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BWAHAHAHAHAH! OMG! The sick twisted F*ck in me finds that HILARIOUS!!!
I will be suprised if noone sues over this.
Only once have I ever had a manager come in & apologise (and give a refund) for a screwup that happened in the theater. How sad is that?
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I'm sure I'd feel differently if I had children, but I find these (probably intentional) movie mix-ups hilarious.
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@heidiho: I have a child and you know if that had happened to me I would not have been mad. Especially if the manager apologized and tried to make it up. I would have had a talk with my child about death and what he had seen. But maybe I am just a real parent and nott afraid to talk to my child about real life...
I think the theater acted fantastically in this case, though they probably didn't have a choice.
@Nemesis_Enforcer: And that's why I'm glad that there's parents out there that are like you instead of blaming everything/one else. ;) (not being sarcastic.)
@MiltyKiss: Agreed. In the long run, it's not going to be isolated incidents like this that will shape a child's life, it will be how they are raised by loving and honest parents who communicate with them.
@MiltyKiss: Thanks! I just want my child to be able to handle the real world when he goes out on his own. My Parents talked to me like a person and actually took the time to explain what happened in the real world. When I left home at 17 to join the Military I knew a hell of a lot more than most of my friends.
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Put me on the list of parents who wouldn't spaz. While it's unfortunate, it happens.
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That is fucking hilarious.
And I still believe this was some teenage employee's prank.
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I would be more pissed about having to sit through more coming attractions.
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No one in the audience clued in when they played previews for R-rated films before their G-rated feature? (Reels are built with previews that complement the main feature's target audience.)
That's actually pretty hillarious!
The R movie trailers are not always real \"R\" type material... meaning the nudie scenes are usally not shown etc.
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This happened because a manager/projectionist screwed up. Most projectors have platter-based feed systems and usually there's three platters per projector (two to hold a movie, one to feed a movie to). So in this case, Saw IV was sharing a projector with Bee Movie and the over-worked, underpaid manager or projectionist accidentally threaded the wrong movie.
In the end, this is the result of not having dedicated projectionists because of rabid cost-cutting by a strictly anti-labor company.
(I'm a former union projectionist, IATSE Local 182 out of Boston and AMC Fenway was impossible for us to get a foothold at.)
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I feel more sorry for them having to even so much as sit through the one and a half hour drudge that is Saw IV. Hell, the whole damn series is dreadfully boring and uninspired.
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@Critcol: I remember going to the very first showing in my city (very near to you, actually, a National Amusements Showcase theater) to see The Empire Strikes Back, the early afternoon show on the day it opened. Film started up normally, we got into the first 20 minutes of the movie, there was a dramatic build-up, and then the reel change. Whoops! They had spliced the film reels together in the wrong sequence, and suddenly we were watching some scene from further into the movie. Talk about spoilers. I guess Luke didn't die out in the snow after all!
People yelled, the movie stopped, restarted again, still in the wrong place, more yelling, finally went black and we sat in the dark for a long time. When they got it fixed, they started the movie again from the start and showed it in its entirety. You can bet that seriously screwed up their schedule for the rest of that important premiere day.
Fast forward a couple of years, same theater, this time Return of the Jedi, again on opening day. During the climactic final battle/attack on the death star scenes (you know, the one where the Emperor is zapping Luke with all that electricity and Darth Vader rescues him?), the Dolby surround center channel went dead and all we were hearing was music and sound effects, no dialog. Stayed like that for the rest of the movie. We asked about refunds afterwards, but nobody in management seemed to be aware that there was even a problem.
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Sure repetitive mistakes is not a good thing. But remember, it is not about the mistake, it is about how you handle it afterwards.
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@StevieD: Yah, but your not going to see a trailer for \"Hitman\" when you sit down for \"Bee Movie\", neither are you going to a trailer for \"Bee movie\" what you sit down to see Hitman.
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Very Hillarious!
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I don't know what's more shocking. The fact that they've made 4 Saw movies, or the fact there's enough morons out there that like these crappy movies that there was enough money to make 4 Saw movies.
Kudos to the theater for stepping up. I wish AMC were here. They have much nicer cinemas than Cinemark or regal.
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Speaking as a film projectionist, someone would have to really eff it up for this to happen. Must have been one of those unmanned digital type guys.
See, this is why it is important that your customer-facing personnel feel empowered to respond to unusual situations, and have the authority to do so.
Patrons understand that screw-ups happen. It is the corporation's response that determines how upset or forgiving your patrons are going to be.
Its good to see AMC handled it well, though I've been on the other side of that before - customers demanding outrageous compensation.
When I worked at a movie theater, a guy had an episode and we had to pause the movie, turn up the lights, carry his ass out of the theater and onto a paramedic's gurney waiting in the hall for the EMTs to take him away.
People wanted refunds. WTF a guy could have fucking died and you want your (at the time) $4.50 back? You selfish piece of shit. DIAF.
You never hear of this happening the other way around.
Now considering that there are probably more people there in groups rather than in pairs (like mom takes her two kids), I'd be surprised if more people aren't complaining for more than two free passes.
Isn't it sad what we think of humanity?
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This reminds me of when the kid was being tested for receptive vocabulary by a speech therapist. Twenty minutes into it she leaves my four year old alone and walks into the little glass fronted room I'm sitting in all goggled eyes and says, \"He knows what the word cadaver means!\"
@AT203: Exactly. This went OK becasue the staff had ability to make the customers happy.
The theater sounds like they responded quickly, and even before being forced to which is great. Well done.
When I was a kid our local video rental used numeric codes to connect tapes to VHS packages, and at some point someone must have swapped two digits... Instead of getting one of Herbie's adventures (pre Lohan), I got a hardcore porn instead. Unfortunately, at that age I wanted Herbie.
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What's with movie projectionists lately?
I've noticed lately at several different movie theaters I've attended that there seems to be many problems with projection room employees not being on the ball or smoking too much weed or something when starting the movies.
The films often are not framed right on the screen, out of focus, sound too high, too low or none at all.
After about ten minutes, someone from the audience usually has to get up and go find a manager to have the problems corrected.
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I imagine youngest kids going to bed after ....
Probably wide-eyed and lights on :)
On the other hand, I've seen ''Alien'' as a kid, somehow, it didn't leave any long term impression =)
hmm... some parents let their kids see worse, like my parents has no qualms about extreme violence in the media I watch, ever, the only thing was my mom didn't like me watching sexually oriented things before I was 12, but even then, she would allow that type of stuff on the level of a Bond film or less, so I basically had an uncensored childhood... until I discovered the internet, my school was strict about everything there
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@CurbRunner: Probably not in the booth...real projectionists, those who take pride in giving film the respect it deserves and put on the best possible show, are becoming a scarce commodity, long ago replaced by minimum-wage button pushers probably classified as ushers. The specter of digital projection is only helping to pound that nail further in the coffin of what was once a highly paid craft where showmanship was king.
Employees trained to just thread film and push the \"start\" button shouldn't be called \"projectionists.\"
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@Critcol: I was also a projectionist at a theater and yes, it happens. You have 4 or 5 projectors to start within minutes, adjust sound and focus, and move on to the next one. If you've never seen the trail that is a movie playing, you'd be surprised that this doesn't happen more often.
Once we had a projector bulb go out in the middle of the movie. These bulbs are death traps - a person has (or should) wear a face mask and gloves to do a bulb change, and the damn things are so expensive and so fragile that one wrong knock can mean the end of a $800 bulb (for a small screen). I worked fast and hard and, wouldn't you know, as I was adjusting the hot spot on the screen the damn thing blew up and took out the mirror.
Theaters charge a lot of money to see a film as well. 8, 9, 10 bucks even (and more!) to see a movie. Guess what - a typical small chain theater only gets about 10% on ticket sales. That's it. The rest comes from concessions.
But this particular theater did well by my book. Undoing a film and winding another to go, especially after 10 minutes, takes a long while. Someone was up there while Saw IV was playing though to a dark screen trying to get it back onto a platter. I know - I've done that myself.
I'm not a parent, but I wouldn't freak out either. No one's perfect, people make mistakes, and that's what this seems to be. It sounds like AMC handled the situation very well, and it's not the end of the world if a child saw (no pun intended) a couple minutes of that.
@AngrySicilian: Actually, I would gladly pay for a movie ticket to see all the current coming attractions once every few months.
I love trailers, I think they're the best part half the time.
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Hahah. Right on.
@meiran: Im like that too. My friends are always irritated when I rush them to the movies while there saying \"no worries there are like 15 minutes of previews\" and im like \"no shit...thats why i'm rushing\"
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@doormat: The fact that people did not get what they paid for (and therefore rightly asked for refunds) doesn't mean they were not concerned. Those two things don't have to be mutually exclusive. It's simple enough that if you pay to see a movie and the movie is cancelled, you should get your money back.
And why didn't the theater just resume the movie where it left off once the guy was out?
Your concern for the feelings of others makes you look rather uncaring yourself, by the way.
@xtc46: Seems to me like if you're the only one complaining, you should just meet them at the theater. Might save stress for everyone.
@Nemesis_Enforcer: Saw IV isn't real life, it's a fooked up twisted movie that represents how sick and disgusting some in our nation have become.
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So maybe the kids get an anatomy lesson, rather than a completely bass-ackwards impression of how bee society works.
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My wife worked for AMC for 3 years here in California and they too follow the same standards.
Also:
As company policy, you are allowed to bring in any food or drinks without having to hide them. Only objections are food that is loud (potato chips) or food that has a strong odor.
If you don't like the movie or think the advertising was misleading, you can ask for a refund or tickets for another show. Usually you have to ask within the first 30 minutes of the movie.
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I would have have sued...
...if they had shown me even two minutes of \"Bee Movie.\"
@Phildawg: First, I think you misinterpreted NE's comment, and second, please don't tell me that you think Bee Movie is any closer to \"reality.\"
Saw IV is naturally fiction, but at least it is more realistic than Bee Movie. Regardless of how sick and twisted Saw IV is, it could actually happen.
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@TechnoDestructo: Agreed. I'm sure that lots of children will try to BEEfriend them and possibly be stung to death. Yes...look up, \"willing suspense of disbelief.\" Then take a child to see a movie.
I used to be a manager at a Regal Cinemas in Florida. The two largest gaffs of this nature that I ever witnessed where we once threaded and started Pulp Fiction instead of Lion King when they were sharing the same theater. If you remember the opening scene of Pulp Fiction . . . quite a bit of objectionable language. Parents were not amused.
The second was when we threaded and started a movie called Twilight in which, during the first ten minutes, Resse Witherspoon shows up naked. That was started instead of Mulan. Both of those times, there were only 5 or 6 people in the theater, so we pretty much just gave them whatever they wanted to make them happy, and hoped they would not tell their friends.
@scoosdad:
That takes longer to fix than you'd think. Also, it's further proof of shoddy quality procedures, 'cause at my theatre, we (the projectionists) would watch movies before showing them to the public.
@citking: I'm not arguing the response of the management, I'm just pointing to the inherent problem with how movie theatres are run currently. That problem is lack of trained, caring, dedicated projectionists and the willingness of the movie theatre industry to shaft those are those people.
@sibertater: I'm former because I went to Europe for a year and came back to the states to get a real job.
I've often toyed with the idea of getting a part time job as a projectionist just for the fun of handling movies and the free tickets. :- )
@ShadowFalls: I think some parents would like to decide on their own when their children will lose their innocence, and not have a theater shatter it for them, possibly way too early. You look upon it as realistic, I see it as possibly scarring for life. If I had seen any of the Saw movies at, say, under 10, I'd be having nightmares for years.
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Waaaayyyy back when, my parents freaked out and dragged me and my siblings out of \"The Terminator\" simply because of Linda Hamilton's breasts. The profanity and gruesome murders were okay with them, but not the nudity and simulated sex scene.
To go slightly off topic, am I the only one who is annoyed by the enless number of \"previews\" before movies? And the fact that some/many movie theatres won't tell you when the *movie* starts, not the promos, even when you ask?
Ms. No49 would have been running screaming out of the theatre. She's not the type that enjoys horror movies. Mr. No49 loves them and would have probably stayed if it wasn't for the three little No49's.
But that hasn't happened to us.
It's not customer service so much as damage control. Nice of the manager to make the effort though, most places wouldn't.
I've noticed AMC always handles situations well. Whether from their own problems or rude guests.
I have young kids and I find this hilarious, too! Really, it's a good example for kids to see, that people do screw up sometimes and that there is a decent way of making amends for it.
As other people have said, I would have been more pissed about the double previews. I hate previews as they normally are. In fact, it's one of the things that has prevented me from going to the movies. I just don't have the patience to sit through 20 minutes of advertising before seeing the movie that I paid $20 to see.
Nicely handled, AMC. Now - if only the theatres would try and do something about people bringing children under 10 years old to \"hard R\" films like No Country For Old Men...
It's nice to know that Mr. Tyler Durden (from Fight Club) is still doing well and working as a projectionist for the local AMC chain.
Well, the 12 year olds going to be scarred for life, so what. He'll be ahead in health class haha.
Umm, maybe you all missed Free coke, popcorn, and movie passes? I'd watch an ENTIRE mixed up movie if I got free tickets to 2 others of my choosing...
I'm honestly baffled by all the hating on previews. If you're talking about the commercials for Coke or body spray before the movie, I'm with you.
But the nice looks at the movies that are coming up, tailored to say \"If you like the movie you're about to see, these might be good for you too!\" I can't think of a better way to advertise movies.
Like I said, I'd be happy to have more of them. Maybe the solution really is for theatres to say \"Previews start at 8, the show starts at 8:30.\" I know our local theater actually say something similar.
I still make sure to get there ten minutes before the previews start.
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considering cost of movies, that's a pretty nice thing that was done there. I remember back in the day when theater projectionists were unionized, you never had mess-ups like this, but now a days, it could be anyone workin \"the booth\". I did it in college for a while. Loved working with the raw celluloid, good memories of watching movies after hours to \"make sure I put them together correctly\".
Now a days you can't pay the employees to make sure the image is properly framed or focused.
@meiran:
Wasn't there a woman that sued all the studios for forcing people to view ads/previews before the movie. She claimed \"misleading advertising\" or something...saying the show time is 10pm but the movie didn't actually show until 10:20pm.
@BigNutty:
I walked out of the Johnny Depp movie, Libertine at AMC Emeryville in the Bay Area. It was the WORST movie ever. I asked for a refund and promptly received it. Good customer service practices at AMC
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Honestly, I wouldn't care if the movies were switched, but stuff like broken sound would drive me crazy. That's why I love Regal Cinemas and their pagers that patrons can carry into the theater. If there's a problem, press one of 4 call buttons (bad picture/sound, theater disturbance, one other thing I forgot, and a \"other problem\" button). Never had to use it, but there have been times in the past where it would have been useful.
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Carmike near here has 10 or so minutes of previews and 20 minutes of commercials and the other intro stuff. When a 90 minute movie starts at 5pm, I expect to be able to make a short drive and be somewhere else by 7... but not with this place anymore.
I've actually started going to an older, non-stadium, theater again because I know they have 5-10 minutes of previews and that's it.
Though if you want to see a movie that's listed at 5:00 and it's 5:10, you know with Carmike you can still get in, get your popcorn, and probably not even miss all the previews.
@DirtyMoney
The only way AMC would be afraid of this is if any of the people refused the vouchers. Legally it could be considered a settlement.
@Mamalicious
Well, showing pornographic images to minors for one. Showing pornographics images to extreme minors for two :P
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@Nemesis_Enforcer: You forgot the part where you don't get more than an hour of sleep a night for the next week because your kid is having nightmares.
@meiran: I also love movie trailers. There is no better form of advertising than a well edited trailer.
There needs to be a new tag for excellent recoveries by companies like what happened here. It isn't Above and Beyond since they messed up first but when you have parents giving you kudos after accidentally showing their kids Saw IV that deserves recognition. Something like \"Well Played\" or \"Noteworthy Customer Service\".
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cool