To put it into perspective: Cinemas in Japan are chill, it’s not like American or “Western” cinemas where people shout aloud at hyped scenes or laugh so loud where you can’t even hear what the dialog is or talk amongst themselves causing distractions (or yet, using their phone at max brightness that becomes distracting towards other viewers).
Instead: it’s more on immersing to a movie at your own desire, everyone for the most part is dead silent because they know that they are inside a cinema as courtesy is considered, while I’ve heard that is starting or has already started to decline in the US (& Western nations) since the experience of being in a theater isn’t the same as it used to be.
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Despite what a lot of tiktoks show for shit like the Minecraft movie, I have never experienced that in real life except when going to see Rocky Horror Picture Show, where audience participation is part of the fun. People are generally quiet unless something funny happens that makes most of the audience laugh.
Go, to Alamo.
Alamo has gone to absolute shit since they got bought out. It really bums me out to see my favorite chain go to “just another movie theatre”
I still prefer it over the other local choices. And Showcase cinema around here has closed and dumped some big theaters. Even lost the largest IMAX in the region.
Like most answers about the US, it depends on a lot, we’re a big place. As someone who is at the movies 3-4 times a month I’ll say the biggest factors that contribute are
- When you’re seeing the movie
- How new/popular the screening is
- What movie you’re seeing
- The chain you’re at
I typically go during the week after work and generally wait a bit to see new releases and I usually have a couple other people with me in the theater and they’re usually chill. If you go opening weekend to a new movie in a crowded theater then I’d say you can pretty reliably count on a few people making quietish comments and a few people checking their/phones a few times. I also find if you tell people to shut up or put their phones away they usually listen. I’ll also say if you’re going to see the new prestige A24 drama expect less interruptions than say The Super Mario Galaxy movie or The Minecraft Movie
Japanese audiences and just Japanese groups of people in general are quite a unique beast, and not really a great reference point for comparison, IMO.
Do you actually want an answer to your title question?
Cause you seem to already know the answer you’re convinced of.And I’m now imagining the eery, creepy atmosphere of a big audience watching a comedy movie in dead silence.
Stop generalizing the US and the West. Is Japan all the same everywhere? I’m gonna say no. Why should an even bigger country be then? Or another somewhat nebulously defined area that’s bigger still?
What the average Japanese person would think a rowdy crowd is the average American’s idea of enjoying a communal experience. One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist.
If you go see a kids movie you’ll have some parents on their phones as well. The bad behavior is creeping in in Japan too. Plus, a lot of the movies arrive half a year or so later than a lot of other countries. And it’s more expensive in my experience. Just for some perspective.
I suspect you look at the term “the West” and you think you’re not part of that. You’re “the East” if anything. If a jihadist screams “death to the West” they include Japan in there. You are a democracy, a developed nation, and you rely on the US for security, and you are not practicing Muslims either. A person in Central Europe could look at “the West” and might include Finland and Sweden in there but maybe not Ukraine or Bulgaria. And what do we do about Russia? West of Japan, east of Europe. Very big and shouldn’t be generalized either. “The West” is an empty vessel people fill with lazy assumptions.
I often hear about people being loud, distracting, and using phones in theaters, but I rarely see it myself. It probably depends on what you’re going to see; when I went to see TMNT Mutant Mayhem, I went in knowing there would be kids, so I expected some chatter. When I saw Barbie a few days later, the theater was pretty quiet.
I go to the more expensive theater with big comfortable recliners now though because I can’t do cheap theater seats anymore, they are horrible for my back. Most of the movies I see are aimed at adults, so it’s probably partly the demographic.
I go to the movie theater every Saturday and have been since I think 2022. I usually go to one of the earlier showings so I can see the movie and still have the rest of my day. I rarely have problems at a movie theater and the few times I have, usually someone will have sorted it out. Might be because of how early I go and the area I live in (I live in the Midwest 40 minutes away from the nearest major city).
At least where I live, it has turned in a teen hangout. My 14 and 15 year old meet their friends at the movies at least once a week and for them its like a social center. Not how I want to enjoy a movie experience because they treat it like a big shared living room. I actually asked the manager about it and she said they support it because the teens are coming every week and its growing their revenue.
The big exception is our local Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. They still have rules and ushers to enforce them. That’s where I go when I want to see a movie with my wife and/or friends. Nice quiet traditional viewing experience.
They used to go to the mall but those died. Just be glad those kids have a safe place to hang out; I was smoking weed in the park at that age.
Oh, I’m fine with it. I gave up on the big name theaters a while back. I just wanted to make sure my kids weren’t doing anything there than management was against. I’m actually glad they have a place to hangout with their friends.
I don’t see what’s wrong with smoking weed in the park, assuming the park is big enough that you can find a secluded area. As long as others don’t have to breathe in your smoke, I see no issue with that.
The bigger issue is that you were 14/15. The human brain doesn’t stop developing until 25. Smoking weed has been known to stunt growth if consumed before then. One of the biggest issue you can cause yourself is memory problems.
So I guess what I’m saying is, you should go check the stove/oven/fireplace/and any pets you have. Make sure none of those things are on fire. I know, you forgot to turn something off. Let’s double check before you burn yourself alive.
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In my experience, big chain movie theaters in the US rarely show foreign language films. You got to an “art house” cinema to see those and then they are almost always in the original language with subtitles.
I’m in the UK and only once have I been in a cinema where people were shouting the things. It was some pretty mediocre horror thing and there were some teenagers shouting jokes but it was only like two times. The cinema was pretty much empty and it was just us and them; I think they just found the film a bit boring (we certainly did).
