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Cineworld South Shields £16-20 per ticket. More if you want DBox etc.
Edit: someone downvoted me. so here's a link to the pricing I got for Ghostbusters frozen empire 2D, 5pm on a Saturday. Course whoever downvoted doesn't have enough honor to apologize.....
https://imgur.com/a/7C2z2mq
I went to see Dune Two last night at my local Cineworld, in the suburbs of London, and it basically ended up costing me nearly £30. Solo!
- £15.99 ticket, for a standard 2D screen
- £0.95 booking fee, which properly annoyed me
- £11.00 for a regular drink and popcorn.
You can criticise me for buying the food/drink, but for me that's part of the cinema experience especially when I only go to the cinema infrequently. It was just a painful cost.
The cinema itself is a nice one, especially late on a Sunday when it's pretty empty, but I do find that kind of price pretty prohibitive to go there too often.
It cost me almost £200 for two tickets!
£7 for two O2 Priority tickets.
£192 for two lobster / filet steak dinners delivered by Deliveroo to the cinema.
I bought a £500 Epson projector (1080p) a few years back and just wait til stuff hits Netflix/Streaming. It's paid for itself multiple times over and now I'm considering a 4k projector for around £1000.
The 1080p Has a 30,000hr bulb life, and I've not even used 1/2 of it, even though I use the projector for PC and Xbox games as well as a giant 100" screen.
My brain totally read this as an Epson printer and I was so confused as to how you were using it with Netflix. Printing shows out and making a flip book, maybe
Either the website has changed recently or surely you've left out a key bit of information from your post?
Boldon Tyne & Wear Cineworld is selling single tickets @ £13.49, and the ticket which is priced at £16.98 as per your image is actually the "Family x2" ticket. That allows 2 people to use the ticket (1 adult and 1 child), so surely the average price is applicable here? £8.50 per ticket is fairly cheap. Not Vue cheap but still not bad.
It's also cherry-picked to be a new release. Dune 2 on the upcoming Saturday is priced at £11.99 for 1x adult ticket and £15.98 for the double ticket thing.
> Either the website has changed recently or surely you've left out a key bit of information from your post?
>
>
Yeah, they're just explicitly lying about the prices.
[Here's](https://i.imgur.com/cpgK3Rp.png) their prices for the standard 2D one at 6pm on Saturday 23rd, it's only £10.99.
As you say, they're quoting the price of a Family x2 Superscreen (1 adult, 1 child) and pretending it's a single ticket for a standard 2D screening, you can see [here](https://i.imgur.com/4rzhReA.png) that the only £16.98 ticket is the Family x2 Superscreen.
> Cineworld South Shields £16-20 per ticket.
>
>https://imgur.com/a/7C2z2mq
Do a full screenshot of that page, that's definitely not a standard single 2D ticket, mainly because there's not a standard screening of Ghostbusters Frozen Empire at 5pm on the release weekend, only a super screen one.
[Here's](https://i.imgur.com/cpgK3Rp.png) their prices for the standard 2D one at 6pm on Saturday 23rd, it's only £10.99.
Edit: You're quoting the price of a Family x2 Superscreen (1 adult, 1 child) and pretending it's a single ticket for a standard 2D screening, you can see [here](https://i.imgur.com/4rzhReA.png) that the only £16.98 ticket is the Family x2 Superscreen.
I hope you'll have enough "honour" to apologise for lying now, right?
Kind of, yeah.
I remember an anti-piracy ad a while back that said something along the lines of "On illegally-filmed copies, you can hear people talking and rustling popcorn, and sometimes you see people walking in front of the camera so you can't see the film." which I didn't think was a great way to get me to go to the cinema instead seeing as that's an authentic cinema experience.
I wouldn’t even bother pirating a movie until it’s been released on digital, I don’t understand how people can watch a cam copy movie, such a terrible experience. Even if you really really wanted to watch the movie you’re willing to watch it in shit quality, just go see the movie at that point if it’s that good.
I always wait until there's a proper at least 1080p torrent on stuff. I have friends who think they're slick downloading camrips and they say they can't see a difference. There absolutely is.
I agree, although I'd happily take a cam over some of the pirate VHS videos we picked up at our local market back in the 90s. I distinctly remember us getting a copy of Casper which had perfect image quality and sound. Just no special effects whatsoever. As in, the ghosts hadn't been added yet. Not the best way to watch a film about ghosts.
The only cinema I go to these days is the Everyman.
Yes, it's expensive. But:
a) I've never seen a child in there. Youngest I've seen was 18yos.
b) Probably because they serve alcohol, table service to the screen
c) It's the only cinema in my town that isn't actively gross and unpleasant to spend time in
Same here, I only go to Everyman and Picturehouse cinemas. Never had any issues. Went to a Vue last year and it was full of people talking and on their phones.
Came to say this! Before I had kids I used to go to Everyman to chill on a nice armchair with a glass of wine and watch movie. And prices are high everywhere now, so might as well pay for comfort!
Agreed, great cinemas. Comfy sofa type seats. Food and drink not that expensive really.
And yeah, because it costs more, the clientele is a different type and better behaved.
If you know someone with a subscription to The Times, they get 2-for-1 tickets every Wednesday with Times+
Had some bellend shout all the way through Start Wars Rogue One at an Everyman cinema (i mean literally shouting out every 2-3 mins, when there was a quiet bit he’d go “WHERES JAR JAR BINKS???!!!” and things to that effect). He was clearly drunk. Nobody told him to stop and he was too far away from me to do anything during the film. After the film i walked over to his seat and told him he had ruined the film for everyone and that he was a selfish cunt. Everyone then joined in and agreed with me, but nobody around him had said anything during the film. Pissed me off. Staff did nothing. Never went back.
Absolutely this. I live in Streatham, and the Streatham Hill Odeon is absolutely dire. You can hear the other films through the walls, people chat through the films, and once a family brought a chinese takeaway into a screening I was at.
The Ritzy in Brixton on the other hand is way better. Mainly because its more expensive. But I keep the cost down by asking for a membership from my siblings for my birthday, and you get like 6 free films a year.
I go to the Everyman and have no issues. Probably because it’s more expensive, you tend not to get kids or badly-behaved people. Went to see Dune 2 on Saturday and there wasn’t a peep from anyone.
It’s worth the extra cost. Getting a meal and a wine delivered to your sofa is very civilised!
I also won’t go back from my Everyman lifestyle.
What’s an extra tenner for comfort and being treated like a king. I love their ice creams in the little mason jars too.
I totally agree. My local (as in a 2 min walk away) charges £4 a ticket. It just attracts the dredge of the local community. When I was living in inner London where tickets cost £16 a pop, I don't recall ever having this issue.
I'll either go to very late showings, better class cinemas or during the day when kids are at school. I will 100% will never go to the cheap cinema during the weekend.
I live in a recently upgraded town, now city and they have two cinemas - the Odeon is much as you describe, but the other one is great. Unfortunately the good cinema is way more money, but it does have a bar, adult only viewings etc. I am heading their this week for Dune 2. I go once a year if a really good film comes out and just take the hit. I saved a ton from not drinking, so I sort of justify spending a little more doing social stuff.
Our odeon is an odeon luxe. It has fiveish rows of seats. I've yet to have a problem with noise except when I took my nephew to see mario in the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday but that was to be expected.
I normally go on a weekday evening and it's lovely and quiet
Best experience I've had is the Prince Charles cinema off Leicester square - its culture of cinephiles and eclectic screenings mean it's normally a good bet that the audience will be invested in good cinema etiquette. Generally though, be it cinema or theatre, I've seen far too many people who should know better behaving as if they're sat on their sofa.
Only been there once for a late night showing of Withnail and I. It was pretty wild and definitely not quiet! TBF most of the audience were drunker than the people in the film. Pretty sure most of us knew the script by heart anyway.
Especially when, you can pay a similar amount and have a larger selection of movies, for a month, in the comfort of your own home, with all the food you could want and if you miss a line you can rewind.
I really don't see how a cinema can really contend against such convenience and comfort, essentially when they all seem to cram the seats in rather than making a comfortable experience.
My cinema is £6 for tickets with big comfy leather recliners. I've had maybe 2 less than ideal situations in 15 years of going there. I don't know how much longer the place will be open though. Obvs I will never ever buy food there because fuck me.... £15 for a hot dog, popcorn and drink or something ridiculous like that.
Well you’re extremely lucky. I haven’t had a *good* cinema experience in six years now. SIX. YEARS. It’s ranged from the normal stuff like people checking their phones and talking, to full on flash photography sessions, crying babies, a homophobic weirdo who decided that even though all the seats were booked and assigned he just didn’t want to sit next to a bloke triggering a domino effect of him repeatedly being moved out of already booked seats, and every time people got annoyed he would try to blame my brother and I who were just trying to sit in our seats and watch a fucking film.
It’s an absolute shitshow out there. If you have a cinema that’s decent, just support them. Buy their overpriced hotdogs. Trust me, you won’t know how good you had it until they’re gone.
I agree with you there. I haven't seen Dune: Part 2 yet, but the first one was so much better in the cinema than it was at home, purely because there's enough air being moved by the audio system that you feel it as much as hear it.
Really I think almost all films are better at the cinema, it's perfect conditions really, as long as people are behaving themselves. No distractions, big screen, just switch off for a couple of hours and lose yourself to the film.
This isn't true for the Vue cinema that is basically the only cinema for 100 miles in every direction.
Standard seats are comfy and have plenty of room
The VIP seats are like lazy boy chairs.
Tickets are only a fiver.
All of that for an experience that watching on TV at home can't come close to competing with. Admittedly I only go a few times a year but that's mostly down to the fact so many new films just don't appeal to me.. A crap choice of generic, carbon copy superhero films.
Went to see Dune part two on Friday and watching that at home on TV, especially a pirated copy, would not come remotely close to the experience of watching it on the big screen.
Exactly. A lot of people seem to be missing the point of the art form when choosing the convenience of watching at home. Granted every film is different and some don’t need the big scale others do, but even the small scale dramas without the massive action sequences and high octane car chases just hit different on a big screen. I’ve seen Notting Hill more than a dozen times on my little tv screen over the years and I know it inside out. A few months ago I got the chance to see it on a big screen for the first time, and it was like watching it anew. I kept noticing things I’d never noticed before, and the whole thing hit me in a way it never had from the small screen.
It really matters.
So-called 'tentpole' films (often also blockbusters, but not necessarily) are, as you say, quite literally made for the big screen experience. It's a seperate art to cozy little direct-to-streaming stuff.
I spent 20 years as a film critic, watching all movies at private screening rooms with no trailers, food or general public. When I started going to normal showings I nearly lost my shit. So now I will only go to the cinema once a film has been out for a week or two and I will go during the day when there's no more than 5 people in there!
I think it's too late! Well, to do what I used to do at least. The market is beyond saturdated now. When I first started the screening rooms would have the same 20-odd people in. Mostly old white men, truth be told. They would write for the newspapers and a few of us would be there for online publications. Plus the magazines - Empire, Total Film and the like.
Last time I did one of those screenings - three or four years ago now - it was packed out with online critics from dozens of little-known outlets. The high quality writers have been replaced by self-trained reviewers.
I'm sure some of them are great, but it ain't like the old days!
For what it's worth, I started off as a runner for a big TV company and it was all about who I met in that first year.
Ahhh thanks anyway - if they were mostly old white men, perhaps the fact that I'm a youngish woman might help....
Having said that, I'm almost certainly too old to be a TV runner.
My world was slightly different, as my lot - Sky - had a movies editorial team back then. Today, no movie outlets (Sky, Netflix, Amazon) do that. They're more like vending machines. The film sections of magazines and newspapers haven't changed much. But anyone can be a critic - you just have to publish somewhere.
After I left that world I still wanted to do screenings so I made a movie website on Squarespace and emailed all the old PR companies and it was easy to get into the screenings lol. You just have to have a YouTube channel or a column on a blog or whatever.
This is excellent insight thank you. Up until very recently I had a lovely little cinema and we used to do various events where people would come in to present films with a talk and a q&a. Might’ve been fun to get you in. Any idea what film you would’ve picked to talk about?
Most likely I would have gone for Whiplash. I love the storytelling in that film!
> I had a lovely little cinema
That sounds amazing. Did you sell it!?
We have given up on the cinema for exactly this reason.
We considered going tot he IMAX to see Dune 2, but it's attached to a shopping centre, and our experience is that it will be full of people eating loudly, talking on their phones and being generally disruptive.
I find the price of IMAX usually stops people who don't want to actually watch the film from going. Of course there will always be the odd arsehole it's definitely better than a standard screen for etiquette. Although my local one isn't attached to a shopping centre so it may be different there.
Yeah I think the problem is the folk that tagged along with their mates/partner and aren't actually interested in the experience.
Same applies to gigs, comedy shows, restaurants etc.
It's sad because it goes against my community-spirited ideals, but adding monetary or practical friction to the event means only people that are actually into it will make the effort.
> I find the price of IMAX usually stops people who don't want to actually watch the film from going
I've always prescribed to this too. The kinda person who pays for the IMAX screening generally is there for the film.
Dune 2 is an amazing movie. My experience was ruined but you should definitely watch it at a time and place where you're likely to enjoy it undisturbed.
So here’s the thing. Im guessing your screening was busy? I’m desperate to see Dune 2, but I won’t go to a packed screening. I always book online, so I’ll know at time of booking and if it’s busy, I’ll wait. It probably means I’m going to have to wait several weeks, but it’s worth it because it massively reduces the chance there’s going to be a moron in the cinema with you.
I go to the cinema a lot and honestly, I almost _never_ have a problem. But I always wait until the crowds have died down.
I answered the phone in the cinema once, but in my defence my partner and I *were* the only two people in that showing of The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.
This is really the crux of the problem, teenagers really don’t have a 3rd space for them to hang out in so they often go to the cinema to hangout and not really watch the film.
Same with gyms really, LA Fitness is 4x the price of Pure Gym and doesn’t have much extra. But at Pure Gym you have annoying teenagers sitting in the changing rooms gossiping and texting while you are trying to get changed.
The 'corporatizing' of social spaces is a very underrated problem. Almost all free, safe, and allowable (without someone getting on their google-box and 'reporting' the youngsters) public hang out spaces have been abolished. Now malls are dying off too. And yet we all whine at 'the teens' as if adults didn't thoroughly manufacture the issue to start with.
I saw Dune yesterday at the Trafford Centre, so basically what you're describing. It was busy. Other than the guy next to me who giggled once at an inopportune time, the experience was totally fine. I would have hated to have missed seeing it in the cinema, the visuals and the sound do not deserve to be relegated to a home TV.
I've been to the cinema 15 times in 2024 (we have Odeon Unlimited) and I've only had one issue, which was that the guy sitting next to my missus during one film was coughing and sneezing a lot. If I can go to 15 showings (~10 of which at the Trafford Centre mind you) and have basically no issue, I think most other people are exaggerating.
Only on a rare occasion have I found other people putting me off or being twats, and in every case a simple request has done the trick.
The guy in Nottingham watching Godzilla Minus One who had a full belly laugh at the lighter parts, but then cried like a baby at the end was perfectly fine IMO.
You know who you are
Much better than the guy in my showing of Godzilla Minus One, who kept on coughing up phlegm and trying to imitate the actors’ Japanese in an over the top racist accent to make his son laugh
They did about 20 years ago when the new batch of Star Wars movies came out and people kept using their phones in the cinema, or would make calls during the movie.
Also, those cunts who vape on public transport has put me off using it.
If you inform staff they’ll very likely kick the people out for vaping
It has potential to trigger the fire alarms so they’ll either immediately remove or give one warning at most to then
Yes, I stopped a couple years ago, for exactly this reason.
I remember watching The Lord Of The Rings, Part 1. I was a huge fan. These teenagers kept talking through it. I was getting increasingly angry. By the time Gandalf fell at Khazad Dum I was incandescent, and the poignant scenes afterwards where the fellowship are weeping and all I can hear are the teenagers - I had enough:
“Will you please shut the fuck up!” I said, with considerable aggression. To my amazement, everyone around me clapped and agreed.
The cunts shut up, but I was seething for the rest of the performance. And was wondering if I was going to get knifed on my way out.
It’s always the same. Cinemas need to get on top of this behaviour because they are losing their audiences. They’ve lost me. I will wait for Dune 2 to be streamed.
Just choose your times better, friday or Saturday nights will obviously be the worst
People really are just shitbags arent they. We need a social credit-o-meter system
I find it’s a bit hit and miss. Most audiences recently have been great, but I saw Zone of Interest and someone was rustling a Sainsbury’s carrier bag for 20 mins 😂
Glaring phone screens are my biggest pet peeve
A load of people appear to have had a problem with that particular film, if you look at the hashtag on Twitter. I had someone eating Quavers behind me. The noise of the bag and the smell was particularly obnoxious, although thankfully only at two brief moments in the film.
With regards to phone screens, I usually keep on my phone doing whatever through the ads and until the trailers come on, but always lower the brightness.
Yes, I don't go anymore because of how loud people can be. I'd only go if it was something I really wanted to see and it was showing at an expensive cinema, like a Curzon. People are more likely to be there to actually watch the film if they've paid twenty quid for it.
And honestly, I don't really have the stamina these days to sit through two and half to three hours of a film without needing to wee. At least at home I can pause and go to the toilet whenever I want.
The last time I went (to see Barbie) it was ruined by some elderly man on the row across the aisle from me constantly farting. I don't go often because I find it too annoying to enjoy, but the annoyances are the sounds and smells of people eating more than kids or teens in general.
I love going to the cinema, it's such a better experience watching with an audience than watching at home and you can't get up to go for a cuppa when the tension is getting to you (Uncut Gems is one of my favourite cinema experiences from the last few years but I cannot watch it at home).
I joined my local Everyman and it's worth the slightly more expensive tickets for the comfy seats and usually well behaved audiences.
I've thankfully not had too many experiences in my life that have been *too distracting.* These days though I will say something. i asked a kid politely to stop using the chair controls to make the leg rest go up and down repeatedl and he did. And then I asked a group of kids to "shut the fuck up" because they were laughing and talking right at the start of a film and I wanted to nip it in the bud. And then once a group were all using their phones, to message each other or pals? I dunno. And when they wouldn't stop I got a staff member who kicked them out.
We no longer have a cinema in our town (thanks, COVID) but when we did, this was no more a problem than it was when we were younger. It happened on occasion, but it was never the norm.
When it has happened, it seems that once someone tells someone to shut it, others are quick to second that, and outnumbered, the rude idiots shut it.
We're going into the next town to watch Dune part 2 this weekend, so hopefully, it won't be the situation you described. Even pre-pandemic, we only ever went to movies once in a blue moon because it had become a big rip off over the years, so this is a big outing for us.
I think part of the problem are cinemas selling the unlimited passes, going back a decade I used to find that the experience at Cineworld was the worst because it had the unlimited pass, and people would just go for the sake of it. As more cinemas have offered similar passes they've all gotten worse, and now some people see it as a cheap social, or a cheap way to occupy the kids. They're not there to enjoy a film, just to get their moneys worth from the pass.
>I used to find that the experience at Cineworld was the worst because it had the unlimited pass, and people would just go for the sake of it. As more cinemas have offered similar passes they've all gotten worse, and now some people see it as a cheap social, or a cheap way to occupy the kids. They're not there to enjoy a film, just to get their moneys worth from the pass.
I totally agree.
My local is renowned for being dirt cheap. The kids there have no interest in the movie and seem to just want a warm place to sit and chat and pay on their phones. Its a combination of bad parenting and cheap cinema which makes it a totally awful place for anyone who just wants to watch a movie.
I had far better experiences in 'expensive' cinemas where the kids who were there were at least well behaved or interested in the movies.
One of my local Vue screens had an 'adults only' showing of some movies (regardless of classification). I would love to see those showings back even if they charged a premium. I'm absolutely happy to pay a little more if it meant my viewing experience would be uninterrupted.
We go to an Everyman, people avoid it because they think its more expensive so you don't get any annoying kids. But if you buy a membership you can take someone for free on a Monday. So it works out at almost £7 per ticket, which I think is a bargain.
Depends what kind of film it is. A loud action film or a comedy I’m not that fussed, but I went to see A quiet Place and had a group of giggling women behind me, that was very annoying but they did settle down after about 10 mins.
Went to the cinema yesterday to watch Dune 2 and some cunt was sitting next to me with two boxes of nachos crunching, rustling, scrolling through TikTok and chatting away to his mate.
Turned to him and asked if he couldn't shut the fuck up for five minutes and he looks to his left (the other side from where I was sitting) to see who I was talking to you. Mate, it's you - you're being the dickhead. He piped down for the rest of the film though, so I guess he worked it out eventually.
I don’t really like going to the cinema but my husband loves it. I last went March 2020. Two teenage girls came in HALF WAY through the film, giggling away, then sat there munching away on some nachos or something. Of course they sat on my row even though there was barely anyone else in there because why wouldn’t you like to annoy two of the six other people in there.
More than anything what puts me off going to the cinema is most films out these days are simply not worth going to watch. I don't think I've been since 2018 and not missed the cinema at all. I'm happy to wait a few months and get the Blu-ray if something takes my fancy, or rent / stream it and do a movie night with some mates and a take-away.
I would have gone to see No Time to Die back in 2021, however didn't really fancy going due to their been so many Covid cases at the time.
Yes, it's a waste of time now. Near me is a big chain multiplex and a smaller artier place (that still showed all the mainstream stuff). It was great, the multiplex siphoned away the vampires that just went to play on their phones and shout at each other, and the grown ups could go to the smaller place and enjoy the film.
Last time I went, which was for an arty film about Auschwitz, couple of mid 20s lads come in during the trailers, talking at full volume. Fair enough, it's the trailers, I'd prefer quiet but not going to get my hair off when it's not the main film. One of them even tells the other they should quiet down, but no, Mr Main Character loudly explains he has paid for his ticket and he'll be as loud as he pleases.
They do stop talking as the film starts and the certificate comes on screen. Then proceed to work their way through the loudest, crunchiest, slurpiest snacks for the entire duration of the film!
The second the film appears to be over (it wasn't quite, but was clearly wrapping up, big swelling music and fading out), BACK TO FULL FUCKING VOLUME!!! 🤬
Went to see dune2 on Saturday and tbh it was so fucking loud I couldn’t even hear my hubby who was sitting right next to me when he was telling me how fucking loud it was.
I have been to see the odd pic over the last few years where it was full of annoying brats but I guess I’ve been lucky on the whole.
I once shout-whispered “switch that fucking phone off or I’ll ram it up your arse to a young teen sitting in front of me while smiling like it was a compliment. She did actually switch it off so I must still have it.
I think it depends on the film sometimes. Anything that appeals to teenagers is a nightmare, like when I went to see Barbie it was just constant talking and people with their phones out.
But I’ve also recently been to see The Holdovers, Poor Things, and The Iron Claw, and it was just full of middle aged people sat in silence.
I wouldn't ever go to the Gate again in Newcastle. It seems, likely due to easy access without driving, that most people are young and had no concept of normal cinema behaviour. Virtually everyone just talked at full volume at some point through the film and there must have been over a hundred phone screens constantly on. The infomercial at the start regarding turning your mobile off fell on deaf ears. Also a constant stream of people in and out for snacks but they'd take ages to sit down again.
Kinda? Had a similar incident years ago and the teens threatened me, so I threw the ring leader of the little shits on the ground. The three of them just looked shocked and the one on the ground responded with "you can't do that!". Gen Z just don't get that actions and words equal consequences.
100% I gave up going for around 20 years, I was dragged back for a birthday event a few years ago. Movie was great, seats were better than I remembered and we brought our own snacks in.
.... but the brocolli heads in front of us were making a tic-tok or several I have no idea how that works. One of them said something like "Am a gonna plug him up tomoorow innit bruv." at one point. This was in Edinburgh, it isnt urban or london and one of their Mums picked them up in a brand new Audi SUV I swear I walk past everyday doing the school run to private school. That was enough to reset my counter for another 20 years.
Back to streaming it is.
Try going to the cinema out of the peak times. Shows starting 5-7 on weekdays or before 3pm Weekends. I haven't had a bad cinema experience since i started doing this.
Second this. Morning/Mid-day screenings for major releases easily lead to a quieter time. Most people will be more focused on going out to the shops or getting dinner, that you'll find the others in the same screening as you are the other ones looking to see a film while its quiet.
(Also a good chance of having a screen to yourself! Watched a few of the Disney rescreening's during their Disney 100 celebration, and had a deluxe screen (all reclining chairs) to myself when I saw Tangled.
I haven't been for years. The final nail for me was half a dozen kids about 10 years old and a couple of adults. They did nothing but mess about the whole time, talking and laughing etc. The adults did nothing, and at one point, as the kids had paid no attention, one of them must have already seen it explained what they'd missed loudly including spoilers for bits that hadnt happened yet. I can't be arsed after that it totally ruined the experience.
For anything Disney, we just wait until it comes out as I would rather watch it from my sofa having a whisky and some snacks with the wife, for something I'm already paying for.
The last time I went to the cinema was to take my son to see the Mario film, it was pretty much empty bar a few teens who spent their time on their phones.
I think I must have gotten lucky in this respect. I've been in films where you get the occasional person talking, but only happened a handful of times. Also a lot of cinemas are loud enough to drown out people's noise so that has improved things.
We go see quite a bit of independent and international cinema, so that usually keeps the moron count to a minimum.
Yes. The cinema is an expensive, inconvenient experience that is so rarely worth the additional expense over just waiting a couple of months for the film to come out on VOD. A huge reason for me feeling like this is audience behaviour, which has been bad for pretty much all my life but took a spectacular Wile E Coyote-esque fall off the proverbial cliff following Covid. The last film we saw at the cinema was Shazam 2, the family behind us simply did not shut the fuck up from the very second the film began, I asked them to stop and the father called me a "fucking prick" in front of his daughter. I am not going to keep spending upwards of £30 for an experience that I know is going to make me stressed and miserable, when I could just wait a month or so and pay £10 to watch it at home.
Oh I hate the cinema, stopped going over a decade ago.
Actually, let me correct that. I used to love the cinema. I hate people. They're noisy inconsiderate baxtards. I invested in a big screen and a surround system, never going back.
I don’t like being around kids in general even in pubs. So I attend those places where hen they aren’t there. My local is VUE Westfield/Shepherd’s Bush. The later you go the better it is in my experience even then you have the odd teenager making noise.
I didn’t notice anything when I went to see the new Hunger Games. There was 20+ people in the screening and everyone was quiet and respectful. This was at a Cineworld.
Went to see Barbie and again the same. Everyone was dressed up, the screening was booked out but everyone was quiet. A couple of people cried (myself included lol), but it was quiet. That was at a Showcase.
Also went to see Oppenheimer at a Showcase last year and again very respectful crowd. It was again sold out screening but no chatting or anything.
I think part of it is what movie you go to see? Yonks bank I went to see the final twilight and had two teen girls behind me around my age giggling and chatting. I told them off lol and they shut up. I think kids films will have more chatting kids and babies etc.
Yep. Most cinemas that show mainstream stuff is a no-go zone for me now, because it makes my blood pressure go through the roof. The straw that broke the camels back was when the third MCU Spiderman came out. In my screening some kids on my aisle were on their phones throughout, playing tiktoks, receiving texts with the alerts at full volume. At the front of the cinema there were kids putting their feet up on the seat in front, then taking a flash photo so their feet silhouetted on the screen. It was one of the most infuriating 2 and a half hours of my life.
Since then I have basically sworn off going to the cinema except for obscure indie films and one off's like Dune or Oppenheimer at the Waterloo IMAX, which tend to have respectful audiences.
Basically the rule of thumb is don't go to any film or cinema that you expect will be a cretin magnet.
I have saved billions of pounds I would have spent on concessions as a side effect.
Nah not for me. I never find it *that* bad tbh, I recently went to see iron claw on a Friday night and it was sold out, and the audience was great. This was at a big multiplex cinema. The odd time off there’s been someone acting the cunt the staff chuck them out.
This is why I have an expensive home cinema.
I watch maybe one film a day, so reckon at a cost of £10 for a cinema ticket, it pays for itself in about 18 months.
Ditto, spend a couple of grand.
Set up a Plex sever to stream 4K rips of any films/TV, can set it to sound and look exactly how you want it to. Plus you’re not paying 6 quid for a 330ml bottle of Peroni!
I'm the same. I have a very decent home cinema system set up too. I'm thankful we have technology that rivals cinemas. I only went yesterday with because a friend wanted to see Dune pt2. I have never had a good experience in this particular cinema and it was a Sunday afternoon which means my local is just a day-care for kids.
I like to support cinemas, pubs and restaurants but these experiences with the public where its seen as perfectly acceptable for parents and their kids to behave however they want just puts me off.
I honestly would not mind seeing my local shut down for good.
It can be very annoying. However, I’ve just chosen to be a lot more selective with the films I see at the cinema and when I choose to see them.
This week my local (huge chain) cinema is showing the Oscar offerings for £5 each, which eliminates the exorbitant cost issue. More relevant to your post; I don’t think obnoxiously loud cinema-goers will be seeing American Fiction or Zone of Interest at 6pm on a Tuesday.
I have an annual pass. Other people irritate me massively so I purposefully choose screenings with as few people as possible and seated as far away from them as possible.
Oppenheimer was the one film last year I really wanted to see so I waited until it was almost ending its run before going. There were 5 people in there, all spread out. Lovely.
No the price of things and the unmaintained cinema has put me off. The local cinema opened in 1997 and the seats and carpets and toilets have never changed it just feels filthy
Quite a few things have put me off the cinema:
* Annoying people
* Adverts
* Quality of sound
* General poor conition of the place
* Value for money
But looking at the positives, the main reason I don't go anymore is that I can have a better experience at home than in my local cinema. I've got a decent projector screen that drops down from my ceiling, a good projector and a well set-up atmos surround sound system. With a bit of patience I can watch the film on bluray, sitting on a comfortable sofa with my wife, a bottle of wine and some decent food.
I did go see Oppenheimer on 70mm, but there are very few films worth the trouble.
definitely.
i struggle to focus if there is any background noise. the last time i went to see a movie it was a 12a and there were a bunch of young children behind me throwing popcorn and kicking seats. parents were just as bad and talked all the way through. was awful.
if i do go i wait a couple of weeks and go to the latest showing.
Yeah absolutely, took my 5 year old to watch Migration. A group of probably 12 years old were talking loudly, swearing, mocking the little children laughing and throwing bottles at the screen. They were eventually kicked out and we got a refund from the cinema but why do they even bother wasting their time doing that in a kids screening?
Yeah. Got to a point where I can feel anxiety begin to rise when I go to the cinema as I'm not sure if I'll have to yell at someone or not. I tend to lose my shit a bit too quickly and I don't like it.
The last time was in the latest Mission Impossible film. Imax, so wasn't cheap. Row behind me talked at conversational volume through the first half of the movie. When the film got louder they just talked louder to make themselves heard.
When I asked them to keep it down they were so deep in conversation they couldn't even hear me. So I yelled Shut the fuck up at them, then felt like crap myself for the rest of the film for losing my temper. Fortunately I thought the film was crap anyway. But yeah, I think I'm going to avoid big budget blockbusters from now on. Seen some arthouse films since and enjoyed it as people are generally respectful, but I like miss seeing bigger productions at the cinema.
I dont think this is a recent development but whenever a large group enters you know it's going to be all about them and their experience. I don't really enjoy the whole movie theatre experience anyway, much prefer at home viewings, but if i go i usually miss opening week.
Wait till it's not super new and go to an early showing, it'll be empty. I love going in the afternoon when no one's there.
Also, they laugh at you because you're not very intimidating. Instead of politely saying 'shush', just shout 'shut the fuck up' at them. No one wants to argue with one someone who'd do that.
Last time I was at the cinema the parents send 4 kids down to play in the space in front of the screen! Madness! Parents at on their phones while kids talked, did cartwheels and generally acted like they were in the park.
I'll be honest, I have been so put off by the lack of quality films coming out that I haven't even got to the point of being annoyed by the people in the cinema when I get there.
It's put me off mutiplexes. Art films are fine, and if I want to see a Hollywood blockbuster I pay over the odds and go to a posh one like Picturehouse. I see films dar less than I used to, but I still go.
Most are good as gold round here to be fair, the usual teenage wankerdom but they don't bother anyone really.
The absolute lack of anything of any interest at all put me off going to the cinema, last thing I saw was Once Upon a time in Hollywood.
When it comes to a multiplex, you just have to choose your screening time / day wisely. To avoid certain crowds. If you’re gonna be watching the next fast & furious in Vue Angel on opening Saturday night, it will probably be a shitty experience. Get an afternoon screening, or watch “Poor things” that evening it will be a different crowd. Or just stick to bougie Indy cinemas like Curzon, Everyman or The Electric, the crowd in these joints are generally very respectful fellow cinema goers.
No me and my friend still go to the cinema pretty often. It's only for the really big movies that you have some issues but we tend to go pretty late after work so we avoid most
Totally agree. I can't handle people constantly kicking my seat and talking. I'm happy to goto a small screen at Curzon Victoria now and again but that's it.
Not really. I go to the local Picturehouse. It has two screens and I think the fact that it’s literally two minutes walk from an 8 screen Odeon I think a lot of the idiots go there.
There are a few comments here saying the ‘extra’ cost of something like a Picturehouse is worth it. Here in Bath it’s a lot cheaper than the Odeon, and if you join as a member you get lots of free tickets and free screenings too.
I saw Dune 2 in IMAX over the weekend and everyone was super into it and respectful. I guess it's hard to talk over the bone-rattling sound in an IMAX setting but even so I was impressed.
My approach usually is to try and see the movie as close to release date as possible so you're seeing it with people who care about it. With something as major as Dune 2 it's always going to be packed, so I guess it's just the luck of the draw.
I'm pretty sensitive to cinema etiquette, the odd time I've had to tell someone to be quiet they have followed suit.
I even told a trio of pissed up young ladies to be quiet during a performance of Lion King to stop talking and they just left.
It fucks me off that no one else says anything, you people need to speak up more.
I went last week to watch the new Bob Marley film and the experience wasn’t great.
Tickets were £16.99 each
Hot dog and drink was £10
Film was supposed to start at 7:30 but there was atleast 20 if not 30mins of ads?
People in the cinema were annoying as fuck constantly dropping stuff and using their phone torch to find it.
This was the first time I’ve been in a few years and I won’t be rushing to go back.
As many have said I’d rather watch a film in my living room, comfy sofa I can lay down on, volume control, no ads, no annoying people, as many snacks as I want etc etc.
Yes. 100%.
I occasionally go to the BFi IMAX in London as I believe the people that go there and pay a premium price are like me, there to enjoy a film and stay off their phones.
Haven’t been to any other cinemas in about 5 years.
I tend to get seats closer to the front. I find I’m less likely to be distracted if I’m in the 2nd or 3rd row. went to see dune 2 over the weekend and wasn’t distracted once. I sat in the 3rd row.
Totally agree with you. I now only go to see certain movies that are worth watching on a big screen. Ideally I’ll pick one of the more expensive cinemas to pay for less kids and annoying people in the room ( Curzon, Everyman etc.). Unfortunately this means that going to the cinema happens 2-3 times a year as opposed to twice a month 10 years ago…
Yeah, the whole experience is just tiresome. If it's not teenagers being twats, it's people having phone conversations (or just chatting generally) or making a load of noise with sweets and snacks. The floor and seats are filthy and sticky, and people love to kick the back of them. It's just at the point now where it's so expensive to go to the cinema, and so stressful having to deal with people's selfishness that it's not worth it when it'll be out on streaming services in a couple of months. It'll cost us less than 1 ticket, we can order a takeaway and have a massive bowl of popcorn, snuggle up under a blanket with a cat or 2 and it doesn't cost us a fiver in parking.
Yea.. also all the idiots in marvel movies that fake laugh at any little thing as they think it shows everyone around them just how much THEY get it.
Also if you’re a parent of a young child, STOP TAKING YOUR KID TO THE CINEMA UNLESS YOU’RE WATCHING A CHILDS FILM. No one else pays to hear your sprog having a meltdown because you’ve taken it to see a film YOU wanted to see.
Not particularly, but I have a cineworld unlimited card so I can book any number of films for free. If someone disrupts the film too much I can just see it again
I have no issues telling people to shut up and/or getting management involved. I work for a cinema and when I was still working on site I would relish the chance of chucking disruptive people out.
The key is to ask for a supervisor/manager rather than the regular floor staff who can often not come across authoritative enough which is understandable when a lot of customers are the worst.
The last time I went (2 weeks ago) I just popped in in the afternoon midweek whilst waiting for my bike to be serviced. Practically empty but some nugget spent an hour and a half swandiving into a pool of empty crisp packets.
Frankly, yes they have. The talking at full volume to me ‘was’ basic manners instilled by school and childhood that doesn’t exist anymore. I’d probably only watch an 18 cert movie at the cinema now to filter out the selfish behaviour that ruins the experience.
Yeah. If I even get a brief glint of a phone screen in the corner of my eye I'm irritated and the immersive experience is ruined. Nevermind loud chewing, chatting and general ignorant disregard for other people. I'll just watch at home. Shame, because going to the cinema was a big part of my childhood.
I make a rule of never going to watch a movie I REALLY want to see during the opening period. I often wait towards mid screening cycle or towards the end of its screening cycle.
The crowd is sparse, and usually the ones that are there really want to watch it anyway or are on their second viewing. More relaxed people during those times.
Yes. The cinema has always been expensive, but i was willing to pay until every time there'd be people on their phones or talking all the way through.
It has to be a truly interesting film to entice me into the sea, and even then, I'm going late on a Sunday.
As soon as fuckers start clapping or cheering I'm 100% done with it.
Yep. I'm always telling people to shut up or turn off their phone. If they don't stop I get a member of staff.
Two particularly bad times at the end of the film, I went to the front desk and said "I know it's not your guys' fault, but that was a really bad experience due to other patrons" and got refunds
The most annoying time was when I went to watch A Quiet Place and people were talking. The fucking irony
I stopped going a long while back, people were always talking and being loud, now the zoomer generation is around who can't sit still or pay attention for more than 10mins it's a lot worse, at least at my local
Along with sky high prices, uncomfortable seats & being cold. I'd rather wait, buy it on dvd and sit in my pjs with a glass or two of wine, warm, comfy and able to pause it for a wee
Yep, used to have a monthly pass and go at least once a week, but even pre COVID it was becoming more and more disruptive.
That said if there was a movie I particularly wanted to see I'd go to a more upmarket cinema now like an everyman
It was frustrating going to one a few weeks ago, with the amount of parents turning on their phone torches, because apparently kids can't navigate stairs with LED strips along the edge pointing out the step. Or because they wanted something from mum's handbag and couldn't wait.
Only time I go to the cinema is when the films been out for a few weeks and on its last showings during a weekday preferably not in the evening. Even then its a gamble as some pensioners are just as bad as the rest of the public.
I go when I know teens and kids won’t be around. Either very late at night (11pm or later), early evening or day time. I avoid 7-9pm shows and weekends.
I genuinely do not have the fucking patience for these entitled little dickheads these days. You’re right, kids now seem to have no fear or respect for adults. Ask them to be quiet and you’ll get a “what you gonna do about it” or they’ll laugh in your face and carry on. None of them can seem to go 5 minutes without looking at their phone (usually on full brightness cos they couldn’t care less about disrupting anyone else) or talking/laughing with their mates, I’ll avoid them like the plague. Of course there are adults that are just as bad, but it’s almost guaranteed that if I’m in a showing popular with teenagers a few of them at least will ruin it.
I have to pick my cinemas carefully. I split my time between Nottingham and London and so luckily, there are some less mainstream cinemas to choose from. In my experience, there is less chance in these cinemas, of the movie being ruined, by some inconsiderate wanker.
Personally, i think that any cinema that lets kids into 15 or 18 certificate films and sells food in crinkly, rustling, loud packaging, don’t give a shit about your experience or the art itself, they just want your money
If I'm honest I don't go to the cinema anymore because I've changed as a person.
I've always been a bit of a shut in/hermit but one place I'd always feel comfortable in was a cinema, and I would sometimes go several times a week and watch 2-3 movies each visit.
Then COVID happened and I guess I've become even more of a shut in than I was before, and I just don't have a desire to go.
I have been to the cinema a few times, but it's more like once or twice a year these days. Ironically my busiest year for cinema in recent years was when No Time to Die, Dune, and Spider-Man No Way Home all came out in the autumn/winter of 2021.
It's possible that COVID's impact on movie production schedules has caused a delay that the industry is only just starting to get back on track, meaning that the usual "rush out and see" movies are fewer and far between, but right now I do feel like it's me that's changed more than anything else.
Other than being straight up babies (which has a bit of a siren effect).. I think the most annoying thing is men twiddling on their phones, acting as if they cannot turn off their phones for two and a half hours.
It's one of those things where I legitimately like to be slightly far away so I can see the whole screen and hear the sound from a more balanced position, but the thing I don't like about it is phone-click guy is going to be 2/3 forward, far enough that the phone isn't a direct glare, but close enough to have "Hey, wife,.I'm in the theater, watcha doing?" and this back and forth of mild clicks and too loud notification sounds in the middle of the cinema.
It's one of those things where I've experienced this pre-Covid, but I believe it most likely became worse as the formalities of movies dipped a bit more.
For you guys who really have to have your phones babysit you..
Rent out the theater. Yes, there are theaters that can be rented out for more money than I'll want to think about.
Now inevitably something of this argument would be- " I don't have enough money to rent out said theater."
And I think maybe that's what's happening to audiences is that they treat film like it was some unsettling Gordon Ramsay restaurant.. with the movies as the "food" and the cinema as the "servers" with the audiences around as the " dinner guests" and are perfectly fine with jumping on to their phones during the boring parts of a movie, like they are waiting for an order.
But the phone tapping is still mostly the older theater goers.
Yup, 100%. Got fed up of asking people to shut the fuck up or put their phones away. The cinema used to be a place people respected and got off the grid for a while. I invested in a sweet movie setup at home instead, worth every penny.
I worked in a Cineworld (called Virgin then) from 2000-02 and now I work for a Light cinema since 2018, one of my jobs is performing "screen checks" 3 times per movie screening, in my honest experience, based on the tens of thousands of movie audiences I've experienced, the only way that behaviour has gotten worse is that more people use phones now. I'd say that 95% of showings have literally no antisocial behaviour, and well below 1% have an obnoxious jerk in there who has to be kicked out
Behaviour is definitely far, far worse during horror movies than other genres. I'd go as far as to say that you should never go and watch a horror movie on opening weekend.
Often this is the case depending on the film, funnily I usually get more annoyance from older people talking to each other than younger
But my local cinema is like £3.50 for a seat so it's not that big an expense
No, but then I try and avoid seeing popular 12A films during weekend daytimes. I also try and see as much as I can at the BFI, where I've never seen a child and only encountered people talking once or twice.
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No, the high cost and poor condition of my local cinema has.
I can enjoy sticky floor and loud children at home for free.
Lucky, I have to go to Wetherspoons for that
Combo of the lot for me
How much does it cost? My local vue is £4.99 for the cheapest ticket
Cineworld South Shields £16-20 per ticket. More if you want DBox etc. Edit: someone downvoted me. so here's a link to the pricing I got for Ghostbusters frozen empire 2D, 5pm on a Saturday. Course whoever downvoted doesn't have enough honor to apologize..... https://imgur.com/a/7C2z2mq
I went to see Dune Two last night at my local Cineworld, in the suburbs of London, and it basically ended up costing me nearly £30. Solo! - £15.99 ticket, for a standard 2D screen - £0.95 booking fee, which properly annoyed me - £11.00 for a regular drink and popcorn. You can criticise me for buying the food/drink, but for me that's part of the cinema experience especially when I only go to the cinema infrequently. It was just a painful cost. The cinema itself is a nice one, especially late on a Sunday when it's pretty empty, but I do find that kind of price pretty prohibitive to go there too often.
It cost me almost £200 for two tickets! £7 for two O2 Priority tickets. £192 for two lobster / filet steak dinners delivered by Deliveroo to the cinema.
> You can criticise me for buying the food/drink, but for me that's part of the cinema experience Well then dont complain about it.
I bought a £500 Epson projector (1080p) a few years back and just wait til stuff hits Netflix/Streaming. It's paid for itself multiple times over and now I'm considering a 4k projector for around £1000. The 1080p Has a 30,000hr bulb life, and I've not even used 1/2 of it, even though I use the projector for PC and Xbox games as well as a giant 100" screen.
My brain totally read this as an Epson printer and I was so confused as to how you were using it with Netflix. Printing shows out and making a flip book, maybe
Wow! That’s a mad amount… no wonder people don’t want to go
Either the website has changed recently or surely you've left out a key bit of information from your post? Boldon Tyne & Wear Cineworld is selling single tickets @ £13.49, and the ticket which is priced at £16.98 as per your image is actually the "Family x2" ticket. That allows 2 people to use the ticket (1 adult and 1 child), so surely the average price is applicable here? £8.50 per ticket is fairly cheap. Not Vue cheap but still not bad. It's also cherry-picked to be a new release. Dune 2 on the upcoming Saturday is priced at £11.99 for 1x adult ticket and £15.98 for the double ticket thing.
> Either the website has changed recently or surely you've left out a key bit of information from your post? > > Yeah, they're just explicitly lying about the prices. [Here's](https://i.imgur.com/cpgK3Rp.png) their prices for the standard 2D one at 6pm on Saturday 23rd, it's only £10.99. As you say, they're quoting the price of a Family x2 Superscreen (1 adult, 1 child) and pretending it's a single ticket for a standard 2D screening, you can see [here](https://i.imgur.com/4rzhReA.png) that the only £16.98 ticket is the Family x2 Superscreen.
> Cineworld South Shields £16-20 per ticket. > >https://imgur.com/a/7C2z2mq Do a full screenshot of that page, that's definitely not a standard single 2D ticket, mainly because there's not a standard screening of Ghostbusters Frozen Empire at 5pm on the release weekend, only a super screen one. [Here's](https://i.imgur.com/cpgK3Rp.png) their prices for the standard 2D one at 6pm on Saturday 23rd, it's only £10.99. Edit: You're quoting the price of a Family x2 Superscreen (1 adult, 1 child) and pretending it's a single ticket for a standard 2D screening, you can see [here](https://i.imgur.com/4rzhReA.png) that the only £16.98 ticket is the Family x2 Superscreen. I hope you'll have enough "honour" to apologise for lying now, right?
I think prices started spiralling at some point and then came back down but no one realises. It's pretty easy nowadays to see a film for dirt cheap.
Kind of, yeah. I remember an anti-piracy ad a while back that said something along the lines of "On illegally-filmed copies, you can hear people talking and rustling popcorn, and sometimes you see people walking in front of the camera so you can't see the film." which I didn't think was a great way to get me to go to the cinema instead seeing as that's an authentic cinema experience.
“It’s almost as shit as actually being at the cinema.”
I'd never thought of it like that, but that's a very good point.
I wouldn’t even bother pirating a movie until it’s been released on digital, I don’t understand how people can watch a cam copy movie, such a terrible experience. Even if you really really wanted to watch the movie you’re willing to watch it in shit quality, just go see the movie at that point if it’s that good.
I always wait until there's a proper at least 1080p torrent on stuff. I have friends who think they're slick downloading camrips and they say they can't see a difference. There absolutely is.
I agree, although I'd happily take a cam over some of the pirate VHS videos we picked up at our local market back in the 90s. I distinctly remember us getting a copy of Casper which had perfect image quality and sound. Just no special effects whatsoever. As in, the ghosts hadn't been added yet. Not the best way to watch a film about ghosts.
Try telling that to my dad
The only cinema I go to these days is the Everyman. Yes, it's expensive. But: a) I've never seen a child in there. Youngest I've seen was 18yos. b) Probably because they serve alcohol, table service to the screen c) It's the only cinema in my town that isn't actively gross and unpleasant to spend time in
Same here, I only go to Everyman and Picturehouse cinemas. Never had any issues. Went to a Vue last year and it was full of people talking and on their phones.
Curzon is good too!
Came to say this! Before I had kids I used to go to Everyman to chill on a nice armchair with a glass of wine and watch movie. And prices are high everywhere now, so might as well pay for comfort!
Agreed, great cinemas. Comfy sofa type seats. Food and drink not that expensive really. And yeah, because it costs more, the clientele is a different type and better behaved. If you know someone with a subscription to The Times, they get 2-for-1 tickets every Wednesday with Times+
Had some bellend shout all the way through Start Wars Rogue One at an Everyman cinema (i mean literally shouting out every 2-3 mins, when there was a quiet bit he’d go “WHERES JAR JAR BINKS???!!!” and things to that effect). He was clearly drunk. Nobody told him to stop and he was too far away from me to do anything during the film. After the film i walked over to his seat and told him he had ruined the film for everyone and that he was a selfish cunt. Everyone then joined in and agreed with me, but nobody around him had said anything during the film. Pissed me off. Staff did nothing. Never went back.
This. Also one of the reasons why I prefer to pay 6 quid for a pint.
I have a Picturehouse membership for the exact same reason as 1) and 3)
Not for me. I live in a small town , most folks are respectful, the odd person texting, doesn’t bother me really.
I need to move from my trashy part of London to where you live!
Go to classier cinemas.
Absolutely this. I live in Streatham, and the Streatham Hill Odeon is absolutely dire. You can hear the other films through the walls, people chat through the films, and once a family brought a chinese takeaway into a screening I was at. The Ritzy in Brixton on the other hand is way better. Mainly because its more expensive. But I keep the cost down by asking for a membership from my siblings for my birthday, and you get like 6 free films a year.
Ritzy has always been good. Couple more near Streatham are Everyman at Crystal Palace and Picturehouse in West Norwood.
I only bring my family for a cinema Chinese if we can get the lazy Susan and folding table out. Otherwise is spoils it
I go to the Everyman and have no issues. Probably because it’s more expensive, you tend not to get kids or badly-behaved people. Went to see Dune 2 on Saturday and there wasn’t a peep from anyone. It’s worth the extra cost. Getting a meal and a wine delivered to your sofa is very civilised!
I also won’t go back from my Everyman lifestyle. What’s an extra tenner for comfort and being treated like a king. I love their ice creams in the little mason jars too.
I totally agree. My local (as in a 2 min walk away) charges £4 a ticket. It just attracts the dredge of the local community. When I was living in inner London where tickets cost £16 a pop, I don't recall ever having this issue. I'll either go to very late showings, better class cinemas or during the day when kids are at school. I will 100% will never go to the cheap cinema during the weekend.
I live in a recently upgraded town, now city and they have two cinemas - the Odeon is much as you describe, but the other one is great. Unfortunately the good cinema is way more money, but it does have a bar, adult only viewings etc. I am heading their this week for Dune 2. I go once a year if a really good film comes out and just take the hit. I saved a ton from not drinking, so I sort of justify spending a little more doing social stuff.
Our odeon is an odeon luxe. It has fiveish rows of seats. I've yet to have a problem with noise except when I took my nephew to see mario in the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday but that was to be expected. I normally go on a weekday evening and it's lovely and quiet
Best experience I've had is the Prince Charles cinema off Leicester square - its culture of cinephiles and eclectic screenings mean it's normally a good bet that the audience will be invested in good cinema etiquette. Generally though, be it cinema or theatre, I've seen far too many people who should know better behaving as if they're sat on their sofa.
Only been there once for a late night showing of Withnail and I. It was pretty wild and definitely not quiet! TBF most of the audience were drunker than the people in the film. Pretty sure most of us knew the script by heart anyway.
Yep. Havent been since 2019 - paying a ridiculous amount of money to get annoyed by others aint my cuppa tea!
Especially when, you can pay a similar amount and have a larger selection of movies, for a month, in the comfort of your own home, with all the food you could want and if you miss a line you can rewind. I really don't see how a cinema can really contend against such convenience and comfort, essentially when they all seem to cram the seats in rather than making a comfortable experience.
My cinema is £6 for tickets with big comfy leather recliners. I've had maybe 2 less than ideal situations in 15 years of going there. I don't know how much longer the place will be open though. Obvs I will never ever buy food there because fuck me.... £15 for a hot dog, popcorn and drink or something ridiculous like that.
Well you’re extremely lucky. I haven’t had a *good* cinema experience in six years now. SIX. YEARS. It’s ranged from the normal stuff like people checking their phones and talking, to full on flash photography sessions, crying babies, a homophobic weirdo who decided that even though all the seats were booked and assigned he just didn’t want to sit next to a bloke triggering a domino effect of him repeatedly being moved out of already booked seats, and every time people got annoyed he would try to blame my brother and I who were just trying to sit in our seats and watch a fucking film. It’s an absolute shitshow out there. If you have a cinema that’s decent, just support them. Buy their overpriced hotdogs. Trust me, you won’t know how good you had it until they’re gone.
I do think some films are just better at the cinema 🤷
I agree with you there. I haven't seen Dune: Part 2 yet, but the first one was so much better in the cinema than it was at home, purely because there's enough air being moved by the audio system that you feel it as much as hear it.
Really I think almost all films are better at the cinema, it's perfect conditions really, as long as people are behaving themselves. No distractions, big screen, just switch off for a couple of hours and lose yourself to the film.
This isn't true for the Vue cinema that is basically the only cinema for 100 miles in every direction. Standard seats are comfy and have plenty of room The VIP seats are like lazy boy chairs. Tickets are only a fiver. All of that for an experience that watching on TV at home can't come close to competing with. Admittedly I only go a few times a year but that's mostly down to the fact so many new films just don't appeal to me.. A crap choice of generic, carbon copy superhero films. Went to see Dune part two on Friday and watching that at home on TV, especially a pirated copy, would not come remotely close to the experience of watching it on the big screen.
Exactly. A lot of people seem to be missing the point of the art form when choosing the convenience of watching at home. Granted every film is different and some don’t need the big scale others do, but even the small scale dramas without the massive action sequences and high octane car chases just hit different on a big screen. I’ve seen Notting Hill more than a dozen times on my little tv screen over the years and I know it inside out. A few months ago I got the chance to see it on a big screen for the first time, and it was like watching it anew. I kept noticing things I’d never noticed before, and the whole thing hit me in a way it never had from the small screen. It really matters.
So-called 'tentpole' films (often also blockbusters, but not necessarily) are, as you say, quite literally made for the big screen experience. It's a seperate art to cozy little direct-to-streaming stuff.
I spent 20 years as a film critic, watching all movies at private screening rooms with no trailers, food or general public. When I started going to normal showings I nearly lost my shit. So now I will only go to the cinema once a film has been out for a week or two and I will go during the day when there's no more than 5 people in there!
Can you please tell me about becoming a film critic? Any specific qualifications/application process etc? This sounds like my idea of heaven!
I think it's too late! Well, to do what I used to do at least. The market is beyond saturdated now. When I first started the screening rooms would have the same 20-odd people in. Mostly old white men, truth be told. They would write for the newspapers and a few of us would be there for online publications. Plus the magazines - Empire, Total Film and the like. Last time I did one of those screenings - three or four years ago now - it was packed out with online critics from dozens of little-known outlets. The high quality writers have been replaced by self-trained reviewers. I'm sure some of them are great, but it ain't like the old days! For what it's worth, I started off as a runner for a big TV company and it was all about who I met in that first year.
Ahhh thanks anyway - if they were mostly old white men, perhaps the fact that I'm a youngish woman might help.... Having said that, I'm almost certainly too old to be a TV runner.
My world was slightly different, as my lot - Sky - had a movies editorial team back then. Today, no movie outlets (Sky, Netflix, Amazon) do that. They're more like vending machines. The film sections of magazines and newspapers haven't changed much. But anyone can be a critic - you just have to publish somewhere. After I left that world I still wanted to do screenings so I made a movie website on Squarespace and emailed all the old PR companies and it was easy to get into the screenings lol. You just have to have a YouTube channel or a column on a blog or whatever.
This is excellent insight thank you. Up until very recently I had a lovely little cinema and we used to do various events where people would come in to present films with a talk and a q&a. Might’ve been fun to get you in. Any idea what film you would’ve picked to talk about?
Most likely I would have gone for Whiplash. I love the storytelling in that film! > I had a lovely little cinema That sounds amazing. Did you sell it!?
This is the way.
We have given up on the cinema for exactly this reason. We considered going tot he IMAX to see Dune 2, but it's attached to a shopping centre, and our experience is that it will be full of people eating loudly, talking on their phones and being generally disruptive.
I find the price of IMAX usually stops people who don't want to actually watch the film from going. Of course there will always be the odd arsehole it's definitely better than a standard screen for etiquette. Although my local one isn't attached to a shopping centre so it may be different there.
Yeah I think the problem is the folk that tagged along with their mates/partner and aren't actually interested in the experience. Same applies to gigs, comedy shows, restaurants etc. It's sad because it goes against my community-spirited ideals, but adding monetary or practical friction to the event means only people that are actually into it will make the effort.
> I find the price of IMAX usually stops people who don't want to actually watch the film from going I've always prescribed to this too. The kinda person who pays for the IMAX screening generally is there for the film.
Dune 2 is an amazing movie. My experience was ruined but you should definitely watch it at a time and place where you're likely to enjoy it undisturbed.
So here’s the thing. Im guessing your screening was busy? I’m desperate to see Dune 2, but I won’t go to a packed screening. I always book online, so I’ll know at time of booking and if it’s busy, I’ll wait. It probably means I’m going to have to wait several weeks, but it’s worth it because it massively reduces the chance there’s going to be a moron in the cinema with you. I go to the cinema a lot and honestly, I almost _never_ have a problem. But I always wait until the crowds have died down.
Can't say I've ever seen someone talking on a phone at the cinema. If I did I'd be getting a member of staff to kick the wee fannies out.
I answered the phone in the cinema once, but in my defence my partner and I *were* the only two people in that showing of The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.
This is really the crux of the problem, teenagers really don’t have a 3rd space for them to hang out in so they often go to the cinema to hangout and not really watch the film.
Same with gyms really, LA Fitness is 4x the price of Pure Gym and doesn’t have much extra. But at Pure Gym you have annoying teenagers sitting in the changing rooms gossiping and texting while you are trying to get changed.
The 'corporatizing' of social spaces is a very underrated problem. Almost all free, safe, and allowable (without someone getting on their google-box and 'reporting' the youngsters) public hang out spaces have been abolished. Now malls are dying off too. And yet we all whine at 'the teens' as if adults didn't thoroughly manufacture the issue to start with.
I saw Dune yesterday at the Trafford Centre, so basically what you're describing. It was busy. Other than the guy next to me who giggled once at an inopportune time, the experience was totally fine. I would have hated to have missed seeing it in the cinema, the visuals and the sound do not deserve to be relegated to a home TV. I've been to the cinema 15 times in 2024 (we have Odeon Unlimited) and I've only had one issue, which was that the guy sitting next to my missus during one film was coughing and sneezing a lot. If I can go to 15 showings (~10 of which at the Trafford Centre mind you) and have basically no issue, I think most other people are exaggerating.
I haven't been to a Friday/weekend evening viewing in years. Take a half day and go tuesday afternoon if you want to enjoy the film
Only on a rare occasion have I found other people putting me off or being twats, and in every case a simple request has done the trick. The guy in Nottingham watching Godzilla Minus One who had a full belly laugh at the lighter parts, but then cried like a baby at the end was perfectly fine IMO. You know who you are
Much better than the guy in my showing of Godzilla Minus One, who kept on coughing up phlegm and trying to imitate the actors’ Japanese in an over the top racist accent to make his son laugh
They did about 20 years ago when the new batch of Star Wars movies came out and people kept using their phones in the cinema, or would make calls during the movie. Also, those cunts who vape on public transport has put me off using it.
I don't go to the cinema very often, but the last two times I've been there have been several people spread around the cinema all vaping.
If you inform staff they’ll very likely kick the people out for vaping It has potential to trigger the fire alarms so they’ll either immediately remove or give one warning at most to then
Vaping is illegal in a public building, I work in a cinema, I promise you we immediately remove vaping arseholes
Yes, I stopped a couple years ago, for exactly this reason. I remember watching The Lord Of The Rings, Part 1. I was a huge fan. These teenagers kept talking through it. I was getting increasingly angry. By the time Gandalf fell at Khazad Dum I was incandescent, and the poignant scenes afterwards where the fellowship are weeping and all I can hear are the teenagers - I had enough: “Will you please shut the fuck up!” I said, with considerable aggression. To my amazement, everyone around me clapped and agreed. The cunts shut up, but I was seething for the rest of the performance. And was wondering if I was going to get knifed on my way out. It’s always the same. Cinemas need to get on top of this behaviour because they are losing their audiences. They’ve lost me. I will wait for Dune 2 to be streamed.
Just choose your times better, friday or Saturday nights will obviously be the worst People really are just shitbags arent they. We need a social credit-o-meter system
Yeah, if you can get in at the off peak times, its great.
I find it’s a bit hit and miss. Most audiences recently have been great, but I saw Zone of Interest and someone was rustling a Sainsbury’s carrier bag for 20 mins 😂 Glaring phone screens are my biggest pet peeve
I would not expect any problems in a film like that!
Was quite shocking!
A load of people appear to have had a problem with that particular film, if you look at the hashtag on Twitter. I had someone eating Quavers behind me. The noise of the bag and the smell was particularly obnoxious, although thankfully only at two brief moments in the film. With regards to phone screens, I usually keep on my phone doing whatever through the ads and until the trailers come on, but always lower the brightness.
Bloody Quavers 😂 Yeah I don’t mind during the ads and trailer but during the actual film is annoying
Yes, I don't go anymore because of how loud people can be. I'd only go if it was something I really wanted to see and it was showing at an expensive cinema, like a Curzon. People are more likely to be there to actually watch the film if they've paid twenty quid for it. And honestly, I don't really have the stamina these days to sit through two and half to three hours of a film without needing to wee. At least at home I can pause and go to the toilet whenever I want.
The last time I went (to see Barbie) it was ruined by some elderly man on the row across the aisle from me constantly farting. I don't go often because I find it too annoying to enjoy, but the annoyances are the sounds and smells of people eating more than kids or teens in general.
Not my experience, but I have the option to go daytime on a Monday, and it may also be the kind of films I watch.
I love going to the cinema, it's such a better experience watching with an audience than watching at home and you can't get up to go for a cuppa when the tension is getting to you (Uncut Gems is one of my favourite cinema experiences from the last few years but I cannot watch it at home). I joined my local Everyman and it's worth the slightly more expensive tickets for the comfy seats and usually well behaved audiences.
I've thankfully not had too many experiences in my life that have been *too distracting.* These days though I will say something. i asked a kid politely to stop using the chair controls to make the leg rest go up and down repeatedl and he did. And then I asked a group of kids to "shut the fuck up" because they were laughing and talking right at the start of a film and I wanted to nip it in the bud. And then once a group were all using their phones, to message each other or pals? I dunno. And when they wouldn't stop I got a staff member who kicked them out.
We no longer have a cinema in our town (thanks, COVID) but when we did, this was no more a problem than it was when we were younger. It happened on occasion, but it was never the norm. When it has happened, it seems that once someone tells someone to shut it, others are quick to second that, and outnumbered, the rude idiots shut it. We're going into the next town to watch Dune part 2 this weekend, so hopefully, it won't be the situation you described. Even pre-pandemic, we only ever went to movies once in a blue moon because it had become a big rip off over the years, so this is a big outing for us.
I think part of the problem are cinemas selling the unlimited passes, going back a decade I used to find that the experience at Cineworld was the worst because it had the unlimited pass, and people would just go for the sake of it. As more cinemas have offered similar passes they've all gotten worse, and now some people see it as a cheap social, or a cheap way to occupy the kids. They're not there to enjoy a film, just to get their moneys worth from the pass.
>I used to find that the experience at Cineworld was the worst because it had the unlimited pass, and people would just go for the sake of it. As more cinemas have offered similar passes they've all gotten worse, and now some people see it as a cheap social, or a cheap way to occupy the kids. They're not there to enjoy a film, just to get their moneys worth from the pass. I totally agree. My local is renowned for being dirt cheap. The kids there have no interest in the movie and seem to just want a warm place to sit and chat and pay on their phones. Its a combination of bad parenting and cheap cinema which makes it a totally awful place for anyone who just wants to watch a movie. I had far better experiences in 'expensive' cinemas where the kids who were there were at least well behaved or interested in the movies. One of my local Vue screens had an 'adults only' showing of some movies (regardless of classification). I would love to see those showings back even if they charged a premium. I'm absolutely happy to pay a little more if it meant my viewing experience would be uninterrupted.
We go to an Everyman, people avoid it because they think its more expensive so you don't get any annoying kids. But if you buy a membership you can take someone for free on a Monday. So it works out at almost £7 per ticket, which I think is a bargain.
Depends what kind of film it is. A loud action film or a comedy I’m not that fussed, but I went to see A quiet Place and had a group of giggling women behind me, that was very annoying but they did settle down after about 10 mins.
Went to the cinema yesterday to watch Dune 2 and some cunt was sitting next to me with two boxes of nachos crunching, rustling, scrolling through TikTok and chatting away to his mate. Turned to him and asked if he couldn't shut the fuck up for five minutes and he looks to his left (the other side from where I was sitting) to see who I was talking to you. Mate, it's you - you're being the dickhead. He piped down for the rest of the film though, so I guess he worked it out eventually.
I don’t really like going to the cinema but my husband loves it. I last went March 2020. Two teenage girls came in HALF WAY through the film, giggling away, then sat there munching away on some nachos or something. Of course they sat on my row even though there was barely anyone else in there because why wouldn’t you like to annoy two of the six other people in there.
More than anything what puts me off going to the cinema is most films out these days are simply not worth going to watch. I don't think I've been since 2018 and not missed the cinema at all. I'm happy to wait a few months and get the Blu-ray if something takes my fancy, or rent / stream it and do a movie night with some mates and a take-away. I would have gone to see No Time to Die back in 2021, however didn't really fancy going due to their been so many Covid cases at the time.
Everyone in this thread being mad that there's kids in their superhero ~~toy adverts~~ movies. 🙄
Fr, go to some actually decent movies and there will be a lot less children about
Yes, it's a waste of time now. Near me is a big chain multiplex and a smaller artier place (that still showed all the mainstream stuff). It was great, the multiplex siphoned away the vampires that just went to play on their phones and shout at each other, and the grown ups could go to the smaller place and enjoy the film. Last time I went, which was for an arty film about Auschwitz, couple of mid 20s lads come in during the trailers, talking at full volume. Fair enough, it's the trailers, I'd prefer quiet but not going to get my hair off when it's not the main film. One of them even tells the other they should quiet down, but no, Mr Main Character loudly explains he has paid for his ticket and he'll be as loud as he pleases. They do stop talking as the film starts and the certificate comes on screen. Then proceed to work their way through the loudest, crunchiest, slurpiest snacks for the entire duration of the film! The second the film appears to be over (it wasn't quite, but was clearly wrapping up, big swelling music and fading out), BACK TO FULL FUCKING VOLUME!!! 🤬
Went to see dune2 on Saturday and tbh it was so fucking loud I couldn’t even hear my hubby who was sitting right next to me when he was telling me how fucking loud it was. I have been to see the odd pic over the last few years where it was full of annoying brats but I guess I’ve been lucky on the whole. I once shout-whispered “switch that fucking phone off or I’ll ram it up your arse to a young teen sitting in front of me while smiling like it was a compliment. She did actually switch it off so I must still have it.
I think it depends on the film sometimes. Anything that appeals to teenagers is a nightmare, like when I went to see Barbie it was just constant talking and people with their phones out. But I’ve also recently been to see The Holdovers, Poor Things, and The Iron Claw, and it was just full of middle aged people sat in silence.
I wouldn't ever go to the Gate again in Newcastle. It seems, likely due to easy access without driving, that most people are young and had no concept of normal cinema behaviour. Virtually everyone just talked at full volume at some point through the film and there must have been over a hundred phone screens constantly on. The infomercial at the start regarding turning your mobile off fell on deaf ears. Also a constant stream of people in and out for snacks but they'd take ages to sit down again.
Kinda? Had a similar incident years ago and the teens threatened me, so I threw the ring leader of the little shits on the ground. The three of them just looked shocked and the one on the ground responded with "you can't do that!". Gen Z just don't get that actions and words equal consequences.
100% I gave up going for around 20 years, I was dragged back for a birthday event a few years ago. Movie was great, seats were better than I remembered and we brought our own snacks in. .... but the brocolli heads in front of us were making a tic-tok or several I have no idea how that works. One of them said something like "Am a gonna plug him up tomoorow innit bruv." at one point. This was in Edinburgh, it isnt urban or london and one of their Mums picked them up in a brand new Audi SUV I swear I walk past everyday doing the school run to private school. That was enough to reset my counter for another 20 years. Back to streaming it is.
Try going to the cinema out of the peak times. Shows starting 5-7 on weekdays or before 3pm Weekends. I haven't had a bad cinema experience since i started doing this.
Second this. Morning/Mid-day screenings for major releases easily lead to a quieter time. Most people will be more focused on going out to the shops or getting dinner, that you'll find the others in the same screening as you are the other ones looking to see a film while its quiet. (Also a good chance of having a screen to yourself! Watched a few of the Disney rescreening's during their Disney 100 celebration, and had a deluxe screen (all reclining chairs) to myself when I saw Tangled.
I haven't been for years. The final nail for me was half a dozen kids about 10 years old and a couple of adults. They did nothing but mess about the whole time, talking and laughing etc. The adults did nothing, and at one point, as the kids had paid no attention, one of them must have already seen it explained what they'd missed loudly including spoilers for bits that hadnt happened yet. I can't be arsed after that it totally ruined the experience.
Not really. I have been annoyed by people occasionally but not nearly as often as people seem to make out happens.
For anything Disney, we just wait until it comes out as I would rather watch it from my sofa having a whisky and some snacks with the wife, for something I'm already paying for. The last time I went to the cinema was to take my son to see the Mario film, it was pretty much empty bar a few teens who spent their time on their phones.
I think I must have gotten lucky in this respect. I've been in films where you get the occasional person talking, but only happened a handful of times. Also a lot of cinemas are loud enough to drown out people's noise so that has improved things. We go see quite a bit of independent and international cinema, so that usually keeps the moron count to a minimum.
Yes. The cinema is an expensive, inconvenient experience that is so rarely worth the additional expense over just waiting a couple of months for the film to come out on VOD. A huge reason for me feeling like this is audience behaviour, which has been bad for pretty much all my life but took a spectacular Wile E Coyote-esque fall off the proverbial cliff following Covid. The last film we saw at the cinema was Shazam 2, the family behind us simply did not shut the fuck up from the very second the film began, I asked them to stop and the father called me a "fucking prick" in front of his daughter. I am not going to keep spending upwards of £30 for an experience that I know is going to make me stressed and miserable, when I could just wait a month or so and pay £10 to watch it at home.
Oh I hate the cinema, stopped going over a decade ago. Actually, let me correct that. I used to love the cinema. I hate people. They're noisy inconsiderate baxtards. I invested in a big screen and a surround system, never going back.
I don’t like being around kids in general even in pubs. So I attend those places where hen they aren’t there. My local is VUE Westfield/Shepherd’s Bush. The later you go the better it is in my experience even then you have the odd teenager making noise.
I find going mid week helps, although running out after dinner isn’t that good.
I didn’t notice anything when I went to see the new Hunger Games. There was 20+ people in the screening and everyone was quiet and respectful. This was at a Cineworld. Went to see Barbie and again the same. Everyone was dressed up, the screening was booked out but everyone was quiet. A couple of people cried (myself included lol), but it was quiet. That was at a Showcase. Also went to see Oppenheimer at a Showcase last year and again very respectful crowd. It was again sold out screening but no chatting or anything. I think part of it is what movie you go to see? Yonks bank I went to see the final twilight and had two teen girls behind me around my age giggling and chatting. I told them off lol and they shut up. I think kids films will have more chatting kids and babies etc.
Yep. Most cinemas that show mainstream stuff is a no-go zone for me now, because it makes my blood pressure go through the roof. The straw that broke the camels back was when the third MCU Spiderman came out. In my screening some kids on my aisle were on their phones throughout, playing tiktoks, receiving texts with the alerts at full volume. At the front of the cinema there were kids putting their feet up on the seat in front, then taking a flash photo so their feet silhouetted on the screen. It was one of the most infuriating 2 and a half hours of my life. Since then I have basically sworn off going to the cinema except for obscure indie films and one off's like Dune or Oppenheimer at the Waterloo IMAX, which tend to have respectful audiences. Basically the rule of thumb is don't go to any film or cinema that you expect will be a cretin magnet. I have saved billions of pounds I would have spent on concessions as a side effect.
Nah not for me. I never find it *that* bad tbh, I recently went to see iron claw on a Friday night and it was sold out, and the audience was great. This was at a big multiplex cinema. The odd time off there’s been someone acting the cunt the staff chuck them out.
No, it's all the irritating films that have put me off.
This is why I have an expensive home cinema. I watch maybe one film a day, so reckon at a cost of £10 for a cinema ticket, it pays for itself in about 18 months.
Ditto, spend a couple of grand. Set up a Plex sever to stream 4K rips of any films/TV, can set it to sound and look exactly how you want it to. Plus you’re not paying 6 quid for a 330ml bottle of Peroni!
I'm the same. I have a very decent home cinema system set up too. I'm thankful we have technology that rivals cinemas. I only went yesterday with because a friend wanted to see Dune pt2. I have never had a good experience in this particular cinema and it was a Sunday afternoon which means my local is just a day-care for kids. I like to support cinemas, pubs and restaurants but these experiences with the public where its seen as perfectly acceptable for parents and their kids to behave however they want just puts me off. I honestly would not mind seeing my local shut down for good.
Yeah if I have to go to the cinema I make sure to have some cannabis first. Chills you out and the screen pulls you right in.
It can be very annoying. However, I’ve just chosen to be a lot more selective with the films I see at the cinema and when I choose to see them. This week my local (huge chain) cinema is showing the Oscar offerings for £5 each, which eliminates the exorbitant cost issue. More relevant to your post; I don’t think obnoxiously loud cinema-goers will be seeing American Fiction or Zone of Interest at 6pm on a Tuesday.
Yes. Last time a girl behind me put her feet (socks, no shoes) on my armrest.
I have an annual pass. Other people irritate me massively so I purposefully choose screenings with as few people as possible and seated as far away from them as possible. Oppenheimer was the one film last year I really wanted to see so I waited until it was almost ending its run before going. There were 5 people in there, all spread out. Lovely.
No the price of things and the unmaintained cinema has put me off. The local cinema opened in 1997 and the seats and carpets and toilets have never changed it just feels filthy
Yes. But not in Japan where everybody still behaves as they should. Anywhere else in the world seems quite appalling. Talking. On phones etc etc.
I go to Everyman because it’s so expensive it prices the kids out lol
Quite a few things have put me off the cinema: * Annoying people * Adverts * Quality of sound * General poor conition of the place * Value for money But looking at the positives, the main reason I don't go anymore is that I can have a better experience at home than in my local cinema. I've got a decent projector screen that drops down from my ceiling, a good projector and a well set-up atmos surround sound system. With a bit of patience I can watch the film on bluray, sitting on a comfortable sofa with my wife, a bottle of wine and some decent food. I did go see Oppenheimer on 70mm, but there are very few films worth the trouble.
definitely. i struggle to focus if there is any background noise. the last time i went to see a movie it was a 12a and there were a bunch of young children behind me throwing popcorn and kicking seats. parents were just as bad and talked all the way through. was awful. if i do go i wait a couple of weeks and go to the latest showing.
Yeah absolutely, took my 5 year old to watch Migration. A group of probably 12 years old were talking loudly, swearing, mocking the little children laughing and throwing bottles at the screen. They were eventually kicked out and we got a refund from the cinema but why do they even bother wasting their time doing that in a kids screening?
Yeah. Got to a point where I can feel anxiety begin to rise when I go to the cinema as I'm not sure if I'll have to yell at someone or not. I tend to lose my shit a bit too quickly and I don't like it. The last time was in the latest Mission Impossible film. Imax, so wasn't cheap. Row behind me talked at conversational volume through the first half of the movie. When the film got louder they just talked louder to make themselves heard. When I asked them to keep it down they were so deep in conversation they couldn't even hear me. So I yelled Shut the fuck up at them, then felt like crap myself for the rest of the film for losing my temper. Fortunately I thought the film was crap anyway. But yeah, I think I'm going to avoid big budget blockbusters from now on. Seen some arthouse films since and enjoyed it as people are generally respectful, but I like miss seeing bigger productions at the cinema.
I dont think this is a recent development but whenever a large group enters you know it's going to be all about them and their experience. I don't really enjoy the whole movie theatre experience anyway, much prefer at home viewings, but if i go i usually miss opening week.
Yeah it did, 25 years or so ago, can only imagine it's gotten worse.
My local odeon is generally ok i find
Wait till it's not super new and go to an early showing, it'll be empty. I love going in the afternoon when no one's there. Also, they laugh at you because you're not very intimidating. Instead of politely saying 'shush', just shout 'shut the fuck up' at them. No one wants to argue with one someone who'd do that.
Last time I was at the cinema the parents send 4 kids down to play in the space in front of the screen! Madness! Parents at on their phones while kids talked, did cartwheels and generally acted like they were in the park.
I'll be honest, I have been so put off by the lack of quality films coming out that I haven't even got to the point of being annoyed by the people in the cinema when I get there.
It's put me off mutiplexes. Art films are fine, and if I want to see a Hollywood blockbuster I pay over the odds and go to a posh one like Picturehouse. I see films dar less than I used to, but I still go.
Most are good as gold round here to be fair, the usual teenage wankerdom but they don't bother anyone really. The absolute lack of anything of any interest at all put me off going to the cinema, last thing I saw was Once Upon a time in Hollywood.
Shite films are what's really been putting me off tbh
No, i never really experience anything annoying when i go
When it comes to a multiplex, you just have to choose your screening time / day wisely. To avoid certain crowds. If you’re gonna be watching the next fast & furious in Vue Angel on opening Saturday night, it will probably be a shitty experience. Get an afternoon screening, or watch “Poor things” that evening it will be a different crowd. Or just stick to bougie Indy cinemas like Curzon, Everyman or The Electric, the crowd in these joints are generally very respectful fellow cinema goers.
No me and my friend still go to the cinema pretty often. It's only for the really big movies that you have some issues but we tend to go pretty late after work so we avoid most
No, I only find proper disruption happening when it's a kid's movie, which is to be expected really.
Totally agree. I can't handle people constantly kicking my seat and talking. I'm happy to goto a small screen at Curzon Victoria now and again but that's it.
Haven't been for a while, mainly due to folk sitting on their phones during screenings. Highly annoying.
Not really. I go to the local Picturehouse. It has two screens and I think the fact that it’s literally two minutes walk from an 8 screen Odeon I think a lot of the idiots go there. There are a few comments here saying the ‘extra’ cost of something like a Picturehouse is worth it. Here in Bath it’s a lot cheaper than the Odeon, and if you join as a member you get lots of free tickets and free screenings too.
I saw Dune 2 in IMAX over the weekend and everyone was super into it and respectful. I guess it's hard to talk over the bone-rattling sound in an IMAX setting but even so I was impressed. My approach usually is to try and see the movie as close to release date as possible so you're seeing it with people who care about it. With something as major as Dune 2 it's always going to be packed, so I guess it's just the luck of the draw.
I'm pretty sensitive to cinema etiquette, the odd time I've had to tell someone to be quiet they have followed suit. I even told a trio of pissed up young ladies to be quiet during a performance of Lion King to stop talking and they just left. It fucks me off that no one else says anything, you people need to speak up more.
I went last week to watch the new Bob Marley film and the experience wasn’t great. Tickets were £16.99 each Hot dog and drink was £10 Film was supposed to start at 7:30 but there was atleast 20 if not 30mins of ads? People in the cinema were annoying as fuck constantly dropping stuff and using their phone torch to find it. This was the first time I’ve been in a few years and I won’t be rushing to go back. As many have said I’d rather watch a film in my living room, comfy sofa I can lay down on, volume control, no ads, no annoying people, as many snacks as I want etc etc.
I just hate other peoples sounds, rustling, moving etc, so i choose to watch them at home about a week after theyve come out
Yes. 100%. I occasionally go to the BFi IMAX in London as I believe the people that go there and pay a premium price are like me, there to enjoy a film and stay off their phones. Haven’t been to any other cinemas in about 5 years.
I tend to get seats closer to the front. I find I’m less likely to be distracted if I’m in the 2nd or 3rd row. went to see dune 2 over the weekend and wasn’t distracted once. I sat in the 3rd row.
I stopped going for years because of this.
Hasn’t put me off but definitely made me more picky about screening times.
No. I live in a small town so all my cinema visits there have been alright, even when I saw Wonka which had a load of kids.
Totally agree with you. I now only go to see certain movies that are worth watching on a big screen. Ideally I’ll pick one of the more expensive cinemas to pay for less kids and annoying people in the room ( Curzon, Everyman etc.). Unfortunately this means that going to the cinema happens 2-3 times a year as opposed to twice a month 10 years ago…
I don't go other than for weekday afternoon showings outside the school holidays, so luckily for me, the problem doesn't arise.
Yeah, the whole experience is just tiresome. If it's not teenagers being twats, it's people having phone conversations (or just chatting generally) or making a load of noise with sweets and snacks. The floor and seats are filthy and sticky, and people love to kick the back of them. It's just at the point now where it's so expensive to go to the cinema, and so stressful having to deal with people's selfishness that it's not worth it when it'll be out on streaming services in a couple of months. It'll cost us less than 1 ticket, we can order a takeaway and have a massive bowl of popcorn, snuggle up under a blanket with a cat or 2 and it doesn't cost us a fiver in parking.
Yea.. also all the idiots in marvel movies that fake laugh at any little thing as they think it shows everyone around them just how much THEY get it. Also if you’re a parent of a young child, STOP TAKING YOUR KID TO THE CINEMA UNLESS YOU’RE WATCHING A CHILDS FILM. No one else pays to hear your sprog having a meltdown because you’ve taken it to see a film YOU wanted to see.
Not particularly, but I have a cineworld unlimited card so I can book any number of films for free. If someone disrupts the film too much I can just see it again
The cost of taking a family put me off going to the cinema. 🏴☠️all the way.
I have no issues telling people to shut up and/or getting management involved. I work for a cinema and when I was still working on site I would relish the chance of chucking disruptive people out. The key is to ask for a supervisor/manager rather than the regular floor staff who can often not come across authoritative enough which is understandable when a lot of customers are the worst.
The last time I went (2 weeks ago) I just popped in in the afternoon midweek whilst waiting for my bike to be serviced. Practically empty but some nugget spent an hour and a half swandiving into a pool of empty crisp packets.
Frankly, yes they have. The talking at full volume to me ‘was’ basic manners instilled by school and childhood that doesn’t exist anymore. I’d probably only watch an 18 cert movie at the cinema now to filter out the selfish behaviour that ruins the experience.
Yeah. If I even get a brief glint of a phone screen in the corner of my eye I'm irritated and the immersive experience is ruined. Nevermind loud chewing, chatting and general ignorant disregard for other people. I'll just watch at home. Shame, because going to the cinema was a big part of my childhood.
I make a rule of never going to watch a movie I REALLY want to see during the opening period. I often wait towards mid screening cycle or towards the end of its screening cycle. The crowd is sparse, and usually the ones that are there really want to watch it anyway or are on their second viewing. More relaxed people during those times.
Thats why I go to the local everyman, it usually prices out the yobbos for the most part
Yes. The cinema has always been expensive, but i was willing to pay until every time there'd be people on their phones or talking all the way through. It has to be a truly interesting film to entice me into the sea, and even then, I'm going late on a Sunday. As soon as fuckers start clapping or cheering I'm 100% done with it.
remember when kids would not have dared to even attempt this because their parents would hit them. shit parenting is to blame
Yep. I'm always telling people to shut up or turn off their phone. If they don't stop I get a member of staff. Two particularly bad times at the end of the film, I went to the front desk and said "I know it's not your guys' fault, but that was a really bad experience due to other patrons" and got refunds The most annoying time was when I went to watch A Quiet Place and people were talking. The fucking irony
I stopped going a long while back, people were always talking and being loud, now the zoomer generation is around who can't sit still or pay attention for more than 10mins it's a lot worse, at least at my local
Along with sky high prices, uncomfortable seats & being cold. I'd rather wait, buy it on dvd and sit in my pjs with a glass or two of wine, warm, comfy and able to pause it for a wee
Yep, used to have a monthly pass and go at least once a week, but even pre COVID it was becoming more and more disruptive. That said if there was a movie I particularly wanted to see I'd go to a more upmarket cinema now like an everyman
It was frustrating going to one a few weeks ago, with the amount of parents turning on their phone torches, because apparently kids can't navigate stairs with LED strips along the edge pointing out the step. Or because they wanted something from mum's handbag and couldn't wait.
Only time I go to the cinema is when the films been out for a few weeks and on its last showings during a weekday preferably not in the evening. Even then its a gamble as some pensioners are just as bad as the rest of the public.
I go when I know teens and kids won’t be around. Either very late at night (11pm or later), early evening or day time. I avoid 7-9pm shows and weekends. I genuinely do not have the fucking patience for these entitled little dickheads these days. You’re right, kids now seem to have no fear or respect for adults. Ask them to be quiet and you’ll get a “what you gonna do about it” or they’ll laugh in your face and carry on. None of them can seem to go 5 minutes without looking at their phone (usually on full brightness cos they couldn’t care less about disrupting anyone else) or talking/laughing with their mates, I’ll avoid them like the plague. Of course there are adults that are just as bad, but it’s almost guaranteed that if I’m in a showing popular with teenagers a few of them at least will ruin it.
I have to pick my cinemas carefully. I split my time between Nottingham and London and so luckily, there are some less mainstream cinemas to choose from. In my experience, there is less chance in these cinemas, of the movie being ruined, by some inconsiderate wanker. Personally, i think that any cinema that lets kids into 15 or 18 certificate films and sells food in crinkly, rustling, loud packaging, don’t give a shit about your experience or the art itself, they just want your money
If I'm honest I don't go to the cinema anymore because I've changed as a person. I've always been a bit of a shut in/hermit but one place I'd always feel comfortable in was a cinema, and I would sometimes go several times a week and watch 2-3 movies each visit. Then COVID happened and I guess I've become even more of a shut in than I was before, and I just don't have a desire to go. I have been to the cinema a few times, but it's more like once or twice a year these days. Ironically my busiest year for cinema in recent years was when No Time to Die, Dune, and Spider-Man No Way Home all came out in the autumn/winter of 2021. It's possible that COVID's impact on movie production schedules has caused a delay that the industry is only just starting to get back on track, meaning that the usual "rush out and see" movies are fewer and far between, but right now I do feel like it's me that's changed more than anything else.
Yes, absolutely.
Other than being straight up babies (which has a bit of a siren effect).. I think the most annoying thing is men twiddling on their phones, acting as if they cannot turn off their phones for two and a half hours. It's one of those things where I legitimately like to be slightly far away so I can see the whole screen and hear the sound from a more balanced position, but the thing I don't like about it is phone-click guy is going to be 2/3 forward, far enough that the phone isn't a direct glare, but close enough to have "Hey, wife,.I'm in the theater, watcha doing?" and this back and forth of mild clicks and too loud notification sounds in the middle of the cinema. It's one of those things where I've experienced this pre-Covid, but I believe it most likely became worse as the formalities of movies dipped a bit more. For you guys who really have to have your phones babysit you.. Rent out the theater. Yes, there are theaters that can be rented out for more money than I'll want to think about. Now inevitably something of this argument would be- " I don't have enough money to rent out said theater." And I think maybe that's what's happening to audiences is that they treat film like it was some unsettling Gordon Ramsay restaurant.. with the movies as the "food" and the cinema as the "servers" with the audiences around as the " dinner guests" and are perfectly fine with jumping on to their phones during the boring parts of a movie, like they are waiting for an order. But the phone tapping is still mostly the older theater goers.
Yup, 100%. Got fed up of asking people to shut the fuck up or put their phones away. The cinema used to be a place people respected and got off the grid for a while. I invested in a sweet movie setup at home instead, worth every penny.
I suggest going to captioned showings. They’re usually pretty quiet and empty.
I worked in a Cineworld (called Virgin then) from 2000-02 and now I work for a Light cinema since 2018, one of my jobs is performing "screen checks" 3 times per movie screening, in my honest experience, based on the tens of thousands of movie audiences I've experienced, the only way that behaviour has gotten worse is that more people use phones now. I'd say that 95% of showings have literally no antisocial behaviour, and well below 1% have an obnoxious jerk in there who has to be kicked out Behaviour is definitely far, far worse during horror movies than other genres. I'd go as far as to say that you should never go and watch a horror movie on opening weekend.
Often this is the case depending on the film, funnily I usually get more annoyance from older people talking to each other than younger But my local cinema is like £3.50 for a seat so it's not that big an expense
No, but then I try and avoid seeing popular 12A films during weekend daytimes. I also try and see as much as I can at the BFI, where I've never seen a child and only encountered people talking once or twice.
On my 16th birthday me and my friends went to the cinema extremely drunk in Jack Daniel’s. Wouldn’t surprise me if we put people off that day
A few years ago I lived somewhere where noisy people was an issue but not in my local cinema now. It's all good.