wherein I lose my cool politely

[ArenaBoy]

You know what amuses me about the whole South Park movie thing? Despite the constant protesting it probably got, the show being notorious for what they do, and I'm sure there is always going to be a news story on them it's amazing that parents still took their kids to see it. Then again my parents (my dad mostly) let me watch Beavis and Butthead but they had a strict rule that I couldn't repeat the stuff outside of the house.

Oh and Mike, your new nickname is the Old Grumpy Sod

[crazylegs]

Don't make me hit you with my cane!

Like to see you catch me first!

[kendiara]

Wow there is a part of me that wishes we lived in a place where they didn't card the kids...

My 14 year old* has a Tim Burton obsession, and of course Sweeney Todd was on the "Omg gotta see it" list. I don't go to the movies anymore as the older I get the less I can actually sit still and rather than bother everyone else getting up and down I just wait for video. She was going with an 18 yr old, 17 year old (her aunt) and her best friend also 14. That was when we found out that you have to be 25 to bring in anyone under 17 to an R rated movie in this area. Basically because it all boils down to being sued because they let junior go see something that mommy and daddy wouldn't like. After talking to the nice folks at the front they let them in to watch it for which I was grateful. She complained though, because while the usher sat behind them the whole movie, he wouldn't ask the lady with the screaming 3 year old to take the kid out of the theater...

** I know she is capable of seeing movies like a grownup because she was with me when I did college theater. At seven she could sit in the theater completely alone and not disturb any of the patrons because she knew that either I or my professors would give her hell if she did. And she would have to sit in the boring hallway

[karl hungus]

Keeping kids out of movie theatres is nearly fracking impossible nowadays, since management and corporate have hamstrung the staff. I was discussing with someone else, and we came up with some decent ideas for improving theatres. Two of the best ideas to come from the discussion were these (imo):

1) age restricted building. No kids at all. Easy to accomplish too. Just make the place serve alcohol, classify it as a bar.

2) have an usher in each theatre during the show. The entire show. Anyone acts up, they get one warning before getting turfed. Acting up ranges from using cellphones to talking to loudly, to throwing food. The payroll justification for this one's a little harder. Still, be nice, eh?

I'm not sure but I think there are a few theaters around that don't let anyone under 16 in no matter what the film is rated.

As for one usher per theater, not really gonna happen, I afraid.
For example, where I work we have 8 screens. Weekdays we have 1 usher per shift, weekends we have 3-5. I don't really see them or anyone hiring people to just sit in a movie. Besides, we're not a chain theater and we have a pretty big core of film geeks there seeing stuff all the time and they will handle it themselves, sometime. When there are disruptive people, they don't stay long. I myself enjoy kicking dumbass teens, drunks, and chatty asses out.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

It really kind of blows me away that theaters even have to resort to this. The sheer number of kids...LEGIONS of kids...that have no clue how to behave in public. It really scares the heck out of me. My child is going to grow up among these clueless gits. I really just don't know.

I can't even IMAGINE acting like that when I was growing up. I would have ashamed. My friends would have been ashamed. Of course, our parents had actually, you know, raised us with a sense of decency.

I know, shocking.

[blas]

I'll bet you guys $50 you can't guess what happened at the movie "Jumper" last night.

a) hordes of tween idiots
b) a woman who brought her two toddlers
c) each and every tween/teen had their phones out and texting away
d) the two toddlers screamed half of the movie
e) all of the above

[Primer]

I'm not sure but I think there are a few theaters around that don't let anyone under 16 in no matter what the film is rated.

I myself enjoy kicking dumbass teens, drunks, and chatty asses out.

I do believe we have enough experienced people on this board that we could open a theater that has a minimum patron age of 18 (or 21 if we want to get a liquor license) and make it successful.

Who's with me?!?

[TennesseeWhiskey]

I do believe we have enough experienced people on this board that we could open a theater that has a minimum patron age of 18 (or 21 if we want to get a liquor license) and make it successful.

Who's with me?!?

Sounds good to me, we just need to work out the location and logistics of who does what.

[cinema guy]

Children will never be banned from the average cinema. Too much popcorn is sold on the back of, "Daaddddyyyyy! Waaaaan popcoooorn!"

Rapscallion

Raps is right. A significant percentage of profit comes from the overpriced food. Also a big portion of the business is family related.

And cinema business was up across the UK last year (I don't know about the rest of the world), although that was due to both a large quantity of big box-office films and the poor summer.

Iradney, good on you for sticking to your guns and getting freebies.

[karl hungus]

Just bought tickets to see a broadway show I've been dying to see... Venue information at the very bottom?

"All patrons must be ticketed. No children under 4 (four) years of age are permitted. All children and adults must have a ticket to be admitted. No lap sitting."

All I gotta say about that is YIPPEE!! I'll be damned if I spent the obscene amount of money for this show to have it ruined by parents thinking AVENUE Q is kid-friendly.

There was just in the paper yesterday a letter from some guy complaining that it costs too much to go to "artsy" events. His complaint was he wanted to take his family to a classical music presentation and they made him buy tickets for his (get this) 8 month old and his 2 year old. Now, how much do you think those kids are going to like a 2 hour classical music show?

[Kati]

If either such theater existed, I'd gladly patronize them, even at a higher-than-normal price. Though, I imagine the first one would need to employ bouncers to remove unruly drunkards.

You don't have gold class cinemas???

It's worth the extra money (and we are talking about double the cost of a standard ticket). Not only do you get recliners to sit in, it's over 18 only, in a cinema that seats about 30 people, and at the beginning you choose what you are going to eat/drink, and at what time. At the appropriate time, someone brings you your food/drink.

And it's all served on real cutlery/crockery/glass.

There's a wine cooler between the two seats, so if you get champagne, you can put it in the ice bucket.

No ads (although I believe they do previews).

I love Gold Class.

The one problem is that a movie at Gold Class, if you include drinks and meals and the movie, will cost you over $100. Tickets at $33 each (standard cinema ticket is $15.50), and then there's the popcorn/snackage/alcohol.

But oh so worth it.

http://www.greaterunion.com.au/goldclass/index.asp