Popcorn goes "poof"!
There are actually quite a few things I could blog about, but unfortunately I just don’t have the time for in-depth discussions this week (see Monday’s update for reasons why). I haven’t even been able to write my review for The Mummy 3, or start sketching the latest Girlz ‘N’ Games. Ho hum.
Anyway, earlier this week I read the following article with a mix of surprise and horror – it turns out a UK cinema chain is moving to ban popcorn!
From: The Daily Telegraph
Cinemas to trial popcorn free film screenings
A nationwide cinema chain is to ban popcorn from film screenings after complaints from audience members about the noise and mess created by the traditional treat.
By Stephen Adams
Last Updated: 12:19PM BST 11 Aug 2008
While many viewers love to snack on popcorn, others find the smell of the sickly sugar-coated variety repulsive and the sound distracting.
Such concerns have led the bosses of one cinema company to draw the curtain on it.
Picturehouse Cinemas, a chain of 19 across the country, is experimenting with popcorn-free screenings next month.
Gabriel Swartland, its head of media, said "Popcorn is a contentious issue. Lots of people absolutely hate it and have asked us to ban it, so we're going to do exactly that.
"If it's a success, and I've no reason to suspect it won't be, we'll roll it out across all our cinemas and make it a permanent fixture."
Daniel Broch, proprietor of the Everyman in Hampstead, north west London, has decided to go one step further by stamping it out from his 18 venues altogether, after finding too much of the stuff stamped into his carpets.
He said: "I will de-popcorn every new venue I acquire.
"It has a disproportionate influence on the space in terms of its overwhelming smell, the cultural idea of it and the operational problems created by the mess it produces."
However, whether it is the end for popcorn is open to question, as both the chains serve metropolitan audiences that are likely to be slightly more snobbish about their cinema experience than most.
Mr Broch said: "I'm not saying no popcorn is better than popcorn. But I am saying there is no way in which it fits with the culturally sophisticated brand I wish to sell."
The larger Curzon chain, which attempted popcorn-free theatres, found the idea backfired in some places.
Richard Napper, its marketing director, said audiences in three venues started asking for it, "so we provided it".
I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the matter, as well as your normal movie munching habits.
Personally I couldn't imagine watching a movie without a box of popcorn! It's just a tradition for me. I can do without the Coke (very often these days I'll buy water instead), as well as the various overpriced sweets at the concessions counter (admittedly I'll sometimes smuggle in a box of Smarties), but I always need my lightly salted popcorn.
Hell, there have been days when, if I'm catching the early morning show, or an evening screening, popcorn will actually serve as my breakfast or supper.
[Crap, I've lost half my post!!! Check back here later once I've rewritten everything I've lost - today is just not my day :(]
Resuming transmission at 13:00:
Look, I can understand the annoyance of people who shake their popcorn boxes or noisily burrow into the contents with their fists. However, popcorn has nothing on the overwhelmingly repulsive scent of smoking, or that of warm savoury food - I'm thinking fondly of the cinema murder scene in the first Scary Movie. Neither is the sound of popcorn eating as annoying as that of chip packets or chocolate wrappers.
I can't comment on international moviehouse practices and restrictions, but in South Africa most of these frustrations are combated by only allowing food and beverages purchased at that complex to be brought into the cinema. With the exception of the arthouse Cinema Nouveau chain, which offers coffee and biscuits at its snack stand, everywhere else sticks to the staples - plain unbuttered popcorn (which you season yourself), sweets, cooldrinks, water and Slush Puppies.
The point is that attacking movie going's most iconic snack is ridiculous and counter-productive. If you want to enhance the cinema going experience how about adopting the following practices instead:
1) No babes in arms, or disobedient toddlers at age-inappropriate films.
2) Forcible removal of loud talkers and cocky (typically teen) trouble makers.
3) The installation of technology that kills all cellphone reception.
Now that's a cinema I would regularly frequent!
Anyway, earlier this week I read the following article with a mix of surprise and horror – it turns out a UK cinema chain is moving to ban popcorn!
From: The Daily Telegraph
Cinemas to trial popcorn free film screenings
A nationwide cinema chain is to ban popcorn from film screenings after complaints from audience members about the noise and mess created by the traditional treat.
By Stephen Adams
Last Updated: 12:19PM BST 11 Aug 2008
While many viewers love to snack on popcorn, others find the smell of the sickly sugar-coated variety repulsive and the sound distracting.
Such concerns have led the bosses of one cinema company to draw the curtain on it.
Picturehouse Cinemas, a chain of 19 across the country, is experimenting with popcorn-free screenings next month.
Gabriel Swartland, its head of media, said "Popcorn is a contentious issue. Lots of people absolutely hate it and have asked us to ban it, so we're going to do exactly that.
"If it's a success, and I've no reason to suspect it won't be, we'll roll it out across all our cinemas and make it a permanent fixture."
Daniel Broch, proprietor of the Everyman in Hampstead, north west London, has decided to go one step further by stamping it out from his 18 venues altogether, after finding too much of the stuff stamped into his carpets.
He said: "I will de-popcorn every new venue I acquire.
"It has a disproportionate influence on the space in terms of its overwhelming smell, the cultural idea of it and the operational problems created by the mess it produces."
However, whether it is the end for popcorn is open to question, as both the chains serve metropolitan audiences that are likely to be slightly more snobbish about their cinema experience than most.
Mr Broch said: "I'm not saying no popcorn is better than popcorn. But I am saying there is no way in which it fits with the culturally sophisticated brand I wish to sell."
The larger Curzon chain, which attempted popcorn-free theatres, found the idea backfired in some places.
Richard Napper, its marketing director, said audiences in three venues started asking for it, "so we provided it".
I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the matter, as well as your normal movie munching habits.
Personally I couldn't imagine watching a movie without a box of popcorn! It's just a tradition for me. I can do without the Coke (very often these days I'll buy water instead), as well as the various overpriced sweets at the concessions counter (admittedly I'll sometimes smuggle in a box of Smarties), but I always need my lightly salted popcorn.
Hell, there have been days when, if I'm catching the early morning show, or an evening screening, popcorn will actually serve as my breakfast or supper.
[Crap, I've lost half my post!!! Check back here later once I've rewritten everything I've lost - today is just not my day :(]
Resuming transmission at 13:00:
Look, I can understand the annoyance of people who shake their popcorn boxes or noisily burrow into the contents with their fists. However, popcorn has nothing on the overwhelmingly repulsive scent of smoking, or that of warm savoury food - I'm thinking fondly of the cinema murder scene in the first Scary Movie. Neither is the sound of popcorn eating as annoying as that of chip packets or chocolate wrappers.
I can't comment on international moviehouse practices and restrictions, but in South Africa most of these frustrations are combated by only allowing food and beverages purchased at that complex to be brought into the cinema. With the exception of the arthouse Cinema Nouveau chain, which offers coffee and biscuits at its snack stand, everywhere else sticks to the staples - plain unbuttered popcorn (which you season yourself), sweets, cooldrinks, water and Slush Puppies.
The point is that attacking movie going's most iconic snack is ridiculous and counter-productive. If you want to enhance the cinema going experience how about adopting the following practices instead:
1) No babes in arms, or disobedient toddlers at age-inappropriate films.
2) Forcible removal of loud talkers and cocky (typically teen) trouble makers.
3) The installation of technology that kills all cellphone reception.
Now that's a cinema I would regularly frequent!
Comments
There's a joke by famed dead-pan comedian Stephen Wright: "I was thrown out of the movie theatre for bringing in my own food. I told the guy, 'Look, the prices at the concession stand are outrageous. Plus, I haven't had a barbecue in a long time.'"
Always one of my favorites.
Also, yeah, mute the cell phones already, though I haven't really had an issue with that for a while.
I haven't found ringing cellphones to be too much of a problem lately, although glowing screens in the dark when people are checking their messages really grates me.