Cinema stopping kids in suits from coming in - Minions

[jackstini]

DS & his friend (both 13) had tickets this pm for Minions, Rise of Gru

Like lots of people per TikTok, they dressed up in suits/ties - just for fun
Got to cinema and were told they couldn't come in because of what they were wearing

DS called me upset and DH went down to see if he could sort it. Found 5 grown men standing over them and a few other kids, shouting at them that they needed to leave and they were not allowed in. Kids felt very intimidated

No dress code visible in the cinema or on the website

DH asked if they had misbehaved and was told no, we just don't like this suit thing as some of the people on TikTok have kicked off
DH pointed out, they hadn't kicked off, just wanted to watch the film, so what was the problem. Stoney silence
He took them outside, took their jackets & ties off & they went back in 5 minutes later and were admitted by a different member of staff

Is it just me or is this ridiculous? And pathetic for them to treat kids like that

I really want to complain but wanted the MN population to vote on if you think they were BU or not

YANBU - cinema staff were out of order & I should complain
YABU - don't complain

My ds(18) and 7 of his friends went to see it a couple of days ago (without suits). They have seen all the minions movies, they are lighthearted, silly humour and easy to watch. Why shouldn't they or, infact any other adult go?

It’s laughable how naive some parents are. “My son went to see the minions in a specially bought suit with a group of ten other teenage boys to copy a Tik Tok challenge but he definitely didn’t take part in the disruptive part. I sent him with lashings of ginger beer and they all had a jolly good time.”

I mean seriously, do these parents genuinely believe their kids would come home and tell their parents they had behaved appallingly in the cinema for a Tik Tok challenge?

This is why I’ll never go back to teaching. Not because the kids misbehave but because the parents are in complete denial and want your head on a plate for suggesting their kid could be anything but perfect all the time.

Missing the point. Going to see it is fine. Going to see it for a tiktok challenge is not.

Exactly what I thought, @Wellthatsjustswell.

We raised three boys, all adults now, and there is no way, on God’s clean earth, that we would have let them deliberately ruin an event for other people - especially not one that is aimed more at younger children, and that has cost £££ to attend.

Well yes - the original trend WAS just to wear suits - and that's what most have done

Since then, I get there are others that have been stupid and ruined the film

Obviously some kids are now going out with this intention - but not all of them by a long shot!

No my son wasn't in a big group, just 2 x 13 year olds that were allowed in once they removed their jackets and ties 🙄

Also it's very much a local cinema in a small town - very rare any teenagers would be in there without seeing either a teacher, parents' friends, leaders of various activities, local church etc.

Many people round here are still thankfully of the mindset 'takes a village to raise a child' so they know if they ever do misbehave it won't go unreported! 🤣

And yet, the cinema has already had such behaviour occur

Me neither. I don’t think TikTok seems that bad though…there just seems to be certain things are trending with certain audiences. I’ve heard from younger siblings that it’s not just inane dances and such and that there are recipes, ways to organise things etc., just all sorts of things on TikTok and it depends what you are watching that the algorithm shows you more of things you may like.

But it clearly was the cinema staff’s attempt to avoid any disruptive behaviour which would have invariably impacted the other patrons.

Now if there was a way to start a TikTok trend to encourage positive behaviour, that would be interesting 🤔

yet 5 members of staff had to deal with them?

Yes there are things like that but there are also frankly sickening things. No child hsould be on tiktok.

I think YABU, sorry! Having seen it blow up on TikTok, I totally get why the cinema want to discourage it.

I'm more impressed that a small, local cinema HAD 5 members of staff who were free to deal with 2 13 year olds.

I worked at a Vue cinema in a city centre and often we only had 5 members of staff working all together on quieter days!

Embarrassment or stopping the film each and every time this happens, considering how many showings they have per day is just going to cause more issues than it solves.

Six, as it was apparently an entirely different member of staff who let them back in (and maybe seven as surely with all 5 having to deal with two lovely boys, someone was still manning the desk,,,,?)

All these posts saying 'but my kid wouldn't misbehave so why should they be prevented from going in wearing a suit' are missing the point.
YOU might know/believe that your kid will behave sensibly. But the cinema staff don't. He's just a kid in a suit who they don't know. But they do know that other teenagers doing this tik tok challenge have ruined the screening for others, so they have to take action.
They know that there'll be decent lads among the ones they don't let in, but they can't mind read, and the alternative, waiting for trouble to happen and then trying to get them out, just isn't practical.

Took my ds’s 10 and 13 to see it yesterday and there were a few kids dressed in suits, and lots of rounds of applause throughout the movie - irony I guess. However, the boys and I enjoyed it - it’s a good movie.

There’s a few pubs near me which don’t let people in wearing football shirts due to previous people in football shirts causing trouble. Guess thjs is the same.

My teenage nephew works at a cinema, and he's spent most of the last couple of days kicking out kids in suits. They're allowed in no problem, however once inside if they don't behave then they are asked to leave. Lots of them are making loads of noise and spoiling it for the other customers or trying to video parts of the film, which the cinemas obviously don't allow.

Nephew says he's never seen so much mess after a film or had so many complaints from angry mums with small kids who've been caught up in this (and he's been working there for a couple of years now). But there's also been a lot of kids in suits who have been well behaved.
So no OP, YANBU they should not stop kids coming in because of their suits.

actually if this is an actual tiktok challenge, then of course the cinema would be extremely wary.

i would think it very odd if my ds had wanted to wear a suit to the cinema

We (my 11 year old twins and I) went to see this on Friday and it was ruined by loads of teenagers dressed in suits making so much noise.
The cinema did the right thing, why should kids joining in with a stupid challenge ruin something for everyone else

I dropped my daughter off near the cinema earlier, she’s gone to see it. I saw quite a few kids in suits. My son showed me some TikTok’s - loads of kids smuggling in a wheelie bin full of bananas. I don’t blame them for not letting the kids in suits in

If any boys are ruining the screening and behaving disrespectfully and throwing things etc., then maybe their parents should be made to refund the rest of the customers in the cinema for the wrecked experience and frightened unhappy kids rather than the cinema staff- after all your sons are all the well behaved minority, so you should be fine with this…

This is absolutely unreasonable. My friend's son is 15, he and his friends had gone out to see the film in a group of about 20, all in suits, and they experienced no problems. Rightly so, because I see no issue with it.

RTFT

You were going to buy him a suit to go to the cinema?
Yes. His choice of treat as a reward after some amazing end of year results and successful DofE . But it sounds like their plan to just turn up smartly dressed is likely to be ruined due to a small few.