Arts & Entertainment
AMC Theatres May Allow Texting at the Movies
"When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone … they hear please cut off your left arm above the elbow," says AMC CEO Adam Aron.
After years of reminders at movie theaters to turn off your cell phones as an act of courtesy, the new head of AMC Theatres is considering easing that restriction.
Yep. The glow of tiny screens in theater seats could compete with the light on the silver screen.
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In a bid to appease younger audiences, the theater chain’s new head, Adam Aron, says he’s considering opening up some theaters to texting and other mobile device use.
The most likely option is that a theater, or several, within an AMC Cineplex, would be designated as a venue where cell-phone use is allowed during screenings.
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Why the change? Money, plain and simple.
Aron wants his company to hold onto, or increase, the number of millenials shelling out the big bucks to watch a movie in a theater. And for that demographic, putting away the cell phone is next to impossible.
“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,” Aron told Variety. “That’s not how they live their life.”
But he recognizes that isn’t the experience every movie-goer wants to have.
“We’re going to have to figure out a way to do it that doesn’t disturb today’s audiences. There’s a reason there are ads up there saying turn off your phone, because today’s moviegoer doesn’t want somebody sitting next to them texting or having their phone on.”
Four years ago, the idea of selectively allowing cell phone use in theaters was raised by Regal Entertainment CEO Amy Miles, the country’s largest movie chain until AMC and Cinemark’s merger is complete.
Miles said at the April 2012 CinemaCon that a movie that appealed to younger audiences – she mentioned “21 Jump Street” with Channing Tatum – might be the place to allow cell phone use.
“You’re trying to figure out if there’s something you can offer in the theater that I would not find appealing but my 18-year-old son” might, Miles said, according to Deadline.
But, there was pushback and Regal didn’t ease up on its cell phone ban.
»Photo from Shutterstock
