Movie Theatre Dos and Don’ts

Going to the movie theatre is not just about watching a movie. If I want to watch a movie I can sit in my own house on my comfy couch and watch a movie. Now in most places you have comfortable seats where you can lean back, but I do not have such joy in my town. It is probably why I, almost, always go to the movies when I go on vacation. There is something about the experience of the popcorn, the drinks and sitting back and immersing yourself in a story. When a movie is good you can get lost in the experience in a theatre, when it is funny the collective laugh that springs forth from an audience is difficult to recreate at home.

I love going to the movie theatre. At the same time when you go to the theatre there is one thing that you have to deal with and that is other people. Other people is part of the experience, but those other people have the potential to make or break an experience. So here are some of my movie theatre dos and don’ts.

DO Put Your Phone Away When the Movie Starts

I really do not care if you are on your phone leading up to the movie. I like previews, but those are just extra commercials, so if you choose to have your phone out during the previews that doesn’t matter. If you are looking at your phone while the movie is going, please put it away or step out of the movie theatre. I am trying to fall into the light of the screen and do not need your phone screen distracting me.

DON’T Open Your Candy During the Quietest Scene

While I appreciate why this can happen because you spent $3.00 on this candy and you want to enjoy it. The rest of us do not want to listen to you trying to open that candy, especially during a really quiet scene. I have actually learned a useful trick where you open the candy before the movie starts in a way that when you decide you want the candy you can have some without worrying about making noise open the bag.

DO Join In on the Fun

Now this is sort of an odd when and really is more about going to the opening night or midnight show of a movie. There are certain movies that if you don’t want people to be loud then you went to the wrong movie. Going to see one of the Star Wars movies and when the Lucasfilms came up on the screen the entire audience cheered. This was a movie that part of the experience was cheering and clapping, but respectfully. There is a fine line and as long as the whole audience is participating it is okay. If you do not want that experience I would just avoid the opening night release.

DON’T Talk at the Screen Unless You Are Alone in the Theatre

This is one that can really bother me when I am enjoying a movie and the people sitting behind me are commenting loudly enough for me to hear. When you break the spell that a movie has cast over me, it really annoys me. Worst experience was at the midnight showing double feature of the last two Harry Potter movies and someone started making snide remarks during the end of the first movie. I had stood in line and waited how long to get decent seats and you are going to talk through one of the sadder scenes of the movie SERIOUSLY!! Now on the other hand if you are alone with just your friends in the movie theatre as long as the whole group agrees then go to town. My friends and I went and saw Snakes on a Plane and we were the only ones in the theatre and it was like our own personal Mystery Science Theatre it was amazing. That movie would not have been the same if other people had been there because we would not have been making the comments we did.

DO Remember This is Not Your Living Room

This kind of applies to all the suggestions, but this mostly applies to putting your feet up and leaving trash around. There are people sitting behind and in front of you (sometimes, but not always). If you want to put your feet up or sit in a way that will interact with more than one seat wait until the movie is about to start. You do not get to take up more than one seat just because you got there earlier. You get your one seat. You can save seats, but don’t start out with your feet on the back of the seat in front of you because someone might actual want to sit there and really doesn’t want to deal with your feet (this also counts for the arm rest). The other part is don’t just throw stuff on the floor someone has to clean it up and others have to possible walk past you and don’t want to walk through your pile of trash.

DON’T Finish Your Drink Too Early

This is the one that I fail at the most, but I hate when I have to stand up in the middle of a movie to go to the bathroom. Not only am I disrupting my own movie experience, but if I sit in the middle I am interrupting half the rows experience. It is especially difficult if the movie is full and makes me feel even worse. Now the other part of this is be nice and let the people out because they already feel bad and they have probably already held it as long as they can. If you don’t let them pass easily and quickly you are most likely just increasing the chance they will end up peeing on you.

So this is just a few of my dos and don’ts for going to the movie theatre. When you have a good movie and a good theatre experience it can make the world go away for just an evening. When I am home there are so many things to distract me that sometimes I don’t get as engrossed as I like to. At the movie theatre the crowd forces you to focus because it is rude to do other things and distract other people from immersing themselves in the story unfolding on screen.