Anyone else experience drama at the Eclipse premiere??

[plutotek]

I probably would have done the same thing I used to in high school when riding the bus and someone said a seat was being saved; "that was really nice of you to save them for us", then sit down and get comfortable.

To me, the key in this is the fact the row was vacant. If they had left some people to hold spaces, that' would have been the difference and would have removed the suspicion that they weren't even in the building yet.

 

[HOGFAN]

we are gonna wait about 2 weeks so we dont have to sit in somebodys lap. hate to be up against somebody else

 

[DarthKTrava]

I think he's 18 now. We're in the clear

But still not scream worthy IMO.

And saving that many seats in a crowded show is rude. A few maybe. But not 9.

 

[mamacatnv]

I think he's 18 now. We're in the clear

What a relief, I was a bit worried (I took DD to the 5pm show tonight) this was the first of the movies she has seen in the theatre and the first time I have seen any of them, I didn't read the books either. That young Man is delicious!
I promised her opening day, but I never promised midnight, now way!

DD and I encountered several very large groups tonight. I prebought our tickets, we arrived 1 hour early so we had good seats. There is a national volleyball championship here in Reno this week and I swear about 8 teams were at the 5pm show tonight (there is like 800 teams here from all over the country) . They arrived in mass, sat in mass and did not leave rows and rows of "saved" seats.

However, I think OP it was rude of you to ignore the person who told you the seats were saved. Regardless of whether or not the parties were present, you were told they were saved and for whatever reason you decided the person could not do that and ignored him. I agree that he shouldn't have been saving that many and that in and of itself was rude, but that really was not your place to question or if there is some rule to enforce it, that is what the managers are for. Our theaters do not have any signage that relates to saving seats, does yours?

 

[pixiewings71]

9 seats???? OK that's a little extreme IMO. Maybe the guy saving the seats should have been saving them in 2 rows, 1 in front of the other. Makes it little more easy to accept if he says "I'm saving these 4 next to me and these 4 in front of me" rather then "I'm saving these 9 seats next to me". I go to movies as a party of 4, DBF, myself and the 2 girls. About 10 min. before showtime the 3 of us girls get up to use the potty, we aren't gone more then 10 min. and DBF saves our seats. It's never been an issue but then we aren't wandering around for 20+ minutes either and usually everyone is already in the theater when we get up to go.

We don't do opening weeks for movies anymore. Doesn't matter what movie it is or how bad we want to see it, we just don't do it. DBF was assaulted physically opening night of Spiderman 2. The party behind us would not be quiet, DBF repeatedly asked them to "ssshhhh" and the guy smacked him in the back of the head. I left the theater and called security and they called the police, unfortunately they figured out what we were doing and left before the police could do anything. We did file a report and the theater manager refunded our money and gave us multiple free movie passes (which we did not ask for, we did ask for a refund but not the free passes) but we decided after that openings are just not worth it......

 

[ErikdaRed]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The first movie theater that goes to reserved seating will the one that gets all my business.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

I think people are stupid if they think they can save 6 or more seats in a crowded place, I really do. Harsh as it may seem, it's really dumb to me. Maybe a few people need to go to the restroom but not everyone, it's not a group activity... at least not with teenagers or adults.

OP, I would have done the same thing you did. I have done the same thing you did for the midnight premier of a Harry Potter movie. You can't just save 10 good seats in a theater, have everyone in the party disappear and expect your seats to still be there. Would expect your purse to still be there if you left it somewhere? And you OWN that. If it mattered to them that much, they should have had a few people staking it out for them. But they obviously didn't.

Too bad, so sad. Lesson learned.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Ours was nice and drama free. At one point the manager came in and announced that the theatre for the "experience" was sold out and that you could not save seats. This was about 10 minutes before show and he said if they are not there, too bad, so sad. They needed every seat available.

I probably would not have sat in the seats, but then, I don't like confrontation. I do think he was in the wrong to save such a large number of seats, and obviously the theatre agreed.

 

[mamacatnv]

OP, I would have done the same thing you did. I have done the same thing you did for the midnight premier of a Harry Potter movie. You can't just save 10 good seats in a theater, have everyone in the party disappear and expect your seats to still be there.

Why not? Mind you I think its rude, but I don't see why they can't unless there are specific rules put in place and enforced by management. If someone is there babysitting the seats and says they are saved, go get a manager if you have an issue with it, I don't understand where the movie goers get the stuff it attitude and just take the seats, IMO that is just as rude.

 

[Scurvy]

I'm glad it didn't ruin the movie! The only other thing was the hooting and hollering as Taylor Lautner took his shirt off (which I may or may not have been a part of... um...) People tried to be all "shhhhhh!!!!" but you know, it's the opening night of a Twilight movie, there's only so quiet it's gonna be!

It sounds like the rude group agreed with you on the bolded portion.

However, I think OP it was rude of you to ignore the person who told you the seats were saved. Regardless of whether or not the parties were present, you were told they were saved and for whatever reason you decided the person could not do that and ignored him. I agree that he shouldn't have been saving that many and that in and of itself was rude, but that really was not your place to question or if there is some rule to enforce it, that is what the managers are for. Our theaters do not have any signage that relates to saving seats, does yours?

I sort of think this, too. If the theater didn't have any rules against saving seats then I don't think it was really appropriate for you to sit there. Now I've seen people show up and try to move people out of seats that they had supposedly claimed before stepping out to the restroom for a minute, but there was no sign that the seats were taken. I think that's ridiculous. But in this case, you did know that the seats had apparently been claimed. I think if you don't get to the theater early enough, and the theater doesn't have rules against the saving of seats, then you need to sit in whatever seats haven't been claimed by the time you do arrive. Now if the theater does have the rule that someone must physically be in the seat for it to be claimed, then all bets are off and it's perfectly appropriate to have taken the seats.

Their behavior was inexcusable, regardless of whether you should have taken the seats or not. It was completely rude and unacceptable.

I am curious, though - OP, would you still have sat where you did if the people had left their stuff in the seats when they went out to the restroom?

 

[Jordans_Mommie]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The first movie theater that goes to reserved seating will the one that gets all my business.

We have one here in Chicago and I love it! It costs a little bit more, but is sooo worth it to avoid the headaches.

 

[Arielle22]

We have one here in Chicago and I love it! It costs a little bit more, but is sooo worth it to avoid the headaches.

I would pay for that as well. Of course there is still no guarantee that you won't be sitting near some obnoxious people.

I have gone to movies recently and sat near a man who laughed when no one else was laughing and reaked of alcohol (at 10am on a Sunday morning).

At another movie a couple came in and sat in the row behind DH and I. At various points in the movie we could hear them talking in normal voices. Who does that in a movie? We almost moved but the movie was pretty loud so we could only hear them a few times.

 

[belle&sebastiansmom]

We had drama, though with the theatre, not with patrons.

Our show was to start at Midnight. The theatre sold out all 18 showings. Evidently, the theatre only bought 4 reels of film. So they were trying to figure out how to loop it to all the 18 theatres. Talk about all kinds of copyright violations.

Anyway, our show did not begin until after 1:00 am. Several of the other showings never happened because of their looping problems. Despite the chaos, the crowd was very well behaved, which was shocking given the circumstances.

I left exhausted, but with a free movie ticket.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

I agree with the OP 100%. That group should never have left all at once. A couple at a time for the potty break, fine. But that many. Nope! I'm not a big fan of saving seats anyway.

 

[2girlsmom]

We have a theater with reserved seats in Omaha too, and with dine in theaters, where waiters bring your food to you during the movie. It is by far our favorite theater to go to, even though it is mid town so not super convenient to go to and park, etc. It is actually not terribly high for the tickets, about $15 per person, and the food is about the same as what you would get at Applebee's or Chili's, both in pricing and quality/food type.

 

[hereyago]

When POTC 3 came out, they had ushers to make sure people didn't save seats.
Also that night, you know how the usher will come by during the movie, check the aisles,etc? Well this one usher decided she was going to try to skip up and down the steps near the front of the theater.

Next thing we heard was a boom and crying. I still to this day don't know what all this girl hurt. But a customer asked if there was a doctor , a nurse was trying to help in the dark. The manager came in had the lights put on to see the girl, then they started to movie again, then stopped again and said the the ambulance showed up and they needed to turn the lights on for the emts. People actually booed when they stopped it the second time for the EMTS to come take her out. That was crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jen0610]

Why not? Mind you I think its rude, but I don't see why they can't unless there are specific rules put in place and enforced by management. If someone is there babysitting the seats and says they are saved, go get a manager if you have an issue with it, I don't understand where the movie goers get the stuff it attitude and just take the seats, IMO that is just as rude.

IF the people who those seats were saved for were there and had been sitting in them, but left to use the restroom, smoke, go to the consession, the each one of those people should have left something in their seat - to indicate that that seat was taken.

When we go, if someone leaves their seat, they either leave their coat/jacket/sweater there. I have seen the teen guys leave their ball caps on the seat. If you already have popcorn, you leave that in your seat while you go to the restroom.

While we haven't yet seen this movie, the last big opening we went to, we got there an hour early. A group of about 9 teen boys were there. They were sitting in two rows. Each boy had 2 or 3 seat between them and the next kid. By the time previews started, the rest of their group had tricked in and there was 30 of them sitting together. And when I say the previews started, they had all been there for a good 20 minutes. This I don't have an issue with. And it was amusing to sit and listen to their conversations.

 

[MinnieFlute]

It sounds like the rude group agreed with you on the bolded portion.



I sort of think this, too. If the theater didn't have any rules against saving seats then I don't think it was really appropriate for you to sit there. Now I've seen people show up and try to move people out of seats that they had supposedly claimed before stepping out to the restroom for a minute, but there was no sign that the seats were taken. I think that's ridiculous. But in this case, you did know that the seats had apparently been claimed. I think if you don't get to the theater early enough, and the theater doesn't have rules against the saving of seats, then you need to sit in whatever seats haven't been claimed by the time you do arrive. Now if the theater does have the rule that someone must physically be in the seat for it to be claimed, then all bets are off and it's perfectly appropriate to have taken the seats.

Their behavior was inexcusable, regardless of whether you should have taken the seats or not. It was completely rude and unacceptable.

I am curious, though - OP, would you still have sat where you did if the people had left their stuff in the seats when they went out to the restroom?

There are a few things that could have changed the situation on my end:
-If they had been gone and come back quickly (as in not 20-30 min for the ENTIRE party)
-If they had staggered when they went to the bathroom/smoke break/run around the theater/whatever so there were people saving 1-2 seats each - THAT is reasonable.
-If the man telling us had not been so rude and perhaps not initially presented it as the seats being "saved." (Politeness up front goes a long way with a lot of people!)
-If they had left things in their seats... this is kind of on the bottom of my list.

If it was just the things in their seats and they were still gone that long, it would have STILL aggravated me and one of us would have at least said something to the man who was very rude to us. Because my main thing is that you cannot sit somewhere and leave 8-10 consecutive seats open for 20-30 minutes.

I love the idea of reserved seats at movie theaters! It would eliminate all of this. I buy reserved seats at baseball games, why not at movies? I will tell you that DH and I usually go to our local movie-grill place - kids under 18 aren't allowed without an adult. These folks were obviously over 18, though, so that would not have helped this situation.

DH and DFIL feel the same way I do - we were at a very crowded (and very yummy) BBQ place in Luling, TX last weekend and when we wanted a seat, I looked for one to open up and plopped myself in it. If I had done that and gotten up even to go to the restroom when nothing was in the chair, we would have LOST that seat! And I would have had no right to complain. I would have eaten my BBQ and slurped that Shiner Bock standing up or on the sidewalk outside! LOL! One party did leave a jacket and a soda at a table and we frowned a little, but they were only up for a few minutes and came right back.

A few of you have commented on the screaming and shouting during the movie - I'll be honest, THIS is something I always expect at movie premieres! So that part didn't bother me. I teach junior high - I can get past that part of it! I did have a beginner saxophone player I taught last year name her saxophone Edward.

 

[Jennasis]

My students went to go see the movie last night and said the theatre had put up a notice warning against unruly behavior, and the manager came in before the show started and reiterated that ANY unruly behavior, ogling, screaming, or obnoxiousness would be cause for ejection with no refund.

Kids said the experience was delightfully quiet.

I would pay extra for theatres to have assigned seating, food, and adult-only showings. Though honestly, most of my issues have been with obnoxious adults (wearing so much chanel no. 5 it would choke an elephant, talking, texting, bringing cryng babies, not attending to whiny kids etc).

 

[IDoDis]

We saw Toy Story 3 at a theater with reserved seating in Denver this past Monday. When purchasing your ticket, a computer screen is in front of you to choose from available seats.

The price was the same when compared to theaters without reserved seating.