Regal Cinemas might be on the right track
By S Simmons. Filed in Editing |
Engadget linked to a post over at Techdirt about a new pager-based alert system that Regal Cinemas is testing in 25 theaters. It involves giving pagers to “mature” audience members (in exchange for a bag of popcorn) so they can push a button and alert management to problems with rude patrons, projection issues, temperature problems and possible piracy that might be going on! As much as I love to watch DVDs at home on my home theater while sitting on my uncomfortable futon, the wife and I are still avid theater-goers. Here’s why: nothing can replace the experience of roars of laughter while seeing Borat in a sold out house on Sunday afternoon; the collective “jump” from the audience upon seeing the alien out the window of the kids party for the first time in Signs; though the movie sucked, that brief moment of elation at the opening chord of John William’s Star Wars theme in full THX glory at the beginning of The Phantom Menace; or putting my arm around a girl for the first time in a public place back in junior high school while watching some Clint Eastwood thing. All that had to happen in a theater full of people as it would not be the same at home, no matter how big a flat screen you might have. But as people get more rude and less considerate of those around them (read my Superman Returns post for a perfect example) I hope, I hope that Regal Cinemas and other theater chains (I’m talking to you Carmike!) can implement something….. anything ….. to make the theater experience more that a crap shoot as to whether or not you will have to deal with a rude movie goer. As I get older and maybe more mature myself, the confronting of loud movie talkers and cell phone jack-asses doesn’t hold the appeal that it once did. Here’s my vote for the Regal pager concept.
Tuesday, December 5th 2006 at 8:24 pm
That will be a great day when ALL theaters have this!