Actually, the late arrivers are typically using the smartphone flash or the phone screen as a flashlight. So, yes, the late arrivers are disturbing.
And that is very much appreciated, however why could that not be done before you walk in? (not picking on you specifically). Why can’t people get their snacks, shut off their phones, get settled in their seat, use the bathroom *before * the lights go down?
Maybe a small rhesus monkey.
I don’t need to turn on the screen to check that mine is off.
I’m of the opinion that once the lights go down your phone should be away until the lights come back on or you leave the theater. During the previews is obviously less egregious than during the feature, but still not welcome.
It’s the previews. They’re commercials. I don’t want to watch them. So since I have a reserved seat, I see no need to arrive in time to watch them. The instant the actual movie I paid to see starts, I shut up, mute my phone & put it away. I don’t know if you guys are going to reserved seating theaters, but I’m hardly alone in this behavior - I see tons of people showing up 10-15 minutes after the scheduled start time, and on their phones during the previews. And no one else in these theaters seems to give a shit, IME.
I like movies, so I like to see the trailers to see if any look like they’re worth seeing. (Although it is a little annoying when I see the same trailer four or five times before the movie is actually released.)
Can’t speak for theaters in other parts of the U.S., but around here reserved-seating theaters just kind of took over all of a sudden in 2016-17.
The style and layout of the theater seating also changed. Yes, we did get the individual reclining seats with individual cupholders and more space between patrons. But we also got something close to stadium seating in all these newly-renovated theaters. Not as steep as IMAX stadium seating, but much steeper than the old 1940-70s style cinemas.
The upshot is that it’s much easier to conceal smartphone use from other patrons. Really, the only I can pick out someone using a smartphone during the feature is if they are seated to my immediate right or left, or maybe two seats over if they are not being careful where they point their phone.
But being able to pick out smartphoneone from several rows away? No longer possible in our renovated theaters. I can’t even see smartphone use one row in front of me because of how much lower they are and how the recliner blocks off my view. Now, if I am walking into these theaters in the dark, I can see some lit-up faces (by smartphones) coming from in front of the crowd. But not once I’m settled in to my seat.
Now this I don’t understand, you don’t like people taking their phones out during the credits, the time which the lights are already back on and half the theater has already gotten up and left?
I assure you, WE DO!
But what can we do, except silently grumble? Yelling to you and calling you the name you deserve in the middle of the show is another disruption that annoys even more people. And I’m not wasting an overpriced pop “accidentally” dumping it on you.
By us doing nothing, unfortunately, your kind “wins”. And the theater experience gets a little poorer. You bring everyone down to your level.
Maybe y’all should respect the other people that inhabit “your” world.
What the hell is so urgent that you absolutely HAVE to call someone before getting out into the lobby? If you need to yap during the credits, then do so after you leave.
Some places give free refills. Just sayin’.
This objection to people arriving after the scheduled start time is just ridiculous. It is completely the fault of the movie industry. Last night I arrived 5 minutes after the scheduled start time and still had to endure ten minutes of commercials followed by ten minutes of previews. A 7:05 movie actually started at 7:30. I will start arriving by the scheduled start time when the theater goes back to 2-3 brief previews max that start promptly at the scheduled start time. Until then I will continue to assume scheduled time + 20 minutes is when I need to be in the theater.
Reasonable, not rude.
ETA: Previews are not an opening act. They are commercials.
What show? The commercials? Do you get pissed off when you’re watching TV and someone starts talking over the Cialis commercials too?
Maybe I misunderstood. I thought he was saying he looked at his phone when he first arrived. If not, then no, not a problem (though I still don’t know why a person wouldn’t find out that information well before even going to the movie).
Most of the negative aspects of going to the movies originate with the industry; from filthy theaters to high priced tickets. That doesn’t excuse theater goers’ poor manners. And just because you don’t want to watch the trailers, some people do consider them sort of an “opening act” and would like to watch them, undisturbed,
The fact that anyone who’s not profiting off of commercials gets angry that other people don’t dutifully sit quietly and watch commercials is baffling to me.
Ooh what a putdown! Implying I need boner pills. I guess limp dick guys have no right to watch a movie in peace? Not manly enough to deserve respect?
But you can just act like you’re in your living room and we can just suck it? What else can we expect? Farts? Loud crunching? Yelling at the characters in the movie?
And I like trailers. So do a lot of people.
YOU are the problem, not us.
I get upset when the lights dim, the previews that help me decide what movies I would like to see in the future come on…and someone can’t tell the difference between a movie theater and a personal living room. When the lights dim, shut off the phone and shut off the yapping.
The fact that you don’t understand that some people don’t consider trailers “commercials” (in the usual sense) is baffling to me. I don’t think anyone is terribly bothered if people speak quietly to their neighbor while the Chevy commercial is playing.
They are not, in the strictest sense, “commercials”. So get over it.
Trailers are their own thing. People eagerly await them for major movies. They look for them on line. They discuss them.
Do people eagerly await the newest Flo commercial? Search on line for Cialis commercials and discuss the deeper meanings therein? Debate whether Toyota Jan is related to Luke Skywalker? no.
Yes, when I sit down in my seat during the previews is when I usually first think “Hmm, I wonder if there’s anything during/after the credits, let me check”, so I pull out my phone and do so.
See my question above re: Cialis commercials.
Look, I’m not saying I stand up and go on a Trump rant (pro or anti) during the previews. But to me, they aren’t part of what I’m going to the movies for. So I’d rather spend that 15-20 minutes doing something else, and I plan to arrive during them, and do my normal “getting ready to watch the movie” routine when I do arrive. Being distracted for a few seconds and missing a detail of the commercial about Liam Neeson’s plans to torture someone is utterly different than missing part of the actual movie you’re there to see.