From worstpreviews: During a panel about industry issues at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas, Sony Pictures' Jeff Blake started off the discussion by stating that twenty years ago kids would go to movie theaters every week, but not anymore.
Amy Miles, CEO of Regal Cinemas, said that her company currently discourages cell phone use, but there have been internal discussions about removing the ban for some movies. "If we had a movie (like '21 Jump Street') that appealed to a younger demographic, we could test some of these concepts," she said. "You're trying to figure out if there's something you can offer in the theater that I would not find appealing but my 18-year-old son might."
IMAX's Greg Foster backed the idea, stating that his 17-year-old son "constantly has his phone with him. We want [kids/young adults] to pay $12 to $14 to come into an auditorium and watch a movie, [but banning cell phones may make them] feel a little handcuffed."
The only person who was completely against cell phone use in theaters was Tim League, CEO of Alamo Drafthouse, a small chain that throws out customers who talk or text during a film. "Over my dead body will I introduce texting into the movie theater," he said. "It's our job to understand that this is a sacred space and we have to teach manners."
2 comments:
I barely go to the movies now because of this. If this comes to pass my days of going to the movies will absolutely be over.
Can we also point out that it was a lot cheaper to go to the movies twenty years ago...? And that there weren't a hell of a lot of options to see movies elsewhere?
Movie theater company CEO's are dumb, apparently.
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