I'm 19, I live in the U.S. I go to the multiplex for big movies (such as Inception), but I like to support the 70 year-old local cinema located in my downtown area that's barely thriving. On most occasions, the local theater, which has one screen and holds over 500 people, is the most quiet. They only show classic horror films, dramas, and newly released independent films, so crying toddlers and loud teenagers are usually absent. It's the movie theater that I'll remember 30 years from now.

I remember when I went to see the Friday the 13th remake in a cinema. It was the dumbest, loudest audience ever.

But surely to pay for employing an ushers the would need to charge higher ticket prices and would only be economical in multiplexes near big cities which are the size of shopping centers(or malls as the americans call them)

I am in total agreement with your opinion of the state of UK audiences. I have one of those cinema cards where you can see unlimited films for a monthly fee, so I attend the cinema a lot. For the third time of owning this card I am going to cancel it and give up going to the cinema - purely because of the total annoyance caused by UK audiences.



What I really want cinemas to introduce are headphone sockets, you know, like you get on planes. Most cinemas already have induction loops for the hard of hearing. Why not pipe that into the arm of your chair, so we can plug in our earphones and tune out all those audience distractions.



I now have my own projector and have turned my living room into a small cinema with no one to eat, talk, text or kick my chair. Of course, I won't see the latest releases any more, alas. Farewell cinema *sob*.

Also mark, you are judging ticket price by those in london. At my local multiplex in north wales ticket are £7.40 in the evening( £6.30 for afternoon showings).Not that at ussualy see more than one film there a year because it just shows holywood trash.

Also, I'm glad you had a pleasant viewing experience but it seems odd to base your opinion on one film. Depending on the type of theater and the state, I've had very different experiences in large multiplexes. Going to see an action film during the weekend was loud and headache inducing, but going to see a week-day showing in an IMAX theatre was extremely pleasant.

Represent.

@cadwern - Possibly, but there seem to be staff standing around doing nothing every time I go to the cinema, surely a couple of them could be utilised?



In all seriousness, mainstream UK film audiences are generally appalling; children who haven't been taught how to behave, teenagers who do not appear to have discovered the art of the inner monologue, and middle-aged people who've lost said art. The Duke of York in Brighton is usually better, although I did once have to endure whooping whenever Heath Ledger was on the screen in The Dark Knight.

On the rare occasions when I go to the cinema, the theatre just turns up the volume on the soundtrack to drown out the noise. I feel like I should wear earplugs to avoid going deaf. I've never seen an usher set foot in the actual theatre. Perhaps there are some cinema chains that are starting to take notice and it will come to my area eventually.



That's in the US. I've never been to the UK, though I hope to go in the next couple of years so I can watch Kermode/Mayo live streaming...:)

I've never felt so patriotic. Though I agree that taking kids into R rated movies is criminal (and not an acceptable form of babysitting)!

I used to work at a moderately sized Odeon (10 screens) and I swear that out of the whole staff there was only myself and two others that would go into screens whilst a film was in progress to make sure audience members were behaving; and the manager was constantly telling us off for doing so...

We accept you one of us, we accept you one of us...



You've discovered one of the real luxuries of multiplexes. They're very clean, very organized and exercise some degree of control over their audiences. You really kind of lucked out with that - from my experience, the smaller and cheaper the cinema, the worse the rabble gets. There's a little single screen theater about a five-minute walk from my house and I won't even use it anymore because the experience is so terrible in comparison to sacrificing a half-hour drive to the city multiplex. Constant talking, yelling, fights breaking out, kids running up and down aisles nonstop. Feet sticking to the floor. It's like sitting in the monkey cage at the zoo.



One of the main reasons I think the multiplexes have taken over so successfully and swallowed the smaller theaters up is because they're able to deliver the experience that people want. Sometimes I don't think that's such a bad thing.

TO ALL PEOPLE TO WANT TO AVOID THE MULIPLEX AUDIENCE!!!



I find that going to a muliplex can still be perfectly fine if you just avaiod the peak times, I visit my local odeon nearly every weekend but on a sunday morning or afternoon. The audatorium is quiet and fairly empty. I have also done this at the london BFI IMAX on a sunday and while those screening have alot more bums on seats the room is very well behaved.



So people who complain about the state of the cinema can easily avoid the audience by doing just that. Go on non peak screenings where there is not likley to be a problem.

The local 18-screen cinema in Glasgow (you know the one) does have staff coming in to check occasionally during the screenings and they do deal with disruptive people, so it's not a completely lost art.



As I've said before, I previously worked in a multiplex. When you were assigned to screens (rather than the concessions stand - a relief!) the way the rotas and staff were arranged, very often one member of staff would be covering 2-3 screens simultaneously. A typical evening (maybe starting around 5.30-6pm) was timed in such a way that you would clean a screen, seat it, monitor for the first 15 minutes of the feature, race off to the other screen, clean it, seat it, monitor the screen for 15 minutes feature then take a break - thereafter the whole process would repeat itself for the 2nd evening showing. As such, there simply wasn't time for someone to continuously visit screens to check on them.



...and the moral of the story is: always take your rubbish away with you when you leave the screen! :-) Particularly nachos - whoever it was that invented that liquid cheese stuff should be tried for crimes against humanity.

I've never understood why anyone would come to a cinema, pay anywhere between £7-£10 for a ticket and then sit and chat with their mates. I spent the whole of Superman Returns throwing peanut M&Ms at a couple of silly young teenage girls five rows in front who would neither shut up nor put their mobile phones away. The situation with ushers (or lack thereof) in British cinemas is ridiculous. Not only are less socially aware members of the audience free to disrupt as they see fit, but when the first 30 minutes of Inception are ruined by garbled audio and the wrong lens on the projector (hello World of Cine in Chester) there's nobody there to remedy the situation.

@ Joel Cooney



Thanks for the advice. I'll remember that next time I'm there. I always take a big bag with me that my litter can go into anyway. Though I'm trying to make a concerted effort to use the GFT whenever possible - they need my money more than these big multiplex franchises do.

The only thing worse are the art house cinemas, for example the Cameo in Edinburgh. Students who insist on wearing woolly hats with long baubles (even in the summer!), knee length shorts and sandles, who basically treat the cinema like its their living room, and take their sandles off and walk around bare foot. Ugh. Not having a go at them because they're students, I was a student for ten years, but the bare feet thing always drove me nuts.

I don't even think it's a generational thing. I recently saw The Kings Speech at a cinema in North London and was shocked by the volume at which two middle-aged ladies sat near me were talking throughout the entire film.



I actually blame television. Many shows on television today are designed as a social experience, where it is not only acceptable, but encouraged to talk over the programme - talent shows, reality TV shows: these programmes are all incredibly boring if you sit and watch them in complete silence. The problem is now people are forgetting that when they go to the cinema they can no longer act like they do when sat on their sofa at home.



To be honest I can not see cinemas in this country re-employing ushers because of the additional cost. Of course if they realised this would actually encourage many people like myself to go to the cinema more they might think about it harder.

Dr K,

I can't tell you how pleased I am you raised this subject,which is very topical for me personally,as following on from what I can only describe as an utterly painful experience in my local Odeon recently,I am close to throwing the towel in all together, and waiting for DVD which would break my heart,but there's only so much you can take. After spending over £19.00 on two tickets to see the new Liam Neeson offering Unknown I was subjected (due to it's 12a rating)to a tirade of noise, mobile phones conversations,foul language,constant trips to the toilets,(these kids must have bladders the size of garden peas? )banging the exit doors every time, just to make doubly sure we'd heard them, and of course it wouldn't be the same without olympic standard popcorn throwing.I eventually, if reluctantly had to tell three teens behind us to stop kicking our seats and keep the noise down, or I wouldn't be responsible for my actions.It worked, but I did have to put my best 'Arnie' voice on to achieve a result...;-).Which brings me to the Ushers or lack of in this case ,the front row had around a dozen teens clearly under the age of fifteen which as you can imagine was a nightmare for the rest of us, now bearing in mind the usher had actually seated them, and was fully aware of their number not once did we see one member of staff check on them throughout the performance.We left the cinema feeling we'd been through an endurance test, rather than would should have been an enjoyable couple of hours,and having paid handsomely for the privelige I might add. One adult only performance of every film per week would certainly help, however no doubt I'd be crushed in the stampede for seats!!

Dear Dr. K,

I am from the U.S.,Long Island New York to be exact. I would love for my local Multiplex to be like the one you went to. I wish there was ushers working and telling people to be quite. I went to see 11pm showing of kick ass on a Tuesday probably the loudest audience ever. Someone had their new born there with them, witch cried through the whole movie. Also people talking to each other, texting, and even talking on the phone. The next and last film I saw in a Multiplex was Inception, and was pretty much the same thing. When I look back and think about all the Films I've seen in a Multiplex it was like this every time. Needless to say I stay away from the Multiplex now and would much rather take a 40 minute train ride to New York City to see a Film in somewhere like the IFC center. Witch in my opinion is worth it.

I have almost fully given up going to the cinema. The behaviour is generally poor wherever I have lived in the UK - Belfast, Liverpool or London. The only cinemas I have thoroughly enjoyed are the Queen's Film Theatre in Belfast and the Cornerhouse in Manchester - they seem to have audiences that respect the films, and each other. It is not only the multiplexes where there are problems - I remember watching Sokurov's wonderful "The Sun" at a London "art house" cinema, and people were using their phones, talking and one idiot came in late with his friends, continuing their conversation as he made his way to the middle of a row.



With large-screen TV's, decent home cinema audio and video and Blu-Ray, I will now prefer to wait and watch at home, but I feel very sad in having to say that. I love cinema, and places like the QFT are still an exception, but I won't waste my money on a film I won't be able to watch in peace and quiet because a bunch of ill-mannered idiots (of whatever age, but usually teenagers) haven't got a basic understanding of manners.



Another good idea was something that the PrintWorks in Manchester did years ago (not sure if they still do it) - they had additional "Mezzanine" showings of popular films where, irrespective of the certificate, admission to those screens were for over 18s only. Doesn't solve the problem completely, but it is a start - leave the kids to their own little sand pit!

Mark the Everyman Cinema (formerly The Screen) in Winchester has ushers, or at least it did when I worked there. We didn't patrol screenings exactly, as in those auditoriums it would be more disruptive to be opening the doors all the time, but we were happy to oblige should someone come to us with a complaint of noise or bad behaviour. Unfortunately some people only did so after the film was finished, and just came and ranted to us about it. I'm not sure what they then expected us to do about it.



@cadwern - Evidently having ushers isn't something only larger chains can do. In fact it seems more common among small, independent cinemas and is something of a unique selling point. People who came in to the one I worked at, who had usually just gone to multiplexes, were often surprised by the whole idea of someone showing them to their seat etc (or even the idea of having set seats, which I notice multiplexes seem to have done away with). Seems to me that here it's actually the larger chains that cut corners in this way, and the smaller chains that offer these more unique touches as an alternative or attraction.

Years ago I went to a cinema in Santa Monica to see 28 Weeks later. This was the first of many films I saw in the USA. The vibe from the audience was overwhelmingly contagious. A trailer for Live Free Die Hard (known to the British Isles as Die Hard 4.0) was enough for the man sitting next to me to punch the air and shout exhalations of extreme joy shared with the rest of the audience.



Once the film started the audience hushed and respectfully waited for the opening scene in the country house to kick off. The room went completely berserk. Every moment of action got a response.



Once the country house scene was over and the film slowed the pace for everyone to catch their breath. Dr K., what happened next could only happen in your fantasy of a world dictated by your cinema etiquette. A group of three or so chaps started talking at the front of the theatre. Everyone was in uproar, and the disruptive group left in embarrassment under a barrage of criticisms.



The film resumed with the same levels of relentless enthusiasm. It is without a doubt my most cherished cinema experience, and I owe it all to an American audience.

Another difference is that they don't do sweet popcorn in the US. In the UK the kids already have a vat load of sugar in their fizzy drink, so lets give them sugar covered popcorn to make them even more hyper.



My multiplex viewing is mostly confined to weekdays, during the day, so I usually don't have problem audiences. My weekend evening viewing is usually at our local arthouse which gets most of the movies my wife might want to see, mainstream or indie, also a pleasant experience.



However, on the rare occasions when we've had to hit our local Odeon, it has been a frustrating experience, never mind the audiences, the staff have been rude and inept. When pre-booked ticket machines stopped working they couldn't cope and we barely made it into a screening in time. Another time a power outage killed a film and we were left for 45 minutes before being told what was going on, oh, and could we please leave immediately to make way for the next screening, you'll have to come back and kill another evening to see the rest of the movie.



On the other hand, back in the '80's during that heyday of horror, seeing genre movies with an inner-city interactive American audience was almost a vital part of the experience. How can you watch Evil Dead in a clean quiet arthouse atmosphere without the audience loudly warning the on screen characters of their impending doom and your feet not sticking to the floor? I will always remember seeing an alien-rip off movie Forbidden World which received this boisterous review during the opening credits -- "No wonder it's Forbidden - it sucks!" Too bad that wasn't the tag line on the poster.

Were a very civilized bunch here in the isle of man,i cant comment on `ACROSS`I think comeovers like me learn the local rules pretty quick.As to cost £6.50 at the Palace,£4 at the peel centenary centre £3 OAPs not bad eh !

#22 @liquidcow:



I'm against allocated seating. I kind of put up with it when I have to (festival screenings) but there's little worse than having to stand up for a latecomer to get to his/her specified seat when there are plenty of empty seats off to the sides. And there's no real point in them running an allocation system since most of the time the screens are nowhere near full.

I rarely go during peak time, simple as that. But even then, I've scarcely had a bad experience even at peak time. Maybe I just luck out.



When I saw The Resident last Wednesday, the cinema was completely empty (10.30am screening). Me and my friend were the only ones in there, watching this abysmal movie. I saw ushers twice. It's rare that I talk if there's an audience, but if it's just me and my friend in the screening (such as when we saw Machete and John Carpenter's The Ward), we like to talk about the movie - or, in The Resident's case, voice our frustrations with clichéd nonsense playing in front of us. But if there's anyone besides me and my friend in that screening, we shut up. No one wants to hear our running commentary, for obvious reasons. It's a cinema, not your living room - have respect for those who have made the journey to see it and not on a computer screen.



I've even seen ushers walking through the auditorium - such as the case with Iron Man 2 (the very first screening at the local), where an employee with night vision googles looked around for cameras. It made me feel rather uncomfortable, actually.

Being unemployed does have the occasional upside, like going to the cinema in the afternoon when most adults are at work, and children are at school.

I'm glad you had a good time at an American cinema. Was it a Rave cinema? They have improved the viewing pleasure at my local multiplex since taking over from the previous owners.

It's £6-7 something at my locasl or £5 at the independant with one screen - last time I went there, there was an intermission!

It would be made brick, not flesh, wouldn't it ;).

I think you're ultimately generalizing a bit about this too. You probably just went to a bad American cinema/and or bad British cinema. To make that generalization probably has to do with who is seeing the film, and lets face it, you can wind up with a bad crowd anyplace.

I had an extensive comment posted and it's now disappeared! As an American poster, I'll tell a tale: my local cinema is a massive TWENTY screen multiplex and not only does it have ushers, last time I left the usher was sent by the projectionist to apologize for an out-of-focus scene and give me a free readmittance pass. She stood and waited for me while I sat through the credits. If there's any issue and an usher isn't around, you can get one and they'll take care of problems. When I came to late to a screening recently, I was given a full refund when I asked for one, declining to see the movie because I couldn't find a seat. It's a very clean and well kept-cinema that's generally quiet and a great place. Admittedly, there's not a good art cinema for miles, and this multiplex shows predominantly big mainstream movies, but still, there's no denying the quality of the moviegoing experience, so I must protest your criticisms of us here on this side of the Atlantic!

I know of some restaurants that use a technology that blocks mobile phone signals, so that people can enjoy their meal without the constant annoyance of text messages/ringing; people have to go outside to take or recieve a call. Can't this be done in cinema's too?

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee.

And crown thy good with brotherhood,

From sea to shining sea!

How about where you have assigned seating, and there's a chewing gum mess on your seat (Vue, Harrow)! So you choose another seat 10 mins into the film. And then a family of 20 arrive to claim those seats.

So I'm afraid most of my film viewing takes place at home, in front of the big-screen TV , with the surround sound set as I like it.

I don't feel I belong in my local cinema. It doesn't want me, and it makes that patently clear every time.

I have found over the years that when watching a film that is well written, well acted and well shot, and doesn't rely on mindless violence and wobbly camerawork, audiences are generally pretty well behaved (not all the time, just generally). So for example, when I watched 'The Kings Speech' an usher wasn't required. But as Hollywood continues to churn out complete mindless dross, then maybe bringing back ushers is the way to go.

#28 - Your local might need an usher...?

What is this, the usual self-loathing we Brits like to indulge in? You get rowdy audiences and polite audiences everywhere. It can depend on location, time of day, blah blah blah. This doesn't prove a damn thing, Mark.



PS: did the usher have a gun? That'd be right.

And to all those Americans currently gloating: European/British cinema gave the world 'The King's Speech', 'The Diving Bell and Butterfly', 'Let the Right One In' (err the original in a foreign language not your shit-for-brains remake). America gave the world 'Norbitt', 'Sex and the City','Little Man' and - LOL - 'Made of Honor' (it's official: Hollywood execs are not only illiterate, they don't even know what a pun is).



The standard of cinema etiquette may be better, but the quality of what's been actually shown in them....ummm no bloody contest.

Eating in general in cinemas is what really grinds my gears. It's completely uneccessary yet obviously greatly encouraged by the cinemas as they make a fortune out of overpriced junk, but why why WHY did they have to make some of the noisiest foods available, popcorn and nachos, typical cinema snacks though? And then put them in crackly plastic packaging?! It's so infuriating.

Anyway I think timing in general has a lot to do with who you end up sharing the cinema with. I often go to early Sunday afternoon showings at a multiplex, which are usually fine even when busy. Avoid Friday/Saturday evenings at all costs. I saw Iron Man 2 (which seems to be a magnet for bad behaviour) on a weekend evening, and we had about 15-20 teens sitting at the front shouting, walking around, swapping seats, texting and so on for the first 20 minutes, after which I'd had enough and went to find an usher. Needless to say there were none anywhere in sight so I had to go right back to front door to find a security guard, but he did throw them out immediately. I've seen guards refusing entry to large groups of teens at another multiplex though, so I guess they're trying to prevent it but I suppose they can't stop them from coming in in smaller groups and meeting up inside.

@ I_am_I



Those are completely arbituary reasons. Basing the quality of American films on only four films is just ridiculous.

Made of Honour

I avoid going to see a film at peak times nowadays if I can help it.



For a while I thought age-restricted screenings might be the solution but this type of behaviour applies to all ages even though, undeniably, a large proportion of the 'offenders' are teenagers.



Unfortunately, it looks like these people and their behaviour are here to stay.

I quite often see ushers in my local world of cine... they never tell anyone to be quiet but they are there!

I guess Kermode hasn't been to Cineworld in Ilford,

There's a much better name for the sequel to Taken:



Taken 2: Bow-na-now Funky Town

A part of it is luck I think, a moment in a film can bring a good crowd together - I remember that part in Casino Royale where Eva Green says ' James, if all that were left of you were your smile and little finger, you'd still be more of a man than anyone I've ever met ' , EVERYONE laughed, and that made that part memorable.



For the most part though, people are just generally irritating in cinemas (especially people asking to explain the film during it). A good time to go is straight after work, between 5 and 7. Went to go see Adjustment Bureau at Silverlink in Newcastle recently - Friday evening - 17.50 showing - 9 people in. Brilliance. The later showing was full, apparently.

I too have a Cineworld unlimited card and was struggling to find a good suitable cinema to use it since I moved to east London.



I used to go to the one in Fulham. Usually well behaved audience, and lots of European films.



But then I moved to East London and was not looking forward to having to just go to either Haymarket (tiny, if someone sits in front you can´t see a thing and there´re mice around) or going to the one in Trocadero (horribly loud audience)



Now I've found the one in West India Quay - right next Canary Wharf. As it is for the bankers, there's no one during the weekends, the screens are huge and you can perfectly see even with a tall person right in front. Strongly recommended.

When I went to see Inception at the local odeon (rather small, only two screens) all I could hear was these bloody kids would not stop talking throughout until someone from the audience shouted at them. I think we need ushers because some people won't even talk quietly in the cinema nowadays!

Mark, your film reviews are usually objective and high quality. But then, you're reviewing just one film.



Your review, however, of ALL British cinemas, based -presumably on your experiences in a few (expensive) London-based ones; and of ALL American cinemas, based -it appears- on just one, is hardly objective. And certainly inaccurate.



I urge you to travel to other parts of the UK - and other parts of the USA - for a fuller experience.

@ hellolewis

Totally agree about the eating in cinema comments.Why would someone want to shovel down Nachos, Hotdogs and the like in an environment where on the whole you can barely see what you're eating ?? I call them The Rustlers and the Crunchers and they are so annoying !! The only concession I make is a small bottle of water in my bag , so no ring pulls to irritate either;-). Ideally I'll win the lottery one day and have my own home cinema.......dreams... and sighs...

There is nothing worse than going to see a film which you have paid £10 for the privilege (perhaps more if you go for the VIP seats or whatever they are calling them now) to find a bunch of 8 year olds obviously from one of the kids party with 2 parents come in just as the films starting and trying to find seats in which they can all sit together. This happened to me when I was watching the King's speech - not really a film that I would have thought 8 year old kids would be interested in and they would not stop talking, laughing, eating and this was on a WEEKDAY in school time!



However, it is not all bad. I have had experiences in which the audience has enhanced the film e.g. when watching Run fat boy run where they pop the massive blister and everyone just went ewww at the same time or when I was watching Harry potter and this guy was having a massive coughing fit at the front just as Mad eye moody dies and the person next to me just said I think that guy is dying too I couldn't stop laughing

What Mark describes sounds like a utopia. The behaviour of the British public can be incredibly annoying and deeply embarrassing in cinemas. Not just cinemas, I'm in lectures almost every day at Brunel university and I can't believe the kind of manners and conduct of so many people, who fail even to understand the basic concept of not speaking over others.

Should point out that Mark sees most of his films in the relative luxury of press screenings without having to come into close contact with the nacho-scoffing hoi-pilloi, and perhaps has had his sense sharpened a little - having said that, sitting in multiplex on a Friday in, say, Glasgow, is not for the lilly-livered.

Now retired I enjoy the luxury of enjoyng the cinema matinees .For me it has nothing to do with cheaper tickets for the earlier showings . Previously the noisy behaviour of the evening audience got so bad I stopped going .

Oh , and I don't go when the kids are on holiday from school either .

Where do cinema tickets cost £9? Leicester Square? I pay £5.50 for my Cineworld ticket.

Plus, I agree, etiquette is terrible in British cinemas. My local cinema is full of people talking on their mobile phones, talking loudly and just being downright rude. Personally I don't mind people rustling popcorn. It's hard not to do it and it's not much of an inconvenience to me when I hear it.

Cinema culture has changed alot, but they aren't the only places now changed by people who talk loudly, glued to a mobile! More importantly, if a screening sells out, say around 350 seats, at £8 a head, then I seriously doubt any staff will be turfing people out for using a mobile to update their Facebook status to 'I'm in the pictures lol' and thus throw away repeat custom, especially when you consider the financial state of the film industry and illegal download figures are always rising.

Personally I will only go now when something worth viewing on the big screen comes along, otherwise it's easier to wait for the Blu-Ray/DVD especially if you consider the turn around these days is around 3-4 months to go from cinema to home. Buying a good quality tv, possibly a home cinema kit and a Blu-Ray player (or PS3) will always be a wise investment, I enjoyed The Dark Knight more at home than the cinema, at least I was in control of the volume, and I could pause it in case I needed a drink top-up or say I needed to tweet 'I am watching Batman 2 lol'.

I remember when Independence day came out in 1996, that took over a year to get to VHS, so I'd say we are fairly fortunate these days to get films at home so quickly.

The big multi-screen chain cinema's will be fine, but always support your local cinema when possible!!

I went to see Rango the other day at the Odeon in Salisbury and it was £8.55, so obviously it's not just London close to the £9 mark. On the other hand it was basically empty. In general I've had good experience in British cinemas though, whether the Harbour Lights in Southampton or the Vue in Leicester Square. Sweden's cinemas were worse. Saw Zombieland in Stockholm... that crowd was noisy and/or "involved" with each other.

Cornerhouse in Manchester....fantastic! Great festivals and great selection of films all year round..... but, best of all, well behaved audiences.....and those who don’t behave, are soon put in their place (either by the ushers or members of the audience)....and that, as far as some of us are concerned, is as it should be. Basically, rather than complaining, we need to be setting standards....and, as consumers, we need to expect a bit more.....if I'm not happy, I get my money back....end of.

Oh dear... I'm afraid this must have been quite a unique experience that you witnessed Mr. Kermode, because it is far from normality in American cinemas for people to behave so well.



An example: I previously visited Boston last September and went to see Machete. I was shocked to see 10 year old kids being accompanied with their mother to see a film so violent and containing so many references to sex. But the worst of it was the inane chatter from people watching the film. Not to mention people constantly checking their mobile devices for texts etc. There were ushers but they didn't do much good.



UK cinema audiences, on the other hand, have always been very well behaved in my experience. Maybe I'm just lucky!!!

I worked in cinema for over 10yrs from cannon cinemas thru MGM, VIRGIN,UGC then stopped before it was taken over by cineworld. In those 10 yrs its gone from the staffing level of 30 members of staff down to the skeleton crew of 3 in the day to 6 at night, its pathetic. We always used to look after the customer both in screen and out of screens in the foyer. Once upon a time there was one usher in each screen watching over the audience to make sure they were all behaving themselves, nowadays its only about revenue and has nothing to do with customer service or the movie going experience, fat companies like cineworld only care about you coming through the door spending money and they do not worry about you after your gone in the screens. Not only that it was £1.70 for an adult ticket when i started in 1991 working at a cinema and when i left it was £6.80 and now believe it to be around nine pounds at our local multiplex. Your better off buying a projector at home and waiting for the titles to be released on blur ray or dvd. Cinema multiplex's are a dying form of entertainment and it won't be long before they go also.

I agree with MGM, staffing levels are the big issue. I worked for a cinema which had adequate staff to "police" screens, then VUE took over with there "skeleton" crew, sometimes theres not even enough staff to clean each screen! Its all about profit, vue even charge an extra £1 for 18+ screenings to rid yourself from anoying children. I wouldnt even consider a friday/saturday/wednesday evening at the cinema, go when its quiet, youll enjoy it more.

Me and my girlfriend find the best time to go to the cinema is for the last showing of the evening (admittedly this happens on weekends when we don't have work). Seeing Tron: Legacy in 3D in a near empty cinema at 11:50pm was utter bliss.



Other than that, I find the best solution to noisy cinemas (and I know this will make me very unpopular on these here pages) is downloading films. That way I can connect my laptop to my telly via HDMI, and watch Blu-Ray quality films, through my own sound system...with no one to bother me.

I work in a cinema in North East England and, when acting as usher, I try to tell people to be quiet or switch their phone off I generally get verbally abused. I've had people throw food at me and threaten me with violence for simply asking them to switch off their phone. Hence, sometimes I prefer 'standing about not doing much' to intervening in a screen because I don't get paid enough to be insulted and abused. I don't feel guilty anymore about taking this attitude because I'm not trained in security (how to deal with agressive people, self defence, etc.) and the only people to blame for a disruption to a performance are those actually causing the disruption.

I personally am absolutely silent when watching a movie and conduct myself with decorum, but perhaps people should be allowed to be noisy and crass when watching a movie that they have paid quite a lot to see, if that is how they enjoy their film-watching experience.

My comment will be lost in the noise; however: please, cinemas, provide a SMS number to text to report bad behaviour of either the audience or the projectionist, so that i don't miss part of the film by having to leave the cinema to complain.

I've read most of the comments now and agree with the majority of the posters - I worked in a cinema and still go a few times a month. I am appalled at the level of noise and disruption within the cinema - so-called 'independent art-house' or multiplex.



The cinema etiquette is pretty simple:

1. you can comment through the adverts

2. you can whisper through the trailers

3. You will be quiet for the film.



Quiet means, no talking. Whether the screen is full or nearly empty, it's still distracting. I'm trying to watch the film, not ignore the conversation behind me about how hot some bloke is or how cool that gun is.

That also includes no phones. Seriously, how insecure do you have to be to not be able to stop checking your phone for an hour and a half?

How arrogant must you be to think other people want to know?



I once told a young couple to be quiet during a gig, to which she replied: "I don't mind being told off, but it's the lack of respect I object to". This after they'd had an above normal level of volume conversation for three songs, while the artist was on stage. I told them they didn't deserve my respect and that they'd be thrown out if they didn't shut up.

This highlights what for me is the problem - where was my respect? Or the dozens of other people's?



That brings me on to my next, and most important point.

Where are you all? Why am I the only one in the cinema or at gigs telling people to be quiet? if more people asked the noisy ones (young, old, rich or poor - bad manners aren't restricted) to be quiet, then we would have fewer noisy ones as people would remember that it's impolite to talk during a film/theatre show/gig.

I'm tired of feeling like the police at the cinema - last time I went I had to tell two separate groups of girls to be quiet and one lot gave me such dirty looks I laughed.

So come on - you know it's annoying. You're annoyed by it - so say something!

I asked a lady on a train to turn off her music coming from her mobile on a two hour journey. I addressed the carriage as a 'they don't want to hear it either' and every single person nodded. But instead of asking her to turn it off, which she did, politely, they'd sat and suffered.



Phew. /rant

Cinemas get the audiences they want - the ones that buy lots of overpriced, nutrition-free garbage and treat the event as a social occasion. The fact that these are also more likely to be ill-behaved, inconsiderate and self-centered is an utter irrelevance to the cinema owners - the people that only want to watch the film are not their core market. Same with holidays, music events, sports...the lowest common denominator is money - get 'em hyped or drunk, and they spend more, because their judgement and restraint are impaired (assuming they had any to begin with!)

When I lived in Oxford 30 years ago the cinema audiences believed in the participative approach. The cheer as the bicycle took to the air in 'ET' was unforgettable. Sadly this fine tradition seems to have withered since, but I would still draw a distinction between sounds made by those not paying attention (mobile 'phones, discussing last night's football, eating crisps noisily) and sounds made by those who are.

Glittergal4091, you are absolutely right, and I count myself (sadly) as one of those who is really annoyed but sheepish about saying anything. It's partly due to, as you mentioned, the prickly responses you get back. I once asked a girl to stop talking during a psychology lecture, she turned around and barked 'Oh, but it's alright when you talk !' (I wasn't sitting next to anyone).

@ glittergal4091 Point taken, but I for one always stand my ground however sometimes as a lone female when you tackle a group of teens, it's rather intimidating walking out on your own.



@ Harry Chown Welcome to Wales.... where a premier seat at the Odeon costs £9.00 plus. :-(



@robochaa Like the text idea, but then I'd probably get told off for using my phone!! What about a button you could press and a giant claw would descend from the ceiling, pick up the offenders and dump 'em at the exit. :-)

That sounds like film haven to me (aside from hall pass being on of course). Ushers in a cinema. Haven't seen them in years. Sadly I don't see that happening on this side of the pond though.

that's great cinema management



in terms of cinema going etiquette and cinema management things are definitely improving in the states, but they still have huge problems



but over here things are definitely getting worse



the ads on cinema behaviour are pathetic and not clear enough and ushers are a rare sight indeed



it's definitely not a generational thing



i had one middle-aged man hang his coat on the back of my seat during the King's Speech



i gave him and his wife the death stare and his wife quickly whispered to her husband to remove his jacket, which he subsequently did

Two examples of bad behaviour in cinemas I've witnessed:



When I went to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at my local cinema there was a group of people in there who frankly were not there to see the film at all. They spent most of their time shouting, laughing mockingly and running around the room. It got so bad the manager came in, but he didn't throw them out (obviously he didn't want to throw out a paying customer). It was like being back at school, with a supply teacher, the class is noisy and the supply teacher goes to get a proper teacher to get them to shut up.



More recently, when I was seeing Rango, twenty minutes in a mother comes in with her six-year-old son. He obviously did not want to see the film and made no attempt to make anyone think differently, treating the cinema like it was a playground of sorts. The mother - instead of trying to shut him up, or realising he didn't want to be there and take him home - actually encouraged him to carry on. It's the closest I've ever come to telling a stranger to shut up (this also broke some rules of the cinema code of conduct).

Actually, I DID once get some oiks ejected from a cinema, when they continued talking throughout the film. They were asked to leave and missed the end. Regrettably, I suspect they got the advantage of that situation, as the film was Independence Day, and the ending is so crass that I wish I hadn't watched the rest of it!

I wish someone had thrown me out of The Adjustment Bureau before the end!

Right that's it I have heard from Mark and read on this blog pleanty of derogative statements against those who work at cinemas (particularly multi-plex's) in the uk. As somone who works at one of these places I have understood many complaints that have been made, just because I work there doesn't mean I support it the prices, adverts and so forth. To those criticisms which I haven't agreed with I have just said "that's their opinion" until now. Mark while I agree with you on other topics, on this one the gloves are off.



First of all people who work at cinemas don't tend to get a lot of money, like any other unskilled job vacancies are easily filled and therefore people are easily replaced, this is not the surroundings in which a happy worker is usually found. Therefore you are not going to see many people going abover and beyond there job when they do not feel valued.

Seccondly ushers are not an army, not even in a large cinema are they in large numbers and if they are it is because they are all needed to clean up all of the wrappers, half drunk coke bottles, spills, popcorn, you name it we've found it. We are not asked to check screens on a regular basis because we dont have the time and at the bussiest times when you are most likely to have that group of noisy teenagers we're two screens down cleaning up fifteen piza boxes and bottles of alcohol.



I could go on and I think I have so just to finish off, you want a good experience where the usher checks the screen, well go to an independant cinema. That's what I do because I know I won't get overpriced and I won't get annoyed by other people because they are there to enjoy cinema and not hang out with their "bros". Oh and if you want to blame someone blame the cinema company's because ushers don't organise shift rota's or cut hours

Eveytime i go to watch a film in the afternoon the noisy kids/teens ruin it for everyone. They scream, run up and down and leave every 10mins. They made the Adjustment Bureau completely unwatchable for me. I wonder how they can abe afford to buy the tickets and even comprehend what is going on in the movie? i blame their parents

Spur of the moment yesterday decided on a mid afternoon performance in a town centre cinema. A miracle happened a row of teens were told by the usher during the trailers to shut up and we never heard a peep out of them all through the film ....Result!

However why do they make people queue for tickets in the very same queue that people want to order food, snacks,and drink :-( A ten minute wait whilst popcorn, ice cream, and the like was dispensed when all I wanted was two tickets.

Surely if cinemas were forced to refund money to customers who's enjoyment of the film had been spoilt by a disruptive audience it would then become cheaper for them to employ ushers. I can complain about (and receive any refund due) for any other product or service I receive which does not reach a certain standard, why not cinema?

I hate to break this too you but this actually happens in the U.K. too. Cinema chains pay to have their sites audited by 'mystery shoppers' on a monthly basis, checking that, amongst other things, an usher comes into the auditorium and checks the screen at least once during the movie, but ideally every 30 minutes. The results are then sent to the sites via the head office and any score below 90% results in the poor put upon staff generally being berated, or losing any small perks that might come with a minimum wage job until the score improves.



If after all this you are still not happy then I blame a society that wants the most amount of service/product for the least amount of money regardless of the consequences for other human beings standards of living.

On the (now) rare occassions I go to the cinema, I always go in the afternoon, it seems to be the best shot you have of actually being able to enjoy the film. I agree with other posts who mention that the availability of large screen/HD TV's etc can now make watching at home a more attractive alternative - unless it was a particularly special movie, I'd always choose to watch at home now (lights off, comfy seat, no noisy audience....perfect!).



I love the theatre and unfortunately this behaviour seems to be spreading into theatre audiences too.



Combining the two, I recently saw the National Theatre Live broadcasts of King Lear and Frankenstein at my local mulitplex. The experience was even worse as, being a theatrical production, there was no soundtrack, no incidental music and no sound effects to mask the audience noise and a huge proportion of the dialogue was lost to eating noises and conversation...very depressing!

@Harry Chown



come to devon we have some of the lowest wages in the country but have to fork out £8 for an adult or sometimes up to £9.50 (often in exeter and plymouth) to see a film after 5!! and don't go thinking concessions are cheap -students are £6.95!!



A complete rip off.



oh, and when i bought two (small) drinks and a standard popcorn in the so-called "savers" deal it left me with 5 pence change from a £10 note.



Cheap it ain't.

I am old enough to remember a time before Muliplexes and the Saturday morning ABC Ritz Minors Club which meant a trip to Rodney Street in Edinburgh - just up from Cannonmills or a ten minute walk down from Queen Street. It's completely gone now. I grew up in a rough part of the city and had a choice of the cinema at the top of my street in the afternoon or a fifteen minute bus journey in the morning. I almost always chose the latter as the audience that attended the Rodney Street screenings liked to listen and follow what was being shown and were very well-behaved. In comparison the afternoon crowd at the Embassy seemed to only want a darkened room in which to fight, trip, throw and scream. The ushers never stood a chance. I still remember my first afternoon experience and the sense of shock that it left me with. I never understood why anybody regardless of their youth would not want to watch the film. Eventually I came to the conclusion that it was all down to upbringing and intelligence. Incedentally the Playhouse Theatre just up from Elm Row when it was only a cinema in the '60's, '70's was the darkest picture house I was ever in. If you were late the ushers had to light you to your seat as coming in of an afternoon street you were unable to read the letters and numbers of the aisles or seats.

I wish what you said were true. The cineplex near me had a gang shooting out front recently. Some gang bangers were bullying a boy and when his relative came to defend him, he was shot and injured. Of course they were not caught.

Inside, it's about as bad with the cell phones and infants crying. You need more visits here. There are no ushers in California for example. It will get worse, too. Why? We have learned to be French "l'individualisme" as they say in gay Paris. I lived in Paris 20 years ago and saw then that the US was following in their cultural footsteps.

I think audience reaction can play a big part in the experience of a film, years ago in New York I saw 'Freddy vs Jason' on opening night in Time Square and upon entering the screen, it resembled the opening of 'Scream 2' half the audience were dressed up, when the trailers started people cheered or booed and there was just a great reactions with the audience 'getting' all the 'in' jokes in the movie. In this instance the audience made a mediocre film a great movie going experience.



I agree with something a previous poster said about the lowest common denominator if your seeing a mega budget hollywood event film, your going to have a completely different audience from a low budget indie or foreign film.



One of my favourite multiplexes is in Tallinn, Estonia, a massive brand new cinema complex where a ticket would cost you €4 and another €0.50 for a 3D movie, friendly staff and always great respectful audiences.



Compare that to seeing 'Mission Impossible 4' yesterday back in England with a constant stream of mobile phone lighting up the cinema for most of the film!!!