[Alle Meine Entchen]

This is from an article from MSNBC. I'll post the link as well, so you can see the video if you want, but it is not safe for work or even small kids. As for commentary, well, I'm glad this place sticks to it's guns (even if I'm guilty of talking a wee bit during movies).

At the Alamo Drafthouse, a film-lovers' oasis - "cold beer ... hot movies" is part of its mantra - don't send text messages in the theater. Don't say you were using your phone as a flashlight to find your seat. And don't leave the management a voice mail splayed with four-letter words galore. You just might find that voice mail turned into a public service announcement.

"At the Alamo Drafthouse, we have a simple rule: If you talk or text during a movie, we kick you out," says the theater in what has been turned into a NSFW (not safe for work) video as an example of bad customer behavior.

"I didn't know I wasn't supposed to text in your (blank blank) little theater," says the aggravated woman in the voice mail she left after being ejected from the Austin, Texas theater.
"It was too (blank) dark in that place for me to find my seat. Allright? I was using my phone as a flashlight to get to my (blank) seat. So excuse me for using my phone in USA Magnited States of America where you are free to text in a the-a-ter ...i've texted in all the other theaters in Austin, and no one ever gave a (blank) bout what i was doing on my (blank) phone, all right?"

Plus, she goes on to add, her phone "was on silent ... it wasn't on loud ... it wasn't bothering anybody. You guys, obviously, were being (blanks) to me .... and i'm sure that's what you do, you know, to rip people off .... you take my money ... and then you throw me out."

The theater chain says on its website point-blank that:

We have zero tolerance for talking or cell phone use of any kind during movies, and we aren't afraid to kick anyone rude enough to start texting their friends during a show right out of the theater. We also hate it when other movie theaters make you watch advertisements after you've already paid to see the movie, so we're vigilant about never letting ads hit our screens - we've even turned down PSAs for great causes because we don't want ANYTHING to disrupt your experience of the show.

And, just to be clear(er), Tim League, founder of the Drafthouse chain, says on the theaters' blog:

As many of you know, I really can't abide people who talk during a movie. A couple of years ago I was accosted in the Village parking lot by a patron who was warned for talking in a movie. I've nearly come to blows more than a few times over the years with rude customers over the same issue. When we adopted our strict no talking policy back in 1997 we knew we were going to alienate some of our patrons. That was the plan. If you can't change your behavior and be quiet (or unilluminated) during a movie, then we don't want you at our venue. Follow our rules, or get the hell out and don't come back until you can.

Them is fighting words at the Alamo. And we think we know who has won this battle. (Below is the theater's censored version of the video.)

http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/07/6804530-crazed-movie-customers-voice-mail-backfires

 

[geoffthomas]

Well clearly  a little bit of whispering comment to your friend next to you during a movie must be OK.  Although I must admit that if the theater wants to be even that strict, I would agree with them.  Nothing worse than buzzzz buzzzzz giggle buzzz during a good movie.
And if it is a bad movie - walk out.
I have not watched the video (am at work) but from the text of the OP, I must say that theaters have a lot of messages that say "turn off your phones".  So one is warned.  And zero tolerance is neat.  Not many theaters bother to check-up on the crowd.


Just sayin.....

 

[Martel47]

Having worked at movie theaters for something like 12 years, I have to say that monitoring theaters is extremely difficult in large multiplexes. I was at a 16 screen with an IMAX for a while, and we had people checking the theaters, but you have to figure one teenage employee checking on 17 screens and cleaning bathrooms and lobbies and some other things meant at best an auditorium would be checked every half hour. Maybe less, because managers would check on them as well.

Even at smaller theaters (the smallest I worked at for a long period was 9 screens) with fewer employees, checks were done. Plus, it is amazing what the projectionist can see through those little portholes!

So, checking theaters is much easier at these diner/bar theaters, because they have fewer screens, fewer seats and oftentimes have wait staff, too.

That said, I hate cell phone use in theaters, at least anytime between the end of the trailers and the start of the closing credits! How anyone can not understand that their phone is a distraction to others is beyond me. So are blinking blue lights on you bluetooth earpiece or the red ones on your Christmas sweater. Oh, and kids shoes in anything but a cartoon, if said shoes have flashing lights. But most common are the cell phones.

Phones are nice, though, because if they have a camera, and you just happen to take a picture, there was always a chance at a reward from the MPAA for stopping piracy. I was close the the grand one time, but my immediate supervisor just decided to scare the life out of the 17 year old idiot instead of give her a record. The cop working security was ready to arrest her for the video of the Hannah Montana Concert Event she had taken to show her little sister that couldn't be there. Am I heartless? Maybe, but the mother with her was the one I really wanted to arrest. She pretended ignorance the whole time..."I didn't know it was wrong." "I didn't know she was doing it." "I didn't even know her phone had a camera."

I am very particular about sound and projection quality in a theater and I dislike any distractions from the show. I am totally in agreement with the Alamo Drafthouse. I understand a one-time whispered comment, and will give some leeway in certain films, but if you try to turn my sci-fi film into MST3K, I will get you booted!

This happened to me one time when I was watching a movie on my day off. It wasn't particularly good. It was either Deep Blue Sea or Wing Commander. Both the kind of stupid movie that are awful at the same time as being delightful (can you beat Samuel L. Jackson being eaten by a genetically enhanced shark (strange, both these movies star Saffron Burrows)). Anyway, I politely asked some customers to please stop talking. They didn't and so I told them I was a manager at the theater and they needed to stop. They didn't, so I went and got another manager, while their comments followed me all the way out. Since others had complained too, and because the talking was so bad, we stopped the film, raised the lights, kicked out the offenders and gave everyone else free passes. The only thing the group said to me at that point was "We didn't think he was really a manager!" As if that matters. Anyway, they had some choice words for the other managers. One of the guys punched the box office window (it was an older theater with the box office line outside the building) and broke his hand on the way out. I think they threatened a lawsuit at that point, but nothing ever came of it.

Oh, the stories I can tell...

 

[geoffthomas]

You need to write a book, my friend.

 

[bobavey]

When I was young -- won't say anymore -- you could get kicked out of a theater for talking. We didn't have cell phones.

 

[Anne Victory]

Personally, I'm glad they tossed her out.  And... the Magnited States of America?  Holy mackerel...

 

[swolf]

It's all annoying, but at least with the teenagers it can be written off to their immaturity.  I've had full grown adults sit near me at the theater and blather on during the movie as if they were in their living room.

I have no problem telling them to shut up, and I think my wife worries more about me confronting them than the actual noise they're making.

Most of the theaters I go to have a short 'commercial' before the credits, asking people to be quiet during the movie - usually in a humorous way.  Are these people so stupid that they don't think it means them?

 

[Anne Victory]

Most of the theaters I go to have a short 'commercial' before the credits, asking people to be quiet during the movie - usually in a humorous way. Are these people so stupid that they don't think it means them?

Of course it doesn't mean them, Swolf - they're special

 

[balaspa]

Personally, I applaud the Drafthouse and hope she stays away.  It's just rude.  Now if we could get idiots to stop using their phone and talking loudly in restaurants! 

 

[Andra]

We are frequent movie-goers at the multiple Alamo Drafthouse locations here in Austin.
Their No Talking and No Texting policy is very well advertised before the movie begins and it includes the warning that you will be removed from the theatre if you violate the policy.
Since the Drafthouse is a "dinner and a movie" kind of place, there are servers in the theatres throughout the movies.  To place an order, you write it on a piece of paper and prop it up in the rail in front of your table.  If there are obnoxious people near you, you basically do the same thing - write it down and put up the flag.  The server will get a manager who will issue a warning.  There was a big fuss a few months ago about a loud party NOT being kicked out so the Drafthouse modified the policy slightly.  Now if there is a report of noise, a manager will stay in the theatre for the remainder of the movie.  You are given 2 warnings and out you go.
It really does make going to the movies much more enjoyable since you can hear what's going on instead of various conversations.

 

[NapCat (retired)]

"...There is a special hell...for those who talk in the theater...a special hell..."


~Shepherd Book (Serenity)

 

[Jason Kristopher]

I'm behind Alamo 100% on this. I've had several people kicked out for talking loudly or being on their phones talking or texting. It's ridiculous - the theater displays the "NO TALKING" notice in the largest font capable of display on their screen. If you miss it, then you deserve to get kicked out.

 

[Cuechick]

I thought the ad was brilliant. Some people will just never get that what they do, has an effect on others.

And this growing trend of people unable to put down their phones for even a moment is disturbing. I saw a guy being interviewed on the news for having possibly made questionable advances to a 10 year old. He kept looking at his phone and could not put a co-hearent sentence together.... and another guy who's Van got booted on "Parking Wars" kept holding his phone to his ear as he argued with the parking peeps. Even though he did not seem to be talking to anyone. It seems like a kind security blanket to some...so weird!

 

[Monique]

I thought it was brilliant too. Loved that they turned her voice mail into a warning for others. It's hilarious!

 

[Carol (was Dara)]

I'm behind Alamo 100% on this. I've had several people kicked out for talking loudly or being on their phones talking or texting. It's ridiculous - the theater displays the "NO TALKING" notice in the largest font capable of display on their screen. If you miss it, then you deserve to get kicked out.

Totally. I hate sitting next to someone who keeps breaking out their phone. And something that bothers me almost as badly is sitting in front of people who won't stop commenting on the movie and asking each other questions. I'm used to that from little kids but you'd think by the time someone is an adult they'd have learned that if they'd just sit still and pay attention they'd know what was going on.

 

[CaedemMarquez]

Now that's my kind of theater!

Caedem

 

[JimJ]

This makes me want to travel all the way to Texas just to give this place my buisness.  It sounds like a dream to me.  I'm a movie fanatic and talk and (especially) texting during movies is something that really annoys me.  I can handle SOME talking as long as it's not loud and obnoxious, and as long as it's not constant through the whole movie.  I've whispered my fair share of comments to my friends during movies.  The texting and, even worse, Facebook checking is what really drives me insane.  I've been in several movies where people sit there and check their FB every 5-10 mins throughout the movie.  So d*mn annoying and distracting.

That being said, I think the thing I would love the most about the Drafthouse is no commercials.  I don't mind trailers but all the tv commercials they throw up before the movie is one of my least favorite things about moviegoing.

My favorite thing about the video is how the girl contradicts herself.  She says she used her phone as a flashlight to find her seats but also talks about how she texts in all the other theaters and didn't know she couldn't text in this one.  I think she probably got a warning when she used it as a flashlight and then proceeded to text during the movie and got kicked out.

 

[kCopeseeley]

They've been playing this all over the radio.  Too funny.  Personally, I'm so glad I live in "the magnited states of america" where I can avoid the theater altogether in favor of watching Netflix on my TV.

 

[Andra]

Someone is selling T-shirts that say Magnited We Stand - DH ordered our earlier this week
Let me see if I can find the link...

http://magnited.spreadshirt.com/

 

[kCopeseeley]

Someone is selling T-shirts that say Magnited We Stand - DH ordered our earlier this week

Wow! It's amazing how these little memes pop up, isn't it? That t-shirt is hilarious!