semiotic_pirate: (masked wine taster)
semiotic_pirate ([personal profile] semiotic_pirate) wrote2008-05-15 09:58 am
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Caught in The Movie Trap

Okay. I don't know if any of the people on my f-list have a Showcase Cinema nearby... Maybe this isn't restricted to just Showcase. Let's find out.

Here's the scam. Build a "Director's Hall" where the seats are more comfy and covered in leather, where the armrest between you and your sweety can be put up for added comfort/snuggles. Make it assigned seating so, when you order/buy your tickets for a hot new release you don't have to stand in line to get in and try to get a good seat... (Of course, you don't have to wait in line for anything but opening night normally so this benefit loses its value rather quickly - heh, marginal benefit talk!) Also, you can bypass the concession stand and order food right from your seats for a certain amount of time (basically until the first green screen of the previews appear).

Cost to movie-goers for all this? A $3 surcharge on every ticket.

The catch? You also pay a surcharge on any food you purchase from your seats. CoB's brother noticed this a few weeks ago when he had looked at how much it costs to buy a hot dog & soda at concessions and then what it cost for the same thing inside the theater. Yep, it is across the board, the prices are higher inside the theater.

Now. Truth be told... I actually do patronize this theater when I go to see a movie. I don't like waiting in lines and I don't like worrying about whether I'll get a good seat either. I will always arrive early for a movie otherwise, just in case, and end up sitting there for a good half-hour or so (sometimes in an empty theater because I didn't judge the time/movie/rush/popularity correctly). I am caught in the Movie Trap.

This still doesn't cull the people who bring noisy kids or the rude people who talk and/or use their cell phones during the movie... You'd think the staff would have people in there, assuring everyone that if this type of behavior occurs, the offenders will be booted. After all, we paid EXTRA to get in. (Yeah. I went to see Iron Man again the other day by myself and there were these two people chatting through almost the WHOLE MOVIE sitting directly behind me. I was PISSED.) Maybe there should be "movie etiquette" signs.

What say you? Worth it? Not worth it?

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