Movie Theater Mishaps

I had a friend who was an aspiring stuntman. He would do things like backyard wrestling and lighting himself on fire and things of that nature. He especially liked to do these stunts in front of the unsuspecting public. In one instance, he and I got into a mock fight over a seat and he took a spill down the entire length of the stairs running up the auditorium. People were shocked. We raced out of there and no one really checked to see if he was okay or whatever. I don't know, we were in a small town and had to get our kicks somehow. Then we went to see Death to Smoochy and were the only people in the entire theater. There's something sad about that whole evening in retrospect. Not quite a mishap, but the other people in the cinema probably thought it was. Great movie, though.

Another time I got extremely drunk and stoned and went to a matinee of March of the Penguins in San Francisco. Just me and my friends amidst a sea of children. Nothing happened, but if feels like a mishap in retrospect. 

Didn't happen to me, but it's too good a story of poetic justice to leave untold...

One of my best friends had promised to see Phantom Menace with me opening day.  This was when I was still heavily drinking the kool aid, and he swore he'd be there with me first thing Wednesday morning.  I found out as we were waiting in line to get in that he'd actually gone to see the midnight show.  "I never promised I'd see it with you first," was his excuse, "just that I'd be there when you did."  But it turns out the fates were on to his chicanery:  right at the moment where Qui Gon and Obi Wan fire up the lightsabers to go after Maul during the climax, the film broke.  No chance of fixing it.  The manager came out and gave everyone tickets, and they all filed out without knowing how the film ended.

Needless to say, I was most pleased.

Less of a mishap then it is my favorite splice ever --

A few years ago a local theater tried to start up a midnight cult movie series, but it didn't gain traction, and they petered out after 5-6 months. Probably because they got their "vintage" prints from Bob's 12th-Run Mistreated Film Stock Warehouse. Only saw 3 of those showings, and the prints were always scratched, torn, fucked audio, and blipping from poorly repaired breaks. The worst, though, was Reservoir Dogs.

Went with a couple friends because it was a favorite go-to flick in college, but we'd only ever seen it on the small screen. There was maybe a dozen other people in the theater, and it was obvious from the reactions that most of them were seeing it for the first time. Because it was so chopped up, it was almost incomprehensible. Speeches cut off, people jumping from one side of a room to another -- ridiculous. My friends and I started out miffed, but it got so bad we went around the corner to having a hell of a fun time. The best was the big Mexican standoff climax, which went:

"Stop pointing that gun at my--!!" /blink/ everyone lying on the ground.

We busted out laughing, and heard more than one "What the fuck?" "What just happened?" One guy's date just stood up and walked up the aisle, mumbling, while he followed and tried to explain. Couldn't have asked for a better-timed splice.

Not exactly a technical mishap, but I figure this counts... I saw MINORITY REPORT at this local cinema that had it playing at 2 screens at the time. The movie was just reaching the big twist and climax when an elderly couple walked in with their newly bought Coke and popcorn. It was pretty obvious that they meant to go into the other showing but somehow ended in this one. They sat down and started watching, probably figuring that they'd simply missed the opening credits or something. Ten minutes later the movie ended and we all started walking out, while the poor couple just watched us from their seats with this bewildered look on their faces. 

That's the saddest thing I've read in a while.

I was at a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight" at the ArcLight Hollywood. The ArcLight is like *the* place to see movies in L.A. It was opening night. All 12 screenings were sold out. So you can imagine the audience's horror when about 30 minutes into the movie, the movie stopped right in the middle of Morgan Freeman telling Lau that Bruce Wayne doesn't want to do business with him. The lights came up and the fire alarm went off.

This being Los Angeles, nobody knew what the fuck to do with themselves. There was no visible smoke or fire. If people were burning alive in the auditorium next door, well, better them than us. We wanted to see the rest of the movie. Finally a few patrons trickled out into the lobby to get to the bottom of what was happening. Meanwhile, the rest of us texted everyone we'd ever met to tell them about how this was easily the worst thing that had ever happened to us in our whole entire lives.

An usher came in a few minutes later to announce that it was a false alarm. Patrons demanded they "rewind" the film to the beginning, because as we all know, film reels are EXACTLY like VHS tapes. That suggestion was vetoed, but we were reassured the movie would pick up where it left off in a few moments. Probably after the projectionist was finished shitting himself.

I ended up seeing the movie three more times that weekend without a hitch.

The following summer, I went to see the three-hour director’s cut of “Betty Blue" at the NuArt. The art house crowd was there in force. Beineix was even on hand for a Q&A afterwards. Watching the film for the first time that evening, I could see why it has a following. It’s a fantastic piece of cinema. It also takes an incredibly dark turn in its final third. Without spoiling anything too much, there’s a scene near the end where the male lead Zorg goes to visit Betty in the hospital. And right then, the film melted! The audience collectively groaned. It was the worst possible moment for that to have happened. Fortunately, management came rushing in to tell us that the film would be up and running again in a minute and a half. The movie came back up, and we got to see the devastating conclusion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bradito 
Meanwhile, the rest of us texted everyone we'd ever met to tell them about how this was easily the worst thing that had ever happened to us in our whole entire lives.

LULZ

How old are you, just curious?

My midnight showing of Deathly Hallows Pt 2 last year was delayed about 45 minutes, because a gentleman in the very back row had himself a seizure during a trailer.

That trailer? Breaking Dawn Pt 1.

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Originally Posted by DARKMITE8 

Quote:

LULZ

 

How old are you, just curious?

32.

The worst movie experience I had technical-wise was the time I went to see Inception. I went to the 6:00 showing, but projector issues meant we had to come back at 9:00. I came back at nine, and everything was going off without a hitch until, about thirty minutes or less from the end, a cigarette burn happened. Everyone, myself included, let out a collective groan because it happened during the fortress sequence. After about ten-fifteen minutes, they fixed the problem, and everything went smoothly.

I once had to sit through the entire climax of WOLF completely out of frame.  Entire audience rose up at the end, demanded money back and got it.  

Went to see "S.W.A.T." at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater on opening night; I know, even I forgot "S.W.A.T." was a movie, too, and I've seen it. Near the end of the film, Colin Farrell and the rest of his team are trapped in the sewer as the villain (Jeremy Renner, IIRC) is getting away. Farrell starts jury-rigging an explosive device and says, "Remember when I said I was a SEAL...?"

Then the film broke.

For a second there, I thought he'd blown up the movie. The audience freaked. People wanted the manager to refund their money, rewind the movie, recount the ballots in the 2000 election debacle. They wanted it all.

I guess the situation in the projection booth was FUBAR. They couldn't even show us the film's final minutes. Instead, they gave us free passes. I went back a week later to see how Colin Farrell puts his SEAL training to good use. I know, I forgot "S.W.A.T." was a movie, too, and I've seen it 1.9 times.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Clark 

My midnight showing of Deathly Hallows Pt 2 last year was delayed about 45 minutes, because a gentleman in the very back row had himself a seizure during a trailer.

 

That trailer? Breaking Dawn Pt 1.

I had the same kind of situation happen while I was watching Flatliners.  It was near the endo of the movie, when Kiefer is going down for the last time, and shit is getting crazy.  Then some woman in the theater started screaming that her brother was having a seizure.  So they stop the movie, turn on house lights, and we sit there for about half an hour while the paramedics come in and take care of the kid and remove him.  So back to the movie.  They start it up again and it is just Keifer waking up and saying "Thank You" or some such shit, then the credits roll.

Denver, CO 1998. The summer heat is hitting record highs & rolling blackouts have become the norm. I go to see There's Something About Mary. Near the end of the movie, the power goes out. No refunds. To this day, I have yet to see the final 20 minutes of the film.

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Originally Posted by Art Decade 

Denver, CO 1998. The summer heat is hitting record highs & rolling blackouts have become the norm. I go to see There's Something About Mary. Near the end of the movie, the power goes out. No refunds. To this day, I have yet to see the final 20 minutes of the film.

Something similar happened to me in Chicago once, only I did get a refund and the movie was EYES WIDE SHUT.  Never have seen the last hour of that one.

They get naked, shit happens..meh...you didn't miss much.

I think I've mentioned this before, but opening night of X2 my friends and I were in line for our tickets, and got them w/out a hassle. We did however, take note of some guy painted up blue in a lame, cheapie Nightcrawler outfit. Not being cosplayers, we all kind of looked at him and snickered a bit, but true joy came over us when he queued up to get his ticket and was informed that it had just sold out.

We had to contain ourselves from absolutely bursting right then and there, but we went in, had a great time, and afterwards just laid into this poor dude's misfortune all night, making up all sorts of ridiculous scenarios about what he did with himself that night (suicide, calling his mom to come pick him up and berating her for not buying his ticket like he asked, salving his wounds by masturbating to pictures of Psylocke...that he drew himself, etc). I know that's kind of fucked up, but if you're going to go through the effort to cosplay, at least buy your goddamn ticket ahead of time.  

That. Is. Hilarious.

When he left, head hung low, did he utter a defeated "Bamf..." as he walked away?

God, I wish, but I don't think he even said anything, just stood there w/ a hangdog look on his face. We went in within seconds of seeing it to grab our seats, but some part of me wishes we'd stayed just to see if he lost his shit in any particularly memorable way. I feel slightly terrible b/c it makes me feel like one of the guys in high school who gave this one goofy but harmless kid all the hell in the world and then some when he came to school in a Jedi outfit to celebrate the release of the Phantom Menace. Not that we said anything to the dude's face, but the schadenfreude was off the fucking charts that night.  

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Originally Posted by Ratty 

Something similar happened to me in Chicago once, only I did get a refund and the movie was EYES WIDE SHUT.  Never have seen the last hour of that one.

 

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Originally Posted by Art Decade 

Denver, CO 1998. The summer heat is hitting record highs & rolling blackouts have become the norm. I go to see There's Something About Mary. Near the end of the movie, the power goes out. No refunds. To this day, I have yet to see the final 20 minutes of the film.

I had a similar experience as well, but the movie I was watching was PRIMAL FEAR. ....SPOILER.....It was after the ending courtroom scene where it was "revealed" to the court that Edward Norton had a multiple personality and there was a mistrial. The power had gone out during the aftermath of that courtroom scene in the judge's chambers. I thought that was the ending and I was OK with that. It was pretty good. I found out years later that he was faking the whole time. Blew my mind!
 

Haha, that's great. I have fond (well, "fond") memories of getting stoned in the car park of a cinema and then going in to watch Vertical Limit, of all things. I think I enjoyed it.

When I went to see INSIDIOUS it was fine up until the point where a demon/spirit/whatever is pacing outside Rose Byrne's bedroom and then the image went out but the sound continued. We didn't actually know if that was part of the film so a couple of people started complaining but it wasn't a mass uprising. A few moments later when it became apparent it wasn't part of the film a couple of people went out to complain, and obviously because people were talking about it we couldn't hear any dialogue so when the film came back on she was in an entirely new house! I had to laugh about it, and then the image subsequently went again. That's when we all just walked out, and because I worked in a cinema I was able to see the second half just wandering into screens but it wasn't until I watched it on DVD that I saw the full scene of the demon/spirit/whatever outside the bedroom.

Yes, it was actually that cinema I worked at. That wasn't the first problem and it wasn't the last, but it was the only one I had to deal with as a 'customer'!

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Originally Posted by JacknifeJohnny 

I think I've mentioned this before, but opening night of X2 my friends and I were in line for our tickets, and got them w/out a hassle. We did however, take note of some guy painted up blue in a lame, cheapie Nightcrawler outfit. Not being cosplayers, we all kind of looked at him and snickered a bit, but true joy came over us when he queued up to get his ticket and was informed that it had just sold out.

 

We had to contain ourselves from absolutely bursting right then and there, but we went in, had a great time, and afterwards just laid into this poor dude's misfortune all night, making up all sorts of ridiculous scenarios about what he did with himself that night (suicide, calling his mom to come pick him up and berating her for not buying his ticket like he asked, salving his wounds by masturbating to pictures of Psylocke...that he drew himself, etc). I know that's kind of fucked up, but if you're going to go through the effort to cosplay, at least buy your goddamn ticket ahead of time.  

I went to go see Ang Lee's Hulk on that first day, which I was excited about, though I had heard some early complaints about the film being... difficult. The theater was on the fourth floor of a mall, so my friends and I were walking down the hall when we saw one single guy, in ripped purple pants, shirtless, covered in green paint. But it seemed as if he had already seen the movie that day - he was leaning over the railing, deadly serious, head bowed, staring off into the distance, like he was in some deep spiritual funk. It was foreboding.

If the only thing Ang Lee's Hulk managed to accomplish was to convince one aimless virgin to finally apply to that JC Penney management program, then I say, "Bravo".

Years ago, I saw Oliver Stone's U-Turn at a theater in New Jersey.  We were the only ones in the theater, and it was still in its first week of release.

They apparently had the wrong lens on the front of the projector, so it was incorrectly stretched as if it were a scope print.  Like it you tried to watch an anamorphic movie on a 4:3 TV.

This is how I learned about the value of a well-framed projection.  Nearly EVERY SHOT had a boom mic in it when it was projected incorrectly.  Apparently, it was soft-matted- there were areas on the print that existed that were never meant to  be seen.  Such as boom mics in the shot.  Or crew members.  Or lights.  Etc.

It was a remarkable learning experience.  I didn't even ask for my money back.

Opening midnight screening of Attack of the Clones.  

Yoda ignites his lightsaber, and the film rips.  In a theater full of nerds.  I thought people were going to riot and rip the bolted chairs from the floor to throw them at the screen.  For some reason, we had to wait until the other screenings were over so that the theater could use one of those reels to finish screening the film for us.  At least management was good enough to start the film a little bit before that fight scene.

But man.  It was tenuous there for a good five minutes.  Especially for the people in cosplay.

I never paid for a single movie in college in Binghamton, NY. The local multiplex (a Loews, I think) had constant A/V problems. The guy ripping tickets got to know me so well I think he requested comps as soon as he saw me see a movie. It was awful on the eyes, but good on the budget.

My worst mishap was on the other side when the Assistant Manager where I worked thought it would be a good idea to transport the print of Nine Months from one side of the theater to the other, across a catwalk, without clamps. Entire movie unspooled right before a "sold-out" preview. So he had to steal two of my concession workers to help him put the damn thing back together and then sent me in to the 450-person house to explain the situation. It was honestly the most fun I had in four years of working there.

I also have not paid, I had not time for those days.