European movie theaters

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Bel, at some of the larger cinemas in Copenhagen, the price does depend on the seating. It ain't much, but still a difference. As for the prices of candy and all that, it is rather expensive, but there seems to be no trouble bringing your own.

Regarding seating, all seats are numbered, but if you are in a small cinema and there are few people, they don't really matter that much.

The second largest screen in Copenhagen, called Imperial, does still honour it's theatrical roots, so between the main movie and the commercials/trailers, the blanket comes down. In the larger cinemas, there is also usually enough room to sit comfortably.

 

So, they play movies in the old time-honored theaters designed for plays and concerts?

I can see why people use number seats then.

Here in the U.S., the idea of playing a movie in a fanciful old theater is rather insulting to the theater!

In Sacramento we have two theaters designed for plays. Both are rather young, only about 50 years old each. If they were to attempt to play movies in them, the people would be up in arms.

Europe has formal theaters which are elegant, historic, and older than the United States itself! How could you play a movie in there!

Do they just keep everyone in line then open the doors and yell "CHARGE"? That has 'bad idea' written all over it.

 

In our case they indeed let people wait before the closed doors but they don't yell "charge". Don't need to since everybody get so noisy when the doors open that they wouldn't hear it.

We don't play movies in them (almost not). We also have much more recent, modern and less formal places that serve as both theatre (mostly amateur theatre) and cinema. It is true that sometimes movies are played in very formal theatres but they aren't the average Hollywood film (mostly documentaries or other such formal films).

 

Well, I think I am the only current member from WA here, but as expected, our system is relatively close to the Eastern States and NZ.

As a general rule, and this does change a lot varying from cinema to cinema (but Hoyts has practically taken over anyway) we can book tickets, but only a week in advance (as no-one can be bothered trying to figure out the dates before-hand, can't book if you don't know what movies are on), except for the big movies. Here we are different than most, as big productions such as LotR are practically the only ones people actually book- and months in advance.

Of course, except in the rare big-budget movies like Matrix or Star Wars there are really no ques, and the cinemas are pretty empty, especuially if your a bum like me and go in the middle of the day while all the other schmucks are working, hah poor fools.

Technically you are not supposed to bring your own food and drink, as the cinemas like to extort you for every cent your worth, but most people take no notice- friends and I have brought in buckets of KFC on occasion. Sometimes they might cause a fuss, but myself, my friends, and my brother are really too big and scary to mess with, most people would prefer not to risk getting us angry - not that we'd hurt them too bad; but they don't know that. And we are so good looking that the chicks just want to make us happy

We have no seat numbers, and that's the way I like it. Every-one rocks up and takes whatever seat they like, it's not like it make that much of a difference anyway, here at least. I think I would deeply resent it if the seats became numbered, it seems to favour the rich and elitist in my opinion, as you have to book by credit card, (which I do not have, and plan to keep it that way) and most people like myself just turn up on the spur of the moment. Of course, if someone had reserved all the best seats and was allready sitting in them I wouldn't even know, and would sit at the side or up the front like I normally do. If however, I was first on the scene and had seated myself, and some upstart punk works up the nerve and tells me the seat is reserved for him, I would politely oblige, wonder why the world had come to such a mess, shake my head sadly at it all, laugh at their folly, watch the movie, and add another thing to my list of "What I Am Going To Destroy Once I Am Emporer Of The Universe, Or Absolute Leader Of This World At Least."

 

Well, the system includes turning up on the spur of the moment. You can show up at the at the cash box of the movie theatre, over which hangs a screen which show the seats, which are already taken and which are still free. Then you see that the seats in your favourite row in the center still are free, where you can stretch your legs and watch the movie nearly lying. So you go to the cashier and say seat number xx, please. And all seats have the same price. And its' first come first serve.

Or you can call at the ticket-center and reserve a seat. You do not have to have a fancy card or anything. The system is so simple and elegant, the idea that it's not omnipresent is puzzling, really. And that weirdo intellectual marital arts theatre which doesn't have it, it's an unbounded cheeck.

 

@ Tal

Please reread the last paragraph in Grovflab's post - the one right before mine.

I read it such that a theater in Copenhagen has threatrical roots - and still honors them. I don't see how it was misread.


Manus Said:

Agreed. If they numbered seats, people with extra cash could buy all the best seats ahead of time. Personal effort and promptness would be meaningless. Do we really want scalpers for movies?! Argh! Can you imagine?!

[ December 05, 2003, 21:20: Message edited by: Blackhawk ]

 

Isn't this the end result of capitalism? Who gets better medical treatment? Who gets better legal assistance? Who drives safer cars? Who gets on life saving boats when Titanic was sinking? (And it shouldn't be a suprise that) Who gets better seating in cinema? (i do doubt that they would go to a cinema anyway)

Of all the things you can resent and disagree, you picked "numbered seats". (i mean no offense, just want to stir some emotions)

Numbered seats is a culture. Why some practice it and some don't? Well, if we ask Sigmund Freud, he will say it is all because of sexual aggression. In another words, we cannot (or do not want to waste energy to) explain it. It's just a life style that has been there all along. You would concern about the rich getting better seats, i would concern about the uncultured fighting for seats. Our difference in concerns comes, naturally, from our difference of culturation.

 

Hmmm, seems like I have to cut this one out. Imperial is not a normal theatre used for movies. It is a big, modern cinema. However, before each viewing, the carpet comes down and hides the screen. It might have been a "classic" theatre once, but not any more...

By the way, is it a complete coincidense that it is called a movie THEATRE? (<--- HINT)

 

I did read the other posts, my apologies if it seemed I was talking about those cinemas, I was only talking about the ones here, which you can only book by credit card, it's stupid I know. I'm sure that the boking arrangements are much better in the places in which all of you live, but I still hold reservations of seat numbering; it just seems too much of a fuss to worry about, it's just a movie after all.

By the way, I've never known of a fight between us uncultured barbarians over our un-numbered seats, it could happen - but I think people are just too laid back to care.

On a side note, Freud is not the sex-obssessed dirty old man some make him out to be. He said (very simplified here) that problems happen when we repress things, it was just co-incidence that he was around in victorian-era Europe, which at the time was in an environment where most people repressed any thoughts of such matters vehmenently- it was not something particular to him, simply a product of the times. I think I better add that he does not encourage sexual indescretion or pre-occupation either, only that such things (all things) should be accepted (that they exist, not nesecarily acted upon), not denied. Whether you act on each and every whim is another matter entirely.

Ok, sorry for the off-topic lecture. I hope I have cleared up some misunderstandings in my post.

 

This all makes me want to go to the movies.... NOW. (mmmm...buttered popcorn, candy....)

 

Maybe its because us barbarians all have guns - if one of them cow-pokes tries something - we'll fill 'em full of holes and string 'em up! Dangnammit!

I think we are speaking slightly different versions of the English language - which is not surprising. In American English, a "theater" is not the same thing as a "movie theater". If you were to say to an American "I am going to the theater", they would probably ask "which play?". The word "theater" is very nebulous in American English.

On the second point, Americans do not consider movies to be theatrical in any way. They are akin to television.

LOL Actually, that might be a rather fun thread for later! The topic would discuss different terms for the same thing between versions of English. For example, the English call an apartment (American) a flat. A Britain could say "I live in a two story flat" and confuse us.

... and now, the rant

From reading the posts again and again, I've come to the following conclusions:

• Europeans and Americans do not see movies the same way
  
  Americans do not consider movies a form of play - but merely a form of television. Movies do not belong in the same genre as plays. To do so, is an insult to "the theater". For this reason, any sort of formality for movies is seen as a tad silly by Americans. The idea of treating a movie than more than just a movie will be rejected.
  
  To put the American viewpoint bluntly: a movie is only a big-budget T.V. show that was designed to viewed without commercial interruption.
  
  On the other hand, Europeans may see movies as something more than television and akin to plays. It was mentioned in this thread that a theater in Copenhagen drops a curtain between trailers and the movie.
  .
  .
• The movie "culture" is quite different
  
  Americans follow the "first come first serve" mentality for movies - and basically most things. The first who buys a ticket gets first choice of seats, the second person gets the second choice - etc... In other words, the person that demonstrates the highest level of effort and promptness is rewarded. People in the United States can buy tickets online, but this only gets them into the theater - it does not guarantee them a seat.
  
  In practically all cases, the patron buys a ticket, enters the theater (meaning the room) and finds a seat. If the doors are closed for cleaning, Americans will rather nonchalantly create a line. When the doors are opened, people just walk in.
  
  We actually also do this for plays at "the theater" (which are held in theater halls )

I await your responses, be kind!

 

That difference can also be seen between European movies and American ones (Hollywood). If you see a movie made in Europe you get a totaly different feel then when you see an American one. Apart from the special effects the level of American movies is indeed not very much higher than that of a good television series. In Europe much more effort is put into it and that's why we produce so few films.
Don't get me wrong, not all American movies are like that, there are very good ones, but these are just a few gems amidst the tons of lesser movies (which I still enjoy watching ).

 

not European, but here we have a few types of cinemas you can go to. in the big ones, you can pre order on line or by phoning a ticket line, but you don't print the tickets, you get them by coming to the cinema and using the crdit card you ordered to print them out in a special machine. but for this service you have to pay a bit more for the ticket. since for "big" movies a lot of people do this, the line for the machine is sometimes longer than the line for the ticket office. in some cases you can pick your seat, in most you can't. but here's the thing - every ticket is for a specific seat, but a lot of people ignore this and just sit where they want. if the person who has the ticket for the seat that's been taken comes, they just sit somewhere else, but some people choose to make a fuss and start to argue, call the cinema employees, or start using physical force (in one case I've witnessed even the police were called). anyway, this can make for some nice pre-movie entertainment
in smaller cinemas you usually can't pre-order, just come first and pick your seat from what's left - but again this doesn't always really matter (see above).
and in other places, I guess the "feel" is more of a theatre play than a movie. there are curtains, no commercials or promos, just the movie. and in some cases you get a short introduction to the film from someone - film critic, film student, or someone involved in the making of the movie. but these type of cinemas are typically for more "artistic" movies, you probably won't catch Spiderman or American Pie in those.
for me personally it doesn't really matter if you can pre order an assigned seat or not, I almost always have a seat to my taste. I like to sit in the unpopular very front rows, where my entire field of vision is on the screen and not distracted. but that's me.
BTW, how much do you normally pay for a movie ticket? here it's about 6-7 Euro

[ December 06, 2003, 14:52: Message edited by: eran ]

 

You missed the point of my last post.

<Groan>

We are obviously talking right past each other. I have a feeling (and a very foreboding one at that ) that we can discuss the finer points of movie ediquette until the sun burns out.

Really what this all boils down to is the difference between American and European ediquette or, more precisely, how effort and dedication equates to what a person "deserves". If you ask Americans the whole number-seat question, you'll find that we are very much opposed to the idea.

To be as straight-forward as possible: we do not like the idea of being "locked" into a particular seat.

You can assign any number of reasons: we do not like the idea of buying a seat (that looks good on some chart) but is not to our liking in the theater, we do not the idea of "cyber-squatting" - the buying of good seats hours, days or weeks in advance, we don't like the idea of being forced to sit next to someone who would ruin the movie (such as someone who will talk, get emotional, etc), we don't like people getting good seats which have not put in the effort to stand in line or be on time.

But even after this diatribe, I doubt anything will be accomplished. This is getting exasperating.

Tal, before this discussion gets out of hand, lets just drop the whole thing. We haven't walked in each other's shoes, so one another cannot understand what it is like to be Californian or Slovenian.

... as the saying goes: "we shall agree to disagree"

Usually about 12 bucks, prices vary on age: child, adult, senior-citizen (65+). 12 bucks is about a half-hour to 45 minutes of work. So, for the most part, you earn 16 movies in an 8 hour day.

 

Here the average price is 7-8 euro. (don't know the conversion to anything else) But there are a lot of ways you can get reduction and it can go as low as 5 euro. (There is even a once in the month promotion with which everybody only pays 4 euro but that is just a promotional stunt from a company that has nothing to do with movies)

 

I ususally watch films in my town's cultural centre every Wednesday.
What's really good about the centre is that once every three weeks they show an alternative film. Those are usually great (I'm thinking of Lilya 4-ever for example, don't know if anyone here saw that one..). Also, if you have a subscription you pay less than 4 euros per film.

I do go to the bigger complexes to watch really good films (1 hour by tram!) though.

[EDIT: this is where I sit when watching films ]

[ December 06, 2003, 19:33: Message edited by: Uytuun ]