Please Be Seated

I don’t know about the rest of the U.S., but in Los Angeles, movie theaters are increasingly switching to assigned seating. This means that you must order your tickets well in advance in order to make sure you get a seat, and that you and your friend(s) can actually sit together. At first, there was only one theater in L.A. doing this, and that theater was more of an independent film sort than a big blockbuster house. However, over the past couple of years, the practice has spread to bigger, more mainstream theaters such as AMC and Pacific.

And, at first, when assigned seating was limited to the artsty-fartsy Hollywood theater, I wasn’t bothered by it. The ticket prices were a few dollars more than at other theaters, but that also meant the joint wasn’t crowded with teenage boys spewing coke and hormone-spiked idiocy. But now that this style of ticketing has taken over the mainstream houses, I find myself highly irritated by it.

My biggest complaint is that if you are out with a friend and suddenly feel like going to see a movie, you just might be out of luck. Twice this has happened to me when a friend and I wanted to check out a flick. We arrived in plenty of time to buy two tickets, but found that because the seats were assigned, we could either risk a neck injury or wait to see a later screening . You see, everyone is afraid of getting stuck in the front row, so they buy their tickets hours or even days ahead of time. So, by the time we got around to even deciding we wanted to watch a movie, the only seats left required a neck brace for proper viewing.

My second complaint is that sometimes you don’t like the people you’re sitting next to. With this same friend, when we were forward thinking enough to buy tickets in advance, we got stuck—not once, but twice—next to a couple of elderly patrons who were so deaf they couldn’t hear the soundtrack and kept repeating (LOUDLY) to each other what was being said on screen. But because our seats were assigned and the theater was sold out, we couldn’t move. Had we not had assigned seats we would have taken one look at the duos and known we were in for an unpleasant experience and quickly switched seats.

My final complaint is that, yes, the ticket prices are more expensive. Can you imagine paying $16 for a movie? Well, that’s about what it costs at these theaters with assigned seating. And I usually don’t complain about prices. I figure I’m getting a lot of entertainment for my buck. But once you creep over the $12 mark, you start to wonder what exactly you’re paying for. The ability to pick my seat before I arrive at the theater? That’s worth about a nickel to me.

So, now I really try to avoid these theaters altogether and frequent the old-fashioned festival seating type. And you know what? The ability to make a last minute movie pick on the spur of the moment far outweighs any benefit that might come with assigned seating.

How about you? Does your town or city have these theaters? What do you think of them?

Ciao!
Lucie