AMC CEO Caves To Mobile Addicted Movie Goers, Considers Texting In Theaters No Matter How Lame
There's a time and place for everything, folks. Need to relieve yourself when you're out on a date having dinner? Find a restroom rather than whipping out your member or crouching in the middle of the restaurant. Are you at the movies and need to text the babysitter because you forgot to tell her that little Billy needs his medicine before bed? Quietly slink out of the theater and do it in the hallway or lobby. Or go to an AMC-owned theater, because texting during the movie might soon be allowed at its establishments.
In his short time as CEO of AMC Entertainment, Adam Aron has drawn headlines. First it was for agreeing to buy rival Carmike Cinemas for $1.1 billion, making AMC the world's biggest movie chain. Now just four months into the job, Aron is again making headlines, this time for saying he's seriously considering allowing texting and mobile phone use during movies.
"When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone, don’t ruin the movie, they hear please cut off your left arm above the elbow. You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s not how they live their life," Aron told Variety in an interview.
Um, excuse us? When you tell a child to eat his vegetables or there will be no ice cream after dinner, he'll whine and flail his arms in protest, but that doesn't mean you toss the spinach in the trash and serve him up a hot fudge sundae in its place. That would be crazy, and so is what Aron is considering.
Look, going to the movies isn't cheap. If you take a date to see Star Wars (she's a keeper) in IMAX, you'll be lucky to get out of there without spending upwards of $50, and that's if you split a bucket of popcorn. If it's crowded, you'll already have to contend with an inevitable chatter bug and perhaps a screaming infant, and there's always that jackhole who can't help but kick your seat. Is it really necessary to pile texting on top of it all?
That's the obvious fear, that going to the moves will suddenly suck because nobody can seem to put their smartphone away for 5 minutes, let alone an hour and a half or more. Those little lights are distracting, and it's one reason why cell phone use is prohibited in theaters. Aron's aware of this, though he sounds determined to come up with a solution or at least a compromise.
"We’re going to have to figure out a way to do it that doesn’t disturb today’s audiences. There’s a reason there are ads up there saying turn off your phone, because today’s moviegoer doesn’t want somebody sitting next to them texting or having their phone on," Aron added.
Good luck with that. You can dedicate the last two rows to texters, but what if the movie is sold out and you get stuck in one of those rows? Call us curmudgeons, but we think it's perfectly acceptable to expect moviegoers to put away their phones long enough to finish a flick.
In his short time as CEO of AMC Entertainment, Adam Aron has drawn headlines. First it was for agreeing to buy rival Carmike Cinemas for $1.1 billion, making AMC the world's biggest movie chain. Now just four months into the job, Aron is again making headlines, this time for saying he's seriously considering allowing texting and mobile phone use during movies.
"When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone, don’t ruin the movie, they hear please cut off your left arm above the elbow. You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s not how they live their life," Aron told Variety in an interview.
Um, excuse us? When you tell a child to eat his vegetables or there will be no ice cream after dinner, he'll whine and flail his arms in protest, but that doesn't mean you toss the spinach in the trash and serve him up a hot fudge sundae in its place. That would be crazy, and so is what Aron is considering.
Look, going to the movies isn't cheap. If you take a date to see Star Wars (she's a keeper) in IMAX, you'll be lucky to get out of there without spending upwards of $50, and that's if you split a bucket of popcorn. If it's crowded, you'll already have to contend with an inevitable chatter bug and perhaps a screaming infant, and there's always that jackhole who can't help but kick your seat. Is it really necessary to pile texting on top of it all?
That's the obvious fear, that going to the moves will suddenly suck because nobody can seem to put their smartphone away for 5 minutes, let alone an hour and a half or more. Those little lights are distracting, and it's one reason why cell phone use is prohibited in theaters. Aron's aware of this, though he sounds determined to come up with a solution or at least a compromise.
"We’re going to have to figure out a way to do it that doesn’t disturb today’s audiences. There’s a reason there are ads up there saying turn off your phone, because today’s moviegoer doesn’t want somebody sitting next to them texting or having their phone on," Aron added.
Good luck with that. You can dedicate the last two rows to texters, but what if the movie is sold out and you get stuck in one of those rows? Call us curmudgeons, but we think it's perfectly acceptable to expect moviegoers to put away their phones long enough to finish a flick.
