Texting in Theaters? Nooooo!

We’ve all experienced it. You’re sitting in the darkness of a theater, getting taken away by the emotion of a film on the big screen. Right during an integral part of the experience, a bright, shiny light catches your attention and draws you away from the one place you want your focus to be. It’s a phone.

The communal part of the theater-going experience has always come with pros and cons. Seeing a great film with a large group of people can help to enhance the experience and make a night out more memorable. However, dealing with a group of strangers means the odd and annoying behavior of some can ruin the night for everyone else.

In today’s world of constant digital connection, texting and phone usage during films has become a strong issue.

Adam Aron, AMC Entertainment’s CEO, recently floated an idea he thought would better the theater-going experience for everybody. Aron announced at the CinemaCon gathering in Las Vegas that he would be open to allowing designated auditoriums to have more relaxed phone use rules.

This, in his opinion, would separate those wishing to text during a film from those trying to steer clear of people who don’t hold the theater-going experience as so sacred.

In an interview with Variety, Aron stated, “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 went on to state how texting-friendly auditoriums could be a win-win for audiences — helping AMC to appeal to more millennials while also solving an issue for regular film goers. The Internet, as it always does, responded swiftly and fiercely.

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Film buffs and bloggers everywhere balked at the idea, collectively predicting such a move would only help to further diminish the movie-going experience. The response to the potential proposal from Aron was so quick and harsh that he said in a follow-up statement, “We have heard loud and clear this is a concept our audience does not want.” Before his idea was even a reality, it was a memory.

AMC’s ideas for texting auditoriums may not be a reality or popular proposal, but the fact that AMC’s CEO was even considering such a thing means that a shake-up could very well be possible in the future for theatergoers everywhere.

Consumers have long bemoaned behavior such as phone usage during a film, while theaters have also been looking for any way to grow profits in a world of Netflix and video on demand.

[lz_infobox]Would designated theaters for texters really be such a bad idea?[/lz_infobox]

“Carving out a place to use cell phones for ANY reason is a terrible idea,” says Barry Norman, the operator and owner of his own theater, Eveningstar Cinema. “Film is the consummate communication experience. To be completely appreciated requires one to lose themselves in the sound/images.” Norman goes on to describe movie-going as “a very sacred, shared experience,” one he feels, as a theater owner and independent filmmaker himself, is diminished by distractions like cellphone use.

Aron may, however, be right about one thing. We do live in a reality where it is nearly impossible to expect millennials to put their phones away for long periods of time. One option open to those looking to stay connected while watching a flick is something many probably don’t think about.

There are still a number of drive-in theaters around the country. Honda ran a contest only a few years ago to update a number of those drive-ins to digital theaters so they could move forward and survive in the future.

Ry Russell, the man behind the second oldest drive-in theater in America (in Saco, Maine) when it was one of the theaters to win the Honda update, acknowledges many people found his drive-in theater to be a nice niche where they could use their phones without distracting other people.

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“Running a drive-in theater the experience is all about freedom. You are in your car doing as you please — being quiet, talking, texting, or sleeping — or you are outside being more social and your phone isn’t going to bother anyone. It really is your experience the way you want it,” Russell tells LifeZette. He acknowledges that even he has caught himself answering a text during a film, although he says the proposal put forth by Aron and AMC would never be monetarily viable enough to become a reality.

“Designated texting theaters I believe would be a waste. Not in terms of protecting the integrity of a traditional experience but more so from the financial viability. I don’t predict the demand being high enough to warrant entire screens to being text friendly.”

While AMC may not have texting-friendly auditoriums any time soon, issues, including phone use during films, will need to be addressed. With recent announcements like The Screening Room, a start-up looking to debut films in people’s homes the day they premiere in regular theaters, companies like AMC will be pressured to come up with more ideas to shake up the way we experience movies.

Still, most moviegoers treasure the experience and will fight to keep it that way.

“As a filmmaker,” says Norman, “I can tell you just how difficult it is to make a movie (even the bad ones). The people involved are due the respect their efforts deserve, and respect in a movie theater means no distractions so everyone can try to lose themselves within the universe of the film.”