1

Today, my husband and I had finally came to conclusion to never go to movie theater again. Until they figure out how to make people stop using cell phones in the theater. Here's the email I sent to the theater after today's unpleasant experience.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dear Santikos' staff, owner and managers,

My husband and I have had it today.

We are big movie goers for many years and since we moved to Texas.
Your theater was our first choice for movie watching. But the past year or so,
we have not had a good movie watching experience. Not once. People will
talk out loud, answer cell phones, carry on conversations, text message and
such that take away not only ours but I am sure many others' right to enjoy the
movie they paid for.

The thing is that we know you understand the situation, and have many
attempts of informing people to turn their phone off.

Today, we were watching our favorite movie The Transformers for the second time in the
Palladium 19 - IMAX… VIP showing.

I felt that paying more to watch movie in the VIP should give us a more
pleasant movie watching experience without having to deal with chatty teenagers.
But the experience proved us wrong, yet again.

The couple sitting next to us have not only chatted loudly, but turn on
their cell phone with the bright screen on to text message and such.
We told them to turn the phone off. But the boyfriend started threaten us
that he will "take us down" outside the theater after the movie is done.

We did not feel safe and asked for staff's assistance. Your staff was kind enough
to come in and tell them to turn it off. Stayed in the theater to monitor the situation.
But they both keep turning the phone on, and started flashing the cell phone screen
at us. Waving it, flashing it… And continue making threatening comments.

We had enough and left. We thank you for your refund and the free tickets.
But until the situation is totally resolved. We have made the final decision of
never going into the movie theater again. This is not a happy decision. But
it is a decision that we have been thinking about since last year, and reminded
every time we visit the theater.

This is an on going trend and problem that we all know is hard to resolve.
But we just want to let you know how we feel. And to take into consideration
of other policy and action to help with this situation.

We saw in a movie theater in Memphis, TN that has a very visible note
at the entrance of each theater, saying that if reported having cell phone
on, the person will be escorted out of the theater, no exceptions!

I know our little action of not to watch movie in theaters ever again will not affect
your sales. But, if the trend continues and more people follow. With Blockbuster
and Netflix, even iTune… your sales will definitely drop, from people who are
tired of dealing with this kind of rude behavior.


We wish you luck and hope the future generation will learn to respect others.

Sincerely,
Jacq and Jeremy Davis

Jacq Davis on Jul 23, 2007

2

Well, I think she said it but I'll second it. There needs to be stiff consequences for irresponsible cell phone management in theatres. I think it should be the same for any kind of house, not just the movies: Concert halls/arenas, opera houses, playhouses/Broadway etc.

Christo on Mar 7, 2008