Ace of Spades HQ

November 30, 2006

Theaters Testing Push-Button Device To Call Ushers For Rowdies
— Ace

Regal Theaters, the nation's largest theater chain, has begun testing devices in 25 of its locations that allow patrons to summon ushers if audience members use cell phones or become unruly. Regal Chief Executive Michael Campbell told the Reuters Media Summit in New York Wednesday that a second button will notify management of faulty projection, a third about uncomfortable room temperature, and a fourth about any other problem.
...
He said that he expects the device to be available nationwide next year and that it will be given to "mature" audience members, who will receive free popcorn for their efforts.

Projection problems are big, too. What do you do when a film is being shown out of focus, or if it is mis-aimed at the screen? You can either get up and try to find the manager and miss ten minutes of the movie (as I've done) or start yelling "Focus!," which other people don't like and which is unlikely to have any effect, as I doubt there's a person in the projection booth most of the time anyway.

Theaters really have to be aggressive about making going to the movies a more enjoyable experience. Especially for big, splashy, spectacular movies, most (I think) would prefer the big-screen experience... if not for the constant problems, the huge lines, the yappers right behind you, etc. With HD DVD now promising something approaching the big-screen experience, it might be just about over for the theaters anyway; but they might as well go down fighting.

Thanks again to PetiteDov.

Posted by: Ace at 12:51 PM | Comments (30)
Post contains 277 words, total size 2 kb.

1 This'll go down in flames soon enough.

You'll always have a percentage of dickheads who will abuse it, and the theater employees will hate it/ignore it.

I don't really watch movies, I can't even remember the last one I went to.

Posted by: Sinistar at November 30, 2006 12:55 PM (5bI3V)

2 The 4th time I saw Napoleon Dynamite the effing boom mic was showing the entire film. Afterwards I mentioned it to the manager. He tried to explain that it was "low budget" and was supposed to show it. I asked "So the 3 other times I saw the film I just totally missed the mic?"

Can you believe he had the balls to say, "Yes"? He must have really had a bunch of magic spells or life or gummi beary juice or whatever it is you DND freaks have built up.

Posted by: Editor at November 30, 2006 12:55 PM (adpJH)

3 Editor,

How would a boom mike show in one showing of the film but not the other? Different prints or was the mike not in the movie but sitting in the theater? I'm confused.

Posted by: Big E at November 30, 2006 01:01 PM (uw1/g)

4 a careful reading of that article reveals that a couple of mature members of the audience would get the four button call-thingamajig on the way in.

Sort of like being asked to sit next to the exit windows on an aircraft.

.

Posted by: BumperStickerist at November 30, 2006 01:06 PM (dTi2n)

5 Whenever I yell "focus" in a theater, someone yells back "focyourself"

Posted by: PointyHairedBoss at November 30, 2006 01:15 PM (8JmYp)

6 I've never heard someone say focus, but if I did, I'd shout, 'I can't, I forgot to make my Riitaliin this morning'(dunno if there's a filter there, so I threw some extra letters in)

Posted by: Sinistar at November 30, 2006 01:18 PM (5bI3V)

7 Okay, so you bush the button because of some rowdy audience members and the deweeby 16 year old who is making like $6 and hours comes...and does what about it exactly?

This idea lasts as long as it takes one of these ushers to get a phone shoved up his ass. In other words, about a day and a half.

Posted by: Drew at November 30, 2006 01:18 PM (gNyUT)

8 Actually, you should push the button not bush it but the choice is yours.

Posted by: Drew at November 30, 2006 01:23 PM (gNyUT)

9 Big E,

It's called a crappy projectionist.

Posted by: Editor at November 30, 2006 01:27 PM (adpJH)

10 At the risk of revealing my old fart status, when I was a kid, movies cost $0.75. Now that I have kids, it's unthinkable that I'm going to drop $8 apiece on them to get in the theater, then another $10 each for a Coke and popcorn--just to see some formulaic fart-joke, computer-animated pap. When I hear Hollywood types bemoan the loss of "cinema" audience, and see them attribute it to things like the public's lack of sophistication or Puritanical mores, it makes me gag. Here's an idea: stop doing remakes of '70s and '80s tv shows, and drop ticket prices to $5, and I can almost guarantee you viewership spikes and a return of a lost segment of moviegoers: repeat customers. I saw the first Star Wars movie 6 times as a kid. You think the current generation is going to drop $120 to see a blockbuster multiple times when they can wait 4-6 months and get it on DVD?

Posted by: red speck at November 30, 2006 01:29 PM (Lc9rf)

11 It's called a crappy projectionist.

I still don't understand how a projectionist can make something appear on the film that wasn't there before.

Posted by: Big E at November 30, 2006 01:35 PM (uw1/g)

12 Films actually USUALLY have the boom mike present at the top of the picture -- if you see the full-frame projection. But you're not supposed.

They know that standard projection will lop off the top and bottom of the film when projected properly. So that's part of what's filmed, but it's not considered to be part of the "screen" that's being filmed.

When movies are put on DVD, they lop this part off.

Basically they just plan of having too large of picture projected, only the middle of which will show up on the reflective screen. It is, in fact, a mistake in projection to attempt to get the full picture on the screen. Hollywood movies are filmed with the assumption you're going to lose the top and bottom 10 percent or so.

Posted by: ace at November 30, 2006 01:39 PM (4qddO)

13 50 inch LCD HDTV and Netflix means never having to go to the theater again. If anyone gets rowdy here, I just throw them out.

Plus, they don't have football at the theater.

Posted by: mesablue at November 30, 2006 01:42 PM (DzeyU)

14 Plus, they don't have football at the theater.
If they were smart they would. But they're not.

Posted by: Editor at November 30, 2006 01:47 PM (adpJH)

15
Plus, they don't have football at the theater.

Not yet but maybe soon:

NFL talks live sports with movie theaters

Posted by: Drew at November 30, 2006 01:49 PM (gNyUT)

And how about the prices of the concessions?

Am I right?

And airplane food.

Am I right?

Posted by: Some Guy at November 30, 2006 01:55 PM (lPxkl)

17 Not yet but maybe soon:

NFL talks live sports with movie theaters

Well, damn. Let me rephrase then. If they were smart, they would have done this years ago. But they're not.

Posted by: Editor at November 30, 2006 01:56 PM (adpJH)

18 Wait there will be a suit by an African-American patron claiming talking to the screen is part of their "culture". Thousannds of black comedians will back me up on this.

Posted by: vaildog at November 30, 2006 02:37 PM (2XgZl)

19 Reminds me of the time my wife and I mistakenly went to a PG-13 movie full of asshole teenagers.

There was an entire group of them behind us chattering from the moment they walked in. All the adults nearby were clearly annoyed, but no one would say anything. Finally, I turned around and said, "You wanna shut the fuck up so my wife and I can hear the movie we paid to see?"

And that was the end of the chattering.

Honestly, I'll never understand why adults are shy about putting rowdy teens in their place. They may act like they aren't afraid of you, but if you look 'em straight in the eye with a menacing glare they'll pretty much get in line.

Works better than calling the pimply 16 year old usher, anyway. They know he'll practice restraint, but me they're probably not too sure about.

Posted by: Warden at November 30, 2006 03:04 PM (9e+67)

20 Honestly, I'll never understand why adults are shy about putting rowdy teens in their place.

It's not just teens. I have to constantly talk to grown men much older than I everyday in my job. And i'm not in law enforcement. Just a regular 9-5er.

Posted by: Editor at November 30, 2006 03:17 PM (adpJH)

21 It's not just movies. One time I took Mrs. Geezer to a Broadway show in Los Angeles.
OK, it was Cats.

The curtain goes up and the older ladies behind me start talking "Oooh look at the costumes... Isn't that cute... blah blah blah".

Finally I had enough, I stood up and turned around and said "Hey, this isn't TV, it isn't your living room and I didn't spend $300 bucks on tickets, a hotel and gas to drive here from Vegas to listen to your commentary".

Then never said another word.

Posted by: Retired Geezer at November 30, 2006 03:53 PM (ii5tj)

22 I've concluded that either:

(a) I have the uncanny ability -- like a mutant power, really -- to sit near the biggest asshole in the theater who will talk loudly, talk on a cell phone, put his stinky-ass feet on my chair or the one next to me and/or chew and slurp his way through the show, or

(b) there's one such person in just about every row in every showing in every theater in America.

I generally blame the Baby Boomers and their loose morals for the general decline in civilization. Their demon spawn are now the teenagers of this world, which explains why they all wear shower shoes as though they are actual shoes, they screw like sailors with weekend passes, and they have no fucking manners.

Posted by: Phinn at November 30, 2006 04:19 PM (sapeO)

23 Like in classic STAR TREK just call for the guys in the red shirts to take care of rowdies

Posted by: spurwing plover at November 30, 2006 05:57 PM (TPwuq)

24 A little gunplay in the theater tends to calm things down right quick. And no usher in the world will bother you if you're waving a Colt M1911 around. Best of all, when mall security and/or the local police show up, you can just point to the teens and say "Thank goodness you've come! Those kids were acting up! Sticking gum under the armrests! It's a nightmare!"

Or so I'm told, anyway.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 30, 2006 06:07 PM (6QdQZ)

25 I prefer saying quite firmly and loudly:

"Gentlemen, if you please!" or ladies and gentlemen if it's a mixed group.

So far it works 60% of the time, every time. Seriously, it works.

Posted by: Birkel at November 30, 2006 06:17 PM (zNnqq)

26 I deal with the hardcore rowdies by going to the concession stand, buying the LARGEST most sugared beverage available, the going back in and pouring said beverage into the lap of the offender.

Naturally you beat a hasty retreat and flee the scene of the crime after performing this "corrective social adjustment". There's always enough "shock and awe" from the action that you can get away without being caught.

Frequently you exit to clapping and cheers from the other viewers and ominous warnings of "sit down and shut up" directed at the miscreant should they start to object.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at November 30, 2006 08:19 PM (p9O/F)

27 Last time I went to the movies, hmmmm....

It was the Big Hair's birthday and, just that morning, I had a brand new CD-player installed in her car.

We arrived to the cineplex a little late and had to sit in the front row to watch a 3-hour movie (King Kong).

Afterwards we found that the BH's car had been broken into and her 12-hour-old stereo was gone.

Posted by: Rob@L&R at December 01, 2006 08:20 AM (xtB6O)

28 Jumping up out of your seat and screaming "Jesus Christ, where did all these rats come from!" will usually clear the place out, then you can sit back down and continue your very own private showing minus the rowdies.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at December 01, 2006 12:42 PM (p9O/F)

29 Q. Why are people fpr opposed to fur then leather? A.Its easier to harrass rich ladies then motorcycle gangs

Posted by: spurwing plover at December 01, 2006 07:42 PM (PAJqa)

30 HAPPY FEET little dancing penguin invites the idiots from PETA to where he lives to protest against fur coats

Posted by: spurwing plover at December 02, 2006 12:00 PM (JtcRt)

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