Audience Behaviours over the years.

[James Wyrembelski]

I read a discussion on a Facebook forum post for theatres discussing audience behaviors over the years and it made me contemplate and want to ask...

For those in this industry a long time, have you notice any difference over the years? Has general etiquette declined or stayed the same?

There's always been discussion of patrons talking, using phones, etc. How often would you say that you need to intervene during a show to stop a talker or a person texting? Has it increased?

I know that in larger places it can be a bit of an issue monitoring every room constantly in order to prevent bad behavior. Our single is easy. Just open the concession door and you're there.

How often would you say that you really need to check in? At what point do you say it's enough before giving someone the eye down in the front row?

Just some contemplative questions while I sit here waiting for Spider to be done for the night.

We were only open for about a year and a half before the shut downs occurred. So, my perspective is rather limited. I would say, however, that I've had very few disruptions, if any, since reopening this year. Patrons seem to be much more patient. I hear more please and thank you's. Even the little ones seem to have no problem staying put.

What do you think?

[Frank Cox]

Obviously, there's going to be more running around and general disruption during a kids matinee than there is during a heavy adult drama. (I haven't done one in years, but midnight horror movies can also get kind of wild.)

Where I sit in the lobby while the show is on (when I have a show on *cough* - gosh I hate this shut down business) I can see the light when someone pulls out his phone. So if one of those appears I usually wait about ten seconds and if it's still there I get out of my chair and go into the auditorium to hunt it down.

I always go into the auditorium and stand at the back for a few minutes right after starting the show. This allows me to be sure that the picture and sound is what it should be, as well as making sure everyone is behaving. Sometimes I have to go and tell a group of teenagers to shut up or someone to turn his phone off.

Cell phones have definitely been the biggest disrupting factor at movies starting about fifteen years ago; before that it was mostly people talking or sneaking in beer and creating extra excitement.

But I stay on top of the phones and by standing at the back when the show has started I can deal with a lot of problems before they become a problem that anyone else will notice. Plus consistently enforcing the rules means that people just follow them and there's usually no issue anyway.

[Bobby Henderson]

There has always been bad audience behavior, but it's sure feels like the situation has grown worse. The mobile phones thing is a fairly recent addition to other longstanding problems. It also doesn't help when many theater locations operate with minimal staffing levels. Here locally customers are tearing the shit out of the only first run multiplex theater we have left in town. Seats vandalized, all kinds of stuff.

A couple days ago various news sites were reporting on a now-viral TikTok video where a theater employee shows what audiences leave behind after a show. Some of it is pretty disgusting. But then she also finds items of value too, like loose cash dropped down between seats.
https://nypost.com/2021/12/28/movie-...-leave-behind/

[Mark Lane]

We are located in a tiny town. My brother/business partner helped the local grocery store by running the register when they could not get people to work. He was amazed at how different customers at the grocery store where compared to the same people at the theater. People at the grocery store tended to be rude, stoic, withdrawn but when the same people where at the theater, they where happy, talkative, outgoing, and fun to be around.
We have cameras in the theater so we are watching what is going on during the show. Rarely do we have to talk to people but it happens once and a while. The cameras show us what is going on but we can't hear if people are talking so we step into the auditorium to make sure people are behaving themselves. Local people tend to be much more respectful, to the theater and others than people from out of town.

[James Wyrembelski]

Mark,

That's an interesting point you bring up that I and others have noticed as well. It is very rare that you ever encounter someone in a bad mood when coming to the movies. Everyone that works for us has always been in some type of service business and they also say the same thing. I spent 15 years in the restaurant industry and can say the same that the patrons coming into the theatre are much happier and lighter.

I also installed a camera in the auditorium this year. It's been handy being able to see from the front vs the back where seats can get in the way of being able to scope the place out without causing a distraction.

[Mike Blakesley]

I have found over my theater career that there is a definite correlation between kids' behavior and the level of engagement they have in the movie. Interesting (to them) movie = good behavior. If they're bored, watch out.

Cellphones are a problem and I stomp them down when I spot them, but our seats have high backs and thus they're hard to spot, plus the teenyboppers have gotten pretty good at keeping them on the down-low. Many users have learned to dim their screens way down to where it isn't as noticeable as the "brightness-of-the-sun" screens we used to see. Why anyone would want to ignore the movie they just paid $8.75 for to answer a random text is beyond me, but that's people for ya. In their defense, though, I must admit that I do get very annoyed when I text someone and they don't text me right back, so there's that.