How to save the movie theater industry: allow pot smoking and texting!

[Ed Gordon]

How to save the movie theater industry: allow pot smoking

Someone had the same idea a decade ago. They started a campaign to fund it with this video on Youtube:

They wanted to raise $3000 by selling memberships.

The funding to start our nonprofit. Once we do that, we will meet with the investor who will assist us in purchasing the theater space. Subsequent fundraising events, or funding beyond our $3,000 goal, will take us farther; if we surpass the $3,000 goal, we'll announce those stretch goals at that time.

They raised $1,085 from 25 people

[Randy Stankey]

Private clubs are different. Pennsylvania liquor laws allow for private "social clubs" where the drinks are cheaper and the atmosphere is more relaxed than a regular bar. There is only one rule, per se: there must be a mission statement for the club. There is one place in town, named "The King's Rook" which started out as a chess club. They've got shuffleboard and billiard tables. There are dart boards and card tables. They have a stage where bands play on a weekly basis. It's a great place to go, hang out, listen to some local bands and, maybe play a game of chess. I don't see any reason why there couldn't be a private club whose mission statement is to show movies. If the club wants to allow people to smoke (whatever substance) it is their right. If people don't like smoke then they don't have to join but, as I said, private clubs are a different animal.

On the other hand, in a "public" theater where there is no guarantee of being with like-minded people, I just would never allow smoking of any kind, regardless of the substance... Period!

[Leo Enticknap]

Someone had the same idea a decade ago. They started a campaign to fund it

I can't find the reference after a brief web search, but remember hearing about someone at around the same time who was trying to raise the venture capital to start an airline that allowed smoking. It failed to get off the ground (sorry - pun irresistible) because he discovered that so many countries now have laws against smoking on planes that about the only flights he'd legally be able to operate would have been between Suriname and Chad ... and even then, only if his planes did not enter the airspace of pretty much every nation you'd need to in order to do that flight directly.

I would guess that a similar problem would be encountered with pot in movie theaters. Some states still outlaw it entirely, and those that don't outlaw smoking in enclosed public spaces.

[Randy Stankey]

Okay, what if somebody buys a 747 and registers it under the name of a private club whose mission statement is that people should be allowed to smoke on airplanes if they want? People would have to pay a yearly fee to join the club. (Similar to Pennsylvania liquor laws where membership dues must be paid, even if dues are only $1.00.). If you don't have a membership, you can't buy a ticket. As part of the club's by-laws, all members/passengers must sign a statement that they agree with people being allowed to smoke.

Call it "Club Panatella Airways!"

[Leo Enticknap]

Maybe "Puff Air" would be a little more catchy?

[Randy Stankey]

..........

[Ryan Gallagher]

Maybe "Puff Air" would be a little more catchy?

I think maybe "Puffin' Air"... then you get a cute bird for club mascot. ;-)

[Scott Norwood]

If smoking (of any type) and cell phone usage are needed to save the cinema industry, is the cinema industry even worth saving?

[Ryan Gallagher]

If smoking (of any type) and cell phone usage are needed to save the cinema industry, is the cinema industry even worth saving?

True. I mean what's next. Giving the audience an app so they can decide to vote to pause the film to get more food or go to the bathroom? I think much of this is just people wishing to import their "at home" viewing experience into a cinema setting, being more accustomed to streaming now.

Play it quiet enough to not be immersive and so one can carry on conversations during it, look at phones when the film gets boring, eat dinner loudly during it, get high in their sandals and bathrobe, keep the lights on, buy drinks from a bar located directly below the screen, yada yada.

Is that really a cinema experience anymore? Or just a big room with people watching the same thing?

Maybe what people are crying out for is more social/community spaces, and being around people in a cinema seems like a logical place to ask. But the real answer would be a more crafted social space for before and after the screening? Or screenings intentionally billed as "social" screenings. Come see it a second time and talk to everyone with a drink in hand etc?

Part of why Alamo's hard no talking/texting rules "work" is perhaps because a lot of their flagship locations lean into these before and after options, with actual bars and lounges attached. Historically lots of youth complexes offered a cinema too and was not the main attraction. Our classic multi-plex in a shopping mall had built in social options by nature of it's location. Drive-in's, although somewhat isolationist in concept, were OUTSIDE, which itself is a social space.

[Bobby Henderson]

If people were allowed to smoke pot (or anything else) in the cinema what would be next? Letting people piss and shit on themselves in the auditorium too? It's bad enough clean-up crews will occasionally encounter drink cups filled with piss or God knows what else. I sure as hell wouldn't visit a theater that allowed pot smoking in the auditorium. It shouldn't make any difference though. Most states prohibit smoking in most indoor commercial/public spaces. I think Oklahoma still allows exceptions for some full time bars and night clubs, but they have to be a stand-alone building with their own entrances. If it's something like a hotel bar whose entrance is in the lobby, then smoking is not allowed.

[Randy Stankey]

... I think Oklahoma still allows exceptions for some full time bars and night clubs...

IMO, the "right" solution would be to pass a law which requires all bars to decide on whether they allow smoking or not then post a sign: "Smoking Permitted" or "Smoking Prohibited." They could give the owner of the establishment some authority to enforce it by making disobedience a summary offense with a $1,000 fine. That makes it so that the bartender can say, "Put the cigarette out, get out of my bar or else I'm calling the cops!"

Put the responsibility of deciding whether smoking is allowed on the owner. If they think that they can make more money by allowing customers to smoke, then so be it. If they allow smoking but customers stop coming, then then they have a problem. Don't they?

The difference between a bar and a theater is simple. If a person goes to a bar and they don't like to be around smokers, they can pay their bill and leave. If you go to a theater to see a movie, you can't, very well, leave in the middle of the show. Can you? You're stuck in a dark room, for cripes sake!

For bars, it should be up to the customer to decide. For theaters, there are too many pitfalls. Smoking in theaters should be prohibited!

[Frank Cox]

This one isn't smoking but it sure takes the cake.

A woman came out of the auditorium last night about halfway through the movie and handed me the bottle of water she had purchased on the way in.

"Can you just fill this up with tap water for me?"

Sure, I can do that.

I took the bottle and... it's full of vodka! At least half of a mickey has been poured in there. In fact, I found the vodka bottle on top of the ladies washroom trash basket after the show.

Her movie watching was over at that point, of course.

*boggle*

Who in the world would walk into the lobby hand me a bottle full of vodka?

[Randy Stankey]

I don't know the laws in Canada but, where I live, I would have had to hand the bottle back to the woman and tell her that I'm not allowed to handle alcohol because I don't have a liquor license.

Yes, the person brought the alcohol in. It is their property. I don't dispute that. However, the act of me putting water into a bottle filled with alcohol could be construed as making her an alcoholic beverage.

In PA, there is such a thing as a "bottle club" where people bring in their own booze and the establishment provides the mixers but you still need a special license for that.

What that woman asked you to do would be the same as if you were operating a bottle club. Okay, in the grand scheme, one time does not make you a bottle club but the problem comes when somebody else gets wind of what happened and thinks that they can do the same. You might also get reported.

Even if the chances are remote, I still wouldn't take that chance.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Sounds like the only real rule she broke was the golden one: “Don’t get caught”!!!

I’m sure people sneak booze in all the time, this gal was just not particularly wise in her approach.

[Bobby Henderson]

IMO, the "right" solution would be to pass a law which requires all bars to decide on whether they allow smoking or not then post a sign: "Smoking Permitted" or "Smoking Prohibited." They could give the owner of the establishment some authority to enforce it by making disobedience a summary offense with a $1,000 fine. That makes it so that the bartender can say, "Put the cigarette out, get out of my bar or else I'm calling the cops!"

I think Oklahoma's government made the situation easier to understand. A "stand-alone" bar whose entrance and exit is to the outdoors can allow smoking. If the bar's entrance is in another indoor area (such as a hotel lobby, airport, etc) then smoking is not allowed. Someone operating a stand-alone bar that doesn't allow smoking will probably have to post signs saying so.

Lots of restaurants sort of double as bars, but in Oklahoma they're required to make more than 60% of their income selling alcoholic drinks in order to be able to allow smoking indoors. Otherwise they have to confine smoking to outdoor areas, like patio seating.

I'm not a smoker. So if I want to have a drink at a bar and not be smelling the second hand smoke from others I at least have a few decent smoke-free options in town.