The Grumble: When assigned seating at the movies goes wrong

There are countless things that you could complain about when going to the movies. If you are in the mood for a snack, the price of popcorn alone could buy you groceries for a week. On top of that, the ridiculously high ticket prices to see all of the numbskull blockbuster reboots that have been marketed to you in a ways that make you feel like viewing them is a necessity on par with getting your yearly flu shot.  We all thought that MoviePass would help to aleviate this, but boy were we wrong. One innovation that helped to make going to movies a little less awful, however, was the option for assigned seating at most major movie theaters. But then again, how long can a good thing last? 

Over the last week, we’ve received a few Grumbles from our readers about the pitfalls of assigned seating at movie theaters. 

Assigned seating at the movies — It’s not as good as it seems! 

Photo: Getty Images 

Our first Grumble on the topic of assigned seating at the movie came from a reader who goes by “That Girl At The Party” and outlines this problem with this concept in one simple mission statement: Once you are assigned a seat, you are locked in to sit in that seat no matter who sits next to you. 

Lousy seats at the movies! 

The assigned seating policy at AMC Theaters is annoying and does not work. They need to go back to first come first serve ticketing. First of all, patrons do not know the floor plans of each theater. So it is impossible to know whether you are in a seat you will like or not. I recently went to see "A Star Is Born" at the AMC Lincoln Square. Despite the ticket seller showing us a seating chart, the tickets we received were right in the front of the screen. This was way too close, especially for a 2 and a half hour movie. The chart, in no way, accurately reflected where our seats were! In addition, if someone really tall sits in front of you, you are now stuck whereas before you could just move. People are also rude and over-entitled about the seating. I have seen people arrive late to a film and make everyone in the theater shift if someone is in "their seats", even when a theater is half full. Once some rude people came 20 minutes into a movie then expected the whole row to move for them. This is ridiculous and disruptive. If we have to endure assigned seats, then latecomers should forfeit the right to a specific seat. And finally, people need to sit back in their seats. Sitting forward places the person's head and body in the middle of the screen or stage. Lately, I have also witnessed a few people oddly leaning forward, without regard to the people behind them.

The other issue is people sporting top knots at films and the theater. People can't see through hair piled on top of the person's head. I was at a private screening for "The Black Klansman" in a small screening room and we literally had to ask a woman to take her hair down. Another time a guy had his locs piled so high on his head at a dance performance that people had to look around him. It should just be common sense that anything that adds 2 to 5 inches to the top of your head is going to obstruct the view of the people behind you.

By "That Girl At The Party", Metro New York reader 

Another Grumbler named Rebe echoed that same sentiment... 

Assigned Seats (Very Wrong)

I oppose having assigned seats for the simple reason that I don’t like seating around a lot of people. I prefer to sit alone as far away from people as possible for the reason that was quoted by Granny 53 (quoted below), Cellphone, and Noisy People. I get very upset having people sit either in front or beside me with their cellphones out for most of the movie. The light from the cellphone is a distraction especially when their phone rings and they hold a full blown conversation. There should be a way as soon as you open the door to the auditorium of the movie your cellphone automatically loses service. Your service returns once you are out of the auditorium. Who wants to pick a seat where you were secluded to come to your seat and you are surrounded with a lot of people and some of them are noisy kids. Without seating assignments , you are able to move to any other seat, with assigned seats you risk the chance of having to move if a late coming comes and you are seating in their seat.

By Rebe, Metro US reader

But those of us who love the convenience of being able to waltz into a theater anytime to have our seats waiting for us tend to disagree...

Assigned seating at the movies — What's not to love?

I like the fact that there are assigned seats! I know I will have a place with my grandchildren! Where I live, most of the theaters have been upgraded with stadium style seating so there isn't any issue with seeing over the person in front of you. In fact they have reclining seats and some are even serving meals and drinks during the movie.

Now all they need to do is figure out a way to keep the jerks out who use their phones and make a lot of noise!

By PA Granny 1953, Metro Philly reader 

What do you think of assigned seating at the movies? Send us your Grumbles to grumble@metro.us.