Cinema etiquette

[Noapologiesthisisme]

I am sure this has been done to death but do people in cinemas really not care about the enjoyment of others??

I have just got home from going to see Frozen 2 with my two daughters 10 and 5. We had an aisle seat, one down from the back, where my 10 year old sat, I sat next to her, then my 5 year old. My 10 year old suffers from minor sensory issues.

On the back row were 2 mothers with their daughters around 4 years old. The two girls were allowed to sit/ jump around on the steps next to my daughter. The girls were very chatty and one of the girls had bright flashing shoes which went off each time she banged her feet or jumped up and down, which she did a lot to see the flashing lights in the dark 😡

When the lights were going off, very bright in a dark cinema, I looked around at the mothers a couple of times, subtlety indicating that it was quite distracting, no response. After a while of this going on, and my daughter getting quite bothered by the constant flashing, I turned and asked the mothers to stop the flashing.

They finally got the hint and sat the girls down in their designated chairs but I could tell they were not happy.

Was IBU??

I have taken my 2 year old to the cinema twice. I only ever take him to the junior showing which is usually at 10am on Saturdays and Sundays. It isnt as dark and it's acceptable for roamers (like mine!) And noise.

Yanbu

YANBU, if children aren't able/willing to sit quietly during the film, they should not be taken to the cinema. Also, cinemas have special screenings for mothers with babies/toddlers, so there is no excuse for parents letting young children sabotage other people's enjoyment of a film, during a standard screening.

There are so many selfish people about, who think their right to enjoy themselves trumps other people's rights to enjoy a film/play/show. You would think that films with an 18 certificate might have a better behaved audience, but sometimes adults are worse than kids - they chomp their way through noisy food and slurp drinks constantly, then need several toilet breaks (wonder why?!?), while contantly talking and fiddling with their phones. The widespread thoughtlessness is getting worse, which is why I rarely go to the cinema or theatre these days.

Not sure about others but my local cinema has the sound up so high and screen is so bright, I'd struggle to notice if a nuclear bomb went off so flashing shoes wouldn't register and to the person who has a special sign for the toilet - WTF?

• slight exaggeration of course about the nuclear bomb but you get my drift.

YanbuI usually pop out to the lobby and report this stuff. They act on it quickly.

I went to Frozen 2 today and had the same experience. Really young children aged 2 & 3 whining and roaming around. The amount of talking going on throughout the whole thing ..... bloody unbelievable. I can deal with the endless trips across the screen to the toilet but not when parents make no attempt to remove their kids when they’re that disruptive. It wasn’t a special kids showing ( which at my cinema are £2.50 each) it was full price. I go to the cinema pretty frequently and have dealt with pockets of bad behaviour ( a group of girls aged about 10 being noisy, moving seats and waving their arms in the air etc) but nothing as bad as that. I think parents greatly over estimate how capable their young children are of sitting for that length and greatly under estimate how disruptive they are.

Ooh @FabulouslyFab did you enjoy Spirits in the Forest? (apart from latecomers ).
Not so stealth boast here but I was at that gig!!

Cinema etiquette: STFU, sit still and don't look at your bloody mobile.

Willing to be more forgiving if it's a kids' film, but I don't go the cinema to be disturbed by people chatting, rustling sweet wrappers, checking social media and getting up and down every five minutes. It's selfish, inconsiderate and largely unnecessary.

We went straight after the school run on Friday and the cinema was totally empty despite being the release day for frozen, I suppose most people don’t want to go at 9am! But for anyone with younger ones who want to see it, definitely worth booking that time on a school day then you don’t have to worry too much if they do make noise.
My 2 year old absolutely loved it, but she did start singing into the unknown through other bits of the movie and loudly saying things like “where’s Elsa” so had it been a packed cinema it could have been awkward

I was at a screening of Dunkirk at our local IMAX once and a member of staff gave a quick presentation to the auditorium about the screen, protectors etc. then went on to cinema etiquette. He said everyone should unwrap any sweets NOW and if he saw anyone’s phone screen light up their face, he would be on them as if he were Liam Neeson and they had just taken his daughter. It gave us all a laugh but everyone was very well behaved after that!

Yanbu. My 5 and 6 year olds have learning difficulties and can't sit through a whole film. They can manage about 15 minutes of tv at home. There is no way I would take them to the cinema.

YANBU

My ds is a teen now but I would never have taken him to the cinema when he was younger if he couldn't sit still. Surely our job as parents is to teach our kids how to behave. Kids won't learn if they aren't taught.

I also hate the 'as long as my kids are ok and having fun' attitude. It's creating selfish people.

DH and I had a similar experience today. Went to an early morning showing with 4 year old DD. Girl next to us was too young, couldn't sit still, didn't understand not talking, constant up and down. We didn't take DD to the cinema until she was old enough to sit still and not make noise bit sadly others don't seem to care.

@tothesea - to be honest I could’ve done with less talk and more concert and the music to be louder and to be able to dance about and wave my arms around ( well I did to a certain degree - chair dancing isn’t all that tho!!) I seriously think that me and my mate were the only two real fans in the cinema 😂 !!!!
We didn’t make it to Berlin but saw them in Glasgow 👍

I was at a screening of Dunkirk at our local IMAX once and a member of staff gave a quick presentation to the auditorium about the screen, protectors etc. then went on to cinema etiquette. He said everyone should unwrap any sweets NOW and if he saw anyone’s phone screen light up their face, he would be on them as if he were Liam Neeson and they had just taken his daughter. It gave us all a laugh but everyone was very well behaved after that!

I like the sound of him

It bugs me no end. Talking, kids not behaving , parents taking kids out for a wee.

I have it as a primary school, they are incapable of holding it for a couple of hours. The difference between them and me is I say tough you should have gone at break 😊

Good luck to everyone going to see Frozen 2 today, I hope you have a more enjoyable experience than we did!!

Ps it is a lovely film and my 5 year old loved it ❄️

I'm taking my 3.5 year old to the cinema for the first time to see Frozen 2. I've not taken him before now as I wasn't sure if he had the attention span. Now I'm fairly confident he'll sit through the film, as he loves the first one. However, I've booked an early morning showing during school time so hopefully only other pre-schoolers there and I've booked aisle seats towards the back so if he's being disruptive I can whip him straight out. He will have it drummed into him before we go what my expectations are. It's really not rocket science.

Unfortunately other parents are not so considerate. I went to a showing of avengers endgame - 8pm on a Saturday night and a couple turned up with a toddler. She was understandably bored, quite scared in places and spent the last hour of the film crying to go home while they tried to distract her with peppa pig on one of their phones. Completely spoilt the film for everyone else.

@rollonoctober I am surprised the cinema allowed the child into the cinema, so inappropriate, although I work in a school and am so shocked at some of the films that kids are allowed to watch by their parent 🙄

I seldom go the cinema now. Had a bad experience a few years back with young children constantly kicking our seats and talking throughout the film- mothers didn’t want to know and nowhere else to sit. It was a long 2 hours.

@Inditara . Of course fathers too but in this context the OP mentioned the accompanying parent were the Mothers.

“ I went to a showing of avengers endgame - 8pm on a Saturday night and a couple turned up with a toddler. She was understandably bored, quite scared in places and spent the last hour of the film crying to go home while they tried to distract her with peppa pig on one of their phones. Completely spoilt the film for everyone else.”

That really is fucking disgraceful.

Unfortunately other parents are not so considerate. I went to a showing of avengers endgame - 8pm on a Saturday night and a couple turned up with a toddler. She was understandably bored, quite scared in places and spent the last hour of the film crying to go home while they tried to distract her with peppa pig on one of their phones. Completely spoilt the film for everyone else.

Our local cinema doesn't allow under 12s after a certain time of the evening no matter what age rating the film certificate is. I took my 10yo and 8yo to see Avengers but not the 5yo as I knew three hours would be too long for him.

I started taking my DC once they were old enough to sit quietly, for one of them this wasn't until he was 5yo and for another they started going when they were 2yo, the others were both 3yo. Even now when we go I will tell them before it starts "once the lights go off there is no talking, if you start chatting then we will have to leave".

I have it as a primary school, they are incapable of holding it for a couple of hours. The difference between them and me is I say tough you should have gone at break

As the parent of a child with toileting issues, this sort of attitude is abhorrent.