that was only the beginning. Urgh. ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/50 "2002-05-20T02:28:45Z")
When I went to see “The Phantom Menace” in the theatres, there were some little kids, probably more like 8 or so, who kept talking and cheering and such at preview and the beginning of the movie. So I shouted “shutup!” at them from my seat, and they did. ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/51 "2002-05-20T02:40:00Z")
I went to see Alien3 on the Saturday that it opened a few years back. I went to the 12:00 show. The theater was about 90% full. More then 80% of the people there were WAY under the age of 17, most of them I would say 14 or younger. It seems that a number of parents thought that it would be a supercool idea to take 15 of the neighborhood kids to go see a violent, scary R-rated movie, and once the movie started, let them cry and scram and yell and screech and not do anything about it. NO. I finally got to speak to the manager and after telling me that it would be unfair to inconvienience all of the kids and parents in the theater that he would inconvienience me instead, I ended up getting free tickets for a year. But I was still really pissed off. Then there was the time I went to see In The Line Of Fire. A mother and her son (about 9 years old) sat next to me. The kid kicked me for 20 minutes, even after I told him 4 times to stop. Finally I leaned over and told his mother what was going on, and asked her to get him to knock it off. Her response? “He’s not doing any permanent damage?” So, I sat there while he continued to kick me for the remainder of the movie. As they were walking out, the kid fell behind his mother and I went up to him and said, “I want you to go tell your mother something for me, ok? I want you to tell her that it’s not your fault, that you’re the victim of bad parenting.” He ran after his mom, tugged at her arm and whispered into her ear. the look on her face **almost** made it worthwhile. Almost. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/52 "2002-05-20T04:45:13Z")
**WSLer** , welcome to the boards. :::Rilchiam curtseys and offers tray of warm chocolate chip cookies::: ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/53 "2002-05-20T12:11:53Z")
_grabs cookie and runs_ ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/54 "2002-05-20T12:58:50Z")
:::Rilchiam shakes head affectionately::: “Oh, those kids!” ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/55 "2002-05-20T15:04:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by D\_Odds \* > \*\* > > If Norway is anything like England regarding theatres, seats are assigned when you buy your ticket. Personally, I’d love to see that happen here also. This way you can buy your ticket in advance and don’t have to camp out in the theatre for thirty minutes to get the good seats. \*\* My husband and I saw “Evolution” in England last summer, and we didn’t have assigned seats. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/56 "2002-05-20T15:06:09Z")
regarding the kid kicking you … I’d have just started kicking the kid. ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/57 "2002-05-22T20:52:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rilchiam \* > \*\ ***WSLer** , welcome to the boards. > > :::Rilchiam curtseys and offers tray of warm chocolate chip cookies::: \*\* :Bows: Is it okay if I take a cookie for my pet bunny? Thanks for the welcome, I hope to spend a bit of time here ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456/58 "2002-05-22T20:54:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OpalCat \* > \*\*regarding the kid kicking you … I’d have just started kicking the kid. \*\* I thought about that, but the mother would either A) Have attacked me and tried to claw my eyeballs out B) Have gone to the theater manager and demanded that the police be called and that I be arrested for assault on her “precious little boy” or C) All of the above [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infants-toddlers-in-movie-theaters/109456.md?page=2)