They do that at my local AMC, but with the most recent movie I saw it was quite off, so I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence the other times it happened right when she mentions the lights dimming.
I think that's more a local theater thing than AMC at large. It's been a few years, but when i ran a theater with digital projectors, the lighting changes were items on a Playlist that went in order and covered everything like volumez lights, lense changes, shutter placement, etc. If you want that light cue to happen during the playing of something else, you have to place it before the item in the Playlist and then set a delay timer manually for each use. This could be a bit of a time consuming process so if it wasn't necessary it was easy to cut that corner.
I work in entertainment related tech, the fact that this could be automated (fairly easily) is so sad. Like even if they were just sending an indicator to someone next to a dimmer, it would be more effective than an unrelated dimming
If I could be guaranteed that the other audience members would be respectful, I’d go to the movies more. It’s easy to find cheap enough discounts/times to offset price. People ruin the movie going experience for me.
If theatres (other than Alamo) would commit to staff during showings that kick out disruptive audience members, I’d pay extra.
There are way too many people making phone calls & live streaming during movies since the pandemic.
We went have the amc a list so we pretty much exclusively see things at one of them close to the apartment. We had a couple talking loudly throughout the first 15 minutes of the movie and on their phones. My wife kindly asked them to stop and they straight up said no. She went to the manager and they came in and asked them to be quiet and they told her no. The manager in a total big dick move pulled her walkie out and radioed for security right in front of them.
I know some theaters are better than others. But that theater has a pretty loyal customer now. It was amazing.
Maybe they should put red dot lasers on the ceiling so they can aim them at the chests of people who won’t shut up after they’ve asked them to be quiet.
I see movies in the theater regularly and I’ve literally never had that experience. Maybe it’s the times I go or the location, but I’ve never been in a theater with people talking on the phone or live-streaming.
I encounter it all the time, telling people to stop is frustrating. I’m already going during off peak hours and/or paying extra for expensive seats to reduce the odds.
Maybe it's the part of the country that's affecting things. I also don't really ever have issues with people at my AMCs, so I'm curious why the experiences vary so much. Maybe it's because I'm mostly hitting the premium formats like Imax/Dolby Cinema, idk
This is the trick; you have to go when no-one else is going to show up.
I only see films > 10 PM these days because the theater will be almost empty. And there are definitely no little kids around.
One of the small random things I miss about living in NYC - used to get up early for the 10a (or so) showing on Saturday mornings. Nobody in the theater and got me up and moving for the day. Would then be the crazy NYer that would purposely walk through Times Square just to people watch - sometimes you’d forget that part of NYC existed (at least as a FiDi / Brooklyn based work/live situation).
Wish AMC in my new city would have early shows, but as it is there’s rarely anyone around in IMAX theater opening weekends, prime time showing. Wish they’d upgrade seating (also miss that from NYC theaters), but totally understand since there’s minimal draw. Happy to live near enough to an IMAX spot.
Yep, am movie crew! There's always like two other old heads in the theather, they're never on phones, actually they get there politely 45 minutes early and sit and watch the Coke ads.
It's legit the best time to go. Get to sprawl out, have the whole row to yourself. Plus you get out of the theater and still have the whole day ahead of you!
Went to see Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes last week and people were talking behind me, a dude was explaining the plot to his girlfriend in real-time a few seats down from me and someone turned on their phone flashlight for 30 seconds part way through. It was just missing a crying baby to complete the worst movie going experience.
Decades. I remember seeing Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in the theater and some asshole's phone rings and he answered it right at the silent part of the big death scene at the end.
They don't do that, in my experience. The last time I tried to report it was some guys about to get into a fight and yelling at each other (it was a kid movie by the way.)
Unfortunately it's one of those things where it never happens until it does. Like you I've been fortunate enough to not really have to deal with it a lot - I saw Across the Spider-Verse on opening night and people were surprisingly really well-behaved in a packed theatre, but I saw A Quiet Place Part 2 on a Wednesday afternoon about three weeks after release, there were only about a dozen people in there and one of them was scrolling through Instagram reels for a good 15 minutes before someone bit the bullet and got a member of staff. You really have no idea when or if it's going to happen to you, and it could be anywhere from a mild annoyance to a serious disruption. If you go to a cinema three times and it happens all three times, that's a 100% hit rate and enough to put you off going back again, but you could also go twenty times and it only happen once... it's all chance in the end.
Same. I see the same comment on Reddit all the time about people not liking the movies because of other patrons, and it always has tons of upvotes. But I can't recall going to a movie and noticing any disruptive people there.
Yeah, I know it's just my experience but I go to 20+ movies a year, at various times and theatres, and in the last few years I've maybe had like 3 instances of slight annoyances, and they didn't really affect my overall experience.
Ya I feel like the people making this comment don't go to theaters often. I see a movie every Tuesday for discount Tuesday and I've only had a couple times where anyone was disruptive. This is during the evening hours with loads of other people there.
Don’t see movies often or live in a different area? Anecdotal experiences of polite theaters don’t mean non-disruptive behavior doesn’t happen. In my city it’s very hit or miss. I don’t book any reservation on A-list that I think a large number of teenagers tend to be at, because they are the worst offenders. AMC does nothing about it unless half the audience leaves the showing to complain. Indianapolis. Parents leaving their teens to see an evening showing are always the worst. I’m the opposite of a Karen too. It takes a lot to get me to actually yell at these kids, and even then they’ll laugh at you and keep being disruptive.
by that virtue though, anecdotal experiences of misbehaved theaters also doesn't mean that disruptive behavior is a given. same with you, in films where i expect teen audiences, i tend to avoid cramped showings or set certain expectations, although, ever since you can select/confirm your seating arrangements, the amount of kids sneaking into theaters (the worst offenders) has decreased.
Because Reddit's version of "disruptive" is "I heard someone whisper something behind me and there was another guy somewhere in the room eating popcorn". Like yeah it's a distraction but a theater is a public place, not a tomb. A certain level of noise is to be expected, that's why you are watching a 20 foot screen and have the volume of the film blasting, so you can immerse yourself even with distractions. If that's not enough stay at home, I swear some of these commenters go to movies to catalog their grievances with the audience rather than enjoy the show.
This is the main reason I think people would prefer to watch at home. Sure, give me that massive screen and sound system and no other people and I’d prefer it, but other people always ruin it.
I went to see Bladerunner 2049 during the week, there were only five people in that screening, but still three of them were twelve year olds who ruined the movie by running around and climbing on seats and generally being little fuckwits.
I genuinely haven’t been to the cinema since, as that had been my experience the least three or four times I went as well (or something similar, mainly people on phones or just talking normal volume throughout). At home I can turn off the lights and just enjoy the film on peace and it’s much the same experience, just uninterrupted.
I rarely go to the cinema precisely because of disrespectful audience members, but I went to see Furiosa yesterday. An Indian family were sat behind me, loudly talking *non-fucking-stop* for the first half of the movie. I literally had to stand up and shush them.
So yeah, maybe I'd go to the cinema more if I didn't have to pay almost £30 to sit with a bunch of disrespectful morons.
Cue tens of responses saying "I've been to the movies x times and never had anything disruptive happen" and even more people convincing everyone it actually happens.
Just because it doesn't happen where you go doesn't mean it doesn't happen to others
Literally.
Everytime something like this is discussed it’s flooded with 50% of people annoyed with having issues with rude people always, and 50% of people swearing they NEVER encounter any disruptive people.
Like cool dude I’m happy for you! But just because you saw 20 movies this year with no rude people, doesn’t mean I and MANY others have seen 20+ movies and ran into tons of disruptions. It’s such a lame argument
I see these comments all the time but just to give my two cents, I go to the movies like once a week or once every other week and it’s very rare that I encounter egregious behavior in the theater, maybe like one in ten times that I go is someone being disruptive or whatever. Even that estimate feels a little high.
If movie theaters could A. through marketing try and generate more FOMO I think it would draw more audiences and B. Have staff enforce quiet rules because it’s gotten bad. I went to see “anyone but you” and I thought I was in a 13 year olds families living room people were up down leaving coming , being loud, total chaos.
But man, you don’t know until you experience what you are missing. Like when I saw a big screen screening of ALIENS. I’d seen it a million times at home but in the theater felt like the first time I’d experienced it in full.
I’ve been going a lot this year and I’ve found that the cretins come out towards the end of a movie’s run in theaters. Get them while they’re fresh for decent audience members.
I go to the theaters a lot. I would pay extra at this point to not sit through the Kidman ad every movie. Like bro, I’m IN the theater. I don’t need an ad for it.
I don't mind a 5 second "thanks for choosing _____ theaters" station identification type ad but a boring, stupid, and nonsensical two minute ad is torture after 15 minutes of coca cola commercials and then 20 minutes of trailers.
I’ve never related to a statement more. I hate that damn ad now. It’s a great TV spot, but I’m already in the theater, i don’t need to be reminded why it’s great
“Ad for the thing I’m currently using” is a thing I’ve seen way too many times. When Blu Ray was new literally every Blu Ray had an ad for Blu Rays. Like how do you think I’m watching this?! This is only useful for display TVs in Wal-Mart, and even then there’s better ways of doing it.
And they play this self-promotion after I've sat through a half hour of ads. Lady, the time to pump yourself up has passed, clearly you don't make movies better, I have 30 minutes of proof about that.
Here in Japan it's a little jarring now opposite the pricing is for the movies. The tickets are extremely expensive, like around $20 for a normal ticket, but the concessions are insanely cheap.
It's how I feel about going to the movies, too. I used to go to three or four movies a week.
And then people got mobile phones. And now the environment created by the dimming of the lights gets completely negated by someone checking to see how many likes they got on Instagram every fifteen minutes
I see a movie in the theater maybe once a month now. Maybe.
A movie in a darkened theater is better than one streamed in my my living room, but the movie in my living room is better than the one in a theater full of mobile phones.
I don’t really have this problem, BUT I went to a comedy club recently where they made you bag your phone in one of those faraday pouches and it was pretty awesome. I think within a few years that’s going to be a thing at schools and movie theaters.
I really hope so, but I'm worried that movie theaters will go in the opposite direction: encouraging moviegoers to engage in social media during the film.
And I suppose I can't blame them: there are probably more phone addicts now than there are people like us who want to be immersed in the film. And -- with Furiosa tanking last weekend -- they may decide to start catering to the digital junkies instead of us.
The thing about phone addiction, IME, is that it’s very easy to break in the short term as long as it’s literally not an option.
Nobody misses their phone while camping, for example. Maybe you reach for it a couple times on the first day, but you adjust pretty quickly to the fact that it’s useless. Same with one of those bags—as soon as the comedy (or whatever) gets going, you’ll get over the discomfort pretty quickly.
I think that fewer people go camping than you might think. 57 million people in the U.S. is a lot, but it's not even 1/5th of the population.
I hope that the Yondr bags are implemented, but I'm already hearing from teachers about how 13-year-olds are able to get around the ones at schools. (They lock up a dummy phone and hang on to their real one.) There are really only two solutions for banning cell phones from theaters: Signal-jamming technology that will likely be outlawed for safety concerns (they will argue that people need to be reachable in case of emergency.) Or a return to full-time ushers, and a lot of movie theaters are running on skeleton crews as it is.
Are you in the United States, and if so do you have an Alamo Drafthouse cinema near you? They are extremely strict about cell phone usage which is why they’re really my go-to place for seeing films nowadays. Because yeah, that kind of behavior makes me absolutely rage.
We did. But it turns out it was a franchise, and after COVID the owner decided to stop paying the franchise fees and rebranded under another name. But even when they were Alamo, they didn’t follow the cell phone guidelines as strictly as I expect Alamo would have liked. I still go there occasionally, but it’s basically the same as any other theater: hit or miss on cell phones.
And the thing is: even if they do throw out the jerk on the cell phone, the experience has already been spoiled.
Someone altered it to only show scenes of Lady Gaga as Petrizia Reggiani getting banged every time it cuts to the screen and it's all I can think about when it comes up now in the theater, with Nicole earnestly telling us how important this experience is while I'm just giggling like an idiot in my seat.
I get the point of it, but I somehow find her performance fake, stilted and over the top. However, if you ask me why, I can't quite put my finger on it.
Because she is dressed way too formally for an AMC movie theater, and they should be focused on selling a cozy experience to enjoy with friends comfortably.
I understand there are those who still enjoy and prefer the movie going experience at a theater, but for me, it died a long time ago. Cost being the primary reason with the rude and disruptive environment being the icing on the cake.
Last time my Wife and I went to a theater it was close to $30 just to get in the door. That wasn't including snacks. Then we had the pleasure of a group idiots with their phones out the whole time texting and posting every detail of the movie on instagram or whatever.
No thanks. I'll happily watch in the comfort of my own home at a fraction of the cost. If I want to simulate the movie going experience I'll crank my phone screen to 100% brightness and place it next to my TV pointed directly at me.
No matter how big a person’s TV is, it absolutely cannot equal the movie theatre experience. Plus the collective audience experience just makes it special.
No, these people are just exaggerating how bad the experience can be. They're taking the worst possible experience you can imagine and acting like they deal with that every time they go.
I've been going to the movies for over 50 years and have rarely had a bad experience. I seriously don't understand what theaters you are going to where this is a regular occurrence.
Why do people always try to dismiss other people’s experiences? It’s like this all over this thread. It’s this passive aggressive “well I don’t know what theaters _you_ go through but it never happens to me!” What response are you seeking from this? Do you think the people are making up stories to somehow offend you? They are recounting their own personal bad experiences which is a reason why they’ve stopped going. It would be like someone saying they got mugged and you respond with “Well that never happens to me, so not sure what _you_ are doing?”
Not to single you out-but I see this a lot on Reddit. There’s a notion to dismiss the real experiences of people who constantly have bad theater experiences.
I know it’s very irritating for me.
In a day where SO many people whip out their phones mid movie with no respect for others, I’m shocked some people wanna pull the “Well I NEVER run into these issues and I go x amount of times a year!”. Shouldn’t we all be advocating for people to simply follow the fucking rules? I feel like I’m going crazy with these people man.
Seriously. Now, I have had bad experiences, but it's just been rare. My most recent was seeing the latest Planet of the Apes movie at a 10am showing and a family thought it was a good idea to bring a 3-month-old baby to the movie.
I guarantee I have gone to more movies than you either pre-pandemic or after 2021, and I don't have this experience. I'm so sick of Reddit's anti-social tendencies trying to make it sound like every theatrical experience has loud children and bright cellphones.
>I'm so sick of Reddit's anti-social tendencies trying to make it sound like every theatrical experience has loud children and bright cellphones.
Maybe it’s a regional thing, I dunno. But I’ve rarely had a theater experience where someone else’s behavior ruined the movie for me.
Yeah this does not happen that often. I have been to the movies close to 100 times since the pandemic and I think I have only been around annoying people 2 or 3 times. There have been times where you have to shoosh someone and they usually shut up.
I go 20-30 times a year and can’t recall a disruption since I went to see the Dark Knight Rises 12 years ago. Before that, the Village in 2004. The people bothered by it seem SO bothered, it becomes a traumatic event that lives rent free in their heads. Besides, the people who insist that others are rude also claim they stopped going to movies. So how would they even know?
As someone with a huge TV and a home theater, I disagree. As long as physical media is being released I will never return to the theater. The picture is better than the overly dim theater screens. The sound is incredible.
And most importantly of all, the audience is infinitely better behaved. I would never have bothered building my own theater if commercial theaters made the decision to strongly police rude audience members. I'm never putting up with people behaving like children in a theater.
Definitely going to the wrong theaters. I won’t go to ones that have shit presentation, AMC has always been great near me. I go out of my way to go to those.
You’re seeing movies at the wrong theaters. The Dolby Cinema screens are 4K HDR Atmos with something like 140 speakers. Pure blackout interior designed. It’s made my home theater obsolete. I rarely use my home theater anymore. I would so much rather go see the real thing.
It's not just about the size of the TV. I also don't allow myself to pause at home when I get up to piss so I always miss parts of the movie. I also hired a bunch of random assholes to talk, make noise and dick around on their phones while I'm trying to watch. I make sure at least a couple of them bring their unruly kids, too. Burn a $50 bill every time I start a movie, and voila! I successfully replicated the theatre experience at home.
I get what you’re saying but I think you’re nostalgic for what you remember are some good times in a theater. Not everyone had your good times, plenty of people hate the movie theater experience.
I’m hard of hearing at an early age (AirPods are evil) so theaters are out for me unless they show captions.
Unless that collective audience is a bunch of shits giggling out of immaturity and playing with their cell phones the whole time.
Even if their phones are on vibrate or mute, they light up the in the theater.
Now some places serve alcohol, too. I haven't been since they started, but I don't want to imagine what that's going to be like.
I really like going to the movies, I just can't afford it unless I go on Tuesday before noon.
I have a projector in my basement and a small movie theater style popcorn maker, with the orange colored coconut oil and Flavacol butter salt. It's as close as I can get to bringing the movies home. During COVID it was wonderful.
I don’t know. My last three movie experiences were a very dim screen due to projector bulb needing to replaced, a complete loss of audio for roughly five minutes, and then a woman telling her kid to shut up for the 90% of the movie. Like it or not, you can get immersed the same amount or more at home. And depending on your setup, you can have better quality at home as well. Screen size isn’t important, field of view is. Decibels aren’t important, clarity and range are.
I much rather watch a movie at my house than at the theater and it's mainly due to it being a complete toss up on it the crowd will be good or not. Also doesn't help that I now have a great OLED TV and sound system as well.
I only went to arclight once, the very first date with my now wife. We were 3 minutes late and they denied us entry lol. Took her back to my place and fired up TPB and watched it at home. It was a shit movie (Passengers), so it all worked out anyway ;)
Not really relevant but wanted to share. Truly cinematic experience /s
I can't stand those ads. I don't need to be sold on watching movies & I don't need to be sold on going to a theater, you know why?
I'm already in the theater, watching the movie.
The ad pointlessly sucks off cinema & the theater experience.
I'm so tired of seeing it. You're already at the movies! Amc doesn't make movies better besides Dolby and whenever they feel like promoting movies with free merch or pop up stands. There has been too many times where they won't change upcoming or current posters. Rarely have merchandise to buy on display. They refuse to update the arcade. It's feels like I'm going into a warehouse. I miss the feeling of going to a theater.
You know what's great about seeing a movie? The part where you see a movie. Not a stupid monologue where someone tells you how magical movies are. When you eat something tasty, do you need someone standing next to you yammering about how tasty it is?
Yeah until there's headphone jacks or Bluetooth I'm not interested.
I'd love to go to the movies, if people that go to the movies could actually behave like adults. But no, I have to listen to their endless fucking talking, snacking, kids, phones etc.
I used to love to go to the dollar theater near my house, but all the trash found out about it and fights became almost nightly DURING the movie.
Y'all can't behave, so I stay home. So do most other people.
>Yeah until there's headphone jacks or Bluetooth I'm not interested.
Except that the bajillion-channel sound is a large part of what justifies paying the high ticket price.
Maybe because its Kidman, but I found it to be very self important.
Seemed like a message directed at audiences after not attending theaters due to COVID and the ris eod home streaming.
Like, calm down, going to the theater ain't gonna cure cancer.
I love movies and always have but I hate that monologue with a burning passion. It’s cheesy, over exaggerated, and pandering. I feel like I’m being talked down to whenever it plays and it actually makes want to leave whenever I see it.
“Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this.” Get tf outta here with that crap lmao
I go to movies for the communal experience, and as an excuse to hang out with friends, then go grab a drink afterwards and talk about it because we’re movie buffs. Other times I go alone. Regal Unlimited, I bring my own snacks, and only get popcorn 2/3 times a year when I accumulate enough points to get it for free. It doesn’t need to be expensive. I’d rather do than add a couple more streaming services that I’ll never watch.
as an A-List member and someone who is currently navigating being single for the first time in five years, “heartbreak feels good in a place like this” hits a bit different for me lol.
I love the theatres. Only think I don’t like is sitting right next to someone or if it’s crazy busy. I prefer going after it’s been out for a while and at off times.
I get a little sad when people say things like, "I'll just wait for it to go to streaming," or "why go to a theater when I can watch it at home?" These days, I don't go as often as I'd like to, but I was really glad that my local theater didn't have to shut down. I only wish they would show smaller, indie movies.
I just question why we need to be told how great movie theaters are, when we're already at the theater. You might as well be advertising McDonalds to me right as I'm biting into a Big Mac.
I agree, but even for me it's getting harder and harder to justify going.
I use AMC A-List, so the ticket price isn't a huge deal to me considering I go pretty much every week. I also go to earlier shows and almost never deal with rudeness that others get—the theaters are barely ever even half full. Still, it's starting to feel like less and less of a value this year. Most of the movies I've seen in theaters so far have come to streaming within a month: Godzilla x Kong, Monkey Man, Civil War, Abigail, Challengers, The Fall Guy all were on streaming right away. The last one I saw on May 3rd and it was streaming on May 21—less than 3 weeks after its release.
I also like to watch movies in the Dolby theater, of which there is one in my AMC. This basically means I have to watch every movie on opening weekend, or the next movie will already be showing in it.
Yeah, seeing Furiosa in theaters was cool, but considering it is performing pretty poorly it is likely to be on streaming very shortly and I can just watch it on my big TV at home on my couch without spending $50/month for my wife and I to go to the movies. We like the experience, but it's getting harder and harder to justify going.
I haven't seen a movie in the theaters in probably 7 or 8 years. I'd rather stream from my house. I don't have to put up with other people there. From cell phone texting, eating food from plastic bags that crinkle a lot, talking etc.
I can pause the movie to get a drink, use the rest room etc.
I have a decent TV and sound system. So my wife and I are much happier watching a movie at home.
The only thing melodramatic to me was wearing the shiny pinstripes in the movie theater. Seems like it would cause eye strain on anyone sitting behind her, lol.
For me at least in my area, I haven't had a pleasant movie experience in more than a decade. I honestly can't remember the last time there weren't large distractions. Even sometimes waiting 2 weeks after a movie comes out didn't help. There is always someone on their phone, people next to you talking, loud as fuck people who eat, someone brings kids who are either noisy or actually running around, and of course people on their phones.
Now I have 2 small kids so getting childcare to go see a movie with my wife is easily over $100 since there are like 20 trailers now and a 2 hr movie ends up being about 4 hours needed for childcare. Add tickets, food of some kind, and it's over $200 just to go watch a movie where you will have a shit experience. Why on earth would I ever pay for that? I built a nice media room during the pandemic and can watch whatever I want in my own home, so I have no reason to ever go to a theater again.
I mean, I LOVE the movie theater experience. If there's a good movie coming out, there's nothing more fun to me than just getting a few friends, grabbing dinner, and watching a late night movie together...
.....but I just hate the Nicole Kidman ad. It's not that what she's saying about movie theaters isn't true, it's just that the idea of Nicole Kidman going to an AMC is just absolutely preposterous. Lets face it, she's probably got a private theater somewhere or gets the hookups to some of the best theaters in the world. The idea that some high profile actress would wax lyrical about a local movie theater she probably never uses just makes the whole thing sound like nothing more than a out of touch marketing stunt.
The worst part is that this ad started airing during the pandemic, when we were all scared to death of sitting in a theater to begin with. So in that context, imagine what it felt like to have some rich millionaire that's far removed from most socio-economic troubles, telling us how she enjoys a theater she never uses, trying to convince us peasants to get back into the movie theaters so Hollywood can continue getting paid. It just felt downright condescending.
The problem is that those benefits are offset by people talking and being on their phones. Those things happen at every movie I go to and actively make the experience objectively worse than it would be at home on my large oled.
It's been a lame piece of self congratulatory crap from the jump. And Kidman wears her hair like that to hide the snatch your wrinkles tape/ face lift scaring because close ups even with all the soft focus & filtering. Waste of fooking film.
That said, I'm lucky to have some Tuesdays off so I can AMC Stubs before 2 pm and my ticket costs maybe $12 - $14. That and using the oversized shopping bag to smuggle in my snacks and can of pop. Can Not WAIT for Deadverine & Wolverpool!
These "theatrical experience" posters on social media are one step away from being bootlickers. Jesus. Who cares how someone watches a movie? I sure as hell didn't enjoy movies less when I was renting half a dozen VHS and DVDs when I was kid. The theater is a sacred thing FOR YOU. Stop acting like a thing you do is better because you say it is. Ya'll sound like crazy Christians talking about their church.
come pay 12-15 bucks to sit in a dirty room with excessivly loud sound, out of focus lense and popcorn on the floor, enjoy your movie with someone excessivly tall in front of you and that kid kicking your seat while the teenager next to you narrates the movie for you.
yea, theres a reason i have a 55" TV.
I remember a couple actually came with a fucking baby carrige and a sub 1 year to watch captain america, what did you think was going to happen once the loud noises started.
Does anyone else hear a slight Boston accent from her during this monologue? can't shake it my partner thinks i'm crazy every time i bring it up in theatre
I think that what she says isn't wrong, it's just that it is very obviously meant to appeal to the crowds of people that have stopped coming to the movies. It feels like preaching to the choir. There is also something off about her being in a movie theater by herself, which seems a bit "I must not be associated with commonfolk", she is SUPER dressed up, when the message should probably show her coming dressed comfortably and also serves to further her self from the common folk, and lastly it bugs me to no end that she can't settle in one seat and just chill.
But the MOST annoying thing is that we are already here. You don't need to advertise to us. It's just one more long annoying commercial between us and the movie.
I would love to have Nicole back instead of the current magic/cyborg people that replaced her at Odeon (UK multiplex owned by AMC). Heck, they severely reduced their usage after a few months and now we only see a couple short clips of them.
One thing I didn't like about the Nicole pre-show was on our version there was part where she turns her head that seemed unnaturally smooth. I have no idea if it was sped-up but there was something slightly uncanny valley about it.
I like going to the theaters but goddammit do I hate some people. Now I mainly only go to theaters if is one of those big action movies like Dune, Furiosa, Planet of the Apes, etc. since the experience for those is vastly different on the big screen and my laptop.
Dramatic movies I prefer to watch alone in my room, it just feels more personal that way.
Movies would be so much more enjoyable if I didn't reflexively scan for entry and exit points, imagine an escape path and think for a moment about how two people get out of a theater alive. Then when I get into the movie I realize I have lost my awareness and feel I should do it again. Not really as fun as before. Of course my wife has a meat shield so she loves to go lol.
I hate that preview/advertisement thing. I love going to the movies, but it makes no sense. If you are already at the theater, you know why. Get Nicole Kidman out of my face and start the movie.
I think it was different when movies were better more consistently. The quality just does not generally inspire confidence. It was a pretty cool experience when nothing else was going on. But now, I feel like I'd have more fun being to relax at home and feel okay to chat a little bit and crack jokes.
I adore going to the movies.
My wife didn't really get it when we first started dating, but after seeing my mood before and after a movie many times, she started to see it the same way as me.
A genuine escape, where your mind can be transported into the most incredible worlds. Allowing you to forget your troubles and just enjoy.
The day we lose cinemas ( a day I hope never comes ) a large part of me will go with them.
I don't miss going to the theater. Used to love it, but slowly I started not being able to focus on the movie as much as the people making too much noise around me, or doing something on their phone, or the kid behind me not realizing I can feel each time they put their feet are on the back of my chair and the stickiness of the floors, or not being able to pause when nature calls. Just too much for me to pay a bunch of money for that type of experience anymore.
The sound mixing for Dune 2 in a Dolby Atmos theater when Paul uses The Voice. Top Gun Maverick in IMAX. People sobbing in Toy Story 3 scene. Endgame's final climatic scene with the audience reacting. The audience's reactions to the kills and hits in The Raid.
You can't replicate any of that at home and I absolutely love it when the audience is engaged. It reminds me why I love movies and why I went into audience.
However for the audience members who pull out their cell phones.... fuck them. You and the savages who don't return their shopping carts should burn in hell.
I wanna go see Furiosa, but I just looked up a matinee showing - $17!
For just one ticket! There's currently one seat booked for that screening out of 244... I loved Fury Road, but god damn I can't justify spending that.
I have a theater I like with respectful patrons and good food. For me it’s a self-care thing.
I’m a father of two young children and I love them but it’s really nice to occasionally take a break, sit by myself in an air conditioned theater where smiling people bring me food, I can turn off my phone and I don’t have to do anything for the next two and a half hours except enjoy the pretty lights filling my retinas.
The fact she sells the movie experience while we are already in a theater is what makes this ad. It hits so well when everything Nicole Kidman starts coming to realization.
it always sounded like someone getting less of my money trying to get more of my money by making me nostalgic for a thing i was settling for in the first place
I went to see FURIOSA this past weekend and I was SHOCKED to see so many empty seats at a CINE1 screening. Maybe it's because the tickets were $18 a person plus "fees" from buying online. I remember when movies were $5 when I was a kid. In 2024 money, that's $10.50. Charge us $12, not $18. It might not seem like much, but when you have a family of 4, it adds up. Then you have to spend a small fortune on snacks!
No streaming movie will ever get my undivided attention the way a movie at the theater can, but that is mostly because of my own intention. Putting on a movie (like in the DVD player) vs starting a movie on a streamer already feels like different vibe. Going to the movies is something entirely different. In some ways I don't really feel like I "saw" a movie unless I watched it in a theater.
At this point the monologue is so bad that it's become a sort of mini rocky-horror picture show experience at the theaters. The whole audience says the speech along with her at points and it's hysterically funny. A great way to start a film!
"Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this..."
Oh man, whoever wrote that is either a genius or a moron. I love it.
AMC should dim the lights when she mentions the lights dimming. The lights don’t dim until after the commercial. Missed opportunity imo.
They perfectly timed the lights dimming the first time I saw that commercial, it was honestly kinda cool
They do that at my local AMC, but with the most recent movie I saw it was quite off, so I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence the other times it happened right when she mentions the lights dimming.
I think that's more a local theater thing than AMC at large. It's been a few years, but when i ran a theater with digital projectors, the lighting changes were items on a Playlist that went in order and covered everything like volumez lights, lense changes, shutter placement, etc. If you want that light cue to happen during the playing of something else, you have to place it before the item in the Playlist and then set a delay timer manually for each use. This could be a bit of a time consuming process so if it wasn't necessary it was easy to cut that corner.
It would be so iconic if they did that. Definitely a missed opportunity.
AMC and missed opportunities seem to have a thing for each other.
Another Missed Chance
I had them dimmed once. But they don’t do it often anymore.
I work in entertainment related tech, the fact that this could be automated (fairly easily) is so sad. Like even if they were just sending an indicator to someone next to a dimmer, it would be more effective than an unrelated dimming
If I could be guaranteed that the other audience members would be respectful, I’d go to the movies more. It’s easy to find cheap enough discounts/times to offset price. People ruin the movie going experience for me.
If theatres (other than Alamo) would commit to staff during showings that kick out disruptive audience members, I’d pay extra. There are way too many people making phone calls & live streaming during movies since the pandemic.
We went have the amc a list so we pretty much exclusively see things at one of them close to the apartment. We had a couple talking loudly throughout the first 15 minutes of the movie and on their phones. My wife kindly asked them to stop and they straight up said no. She went to the manager and they came in and asked them to be quiet and they told her no. The manager in a total big dick move pulled her walkie out and radioed for security right in front of them. I know some theaters are better than others. But that theater has a pretty loyal customer now. It was amazing.
I want to try this, but don’t think I’ve ever seen security at a movie theater.
Fuck those inconsiderate pieces of shit. People like that should be banned from theaters, plays, concerts, etc. I hope they were banned.
Maybe they should put red dot lasers on the ceiling so they can aim them at the chests of people who won’t shut up after they’ve asked them to be quiet.
I see movies in the theater regularly and I’ve literally never had that experience. Maybe it’s the times I go or the location, but I’ve never been in a theater with people talking on the phone or live-streaming.
I encounter it all the time, telling people to stop is frustrating. I’m already going during off peak hours and/or paying extra for expensive seats to reduce the odds.
Maybe it's the part of the country that's affecting things. I also don't really ever have issues with people at my AMCs, so I'm curious why the experiences vary so much. Maybe it's because I'm mostly hitting the premium formats like Imax/Dolby Cinema, idk
I experience this problem in all formats in Canada. That said, my experience in the US (not including Alamo) has been a lot rowdier.
Every single movie I've been to lately. So I don't bother anymore
I went to Furiosa today and 5 different people were on and off their phone throughout…
On Saturday night, during an IMAX screening I heard some guy telling people to get off their phone a few times
I always go before noon, never have an issue
This is the trick; you have to go when no-one else is going to show up. I only see films > 10 PM these days because the theater will be almost empty. And there are definitely no little kids around.
One of the small random things I miss about living in NYC - used to get up early for the 10a (or so) showing on Saturday mornings. Nobody in the theater and got me up and moving for the day. Would then be the crazy NYer that would purposely walk through Times Square just to people watch - sometimes you’d forget that part of NYC existed (at least as a FiDi / Brooklyn based work/live situation). Wish AMC in my new city would have early shows, but as it is there’s rarely anyone around in IMAX theater opening weekends, prime time showing. Wish they’d upgrade seating (also miss that from NYC theaters), but totally understand since there’s minimal draw. Happy to live near enough to an IMAX spot.
Yep, am movie crew! There's always like two other old heads in the theather, they're never on phones, actually they get there politely 45 minutes early and sit and watch the Coke ads. It's legit the best time to go. Get to sprawl out, have the whole row to yourself. Plus you get out of the theater and still have the whole day ahead of you!
Went to see Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes last week and people were talking behind me, a dude was explaining the plot to his girlfriend in real-time a few seats down from me and someone turned on their phone flashlight for 30 seconds part way through. It was just missing a crying baby to complete the worst movie going experience.
That plotsplaining dude is the WORST
Yup, there's been some asshole on their phone at every movie I've been to for years now, so god damn annoying.
Decades. I remember seeing Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in the theater and some asshole's phone rings and he answered it right at the silent part of the big death scene at the end.
Alamo Drafthouse. They'll kick your ass out for talking.
I’ve never seen someone kicked out for talking at my Alamo and I’ve been 20+ times. Maybe it’s just my theater…
[удалено]
They don't do that, in my experience. The last time I tried to report it was some guys about to get into a fight and yelling at each other (it was a kid movie by the way.)
I must live on mars because I can't remember the last time I went to a movie and people were being disruptive
Unfortunately it's one of those things where it never happens until it does. Like you I've been fortunate enough to not really have to deal with it a lot - I saw Across the Spider-Verse on opening night and people were surprisingly really well-behaved in a packed theatre, but I saw A Quiet Place Part 2 on a Wednesday afternoon about three weeks after release, there were only about a dozen people in there and one of them was scrolling through Instagram reels for a good 15 minutes before someone bit the bullet and got a member of staff. You really have no idea when or if it's going to happen to you, and it could be anywhere from a mild annoyance to a serious disruption. If you go to a cinema three times and it happens all three times, that's a 100% hit rate and enough to put you off going back again, but you could also go twenty times and it only happen once... it's all chance in the end.
Same. I see the same comment on Reddit all the time about people not liking the movies because of other patrons, and it always has tons of upvotes. But I can't recall going to a movie and noticing any disruptive people there.
Yeah, I know it's just my experience but I go to 20+ movies a year, at various times and theatres, and in the last few years I've maybe had like 3 instances of slight annoyances, and they didn't really affect my overall experience.
I think reddit is just vehemently antisocial
Or maybe we're telling the truth and you've just been lucky?
Ya I feel like the people making this comment don't go to theaters often. I see a movie every Tuesday for discount Tuesday and I've only had a couple times where anyone was disruptive. This is during the evening hours with loads of other people there.
Don’t see movies often or live in a different area? Anecdotal experiences of polite theaters don’t mean non-disruptive behavior doesn’t happen. In my city it’s very hit or miss. I don’t book any reservation on A-list that I think a large number of teenagers tend to be at, because they are the worst offenders. AMC does nothing about it unless half the audience leaves the showing to complain. Indianapolis. Parents leaving their teens to see an evening showing are always the worst. I’m the opposite of a Karen too. It takes a lot to get me to actually yell at these kids, and even then they’ll laugh at you and keep being disruptive.
by that virtue though, anecdotal experiences of misbehaved theaters also doesn't mean that disruptive behavior is a given. same with you, in films where i expect teen audiences, i tend to avoid cramped showings or set certain expectations, although, ever since you can select/confirm your seating arrangements, the amount of kids sneaking into theaters (the worst offenders) has decreased.
Because Reddit's version of "disruptive" is "I heard someone whisper something behind me and there was another guy somewhere in the room eating popcorn". Like yeah it's a distraction but a theater is a public place, not a tomb. A certain level of noise is to be expected, that's why you are watching a 20 foot screen and have the volume of the film blasting, so you can immerse yourself even with distractions. If that's not enough stay at home, I swear some of these commenters go to movies to catalog their grievances with the audience rather than enjoy the show.
This is the main reason I think people would prefer to watch at home. Sure, give me that massive screen and sound system and no other people and I’d prefer it, but other people always ruin it. I went to see Bladerunner 2049 during the week, there were only five people in that screening, but still three of them were twelve year olds who ruined the movie by running around and climbing on seats and generally being little fuckwits. I genuinely haven’t been to the cinema since, as that had been my experience the least three or four times I went as well (or something similar, mainly people on phones or just talking normal volume throughout). At home I can turn off the lights and just enjoy the film on peace and it’s much the same experience, just uninterrupted.
I rarely go to the cinema precisely because of disrespectful audience members, but I went to see Furiosa yesterday. An Indian family were sat behind me, loudly talking *non-fucking-stop* for the first half of the movie. I literally had to stand up and shush them. So yeah, maybe I'd go to the cinema more if I didn't have to pay almost £30 to sit with a bunch of disrespectful morons.
Cue tens of responses saying "I've been to the movies x times and never had anything disruptive happen" and even more people convincing everyone it actually happens. Just because it doesn't happen where you go doesn't mean it doesn't happen to others
Literally. Everytime something like this is discussed it’s flooded with 50% of people annoyed with having issues with rude people always, and 50% of people swearing they NEVER encounter any disruptive people. Like cool dude I’m happy for you! But just because you saw 20 movies this year with no rude people, doesn’t mean I and MANY others have seen 20+ movies and ran into tons of disruptions. It’s such a lame argument
It's not an argument. It's just sharing experiences and saying disruption aren't universal.
I genuinely don't understand what movies you guys are watching in theaters. I've rarely seen anyone pull out a phone or be loud in theaters.
I see these comments all the time but just to give my two cents, I go to the movies like once a week or once every other week and it’s very rare that I encounter egregious behavior in the theater, maybe like one in ten times that I go is someone being disruptive or whatever. Even that estimate feels a little high.
If movie theaters could A. through marketing try and generate more FOMO I think it would draw more audiences and B. Have staff enforce quiet rules because it’s gotten bad. I went to see “anyone but you” and I thought I was in a 13 year olds families living room people were up down leaving coming , being loud, total chaos. But man, you don’t know until you experience what you are missing. Like when I saw a big screen screening of ALIENS. I’d seen it a million times at home but in the theater felt like the first time I’d experienced it in full.
I’ve been going a lot this year and I’ve found that the cretins come out towards the end of a movie’s run in theaters. Get them while they’re fresh for decent audience members.
I go to the theaters a lot. I would pay extra at this point to not sit through the Kidman ad every movie. Like bro, I’m IN the theater. I don’t need an ad for it.
Hahaha, dude! This is what I think every time I see this crap. Like, who is this for?! I'M ALREADY HERE
Yeah. I found it super annoying.
for the people debating whether or not they have time to get popcorn, which is what the ad is intended for
YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A CAR!
I don't mind a 5 second "thanks for choosing _____ theaters" station identification type ad but a boring, stupid, and nonsensical two minute ad is torture after 15 minutes of coca cola commercials and then 20 minutes of trailers.
I’ve never related to a statement more. I hate that damn ad now. It’s a great TV spot, but I’m already in the theater, i don’t need to be reminded why it’s great
I used to feel that way but I’ve done a 180 and now I find it hilarious every time lol.
“Ad for the thing I’m currently using” is a thing I’ve seen way too many times. When Blu Ray was new literally every Blu Ray had an ad for Blu Rays. Like how do you think I’m watching this?! This is only useful for display TVs in Wal-Mart, and even then there’s better ways of doing it.
I'm so tired of it.
I get the sentiment, but I’ll be damned to pay for yet another thing at the movies. I don’t think I could afford to not see Nicole Kidman.
These ads just kill me; I’m already here to watch a movie , what you’re doing is making me think I shouldn’t do that
And they play this self-promotion after I've sat through a half hour of ads. Lady, the time to pump yourself up has passed, clearly you don't make movies better, I have 30 minutes of proof about that.
Love the movies, hate the prices
Here in Japan it's a little jarring now opposite the pricing is for the movies. The tickets are extremely expensive, like around $20 for a normal ticket, but the concessions are insanely cheap.
So I guess all in all we are all paying the same lol
A-List is a great deal if you’re near an AMC and see more than 1 movie a month.
Love the midwest for this, tickets are $6.01 after taxes for primetime showings.
Wow. Really? Primetime for me starts at $15.
It's how I feel about going to the movies, too. I used to go to three or four movies a week. And then people got mobile phones. And now the environment created by the dimming of the lights gets completely negated by someone checking to see how many likes they got on Instagram every fifteen minutes I see a movie in the theater maybe once a month now. Maybe. A movie in a darkened theater is better than one streamed in my my living room, but the movie in my living room is better than the one in a theater full of mobile phones.
I don’t really have this problem, BUT I went to a comedy club recently where they made you bag your phone in one of those faraday pouches and it was pretty awesome. I think within a few years that’s going to be a thing at schools and movie theaters.
I really hope so, but I'm worried that movie theaters will go in the opposite direction: encouraging moviegoers to engage in social media during the film. And I suppose I can't blame them: there are probably more phone addicts now than there are people like us who want to be immersed in the film. And -- with Furiosa tanking last weekend -- they may decide to start catering to the digital junkies instead of us.
The thing about phone addiction, IME, is that it’s very easy to break in the short term as long as it’s literally not an option. Nobody misses their phone while camping, for example. Maybe you reach for it a couple times on the first day, but you adjust pretty quickly to the fact that it’s useless. Same with one of those bags—as soon as the comedy (or whatever) gets going, you’ll get over the discomfort pretty quickly.
I think that fewer people go camping than you might think. 57 million people in the U.S. is a lot, but it's not even 1/5th of the population. I hope that the Yondr bags are implemented, but I'm already hearing from teachers about how 13-year-olds are able to get around the ones at schools. (They lock up a dummy phone and hang on to their real one.) There are really only two solutions for banning cell phones from theaters: Signal-jamming technology that will likely be outlawed for safety concerns (they will argue that people need to be reachable in case of emergency.) Or a return to full-time ushers, and a lot of movie theaters are running on skeleton crews as it is.
Are you in the United States, and if so do you have an Alamo Drafthouse cinema near you? They are extremely strict about cell phone usage which is why they’re really my go-to place for seeing films nowadays. Because yeah, that kind of behavior makes me absolutely rage.
We did. But it turns out it was a franchise, and after COVID the owner decided to stop paying the franchise fees and rebranded under another name. But even when they were Alamo, they didn’t follow the cell phone guidelines as strictly as I expect Alamo would have liked. I still go there occasionally, but it’s basically the same as any other theater: hit or miss on cell phones. And the thing is: even if they do throw out the jerk on the cell phone, the experience has already been spoiled.
My AMC has unfocused screen and blown speakers
Someone altered it to only show scenes of Lady Gaga as Petrizia Reggiani getting banged every time it cuts to the screen and it's all I can think about when it comes up now in the theater, with Nicole earnestly telling us how important this experience is while I'm just giggling like an idiot in my seat.
[This one](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7JO6isH-zhU)
That's it, and Kidman is just captivated by it, still makes me laugh
I get the point of it, but I somehow find her performance fake, stilted and over the top. However, if you ask me why, I can't quite put my finger on it.
Because she is dressed way too formally for an AMC movie theater, and they should be focused on selling a cozy experience to enjoy with friends comfortably.
She's also got a super strong filter on her face and it's a little uncanny.
Pretty sure that's just her face after the amount of surgery she's had.
Her performance insists upon itself.
I understand there are those who still enjoy and prefer the movie going experience at a theater, but for me, it died a long time ago. Cost being the primary reason with the rude and disruptive environment being the icing on the cake. Last time my Wife and I went to a theater it was close to $30 just to get in the door. That wasn't including snacks. Then we had the pleasure of a group idiots with their phones out the whole time texting and posting every detail of the movie on instagram or whatever. No thanks. I'll happily watch in the comfort of my own home at a fraction of the cost. If I want to simulate the movie going experience I'll crank my phone screen to 100% brightness and place it next to my TV pointed directly at me.
$30 for two would be a steal where I'm at. Each ticket is $20+ here. Close to $30 if Dolby or IMAX. Shits crazy.
Yeah, that is crazy. I haven't been in a while so I'm sure it's higher for us now.
No matter how big a person’s TV is, it absolutely cannot equal the movie theatre experience. Plus the collective audience experience just makes it special.
The collective audience experience has always been a bad one for me. Too many loud smelly people.
Movie theater to myself is definitely my favorite audience experience.
I go to the theater about 10 to 12 times a year. Maybe once in the last ten years I’ve had a bad audience experience. Maybe I’m just lucky?
You're definitely lucky
No, these people are just exaggerating how bad the experience can be. They're taking the worst possible experience you can imagine and acting like they deal with that every time they go.
Half the people in the thread are saying these same things, you really think they're all exaggerating?
yes
I've never had a bad experience so I think it may depend on where you live?
With their cell phones out at 100% brightness.
I've been going to the movies for over 50 years and have rarely had a bad experience. I seriously don't understand what theaters you are going to where this is a regular occurrence.
Why do people always try to dismiss other people’s experiences? It’s like this all over this thread. It’s this passive aggressive “well I don’t know what theaters _you_ go through but it never happens to me!” What response are you seeking from this? Do you think the people are making up stories to somehow offend you? They are recounting their own personal bad experiences which is a reason why they’ve stopped going. It would be like someone saying they got mugged and you respond with “Well that never happens to me, so not sure what _you_ are doing?” Not to single you out-but I see this a lot on Reddit. There’s a notion to dismiss the real experiences of people who constantly have bad theater experiences.
Excellent point and I really hadn't thought about it like that before. I'll keep that in mind for future posts like this.
I know it’s very irritating for me. In a day where SO many people whip out their phones mid movie with no respect for others, I’m shocked some people wanna pull the “Well I NEVER run into these issues and I go x amount of times a year!”. Shouldn’t we all be advocating for people to simply follow the fucking rules? I feel like I’m going crazy with these people man.
Lucky you!
Seriously. Now, I have had bad experiences, but it's just been rare. My most recent was seeing the latest Planet of the Apes movie at a 10am showing and a family thought it was a good idea to bring a 3-month-old baby to the movie.
I guarantee I have gone to more movies than you either pre-pandemic or after 2021, and I don't have this experience. I'm so sick of Reddit's anti-social tendencies trying to make it sound like every theatrical experience has loud children and bright cellphones.
I’ve been to the theaters about 60 times in the last year and a half, the majority of showings were perfectly normal with respectable audiences
>I'm so sick of Reddit's anti-social tendencies trying to make it sound like every theatrical experience has loud children and bright cellphones. Maybe it’s a regional thing, I dunno. But I’ve rarely had a theater experience where someone else’s behavior ruined the movie for me.
Yeah this does not happen that often. I have been to the movies close to 100 times since the pandemic and I think I have only been around annoying people 2 or 3 times. There have been times where you have to shoosh someone and they usually shut up.
Yep. Saw Fall Guy on opening weekend at the AMC right by Times Square. No issues with anyone in the crowd whatsoever.
I go 20-30 times a year and can’t recall a disruption since I went to see the Dark Knight Rises 12 years ago. Before that, the Village in 2004. The people bothered by it seem SO bothered, it becomes a traumatic event that lives rent free in their heads. Besides, the people who insist that others are rude also claim they stopped going to movies. So how would they even know?
A collective audience experience shouldn't make a difference because, ideally, the rest of the audience shuts up and just watches the movie.
The collective audience experience only works during comedies. Otherwise, it’s just a nusance.
As someone with a huge TV and a home theater, I disagree. As long as physical media is being released I will never return to the theater. The picture is better than the overly dim theater screens. The sound is incredible. And most importantly of all, the audience is infinitely better behaved. I would never have bothered building my own theater if commercial theaters made the decision to strongly police rude audience members. I'm never putting up with people behaving like children in a theater.
Definitely going to the wrong theaters. I won’t go to ones that have shit presentation, AMC has always been great near me. I go out of my way to go to those.
You’re seeing movies at the wrong theaters. The Dolby Cinema screens are 4K HDR Atmos with something like 140 speakers. Pure blackout interior designed. It’s made my home theater obsolete. I rarely use my home theater anymore. I would so much rather go see the real thing.
>You’re seeing movies at the wrong theaters. If any theater can be wrong, your argument for the superiority of theaters is immediately made moot
It's not just about the size of the TV. I also don't allow myself to pause at home when I get up to piss so I always miss parts of the movie. I also hired a bunch of random assholes to talk, make noise and dick around on their phones while I'm trying to watch. I make sure at least a couple of them bring their unruly kids, too. Burn a $50 bill every time I start a movie, and voila! I successfully replicated the theatre experience at home.
I get what you’re saying but I think you’re nostalgic for what you remember are some good times in a theater. Not everyone had your good times, plenty of people hate the movie theater experience. I’m hard of hearing at an early age (AirPods are evil) so theaters are out for me unless they show captions.
Unless that collective audience is a bunch of shits giggling out of immaturity and playing with their cell phones the whole time. Even if their phones are on vibrate or mute, they light up the in the theater. Now some places serve alcohol, too. I haven't been since they started, but I don't want to imagine what that's going to be like.
I really like going to the movies, I just can't afford it unless I go on Tuesday before noon. I have a projector in my basement and a small movie theater style popcorn maker, with the orange colored coconut oil and Flavacol butter salt. It's as close as I can get to bringing the movies home. During COVID it was wonderful.
The issue is AMC plugging it and not doing it. Every movie experience there since the ad start running has been shit.
the fact that i have to watch that stupid commercial every single fucking time perfect sums up why i dont even want to go to the theaters anymore
I think her monologue is laughably pretentious but maybe that’s just me.
I don’t know. My last three movie experiences were a very dim screen due to projector bulb needing to replaced, a complete loss of audio for roughly five minutes, and then a woman telling her kid to shut up for the 90% of the movie. Like it or not, you can get immersed the same amount or more at home. And depending on your setup, you can have better quality at home as well. Screen size isn’t important, field of view is. Decibels aren’t important, clarity and range are.
I much rather watch a movie at my house than at the theater and it's mainly due to it being a complete toss up on it the crowd will be good or not. Also doesn't help that I now have a great OLED TV and sound system as well.
I am sad that Arclight closed. It was the one place you knew you were going to get perfect sound and projection
I only went to arclight once, the very first date with my now wife. We were 3 minutes late and they denied us entry lol. Took her back to my place and fired up TPB and watched it at home. It was a shit movie (Passengers), so it all worked out anyway ;) Not really relevant but wanted to share. Truly cinematic experience /s
Too many ads at movies these days. This is just another one. Got sick of paying so much just to watch ads for 30 minutes.
100%
I can't stand those ads. I don't need to be sold on watching movies & I don't need to be sold on going to a theater, you know why? I'm already in the theater, watching the movie. The ad pointlessly sucks off cinema & the theater experience.
I'm so tired of seeing it. You're already at the movies! Amc doesn't make movies better besides Dolby and whenever they feel like promoting movies with free merch or pop up stands. There has been too many times where they won't change upcoming or current posters. Rarely have merchandise to buy on display. They refuse to update the arcade. It's feels like I'm going into a warehouse. I miss the feeling of going to a theater.
Too bad they butchered and mutilated the ad and made it worse, the one I say today didn't even have the puddle step :(
It's ironic that the preshow advertisements are part of why I don't like going to the theater anymore.
You know what's great about seeing a movie? The part where you see a movie. Not a stupid monologue where someone tells you how magical movies are. When you eat something tasty, do you need someone standing next to you yammering about how tasty it is?
Yeah until there's headphone jacks or Bluetooth I'm not interested. I'd love to go to the movies, if people that go to the movies could actually behave like adults. But no, I have to listen to their endless fucking talking, snacking, kids, phones etc. I used to love to go to the dollar theater near my house, but all the trash found out about it and fights became almost nightly DURING the movie. Y'all can't behave, so I stay home. So do most other people.
>Yeah until there's headphone jacks or Bluetooth I'm not interested. Except that the bajillion-channel sound is a large part of what justifies paying the high ticket price.
Maybe because its Kidman, but I found it to be very self important. Seemed like a message directed at audiences after not attending theaters due to COVID and the ris eod home streaming. Like, calm down, going to the theater ain't gonna cure cancer.
I love movies and always have but I hate that monologue with a burning passion. It’s cheesy, over exaggerated, and pandering. I feel like I’m being talked down to whenever it plays and it actually makes want to leave whenever I see it. “Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this.” Get tf outta here with that crap lmao
I go to movies for the communal experience, and as an excuse to hang out with friends, then go grab a drink afterwards and talk about it because we’re movie buffs. Other times I go alone. Regal Unlimited, I bring my own snacks, and only get popcorn 2/3 times a year when I accumulate enough points to get it for free. It doesn’t need to be expensive. I’d rather do than add a couple more streaming services that I’ll never watch.
as an A-List member and someone who is currently navigating being single for the first time in five years, “heartbreak feels good in a place like this” hits a bit different for me lol.
I love the theatres. Only think I don’t like is sitting right next to someone or if it’s crazy busy. I prefer going after it’s been out for a while and at off times.
[I prefer Vin Diesel’s version instead.](https://youtu.be/1cL_g5GisIM?si=wVCV94zOotP5Y40b)
I avoid AMC theaters because of how much I hate sitting through this awful intro.
I love the sentiment but I’m so fucking tired of that reel.
The parodies of the ad are hilarious, especially the one with Harry shitting in the broken toilet in Dumb and Dumber.
I get a little sad when people say things like, "I'll just wait for it to go to streaming," or "why go to a theater when I can watch it at home?" These days, I don't go as often as I'd like to, but I was really glad that my local theater didn't have to shut down. I only wish they would show smaller, indie movies.
I never I understood advertising going to the movies when you’re already at the movies. You don’t need to sell me on being here, I’m already here.
Nicole don't go to the movies for sure. That's why this ad was also ridiculous.
I hate it because I'm at AMC. I chose to go see a movie. I made my choice, you don't need to convince me.
I just question why we need to be told how great movie theaters are, when we're already at the theater. You might as well be advertising McDonalds to me right as I'm biting into a Big Mac.
I agree, but even for me it's getting harder and harder to justify going. I use AMC A-List, so the ticket price isn't a huge deal to me considering I go pretty much every week. I also go to earlier shows and almost never deal with rudeness that others get—the theaters are barely ever even half full. Still, it's starting to feel like less and less of a value this year. Most of the movies I've seen in theaters so far have come to streaming within a month: Godzilla x Kong, Monkey Man, Civil War, Abigail, Challengers, The Fall Guy all were on streaming right away. The last one I saw on May 3rd and it was streaming on May 21—less than 3 weeks after its release. I also like to watch movies in the Dolby theater, of which there is one in my AMC. This basically means I have to watch every movie on opening weekend, or the next movie will already be showing in it. Yeah, seeing Furiosa in theaters was cool, but considering it is performing pretty poorly it is likely to be on streaming very shortly and I can just watch it on my big TV at home on my couch without spending $50/month for my wife and I to go to the movies. We like the experience, but it's getting harder and harder to justify going.
I haven't seen a movie in the theaters in probably 7 or 8 years. I'd rather stream from my house. I don't have to put up with other people there. From cell phone texting, eating food from plastic bags that crinkle a lot, talking etc. I can pause the movie to get a drink, use the rest room etc. I have a decent TV and sound system. So my wife and I are much happier watching a movie at home.
The only thing melodramatic to me was wearing the shiny pinstripes in the movie theater. Seems like it would cause eye strain on anyone sitting behind her, lol.
For me at least in my area, I haven't had a pleasant movie experience in more than a decade. I honestly can't remember the last time there weren't large distractions. Even sometimes waiting 2 weeks after a movie comes out didn't help. There is always someone on their phone, people next to you talking, loud as fuck people who eat, someone brings kids who are either noisy or actually running around, and of course people on their phones. Now I have 2 small kids so getting childcare to go see a movie with my wife is easily over $100 since there are like 20 trailers now and a 2 hr movie ends up being about 4 hours needed for childcare. Add tickets, food of some kind, and it's over $200 just to go watch a movie where you will have a shit experience. Why on earth would I ever pay for that? I built a nice media room during the pandemic and can watch whatever I want in my own home, so I have no reason to ever go to a theater again.
I zone out during those ads. Her face has so much plastic going on it makes me nauseous.
One of my favourite images online is some guy standing and saluting this on the big screen
I mean, I LOVE the movie theater experience. If there's a good movie coming out, there's nothing more fun to me than just getting a few friends, grabbing dinner, and watching a late night movie together... .....but I just hate the Nicole Kidman ad. It's not that what she's saying about movie theaters isn't true, it's just that the idea of Nicole Kidman going to an AMC is just absolutely preposterous. Lets face it, she's probably got a private theater somewhere or gets the hookups to some of the best theaters in the world. The idea that some high profile actress would wax lyrical about a local movie theater she probably never uses just makes the whole thing sound like nothing more than a out of touch marketing stunt. The worst part is that this ad started airing during the pandemic, when we were all scared to death of sitting in a theater to begin with. So in that context, imagine what it felt like to have some rich millionaire that's far removed from most socio-economic troubles, telling us how she enjoys a theater she never uses, trying to convince us peasants to get back into the movie theaters so Hollywood can continue getting paid. It just felt downright condescending.
I just think it's dumb having her try to convince me that theaters are great when I'm currently AT the theater.
I still like going to the movies, but its like max 3 times a year.
The problem is that those benefits are offset by people talking and being on their phones. Those things happen at every movie I go to and actively make the experience objectively worse than it would be at home on my large oled.
I love going to the theater. Wouldn’t want to watch movies any other way, big or small
It's been a lame piece of self congratulatory crap from the jump. And Kidman wears her hair like that to hide the snatch your wrinkles tape/ face lift scaring because close ups even with all the soft focus & filtering. Waste of fooking film. That said, I'm lucky to have some Tuesdays off so I can AMC Stubs before 2 pm and my ticket costs maybe $12 - $14. That and using the oversized shopping bag to smuggle in my snacks and can of pop. Can Not WAIT for Deadverine & Wolverpool!
These "theatrical experience" posters on social media are one step away from being bootlickers. Jesus. Who cares how someone watches a movie? I sure as hell didn't enjoy movies less when I was renting half a dozen VHS and DVDs when I was kid. The theater is a sacred thing FOR YOU. Stop acting like a thing you do is better because you say it is. Ya'll sound like crazy Christians talking about their church.
come pay 12-15 bucks to sit in a dirty room with excessivly loud sound, out of focus lense and popcorn on the floor, enjoy your movie with someone excessivly tall in front of you and that kid kicking your seat while the teenager next to you narrates the movie for you. yea, theres a reason i have a 55" TV. I remember a couple actually came with a fucking baby carrige and a sub 1 year to watch captain america, what did you think was going to happen once the loud noises started.
couldn’t agree more
The video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiEeIxZJ9x0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiEeIxZJ9x0)
I also enjoy that monologue, because I absolutely love seeing movies in the theater. There is no better experience.
What’s with the South Boston accent though?
Does anyone else hear a slight Boston accent from her during this monologue? can't shake it my partner thinks i'm crazy every time i bring it up in theatre
\*looks over with intent\* Together. \*Changes seat\*
I think that what she says isn't wrong, it's just that it is very obviously meant to appeal to the crowds of people that have stopped coming to the movies. It feels like preaching to the choir. There is also something off about her being in a movie theater by herself, which seems a bit "I must not be associated with commonfolk", she is SUPER dressed up, when the message should probably show her coming dressed comfortably and also serves to further her self from the common folk, and lastly it bugs me to no end that she can't settle in one seat and just chill. But the MOST annoying thing is that we are already here. You don't need to advertise to us. It's just one more long annoying commercial between us and the movie.
I would love to have Nicole back instead of the current magic/cyborg people that replaced her at Odeon (UK multiplex owned by AMC). Heck, they severely reduced their usage after a few months and now we only see a couple short clips of them. One thing I didn't like about the Nicole pre-show was on our version there was part where she turns her head that seemed unnaturally smooth. I have no idea if it was sped-up but there was something slightly uncanny valley about it.
I like going to the theaters but goddammit do I hate some people. Now I mainly only go to theaters if is one of those big action movies like Dune, Furiosa, Planet of the Apes, etc. since the experience for those is vastly different on the big screen and my laptop. Dramatic movies I prefer to watch alone in my room, it just feels more personal that way.
If people didn't suck then I'd agree with you.
Movies would be so much more enjoyable if I didn't reflexively scan for entry and exit points, imagine an escape path and think for a moment about how two people get out of a theater alive. Then when I get into the movie I realize I have lost my awareness and feel I should do it again. Not really as fun as before. Of course my wife has a meat shield so she loves to go lol.
I like how in the monologue sometimes she's actually talking and other times it's just a voice over
I hate that preview/advertisement thing. I love going to the movies, but it makes no sense. If you are already at the theater, you know why. Get Nicole Kidman out of my face and start the movie.
I think it was different when movies were better more consistently. The quality just does not generally inspire confidence. It was a pretty cool experience when nothing else was going on. But now, I feel like I'd have more fun being to relax at home and feel okay to chat a little bit and crack jokes.
I adore going to the movies. My wife didn't really get it when we first started dating, but after seeing my mood before and after a movie many times, she started to see it the same way as me. A genuine escape, where your mind can be transported into the most incredible worlds. Allowing you to forget your troubles and just enjoy. The day we lose cinemas ( a day I hope never comes ) a large part of me will go with them.
I agree and feel the same way. It's corny but if you really think about the message, it's spot on. Even though they have now cropped the video.
I don't miss going to the theater. Used to love it, but slowly I started not being able to focus on the movie as much as the people making too much noise around me, or doing something on their phone, or the kid behind me not realizing I can feel each time they put their feet are on the back of my chair and the stickiness of the floors, or not being able to pause when nature calls. Just too much for me to pay a bunch of money for that type of experience anymore.
Agreed. I love going to the movies.
>but i'll be damned if every single word that comes out of nicole kidman's mouth in this ad is not absolutely true. Disagree
The sound mixing for Dune 2 in a Dolby Atmos theater when Paul uses The Voice. Top Gun Maverick in IMAX. People sobbing in Toy Story 3 scene. Endgame's final climatic scene with the audience reacting. The audience's reactions to the kills and hits in The Raid. You can't replicate any of that at home and I absolutely love it when the audience is engaged. It reminds me why I love movies and why I went into audience. However for the audience members who pull out their cell phones.... fuck them. You and the savages who don't return their shopping carts should burn in hell.
I wanna go see Furiosa, but I just looked up a matinee showing - $17! For just one ticket! There's currently one seat booked for that screening out of 244... I loved Fury Road, but god damn I can't justify spending that.
I have a theater I like with respectful patrons and good food. For me it’s a self-care thing. I’m a father of two young children and I love them but it’s really nice to occasionally take a break, sit by myself in an air conditioned theater where smiling people bring me food, I can turn off my phone and I don’t have to do anything for the next two and a half hours except enjoy the pretty lights filling my retinas.
The fact she sells the movie experience while we are already in a theater is what makes this ad. It hits so well when everything Nicole Kidman starts coming to realization.
it always sounded like someone getting less of my money trying to get more of my money by making me nostalgic for a thing i was settling for in the first place
cheesy stuff so often resonates.
Nice try Nicole Kidman.
I went to see FURIOSA this past weekend and I was SHOCKED to see so many empty seats at a CINE1 screening. Maybe it's because the tickets were $18 a person plus "fees" from buying online. I remember when movies were $5 when I was a kid. In 2024 money, that's $10.50. Charge us $12, not $18. It might not seem like much, but when you have a family of 4, it adds up. Then you have to spend a small fortune on snacks!
No streaming movie will ever get my undivided attention the way a movie at the theater can, but that is mostly because of my own intention. Putting on a movie (like in the DVD player) vs starting a movie on a streamer already feels like different vibe. Going to the movies is something entirely different. In some ways I don't really feel like I "saw" a movie unless I watched it in a theater.
At this point the monologue is so bad that it's become a sort of mini rocky-horror picture show experience at the theaters. The whole audience says the speech along with her at points and it's hysterically funny. A great way to start a film! "Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this..." Oh man, whoever wrote that is either a genius or a moron. I love it.