I DONT KNOW MAYBE AN AMBULANCE WILL COME

A few years back there was a spate of high-profile theatre actors breaking character to tell people in the audience to shut up. This didn’t happen for me though when some drunk bogans wandering past Shakespeare In The Park started imitating Lady Macbeth‘s shrieks, or even when power lines across the city fell down and turned the whole night sky blue.

There are two types of movie going experiences. One where you want the audience to be perfectly quiet and just get absorbed into the movie experience... And the other where audience participation is a big part of the thrill. If you go to an opening night showing, it's typically the latter, especially for Blockbuster or cult favorite. Both types of experiences are good, but some of my most memorable movie experiences were loud cheering for the hero, people making comments, audience participation showings.

Once there was a young father with his two children talking over the movie. The movie was a documentary of sorts about wolves, but it was filmed from the perspective of a lone man who went to camp in the mountains to observe them, so it was quite magical. And the kids would talk in amazement whenever the film showed a wolf cub or something. It was a little distracting, but ultimately it kinda added to the wondrous feeling and I shrugged it off -it was fine. But a couple of older people were pissed at the kids, like really pissed. They kept commenting under their beards how it ruined the experience, then they started loudly arguing with the dad. They were the ones breaking everybody's fun. I stood up, told them I was going to have them expelled, and they turned quiet. I was very happy about my decision this day

It would be cool if you could get tickets for showings with either yelling or no yelling.

Put it in a ziplock bag with ice.

I have to, I love movies and have since I was a kid. The experience of buying the ticket and watching even something a little shit still makes me feel like a teenager.

When theaters die, a part of me likely will as well.

Wow. That bad, huh?

Ticket and snack prices still suck (unless you go to a theater that serves food), but there's been some major improvements in projection and audio tech since 2009. Digital is almost as good as film now. Brighter colors, deeper contrast (not quite as good as an OLED, of course, but better than your average TV now), and projectionists actually bother to align the screen properly and use the correct lenses now. Lot fewer people in the audience, too.

The days of a blurry, washed-out image with crushed blacks are over. (The seats even recline as well!) If you don't already have a giant OLED or full array LED paired with a proper 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos system, then it might be worth giving theaters another chance.

We have a local single screen theater in my town. They do showings of Rocky Horror Picture Show. Audience participation during the show is nearly required. Do not go if you haven't seen the movie. There was so much talking, you won't really hear the show.