Have you taken your baby to the cinema (adult screening)?

[Purplelady1]

My LO is 5 months old and I want to watch the new Gladiator movie. I have no one to watch LO this period. He will be wearing ear defenders and will be facing away from the screen.

I am very fortunate to have a very calm and quiet baby who rarely cries, and will most likely fall asleep throughout the movie. In the unlikely event he does cry, I will immediately step out so as to not disturb other viewers.

Bear in mind, I will be going at an off-peak time during the week so the cinema will most likely be empty.

I am unable to find the answer on the Cineworld website and they have yet to respond to my query I emailed them days ago.

Has anyone taken their baby to an adult screening in Cineworld?

It was Ratatouille that I saw at the Cineworld baby sessions.
Same as yourself I would have loved films more suited to adults all those years ago!

That's not strictly true. The council cannot give a blanket, "show what you want at parent and child screenings" licence. The cinema has to have permission for each film that is a 12, 15, 18 whatever.

So some cinemas only show U or maybe A rating films, others ask permission.

Generally speaking though, the policy is set by the chain rather than the local authority. Some chains think it's worth jumping through the LA hoops in each location to get exemptions, some don't.

Back in the dark ages when I was a new mum our cinema operated parent and baby screenings as a members club to get around the rules, but I don't think that's done any more.

@sashh yes I expect it really will depend on a film.
A 15 or 18 certificate horror that's full of jump scares and loud bangs/screams or something could have an affect on the babies.
But a 15 or 18 drama or comedy that's rated 15 or 18 just because it has swearing, smoking, sex references etc babies will just sleep through it.

I went to see a Bond movie with my baby. Big mistake. The cinema was absolutely packed with babies because so many mums wanted to see it and every single time there was a bang one of them could be guaranteed to wake up and yell so there was constant screaming because there were a lot of bangs. Still no idea of the plot of that film.

After that I stuck to arthouse flicks, ideally subtitled so I could still follow the story even if someone was kicking off.

We go to Cinebabies every week but our branch of Cineworld won't show anything over a 12A so no Gladiator.

My DS is almost 6 months and typically sleeps through the entirety of the film. I fancy seeing the new Paddington (missed it at Cinebabies) so I'm going to try him with a normal weekday early afternoon screening. I'll just leave if he's fussy, if there's even anyone else there.

Didn’t read the full thread, but Picturehouse and Everyman are doing baby screenings in London and it’s normal films, I actually saw Gladiator last week with my baby. Much better to go to a baby screening because no one minds if baby fusses a bit or if you have to get up and walk around during the film.

Do not take a baby to an adult screening.

And regarding the age certificates, I heard that these don’t apply for babies under 1 year.

Please don't.

In the days of films on planes being shown on one big screen they would cut / edit versions that could be shown to everyone.

I wonder why they don't do that for parent / child showings.

So they do! Genuinely had never heard of it, my youngest is two so I missed the boat there

Thanks for all the responses everyone! I’ll probably have a look for a different cinema offering parent and baby screenings.

I live in London and had a baby just out of Covid and there were loads of cinemas offering this. Where do you live OP?

Hi PP, I live in Enfield, North London.

Have a look at the Everyman at Finsbury Park (it's that or a Curzon, but I def went to baby screenings there). Also Hackney Picturehouse and the Castle on Chatsworth Road, all doable by train from Enfield.