Taking children to the movies

[anriana]

The food. It IS expensive, but few people have an oil popper at home, and fewer the salt used on the popcorn, so it can be a treat when you go. And if you don't want popcorn, lots of theatres (in Canada anyways) have everything ranging from a coffee shop/ice cream shop to pizza and burgers. Or just eat before you go.

Some American theatres have that too. The Deluxe Showtime near my house has a Starbuck's, a Sbarro's (Italian fast food), a soft serve machine, one of those candy dispenser that sells by the pound, and all the normal concession things.

[violetyoshi]

I don't like that everything in society (well, American society, won't speak for Brits or Aussies) seems to revolve around kids, that I don't qualify for any tax credits or government assistance because, despite my near poverty level salary, I don't have kids. I think it's unfair that workers with children take precedence when it comes to vacation time or sick time. But, I do think that saying, "Small children misbehave in the cinema, so let's ban everyone under the age of 5" is a bit extreme.

I don't think we know what is extreme anymore, given it's just expected that you should be able to bring your child everywhere, no matter how they behave.

[AdminAssistant]

But you'll speak for Canada?

har-de-har-har.

Actually, for any activity with a large audience. I'd enjoy live theatre more if I didn't always get stuck in the back, where I can't hear y'all

Silly, buy your tickets in advance. The best seats are usually about 10-15 rows back, depending on the theatre, the acoustics, the rake of the house, etc. Box office staff somehow always tries to sell those front row seats, and they're usually terrible because of the orientation of the stage to the house. Sit in the front row, and you get the pleasure of being eye level with the actors' feet. If it's general admission, then get there early.

Or you could stick to musicals, which are usually mic'd. Bleh. *ptooie*

[BroomJockey]

If it's general admission, then get there early.

Usually general admission. And I blame my friends for us never getting there early.

[kibbles]

It's not punishing the kids who behave. What kind of immature thinking is that? I'd expect your child to possibly go "WAAAH WAAAH! IT'S NOT FAIIIRRR!" but an adult?



I agree so much!

I've seen theaters now card people who want to see a rated R film. I think it's high time, if the parents are too childish themselves to know it's wrong to take a small child to an R movie, then I guess the theater will have to be their parent for them..

Those people trying to parent other people's kids when there is no need is the true sucky customers IMO.

[BroomJockey]

Those people trying to parent other people's kids when there is no need is the true sucky customers IMO.

Are you referring to theatres carding people for R movies? Because they actually do stings on theatres, similar to liquor stores. Are you referring to people who don't want kids in the theatres? Because we've paid for our tickets, same as everyone else, so shouldn't we get to enjoy the movie free of things detracting from it, which a noisy, rambunctious child would qualify as?

If you're not referring to either of those, can you elaborate, as I'm not sure what you mean.

[kibbles]

I'm referring to people who judge others for no reason at all (for example, if a child is well behaved and not disruptive; but, the parent is still being judged).

The theatres who have to card are doing their job, and people complaining about a disruptive child are understandable just as they would be if they complained about a disruptive adult.

The sucky ones are those who want to judge what people will let their children watch.

[BroomJockey]

The sucky ones are those who want to judge what people will let their children watch.

Ah, okay. I dunno if I'd go as far as to say "sucky," but I do think it's a parent's responsibility to monitor what a child watches, and they'd know better than anyone else what the kid can handle.

[AFPheonix]

As someone who worked in various theatres for over 5 years, I take exception to that. I shall now counter!

Indeed. I didn't say there were no advantages left, just that they are diminishing.

You make my first point. Climate control. Many activities where you leave your home are not so accommodating.

One of the weirdest things for me when I showed down south a few years back was air-conditioned arenas. You'd get your horse all warmed up in the schooling arena, but when they stepped into that nice cool show arena, holy crap did they ever wake up. In our area, some arenas have heaters over the stands, not air conditioning

I assume you know that concessions are literally about 95% of the revenue for a theatre, which is why they're so expensive. Salaries, operating capital (ability to buy everything from popcorn seeds to napkins to soap for the washrooms), maintenance, rent, and profit all need to be supplied from there. On a new movie, they're lucky to get 10% of the ticket sales. That goes up the longer they have it, but by the same token, fewer people are seeing it.

I did know that, yes. I just eat ahead of time and have a bottle of water in my purse. Movie popcorn is too salty for my taste, honestly.

Yes, but at the same time, going to see a movie in a crowded theatre has more impact. At a comedy, the entire crowd laughs. Dramatic movies can have the entire audience weeping, a good action movie can send an electric jolt of adrenaline through the crowd. And it's always more powerful when a group experiences the same emotion. You feed off each other. Even if you don't know a single other soul in the auditorium, for that 90 minutes, you're connected.

I usually watch movies at home with my family, so I get that connection with them, and bonus, no one kicks the back of my seat or texts next to me

Other advantages are:

being able to see a new movie right away, since it's still an average of 3-6 months before a movie is released on home video. Not so long for adults, but kid-wise, for something like Harry Potter? They'd resent being forced to wait.

Also very true, although I don't know how much kids will like the new HP, there's a lot of kissing in it.

Now, as for the actual topic, I don't think I'd have an issue with making the last showing of the night in each auditorium adult-only (with adult defined as an adult ticket). Usually those are dead, and not many children going to them anyways. So it'd be a decent means to play up the last showing, and get some extra business in there.

I think that's a pretty good compromise, really. The reality is, you go out in public, you are going to have to deal with people, and sometimes they're not all that polite.

[violetyoshi]

Those people trying to parent other people's kids when there is no need is the true sucky customers IMO.

If the parents were good parents in the first place, total strangers wouldn't have to pick up their slack.

[BroomJockey]

I did know that, yes

Figured you did, but many people don't, so I still like to say it for everyone else's benefit

no one kicks the back of my seat or texts next to me

No teenaged cousins then?

[kibbles]

If the parents were good parents in the first place, total strangers wouldn't have to pick up their slack.

If a child is well behaved and just watching the movie, then it's not up to nosy strangers to do anything.

[AFPheonix]

Figured you did, but many people don't, so I still like to say it for everyone else's benefit



No teenaged cousins then?

Yeah, but they're all up in Canadaland, so I see them pretty rarely.

[Lace Neil Singer]

For the record, I'd be just as annoyed at a pair of teens making a racket in the cinema as I would be about noisy, bratty children. Or, as I once had, a stupid bitch who insisted on using her mobile phone halfway thru... well, til my friend grabbed the phone off her and threw it under the seats.

[AdminAssistant]

Or, as I once had, a stupid bitch who insisted on using her mobile phone halfway thru... well, til my friend grabbed the phone off her and threw it under the seats.

We have such a big problem with this at my university's theatre. The students do not seem to understand what a huge distraction cell phones are, and in live theatre they can not only distract other audience members, but the performers as well. We even had one kid who, I kid you not, brought a laptop. To the theatre. His excuse? "Well, I needed to take notes for my paper"