Was I the jerk here?

[shh]

This is something we think of a lot here in Texas. You never know who is packing. So we take ourselves out of the equation entirely and only go to reserved seating theaters.

One reason we don't go to movie theaters anymore - the loud talking, constant chomping, coughing next to, in front of and behind me drives me a bit nuts. Many have never learned or don't care about attending a movie theater showing without disrupting others' experience and can get very aggressive or threatening when you ask them politely to speak lower, for example.

Ushers are useless - they're young kids who are also intimidated by these people.

Nope. I'll stay home with better food and drinks, free refills and a much nicer experience. Bonus: I save a bundle.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

Not a jerk. One theater I enjoy has the Atmos sound system which I enjoy and I have found that there is an audible and visual "sweet spot" that I enjoy. I will get there early in order to be seated there and I would not want to move at all. In addition when I am seeing a movie in a location where the seating is reserved I'll try to purchase ahead of time to get a good spot.

 

[ronandannette]

...Ushers are useless - they're young kids who are also intimidated by these people.

Nope. I'll stay home with better food and drinks, free refills and a much nicer experience. Bonus: I save a bundle.

No kidding. We rarely go to first-run movies and it’s kind of shocking how much it costs. Last Saturday 3 of us saw Lightyear in DBox, shared a popcorn combo and bought an extra drink. It totalled $121.00 The showing was very lightly attended but with pre-selected seats, the 30-or-so people there were all cheek-to-jowel in the very middle of the top three rows.

 

[shh]

No kidding. We rarely go to first-run movies and it’s kind of shocking how much it costs. Last Saturday 3 of us saw Lightyear in DBox, shared a popcorn combo and bought an extra drink. It totalled $121.00 The showing was very lightly attended but with pre-selected seats, the 30-or-so people there were all cheek-to-jowel in the very middle of the top three rows.

holy toledo!

"The showing was very lightly attended but with pre-selected seats, the 30-or-so people there were all cheek-to-jowel in the very middle of the top three rows."

This seems like one big drawback of assigned seating. When it's open seating and the theatre isn't busy, you can eyeball where others are sitting and just choose rows or seats further away to enjoy some extra personal space. I've never attended a movie theatre with assigned seats - can you just get up and move elsewhere if the theatre isn't crowded?

 

[shh]

One theater I enjoy has the Atmos sound system which I enjoy and I have found that there is an audible and visual "sweet spot" that I enjoy. I will get there early in order to be seated there and I would not want to move at all.

lol

 

[ronandannette]

holy toledo!

"The showing was very lightly attended but with pre-selected seats, the 30-or-so people there were all cheek-to-jowel in the very middle of the top three rows."

This seems like one big drawback of assigned seating. When it's open seating and the theatre isn't busy, you can eyeball where others are sitting and just choose rows or seats further away to enjoy some extra personal space. I've never attended a movie theatre with assigned seats - can you just get up and move elsewhere if the theatre isn't crowded?

I honestly don’t know. Probably, though. Nobody’s checking. I guess in the theatre we were in, a better question would be to wonder if everybody sitting in the premium seats (DBox) had actually paid for them?

 

[ronandannette]

lol
View attachment 678954

Reminds me of home. We run a strict “get out of Dad’s chair” system here.

 

[vikequeen]

Ok I'm one that believes deeply in common courtesy. The world is just a better place to be when we treat each other nicely. Having said that...

At the movies the other day to see the new Top Gun (loved it, the original is one of my all time favorites). We are "get to the theater early so we can sit where we want" people. Hate sitting toward the front or way off to the side. So we did, got the seats we wanted about halfway up in the center of the screen. There were 3 of us. Theater was only about 3/4 full so there happened to be 3 empty seats on each side of us.

So a group of 6 comes in pretty last minute, toward the end of the trailers. They ask us to scoot down 3 seats so they can have 6 together. I say "no, these are the seats we like, we're going to stay here". The guy stands there looking at us for an awkward amount of time as if to say "Seriously?". Finally he rolls his eyes and says "whatever, let's go" in a very annoyed tone.

I felt like I was justified in not moving out of the seats we had been in for the last 20 minutes. "First come, first serve " is one of the bedrocks our society is built on, IYAM. So what say you, DISboard? Was I a jerk in this instance?

definitely not the jerk . . .

 

[sam_gordon]

To be honest, there is a downside to moving and the only benefit to their fellow man is to enable entitled behavior.

In my opinion this is the same situation as airplane seating. I choose my seats on a plane for very specific reasons and I choose my seats at a movie for very specific reasons. There definitely are benefits to seats in the theater, maybe not to some people, but that doesn't mean that others don't see benefits.

In my opinion... three seats together in an airplane. Aisle & window have benefits, middle doesn't. Three seats together in a theater. No real difference between them.

I don't see a downside to moving three seats over. It doesn't make enough of a difference to the viewing experience in my opinion. You feel differently, and that's ok.

 

[BrianL]

holy toledo!

"The showing was very lightly attended but with pre-selected seats, the 30-or-so people there were all cheek-to-jowel in the very middle of the top three rows."

This seems like one big drawback of assigned seating. When it's open seating and the theatre isn't busy, you can eyeball where others are sitting and just choose rows or seats further away to enjoy some extra personal space. I've never attended a movie theatre with assigned seats - can you just get up and move elsewhere if the theatre isn't crowded?

Generally, once the show starts, you could get up and move if you wanted to. Nobody's coming in to check or anything. One thing to note, at out theaters, when you order online, you cannot leave one seat between you and the next party. You can leave two or zero. That eliminates pockets of single seats dotted around. For crowded movies, you know it's going to fill up anyway.

 

[Nox]

I don't think that just because you could have moved seats means that you should have.

Because if we're going to talk should, a group of six people should have known that they are a large group that may be difficult to accommodate, and therefore they should have been there earlier.

What if the theater had been mostly sold out, and the only remaining six seats were scattered around the theater? They would have had to deal or leave.

NTJ, and I don't believe in karma. If you're going to a movie, show up early or else you get what you get.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

When it's open seating and the theatre isn't busy, you can eyeball where others are sitting and just choose rows or seats further away to enjoy some extra personal space. I've never attended a movie theatre with assigned seats - can you just get up and move elsewhere if the theatre isn't crowded?

You can although you'd be best to wait til later in case someone walks in late and you moved to their seat. Pre-pandemic that was harder to do because theaters were fuller on average more.

On the other hand what you're talking about those people chose those seats clumped together when they purchased the ticket. You know what seats are available and what aren't so what the other person was talking about was not a result of pre-selecting your seats so long as you can see what has been purchased. That's because people decided they wanted those seats. Those people would have chosen the seats anyhow if they just walked into the theater. Only difference I can see is if on a personal level you chose first and people clustered around you so you wanted to move elsewhere but if you didn't have pre-selected seats the same would have happened, you get there early sit down and others sit right by you because that's the seats they want.

Here's Lightyear for a big showing tonight just digital.


Here's another showing at a different theater Digital





Also with our theaters (at least AMC) they will allow single seats and it's not really a problem. It's not like the olden days of mass crowds for previews. I'm glad they allow single seats especially as we mostly go to dine-in showings.

Here's Maverick Dine-In showing tonight and see how many are clustered towards the middle:


Here's Maverick Digital:




____________
Generally people tend to move to the middle for optimum viewing.

 

[focusondisney]

This seems like one big drawback of assigned seating. When it's open seating and the theatre isn't busy, you can eyeball where others are sitting and just choose rows or seats further away to enjoy some extra personal space. I've never attended a movie theatre with assigned seats - can you just get up and move elsewhere if the theatre isn't crowded?

At Regal, you can stop at the box office or customer service & get your seat changed. Or as others have said, wait til the movie starts & just move to an open area then.

 

[AustinTink]

We go to the dine in theaters here- Alamo Drafthouse and the Moviehouse. Both have waiters checking to see if you are in the right seat and you definitely cannot move to an empty spot.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We go to the dine in theaters here- Alamo Drafthouse and the Moviehouse. Both have waiters checking to see if you are in the right seat and you definitely cannot move to an empty spot.

I've only been to our Alamo Drafthouse once when it was that and it's actually no longer an Alamo Drafthouse (the poor historic location was an AMC, then an Alamo Drafthouse and is now a B&B theater) but anyways they delivered food to your seat. If that's still the case yes I can understand why you can't move seats. You really couldn't do that at AMC or the like with Dine-in because you give them your seat number for the food to be delivered to.

But with normal showings where they don't have that they don't check. They used to, when reserved seating first started because people would move and they would move into someone's seat (hence my suggestion to wait til later on) but people got the hang of sitting in their assigned seat and life moved on. These days with theaters really not being full if you're not in a Dine-in theater it's not a big issue and they don't have the staff (none of the theaters do) to care unless it's a situation like I already described with dine-in where it actually does matter where you sit.

 

[Uncle Coaster]

Threads like this are always interesting to me because they are topics I don’t really care about but I get to learn what is and isn’t important to other people and what others consider rude or inappropriate. I feel like I can be a better person just by learning from threads like this.

In this situation the only thing I personally find inappropriate is the group of six not immediately saying okay and going on their way when the OP said no they wouldn’t move. Definitely don’t think the OP did anything wrong here.

 

[BamaGuy44]

One reason we don't go to movie theaters anymore - the loud talking, constant chomping, coughing next to, in front of and behind me drives me a bit nuts. Many have never learned or don't care about attending a movie theater showing without disrupting others' experience and can get very aggressive or threatening when you ask them politely to speak lower, for example.

Ushers are useless - they're young kids who are also intimidated by these people.

Nope. I'll stay home with better food and drinks, free refills and a much nicer experience. Bonus: I save a bundle.

I have a very nice home theater setup, but I do enjoy going to the theater still. I definitely see why others wouldn't, it can be frustrating. I don't go on friday and saturday nights, nope.

That's why I'm glad Alamo Drafthouse is opening up in my city (finally). Assigned seats, and VERY strict rules. They do not hesitate to kick people out for disturbing people, or even being on their phone. They take pride in it, in fact haha.

Don't even get me started on the people on their phones in the theater, with the brightness turned up to max like they're trying to signal ships at sea.

 

[disneyseniors]

We are early to the movie theatre types too We like the first row behind the handicapped area. I'm conflicted what I would have done in your situation. It all lies on whether the threatre had 6 seats together elsewhere? If it was packed with no extra seats? Then , yes, I would have moved down 3 seats. But I wouldn't have moved if they could sit somewhere else just as easily.

 

[Donald Duck Family]

In my opinion... three seats together in an airplane. Aisle & window have benefits, middle doesn't. Three seats together in a theater. No real difference between them.

I don't see a downside to moving three seats over. It doesn't make enough of a difference to the viewing experience in my opinion. You feel differently, and that's ok.

I think this topic has been a really interesting discussion. It certainly is okay that we see things differently. I appreciate your perspective even if it differs from mine.

Some people would move when asked and thats fine and nice of them to do so. I think the biggest issue is that when told no, the group that asked got huffy. I don't think the group was neccessarily acting entitled merely by asking the question (although they would have been interupting my enjoyment of the previews), but their response when not getting the answer they wanted certainly moved them into the entitled bracket.

 

[BamaGuy44]

I think this topic has been a really interesting discussion. It certainly is okay that we see things differently. I appreciate your perspective even if it differs from mine.

Some people would move when asked and thats fine and nice of them to do so. I think the biggest issue is that when told no, the group that asked got huffy. I don't think the group was neccessarily acting entitled merely by asking the question (although they would have been interupting my enjoyment of the previews), but their response when not getting the answer they wanted certainly moved them into the entitled bracket.

I agree 100% had no problem with them asking, though I never would do that. There are many cases where I would move, no problem. If it was full to the point there were only single seats left, and a couple wanted us to slide down one so they could sit together, I would happily do that. In fact if we see it filling in that way we usually will go ahead and fill in the single seat to open up a pair. Though it's been a long time since I've been in a theater that crowded. We usually go during the day, and usually not the first weekend a big movie opens.