I bring this up because I had a guy come up to me, well after close, wanting a refund on Original Sin. He explained he had watched the whole movie with his girl friend, but he was upset at the scene where a guy kissed Antonio Banderas. Just for the record, Banderas shot the guy after getting kissed. He shot him several times. He shot him good.
Even though the film didn't condone homosexuality in any way, the guy felt it did, and was adament about the money he paid on tickets not going to the studio (later in the conversation I realized he was quite the Baptist Bible Thumper).
As it was 1am, I couldn't get him a refund at the time and he couldn't come back the next day. I wound up giving him passes and telling him I would refund his tix for Original Sin and ring up a more wholesome movie (I lied). I felt bad after doing that for two reasons: 1) the movie ran fine. He was upset with the content. It had an R rating, he should have been prepared for it. He didn't deserve any freebies. 2) I doubt he found the whole movie unentertaining. The movie makers deserved that money.

They break down every possible "offensive" clips of all movies released. The MPAA is another great source for that as well.
http://www.mpaa.org/

As far as a movie just plain sucking...tough. That is what movie reviewers and critics are for. Again, customers really need to do some research before walking up to the box office. Hollywood may eventually smarten up and stop making rotten movies if the customers would not go to movies they read about truly sucking. Do you think Warner would have let Joel Schlockmaker to make a 4th Batman film if the customers realized what a piece of crap the 3rd one was and did not show up for it?

In short, customers need to take their beefs with movies to the companies making the films and not the theatre managers. As theatre managers, we are responsible for running a perfect presentation, making and selling tasty snacks and keep the environment clean and safe. It is not to have the customers walk over us because they did not like seeing two dudes kiss in a movie.
I will now step down from the soapbox...

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In this case, I agree with the concept that the "Baptist Bible Thumper" was trying to get across.

It is NOT up to the moviegoer to do anything more than a cursory check of reviews. This is entertainment guys, and telling a potential customer that they have to research a film before seeing it is shooting yourself in the foot with a double barreled shotgun. Do you see restaurants objecting when a customer takes a few bites of a dish and then refuses to eat it? Sheesh.

People who object to a film strongly enough to walk out want to be heard. In most cases, the money isn't the issue.

When managing, I gave a pass if the person could present a straightforward statement of why an aspect of the film affected them so strongly that they felt they had to walk out -whether or not I agreed with those views. If the person wanted a refund, I made sure they showed me their I.D. and filled out a refund voucher with their name. Sometimes, I even provided the customer with the written name and address of the distributor, to impress upon the person the idea of complaining where it might make a difference (and also, to fix in the customer's mind that the process of getting a refund wasn't terribly easy and each of us would likely remember the other person on sight.)

All of the above holds provided the customer walked out mid-show. Anyone who stayed to the end never got a refund, and only rarely got a pass.

It is not a theatre manager's responsibility to honor ever piece of s--- film that comes out other than to present it properly and professionally. It IS the manager's responsibility to honor the bond with the customer. The production company that releases a crappy film may not even be around until next season, and the people there could give a rodent's derrier about anything but the fast buck. The customer, OTOH, will -if treated properly- come back many times.

I know about "problem" customers, and those that leave mid-show because they are offended, are usually not "problem" customers, but are customers who give a damn about what they see and who they support. Frankly, if we had more of them, there would be more 70mm films like "Lawrence of Arabia" and fewer slice-and-dice or bathroom humor films. When the last one gives up and leaves without a fight, we might as well ask him to turn out the marquee as he goes, because without feedback and financial responsibility there won't be anything worth watching.

I sympathize that dealing with this type of complaint is anything but fun, but the general blame for it lies outside of your direct control. It is in your best interest to teach customers how to complain effectively, even if you can't teach tolerance. You don't need to be whipping boys when the solution for both you and the complaining customer is on the label of a film can or at the bottom of a poster.

We never give passes to people who stay for the whole film.

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Most bookstores now have cafes and easy chairs so that browsers can sit down and read a few pages or even an entire book. Compare that user-friendliness to theatres, where we have to kick out browsers of movies. It is no coincidence that these bookstores are enjoying a huge increase in popularity and sales while theatre attendence continues to decline on a percentage basis.

"I can't understand why a "bible thumper" would see an R-rated movie... especially one with such sexually-charged advertising. It may be a case of someone who can't deal with his own guilt for having CHOSEN to see a movie which any of us would have known he should have avoided."

1) If you are browsing movies and decide to go to one you don't have a ticket for, the distributor of that film does not get paid.

2) If the movie you dont have a ticket for but decide to see anyway sells out, a ticket holder may be without a seat.

3) People coming and going out of auditoriums annoys others.

4) In a megaplex, thousands of people wandering about is a security risk