AMC Theatres May Soon Allow Texting in Some Cinemas; Alamo Drafthouse Responds
Newly minted AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron has said that he is open to lifting the ban on texting in some theaters.
The potential move to make AMC Theatres more mobile device-friendly is a bid to appeal to tech-savvy millennials who, as Aron recently told Variety, don't go to movie theaters nearly as much as the baby boomers did. As such, the new AMC Entertainment head is considering allowing texting during screenings in certain AMC Theatres.
"When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone, don't ruin the movie, they hear please cut off your left arm above the elbow," Aron said. "You can't tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That's now how they live their life."
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According to the AMC Entertainment boss, this doesn't necessarily mean that the cinema experience will be ruined for those who don't use their smartphones inside movie houses. Though Aron admitted that the company still needs to think about how they can make their theaters more texting-friendly while making sure that the glare of smartphones doesn't disturb the entire audience, he also said that one possibility is that there will be specific sections or auditoriums for smartphone users.
Aron's comments reflect those of Regal Entertainment CEO Amy Miles and IMAX Corporation senior executive vice president Greg Foster, both of whom supported relaxing the rules banning cellphone usage in theaters in 2012.
In response to Aron's suggestion about allowing texting in movie theaters, Alamo Drafthouse founder and CEO Tim League wrote a response, in which he objected to Aron's generalization of millennial behavior and said that not fully engaging with what's on the screen (i.e. texting, checking email, chatting) is disrespectful to the creators of the film. League also said that this type of behavior isn't unique to millennials but is a "global attention span epidemic."
League also noted that Aron's potential experiment is not the right tactic for the cinema industry. "Innovation in this direction could seriously hurt our industry," he wrote (via Screen Rant).
On Wednesday, April 13, Aron clarified what he said about allowing texting in movie theaters, tweeting, "We know vast majority of audience wants no texting."
"IF ever, we ONLY would pursue in a way we'd be TOTALLY confident ALL our guests will fully enjoy movie going experience at AMC," he added.
