We show these movies, we don't make them

[MoonChild2007]

I was watching Gremlins 2 and in one scene, a woman was complaining about the film being worse than the first one and the usher says, "we show these movies madam, we don't make them". Has anyone who has been working in the movie theatre (including yours truly) ever said that to a customer?

[Sliceanddice]

huh i liked those gremlins movies...

[CrazedClerk]

Ah I love that scene where Hulk Hogan screams at the gremlins to start the movie again. I watch the DVD frequently.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I have. I was getting out of the theater and I saw some one complaining to the ticket collecter about how the movie sucked ass and this person was going thermal. I pulled out my cell phone, logged onto the internet and I found the contact information of Tristar, wrote it down and then went to rescue the poor theater employee.

Yes, he was berating him long enough for me to do all of that.

So I go over to the jackass and I said "Sir, this person's job is to collect the tickets and to let you know what theater the movie that you chose is playing. He didn't write the screen play, he didn't produce the movie, he didn't direct the movie, he didn't act in the movie, and apart from his salary which comes from ticket sales regardless of the movie playing, he certainly isn't getting any money from the movie. Here is the contact information for the company that made the movie, if it sucked that much ass then perhaps you should contact them. Perhaps if more people complained about the quality of the movies to the companies that make them, then perhaps positive changes might get made. You certainly have a better chance of that happening if you do that than if you harass some poor college student who isn't getting paid enough to suffer your jackassery."

Handed him the slip and walked off.

The manager was in a corner laughing his ass off and gave me a thumbs up...presumably for doing something they themselves could not.

M

[MoonChild2007]

I love you Mongo! Good for you for telling the jerk off!

[cinema guy]

The other night I sold some tickets to someone, and finished my spiel with:
"Hope you enjoy the film."
Smart ass: "Do we get our money back if we don't?"

[auntiem]

We had the 15 min rule - you could get your money back if you left the theatre before 15 min were up. We used to run second-run movies so I didn't have a whole lot of sympathy - these movies had all been out long enough for people to know if they were terrible or not (and we ran two for one ticket so if the second film was awful you still didn't get your money back). When I started booking film I could stop situations before they happened. For example, the woman that wanted to bring her 10yr old girls to Welcome the the Dollhouse.

[wagegoth]

Mongo, you now have a fangirl. Booyah!

[greensinestro]

Isn't going to a movie all about risk? Look at what happened when "Home Alone" came out. The critics all said what a terrible movie it was, yet people went anyhow and made it a bigtime money maker, let alone a Christmas classic.

On another note, I remember when John Travolta was on The Tonight Show promoting "Battlefield Earth" and how he and others were certain it would be a big money maker, probably the biggest of the year. What a bomb it was, but I took a risk anyhow.

[MoonChild2007]

I am not a movie theatre goer at all (I must be paranoid but I can't stand watching films with other people ), however, if I want to, I will go. There was this one movie that was critically panned out of the ears and after watching it, I was like "that's it?" This is what made people so pissed off? So frankly, i don't bother listening to critics opinions (i will read them but I won't take it to heart) .

[auntiem]

I've only ever walked out on two movies that I've paid for. One was totally my fault - Cabin Boy, and the other got rave reviews and I completly hated it and walked out to have a smoke and decided to stay out - English Patient.

[morgana]

So frankly, i don't bother listening to critics opinions (i will read them but I won't take it to heart) .

There used to be a local (newspaper) film critic when I lived in Omaha that I read religiously. I always knew what to see, because of him.

If he hated it, I'd love it. If he loved it, I'd hate it. Every time.

Wish I could find another critic like that.

[Broomjockey]

I used to have several buttmonkeys demand their money back after seeing a crappy movie, and both I and my managers would use this line. "We guarantee to show the movie to the best technical ability possible. We do not guarantee that you are going to like the movie. Now, was it in focus? In frame? Problems with the sound? No? Okay, so we did our job. Thank you, have a nice day." And we never *ever* gave money back after the show for not liking it because frankly, we have the "15min after the movie starts, you can get a refund or exchange for any reason." And if it really sucked that bad, why are you sitting in there for over an hour? Because we have made exceptions for people who come out even half way through. Basically, as long as there's more than a 1/2 hour left, some of the managers would okay refunds/exchanges (though with that late, they have to do it themselves).

[Gawdzillers]

Isn't going to a movie all about risk? Look at what happened when "Home Alone" came out. The critics all said what a terrible movie it was, yet people went anyhow and made it a bigtime money maker, let alone a Christmas classic.

On another note, I remember when John Travolta was on The Tonight Show promoting "Battlefield Earth" and how he and others were certain it would be a big money maker, probably the biggest of the year. What a bomb it was, but I took a risk anyhow.

I must have watched Home Alone a jillion times as a kid.

[Andara Bledin]

I've only seen one movie in the theater that made me want the hour-plus of my life back: Robot Jox.

Luckily it was a double feature with Ghost, which we hadn't actually been interested in, but turned out to be well worth the price of admission.

... not worth sitting through Robot Jox, tho...

^-.-^