It was 11:15 and I had just parked in the parking lot of Regal Cinemas Bowie to see the midnight showing of The Dark Knight. The line was long, finding a seat was hard, and the pre-previews sucked so badly that they even showed a preview for The Dark Knight.
I’m not going to spoil the movie for anyone, considering that it just came out, and because I walked out with 45 minutes to go; the movie was soo good. It should be considered as close to perfection as something could get. The movie was great, filled with action, and the outstanding performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker. The theater I watched one hour and fourty-five minutes of goodness was it’s opposite — it sucked.
With 45 minutes to go in the middle of the climatic action scene the screen rolled to black with audio as our only guide — the reel broke in 2 of the 7 showings. People were up in arms screaming, “Rewind it,” some shouted, “What the F*ck,” while others yelped, “STOP THE MOVIE!” However, no one was to be found in the reel room, they must’ve been sleeping.
It took about half of the theater to get the attention of a staff member as no one was in the reel room according to those looking through the window.
I walked out with my money back, a free ticket voucher and in a pissed-off mood — you know, the type where you want to punch every staff member as if it’s their fault but noticed a county sheriff with a gun and handcuffs on his waist so you kept your cool. I love Batman and hate Regal Cinemas.
Hopefully this wasn’t everyone else’s experience.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Aaron T. // Jul 18, 2008 at 11:09 am
Well, it was playing in DLP in my cinema at 12, but I didn’t go.
Friends went, said it was good. I have to work today, and it’s a 2 1/2 hour movie PLUS the 30 minutes of ads and previews before.
That really sucks about the film, eh?
I remember friends saying they went to the midnight showing of The Matrix at another theatre, only to have the speakers actually blow out.
2 Daniel Hollister // Jul 18, 2008 at 8:36 pm
This happened to me when I saw Star Wars Episode III in a shitty theater. The bottom line is that everyone should see awesome movies in awesome theaters. As I did, at the Arclight Dome.
3 Mom // Jul 19, 2008 at 2:04 am
Karma is H___ Matt-
Guess you should have watered the plants before you went off to the movies?????
Love Mom
4 Easter // Oct 27, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Well said.
5 Regal Suck // Nov 20, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Regal Cinemas are a bunch of bastards. They have pissed off me and my husband for the last time. We go to see a sneak preview of a movie, and our friends are in the theatre saying there are plenty of seats, yet they don’t let us in. 2 1.5 hours in Atlanta traffic, to see the movie only to be told we can’t go in. BASTARDS. I hope they go out of business. They don’t deserve ANY business.
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