Worst theater experience 2.0

[harry580]

hello all, im harry580, I made this thread to showcase the worst movie theater experiences ever, since I didnt want to bump a old thread from 2011, I decided to start new, here we go:

my worst experience is my ocd at the start of any movie or anytime I go to one, my eyes always dried up at any logo, or I always step on floors or I forget something from the opening, that is one of my worst movie theater experiences, this happened a lot at films I seen like spiderverse 2, inside out 2, venom 3, despicable me 4, hoppers, zootopia 2, wuthering heights & recently project hail Mary and I believe theres more but I don't remember what ones

what's yours?

 

[Classic Speedy]

Some of mine: (keep in mind I'm not going to count "that movie was terrible!" because that's a completely different topic)

-Any movie I walked out before it was over, for obvious reasons. Felt like I wasted my money.

-Dracula (1931, Spanish version): Saw this at a cemetery. That was the cool part. What wasn't cool was this cemetery didn't have modern bathrooms, or even kept up very well. The one stall was missing the door and there were worms crawling on the wall. I can still picture it. Worst bathroom ever.

-Goonies, The: A movies-in-the-park thing. Because it was outdoors, lots of people around me were smoking. Not a fan.

-It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: Wasn't able to finish it, not because of the movie's quality, but because I thought I was having a heart attack. An urgent care visit later and it turned out to simply be heartburn. Getting older: It's fun!

-Legend of Boggy Creek, The: Whatever video file they were using for this movie was corrupted or poorly encoded or something, because the audio played very distorted. It sounded like all the characters were underwater.

-My Little Pony The Movie: Due to the slow ticket lines (this was right before movie theaters allowed you to buy tickets at a touch screen), I missed the Hanazuki short before it, which irritated me, especially since I was there a good 15 minutes before start time.

-Pirates of the Caribbean: Not for the movie itself, which I enjoyed, but I think the air conditioner was broke, so it got pretty hot in there. [side note: This was also a memorable screening because one of the audience members was enjoying some of the jokes a little TOO much]

-Rock and Roll High School: Had a headache during it. Not great for a movie that contains a lot of rock music.

-Simpsons Movie, The: Probably had the most "audience members reciting lines from the movie" than any movie I've ever watched. It got old, fast.

-Stuart Little: Why was a 16-year old going to this movie, and with a friend no less? I definitely felt too old to be there.

-Toy Story 1: Because I never got a chance to see it on the big screen. The projection machine broke or something. A theater employee came out to deliver the bad news that this screening was cancelled but was nice enough to give us vouchers to another movie of our choice. I forget what we ended up using it on, but it wasn't used the same day so we went home having watched nothing. We lose, good day sir!

-Wish: The Beyonce concert movie was playing next door and it was LOOOOOUUUUUD. Made it hard to concentrate on the movie I was actually there to see. That might qualify as the worst ever, now that I think of it.

I forget which movie it was, but there was one which was affected by a power outage so I never got to see how it ended. All I remember is it was a vintage movie.

 

[Dantheman]

Lost in Space (1998): Since I don't drive, my aunt and uncle took me to the movie, but being that they were "The movie never starts on the time they say so" sort of people, and when proven wrong, they'll be like "Well, I never liked sitting through previews anyways", I didn't get into the movie until a few minutes into the film, when I accidently touched a woman in what I thought was an empty seat in a dark theater.

Is it bad to say that I don't feel too bad about keeping in touch with them since my mother died?
EDIT: Granted, I did see Attack of the Clones in IMAX because of them, but I don't know.

 

[AllenJ]

Main one that comes to mind is when my mom and I went to see Mr. Peabody & Sherman, not because of anything that happened in the theater itself, but on the way out we discovered that her car had been broken into and her GPS/entertainment system stolen. Fun times!

 

[IAmStripped]

As much as I really hate to be that guy and come off as another Disney Star Wars hater, my worst theater experience was by far The Rise Of Skywalker.

I just did not really like that movie and it almost killed my love for Star Wars. I thought bringing back Palpatine and it completely ruined his character in Return Of The Jedi and ruined the ending of Return Of The Jedi as well.

I don’t know, I was just completely glad and relieved that the Sequel Trilogy ended. At least, there where will always be the Original Trilogy and the Prequels.

 

[Surreal Kangaroo]

-Frozen: I drank so much lemonade I had to use the bathroom right before Let it Go started. I have no one to blame but myself for that one.

-Brother Bear: I sat in front of two women who whispered to each other in Spanish the whole time.

-Wish: a group of teenagers kept running in and out, and sat on the floor in the aisle next to my friend and I. It creeped my friend out.

-Turbo: the projector went out but thankfully came back.

-Harry Potter Goblet of Fire: a group a teenagers were taking and texting, and halfway into the movie their friends show up and were even louder.

-Cars 2: something bad happened in my personal life so whenever I see this movie it reminds me of it.

 

[IAmStripped]

-Frozen: I drank so much lemonade I had to use the bathroom right before Let it Go started. I have no one to blame but myself for that one.

-Brother Bear: I sat in front of two women who whispered to each other in Spanish the whole time.

-Wish: a group of teenagers kept running in and out, and sat on the floor in the aisle next to my friend and I. It creeped my friend out.

-Turbo: the projector went out but thankfully came back.

-Harry Potter Goblet of Fire: a group a teenagers were taking and texting, and halfway into the movie their friends show up and were even louder.

-Cars 2: something bad happened in my personal life so whenever I see this movie it reminds me of it.

Sorry, you had to go through all this, that really sucks.

I hope those teenagers didn’t completely spoil the Goblet Of Fire though because that Harry Potter movie had the excellent Graveyard scene with the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort. Are you a big Harry Potter fan, it’s okay if you’re not.

 

[Classic Speedy]

This is a really minor one because the rest of the screening was fine, but while watching Chronicles of Narnia, during the climactic battle, the movie goes silent for a few seconds as the opposing armies run towards each other. Guess what happened during that moment? Yup, someone's cell phone went off. GREAT TIMING!

 

[Pooky]

I'm lucky in that I've had few bad cinema experiences; some audience misbehavior in Hereditary, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, a bit too much audience chatter in Fast & Furious 7 despite being in an audience of about 4, but tame compared to many things I've heard about over the years. Projector broke during second Bay Transformers film near the end, but was quickly fixed. Meh.

Not that big a deal but probably the most memorable oddity; the first couple of minutes of Megalopolis played with no picture, just sound. That film's already pretty baffling right off the bat, so you can just imagine what you make of it when you can't even see it.

Oh, and I suppose I should fess up that I made a row of people get up when I got back from a bathroom trip during The Phamtom Menace. Pretty standard yes, but less so when it's the wrong row.

 

[PinkieLopBun]

I don't know why, but I have two that involve Ice Age. When I went to see The Meltdown, we sat either in the front row or near it. There were no issues during the actual movie, but for a while after, I had a sore neck. Since then, I've tried to sit in the half of the theater that's further away from the screen. Then I remember going to see Dawn of the Dinosaurs and the movie was already playing when we got there. I forget when we got there, but either the previews should have been playing or even that shouldn't have started yet. Luckily, the theater gave us tickets for a later screening, and we were able to see that without any issues. I think those were the only two Ice Age movies I saw in theaters. Maybe that's a sign for me to not go see the next one.

 

[Classic Speedy]

Not that big a deal but probably the most memorable oddity; the first couple of minutes of Megalopolis played with no picture, just sound. That film's already pretty baffling right off the bat, so you can just imagine what you make of it when you can't even see it.

I had something similar, but in reverse: At a film festival, one of the animated shorts played without sound. It still worked because it didn't have dialogue and was told through visuals, but it wasn't until later that I watched it online and heard what I was missing.

I don't know why, but I have two that involve Ice Age. When I went to see The Meltdown, we sat either in the front row or near it. There were no issues during the actual movie, but for a while after, I had a sore neck. Since then, I've tried to sit in the half of the theater that's further away from the screen. Then I remember going to see Dawn of the Dinosaurs and the movie was already playing when we got there. I forget when we got there, but either the previews should have been playing or even that shouldn't have started yet. Luckily, the theater gave us tickets for a later screening, and we were able to see that without any issues. I think those were the only two Ice Age movies I saw in theaters. Maybe that's a sign for me to not go see the next one.

That reminds me, I watched The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in the front row. A 3+ hour movie. And that was before recliner seats! Yeah, I was ready for it to be over by the end.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

Closest was when I saw The Smurfs with my family back in 2011 and during two thirds of the film, the projector froze due to technical issues and unlike later experiences in which it got fixed, it didn't get recalibrated to resume the rest of the film.

So, as a result, the screening ended abruptly, which disappointed me very much.

 

[Classic Speedy]

This is another minor one, but when I went to see The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, some inconsiderate guy near us was browsing his iPad as the movie began. My friend who volunteers at the theater told him to put the iPad away and the guy grumbled under his breath "You don't get to tell me what to do." Friend goes "Actually I can, I work here and can have you removed." The guy begrudgingly complied but for a sec I was worried this guy was gonna start a ruckus or worse, pull a gun on him or something.

Luckily the rest of the screening went without incident.

 

[AllenJ]

When my dad and I went to see The Lego Movie, the theater was mostly empty aside from some rambunctious kids. They quieted down once the movie started, but when Will Ferrell showed up as the father near the end, they immediately lost all interest in the film and began running up and down the aisles screaming. This continued for the remainder of the film as the parents did absolutely nothing to stop it. (The theater where this happened is now closed)