Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: AMC Sensory Friendly Showings?

This is topic AMC Sensory Friendly Showings? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 03-28-2018, 07:42 AM:

So a friend of mine (from the high school days) posted a humerous experience he had at an AMC movie theatre. I say humorous because I wasn't a participant but reading, with great humor, his experience. WTF is this "Sensory Friendly Showings" BS? I'd never go to one of those. They can't be good for the industry.

Anyway, here is his story. Note, he is not, in any way, part of the cinema industry but is definitely technosavy and has had friends in the industry enough to have an idea of what goes on in the industry.

quote:

Hey, I know, let's just pop in and see a movie. In the theater. You know, for that cinematic experience that makes it worth the ticket price.

Click. Clickety-click-click, search, tap. Using AMC's web site, buying directly from them. Ah! A $3.50 "convenience fee." Grrr. Fine, we're already this far. It's Tuesday night, it's not like we really need reserved seats, but, fine. Movie is in our choice of "3D" or "Digital." 3D is a bad thing, so Digital it is. Two good seats, dead center in the auditorium. OK, off for a casual bite of food with time to spare.

Walk into the large theater, where there are ... two other people. Hey, dudes. So, the four of us are watching the pre-show ads, and a theater employee wanders in and comes overs to us. In a barely audible sheepish mumble:

EMPLOYEE: "Just saying, this is a cents petting throwdown."

WE: [stare at her with eyebrows raised]

DUDES IN FRONT OF US: "It's a ... what?"

EMPLOYEE: [even less audibly] "Flemmish smelting goose down." [walks off after we try to ask her what she's on about]

THEATER: [starts the feature ... leaving the auditorium lights on full]

ON SCREEN: "Welcome to a Sensory Friendly Showing! For your enjoyment and safety, we're leave the lights on for you. Feel free to get up, walk around, text, chat, dance, sing and just be you!"

WE: [simultaneously] "What the f...!"

AUDITORIUM: [for the first 15-20 minutes of the movie, groups of three or four people keep wandering in and shuffling around to different seats]

I believe AMC has just received our last ticket dollars ever.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 03-28-2018, 08:04 AM:

A showing where wackiness ensued right there in the auditorium.

Bravo, AMC. Bravo. [beer]

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 03-28-2018, 08:17 AM:

I guess this is some kind of thing for autistic people. This is from AMC's website:

quote:
AMC is proud to partner with the Autism Society to offer unique movie showings where we turn the lights up, and turn the sound down, so you can get up, dance, walk, shout or sing! Our Sensory Friendly Film program is available on the second and fourth Saturday (family-friendly) and Tuesday evenings (mature audiences) of every month. Please check your local theatre listings for specific showtimes, and don't forget to share your family fun with #AMCSensoryFriendly.

There can't possibly be enough people that would buy a ticket specifically for this type of show to offset the revenue and customers lost from these showings. I don't understand why an autistic person would want to pay for this let alone anybody else.

Not meaning to come of like a jerk but if you or a friend/child/relative has autism that doesn't allow them to enjoy a standard movie theatre experience, then don't go to a movie theatre.

Accommodations for disabled people and people with hearing or vision problems (although the solution for the latter is more like an audio book than a movie) can be made without adversely effecting other people. Unfortunately for people with autism (which from the latest statistics seems to be 135% of the population), this type of accommodation adversely effects everybody else.

If AMC is going to have shows like this, they need to be VERY clear before you buy the ticket. Not just have some little logo or small print on the show time listing that nobody understands.

Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 03-28-2018, 08:19 AM:

Deleting. Lyle just covered the point I meant to make.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 03-28-2018, 11:02 AM:

It's been several years since I did this last, but I used to occasionally have a private show for the local group home/sheltered workshop where they would bring a dozen or twenty people that they would otherwise not take out anywhere. Since it was a private show just for them it didn't matter if someone started screaming or creating a disturbance since nobody else was here.

Sometimes those shows were a bit wild, but the people they brought liked it a lot so it was worth doing.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 03-28-2018, 11:45 AM:

quote: AMC Sensory Friendly sales pitch
AMC is proud to partner with the Autism Society to offer unique movie showings where we turn the lights up, and turn the sound down, so you can get up, dance, walk, shout or sing!

Yeah. I can just see how this sort of thing could creep into many other feature screenings.

Sound turned down lower? Check. That's a common feature in many theaters already. The volume is up just enough to let you know you're not at home, but the sub-bass response and overall dynamics is still limp and wimpy enough to remind one of TV set speakers. But maybe that's a new thing to please these younger whipper snappers into little sound bars, pill-shaped bluetooth speakers and ear buds for their smart phones.

Lights turned up? Check. I've already seen that a few times where the automation wasn't set correctly. Why even bother with the automation? That's just something extra leg work that costs us on labor! Let's just leave the house lights on all the time! We might even save on insurance costs since people can see the aisle stairs better!

Audience members getting up, talking, walking, shouting or even singing? Well, why not? Can't be any worse than audience members compulsively playing with their phones, kicking seat backs and being messy with their food and drinks. Let's remove all those burdens that come with being considerate of others an proving one has a functional brain. Hell, making a trip to restroom is a big problem. The customer will miss some of the show. But now we have new policy at Ronco Cinemas: customers can piss and shit on themselves without leaving their seats! Diaper is optional, but much appreciated!

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-28-2018, 01:00 PM:

I have a hard time believing that there was NO indication that the showing was a "sensory friendly." No signage at the ticket window, none on the auditorium, nothing on the ticket itself (on the phone)? Nothing but a marble-mouthed employee walking around telling people after they'd spent their money?

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 03-28-2018, 03:00 PM:

As I said, I know the guy and if it was even remotely in his face, he'd would have seen it.

Why else would they send an employee in to announce to each person about it if it was so well documented that everyone should already know.

The site was the AMC Tysons

https://www.amctheatres.com/movie-theatres/washington-d-c/amc-tysons-corner-16

I just tried several movies (including the one he attended) on Tuesday Evening. Nowhere was I made aware that it would be a special show.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-28-2018, 03:17 PM:

I guess the other thing I'd have done is, go ask if there was a different showing and if not, refund-city.

If there's really no indication, then that's a major fail on AMC's part. Maybe they HAD some signs up, but got complaints from poor sensitive people who were "triggered."

Being in business in a large city has got to be a hellish challenge these days.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 03-28-2018, 03:51 PM:

https://pics.me.me/did-you-ever-have-the-feeling-of-impending-doom-8819868.png

- Carsten

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 7758) on 03-28-2018, 04:29 PM:

A semi-local theater, Simi Valley 10, does these monthly. They're formerly a Regal house that was closed and sold, now owned by Tristone Cinemas, a small SoCal chain. Just a few years ago you could go there for $5, and now that they're running a few first-run titles, it's $8 for a full-priced evening show.

Anyway, the first Saturday of each month there is ONE screen of their 8 dedicated to a 10AM Autism-friendly showing, and the title and date/time are always well publicized. I think they've done it right.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-30-2018, 08:26 AM:

The root cause of the problem here appears to be the nature of this screening was not properly and clearly explained to the customer during the online booking process.

One theatre I worked at in England in the 1990s did a low volume, and played on 01/mono (because there were complaints that the surround sound scared people) show of whatever was the blockbuster of the week at 1pm on Wednesdays, specifically for seniors (or OAPs, as they're known in Britain). If anyone who was clearly below the target age group tried to buy a ticket, this was explained to them, and as a result, there were almost no complaints.

The major accessibility issue locally to me now is Spanish language screenings. For a typical blockbuster, my local 14-plex will usually have two or three screens playing the original version, and one playing the Spanish dub. Sometimes all the English houses sell out, leading to complaints when only the Spanish show has open seats. Apparently they used to play subtitles, but a lot of the Spanish speakers complained that they had a hard time reading them, hence switching to one screen playing the dub. This issue boils down to straight math, I guess: if they sell more seats for the Spanish version than they have to turn customers away who want to see the English one, it makes sense to do it.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 03-30-2018, 06:34 PM:

My company does sensory friendly showings the second Saturday of most new animated movies. The number of people we get varies by the movie, but those small number of people who attend are always extremely grateful.

Families who have a child - or even an adult - on the Autism spectrum often do not get a chance to go to the movies. The reason is their ASD person often engages in behaviors which might be disruptive to a more general audience. These include scripting - which mean reciting movie dialog or facts about some aspect of the movie. Stimming - which is often repetitive motions such as rocking in their seat, flapping their arms, or other similar motions. Sometime ASD people even need to be standing and moving around. These behaviors are part of how some people on the ASD spectrum process information. It's kind of like the mindless tapping of a pen, tapping a foot, or other similar things many of us do without even realizing.

Another common trait among people on the spectrum is they can be sensitive to extreme sensory experience. This includes the loud volume in am movie theatre, the large crowds, the lights being too dim, and more.

The purpose of providing sensory sensitive shows is to give these families an opportunity to see movies in an environment where they feel safe and comfortable.

Although we have had a small handful of customers make a stink about one of these shows, they are usually very accepting and understanding once the purpose is explained. However, if you get a low level employee who doesn't understand the purpose these shows serve, they can really create a negative perception.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 03-30-2018, 07:47 PM:

Leo is right. The root cause is that the show was not identified (or adequately identified) as something other than a normal show.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-01-2018, 12:16 PM:

Anyone that goes to any AMC Theater really deserves this sort of thing to happen to them. They are the worst of the worst and that is well known. They ARE just that bad! Like restaurants have reviews, so do theaters. Read the reviews on the theater you are wanting to go to before going there!

For starters look here!
Pissed AMC Customers

Posted by Jarod Reddig (Member # 6363) on 04-03-2018, 01:15 PM:

F#@% You AMC!!!!!!!

Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 04-03-2018, 03:39 PM:

When I see complaints about movie theaters on review sites, a fair percentage of the time it's quite obvious that the person is complaining about a different theater. Reading the posts on the site linked above, while some of the complaints seem valid, a majority of the posts sound like they're written by idiots. So I would take them all with a grain of salt.

Meanwhile, when something is seriously wrong, like a sound channel missing or distorted or an incredibly dark image because they leave the 3D filter on during a 2D film, I never see anyone but myself getting up to complain. But change the cheese on the nachos and everyone gets upset. So don't buy the damned nachos.

Posted by Jarod Reddig (Member # 6363) on 04-03-2018, 06:11 PM:

I agree Martin.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 04-04-2018, 09:01 AM:

For those making wagers, here is what the indicator looks like when you're shopping showtimes on AMC's website...

(For those unusually dumb, I added the orange circle.)

That's it. That's all the warning you get. It's not even clickable to explain just what the hell that means.

Posted by Scott Jentsch (Member # 1681) on 04-04-2018, 11:18 AM:

I looked through all of the showtimes we have right now, and there are 80 showtimes (out of more than 400,000) that have the word "Sensory" in the notes.

AMC is the largest contingent, but other chains/independents also showed up.

As a result of your comment, I added a Help Document article about it, which also links to AMC's page on the topic.

https://www.bigscreen.com/about/help.php?id=65

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 04-04-2018, 05:56 PM:

quote: Sam Graham
That's it. That's all the warning you get. It's not even clickable to explain just what the hell that means.

I agree the words should either have a tool tip or be clickable for more information. However, the information is listed. The theatre/web site is not responsible if people fail to read the details.

That being said, I have our web site configured so "Sensory Sensitive" either becomes part of the title or has show times grouped separately from regular times.

Despite our best efforts we still have people getting information wrong for a number of reasons. We have the current day's times listed in a bigger font which is bold and highlighted, but they will still look at the times starting Friday. They won't see the notation for 3D despite it being in the heading for the times. They will show up for movies we aren't playing because they will use Google or Siri and not actually click through to make sure the time listed is for the correct theatre.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 04-05-2018, 06:20 AM:

Justin, the theatre IS responsible! If a theatre designs their page such that important information minimized to the point that the intended audience is confused, that is on them. Sure, you'll get a small percentage of people that will miss the overtly obvious but when the bulk of people miss the nuance, it is on the theatre.

It isn't the job of the movie patron to know our nomenclature. "Sensory Friendly Films" means nothing. It could mean 4DX. Furthermore, it doesn't specify that this show will be presented in a sensory friendly atmosphere, just that they offer such things, whatever they are.

There is no defense of it, in this case. AMC did a very poor job and, thus far, I have not seen the notice at the site that started this thread on the days that it should occur.

If people can't count on a level of performance based on what they think they are getting, we are going to continue to lose business. It is that simple.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 04-05-2018, 09:44 AM:

quote: Steve Guttag
If a theatre designs their page such that important information minimized to the point that the intended audience is confused, that is on them.

I have to agree. I produce a web page for a family-owned drive-in and downtown hardtop. We have the showtimes on the home page. We have separated them into tables with different colors, increased font sizes, and further spaced them over the years, but we still get customers showing up every summer expecting to see the movie playing downtown at the drive-in. Even as they sit in their car in front of the ginormous drive-in marquee showing the movies playing in very large letters.

If people can't get that right, there's no way they're going to understand AMC's little gray-on-black blink-and-you-miss-it indication.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 04-05-2018, 12:18 PM:

Just a few months ago I had someone phone me and say, "We just drove in from out of town to watch the movie and the theatre is all dark and the door is locked."

Turned out they were sitting in front of the former theatre building that's more-or-less falling apart and where there hasn't been a movie played in almost 40 years.

My theatre has been here for for about 25 years and it's never moved.

Posted by Jarod Reddig (Member # 6363) on 04-05-2018, 01:30 PM:

Much agreed Steve and Sam. A company as big and profitable as AMC has no excuse for failing to have the utmost in user friendly online booking. I think its good that children with autism etc. have a movie going option. Unfortunately AMC doesn't care enough to properly advertise and inform the public.

Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 04-05-2018, 06:27 PM:

"Doing business without advertising is like winking at a pretty girl IN THE DARK" Ben Franklin

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 7758) on 04-05-2018, 07:10 PM:

[OT]
Frank, the UrbEx side of me wishes to see pictures of the old place!

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 04-05-2018, 07:29 PM:

Never let it be said that I don't grant requests! [Smile]

The old theatre

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 04-07-2018, 11:14 AM:

Seems like a nice town.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 04-07-2018, 12:41 PM:

Not ever hearing the term Sensory Friendly Showings, all I could think of is that AMC finally decided to deep-cleaned their carpets so patrons aren't assaulted by that unique stench of a combination of rancid popping oil and puke the minute they walk into the theatre.

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 7758) on 04-08-2018, 10:25 PM:

Frank, that reminds me of some of the great little towns near my in-laws' place out on the eastern plains of Colorado. And your post office is just cool!

So it's not an abandoned building? No weird photos of a deteriorating interior, or equipment left behind in the booth then!

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 04-08-2018, 10:49 PM:

It's currently abandoned (as far as I know). After the Paragon Theatre closed that building became the Paragon Mall and there were a few small stores in there for a while. When I moved to town there was a health food store and maybe one or two other things there. Then the chap who owned the building apparently lost it for unpaid taxes, the health food store that occupied part of the building moved across the street (and is totally gone now) and I'm pretty sure that building has been sold by the city to various "visionaries" and again repossessed for unpaid taxes two or three times since then.

It's my understanding that the people who buy it eventually find out that it's too expensive to renovate it into something useful, too expensive to heat it in the winter, and too expensive to tear it down since it's built right up against the buildings on each side.

The last guy who bought it has it up for sale right now, according to the sign in the window.

I guess it's a real white elephant -- it's too expensive to use it and too expensive to demolish it. It's unfortunate because it really is in a great high-visibility and high-traffic location, two doors down from the post office and almost exactly one block from the city hall.

Side-note: When I first moved to Melville and started creating my theatre (this building was a paint and wallpaper store before I bought it) the fellow who owned the Paragon Theatre/Mall stopped me on the street one day. There hadn't been a theatre in Melville for about 15 years at that point. He said, "You're the guy who's making that theatre?" I said that I was, and he said, "You should know that you won't last six months."

Well, thanks a lot for the ray of sunshine.....