Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Failed publicity stunt - actor dressed up in tactical gear enters a theater

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Posted by Mike Frese (Member # 4361) on 05-10-2013, 07:07 AM:

Dumbass movie theater manager of the year candidate? Unfortunately this is in my back yard.

http://www.abc17news.com/news/movie-theater-publicity-stunt-triggers-officers-to-respond-to-active-shooter-situation/-/18421100/20089958/-/66o97fz/-/index.html

Movie theater publicity stunt triggers officers to respond to active shooter situation

Daniel Winn, Jefferson City Reporter, daniel.winn@kmiz.com

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -
Management at the Goodrich Capital 8 Theaters is defending what it calls a publicity stunt at the movie theaters this past weekend.

During the opening weekend of the latest 'Iron Man' movie, a man walked into the theater in full tactical gear and carrying a fake gun.

Jefferson City police and witnesses, however, are not pleased with the stunt and are questioning the theater's logic after recent shootings in Aurora, Colo. and Newtown, Conn.

John Molock is a retired Army war veteran and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He told ABC 17 News this most recent trip to the movies triggered memories he never wanted to relive.

"We had just finished watching Iron Man 3," said Morlock. "We're just getting into the car when I spotted a man in full assault gear, carrying what appeared to be a modified M-4 and 9 mm on his side."

Morlock did not call police, but several other moviegoers did.

"We received a series of 911 calls stating that a man dressed in all black and body armor and a rifle was walking into Capital 8 Theaters," said Capt. Doug Shoemaker.

Officers thought they were responding to an active shooter investigation.

"Everything was in place, it's the opening night of a superhero movie, it's somebody walking in all-dark clothes, everything pointed to bad things about to happen," said Shoemaker. "There's really no good that can come of this."

Instead, it was all part of a publicity stunt for the movie opening. The man in tactical gear was an actor carrying a fake gun.

Capital 8 Theaters manager Bob Wilkins told ABC 17 News this was planned months in advance and only a few people were upset, but hundreds were entertained.

When asked if management took into consideration what happened in the the mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater, Wilkins responded, "Absolutely. That's my number-one priority every day. It's the safety and security of our guests."

ABC 17 News asked Wilkins if he had any regrets for allowing the publicity stunt and he said, "No, my job is to entertain people."

Still, some moviegoers and law enforcement do not believe the stunt was a good idea.

"That's just unbelievable," said Morlock. "The whole country is talking about gun control because of shootings in theaters and schools."

"It's an unfortunate lack of wisdom in this particular judgement that hopefully will never occur again," said Shoemaker.

Shoemaker added it's a good thing an off-duty officer wasn't at the theater because it's likely the officer would have engaged the actor. Had the actor not complied, the situation could have turned out much worse.

Jefferson City police say the department has a good relationship with the theater and ironically, the SWAT team held an active shooter training there just a couple months ago.

Copyright © 2013 KMIZ - The Networks of Mid-Missouri. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-10-2013, 08:23 AM:

quote: news article
Shoemaker added it's a good thing an off-duty officer wasn't at the theater because it's likely the officer would have engaged the actor. Had the actor not complied, the situation could have turned out much worse.

It's a miracle any number of possibly armed customers with concealed carry permits didn't take matters into their own hands. Here in Oklahoma people are getting conceal carry permits like crazy. The OSBI is overloaded with applications.

That publicity stunt reflected extremely poor taste on the part of the management and put the fake gun carrying guy's life at serious risk. That was just all around stupid.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 05-10-2013, 09:02 AM:

That manager is an idiot. I would be amazed if he does not get fired for that one. If nothing else, it shows incredibly bad judgment.

I could sort of see having a guy in that costume (without the fake guns) in the lobby to have his picture taken with people or something like that, with a movie poster or standee in the background, but the fake guns and having him enter an auditorium, especially in light of the Colorado shooting last year, put this stunt way over the "acceptable" line. I am amazed that the manager did not see this.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 05-10-2013, 09:11 AM:

quote: Scott Norwood
That manager is an idiot. I would be amazed if he does not get fired for that one. If nothing else, it shows incredibly bad judgment.

What's worse is that the company is defending him.

Posted by Mike Frese (Member # 4361) on 05-10-2013, 12:00 PM:

Jack,

I have not seen any comment about the company defending the manager.

More info:
This person was one of many people who were in "costume" for the opening of Iron Man 3. A person in a really nice Iron man suit was there as well as other Avengers characters. The guy dressed in tactical gear was one of 4 people dressed as S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. (this according to a comment placed on their facebook page)

This same group of people attends often to the big movie premiers in costume. There may have been no coordination between management and the group of "actors".

Just handled poorly. They recieved about 30 minutes of airtime on a local talk radio station. None of it good.