Friday, March 28, 2008

No Children under 6? I like this theatre.


I was reading the website of an interesting theatre chain in the southern US called the Alamo Roadhouse. It's one of the new theatres that serves food and drink while you are watching the film. That's not practical for Western Film but I did like a couple of their policies.


They strive to create an adult atmosphere. Anyone under 18 has to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.


There are no children under 6 allowed except for special shows such as actual kid's films. I love this idea. Sometimes we get families that bring very young children to movies that are way not appropriate, not only should the children not be seeing the film but they wouldn't understand it so get bored and start talking or wandering around. There's also the endless potty breaks.

I realize some people may not be able to afford a babysitter but bringing several small children to a screening of The Kingdom isn't fair to the other patrons. The funny thing is they often expect the really small children to get in for free?!


I'm going to explore the idea of implementing a similar policy at Western Film except for the rare occasions when we play actual kid's films, usually only during the summer.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a pretty good policy, but it could prevent the few parents of well-behaved 6-year olds from watching some pretty good movies. But then again... those are pretty rare to come by.

As for the new movie theatres - I'm not sure I like that idea. In 2005, I went to a similar one in Portugal, because there was a second floor, kind of like a balcony (like Western Film) and only up there had this service. But such comfy seats inevitably put my dad in deep sleep, and my brother found the prospect of ordering more food quite tempting, so there was quite a bit of movement around the place, which was a little off-putting. But then again, we were watching 'War of the Worlds' so it's not like I missed in anything in that steaming pile of... movie (although it does pain me to call that a movie.

Anonymous said...

Something just hit me... Following your enthusiasm for the Indiana Jones poster... what do you make of Morgan Spurlock's poster for his upcoming documentary: "Where in the world is Osama Bin Laden?"

http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2008/02/25/where-in-world-osama-poster.jpg

I'm not sure it's entirely relevant, and as the title of the movie suggests, wouldn't a Carmen San Diego parody be more appropriate? I'm not sure what I think of it... I mean, it's done tastefully (unlike the Scary Movie, Superhero Movie, etc... posters with parodies)... and it is kind of relevant, but something about just doesn't jump out at me...

Anonymous said...

Although I totally agree with your idea.. I think you're going to open up a can of worms.. people get very crazed when they are told they can't bring their kids places--London has to be one of the worst places to adopt that policy. Again, as I said, I completely agree, there is no way a small child should be watching an adult movie.. and it's like this, if you can't afford someone to watch your child for four hours then you stay home.. the harsh reality our parents faced. To be more specific.. I don't remember my folks even having a semblance of a life because family always came first. PLUS.. if you want to touch base on that-- I'm sure there's some adolescent in your area that's desparate to make an easy $10- $20 for a bottle of hair dye or something from Ebay.... research research research.
Good luck!