Going to the movies used to be such a sacred, reverential ritual for me. Kind of like that infamous Nicole Kidman AMC commercial, which I totally laughed at, yet also completely understood. But then streaming showed us another way, a world in which we could be clothed as much or little as we liked, had the ability to pause the proceedings as needed, and it was all cheaper for us consumers (though apparently coming out of cast and crew residuals). Hollywood hadn’t even really begun to reckon with streaming when Covid swept in and hastened the existential crisis of movie theaters. All that to say, filmmakers have had to make impassioned pleas over the last few years to get butts back in seats. Only now we can scratch one auteur off that list: Martin Scorsese recently told film critic Peter Travers that he has given up on going to the movies. Why? Because audiences won’t shut up or put away their phones!
Speaking to US film critic Peter Travers for his blog, The Travers Take, Scorsese reportedly explained that he found himself too distracted by the chat and mobile-phone disturbance from the audience to concentrate on the film.
Wrote Travers: “I asked the maestro why he doesn’t see movies in theatres any more and he went all raging bull about audiences who babble on phones during the movie, leave to order snacks and vats of soda, and keep up a noise level loud enough to drown out the actors.”
Travers then countered that Scorsese, 82, likely behaved in a similar way when he was younger. “‘Come on, Marty,’ I said, ‘we couldn’t keep our mouths shut when we were kids.’”
Travers added: “His [Scorsese’s] eyes darkened. ‘Yeah, maybe,’ he conceded, ‘but when we talked it was always about the movie and the fun we had chewing over the details.’”
Cinema etiquette is widely perceived to have declined in recent years, with the ascension of streaming, and the legacy of Covid, meaning audiences are now less minded to devote their full attention to the screen.
Fights and shouting matches in cinemas have become increasingly common, while food-throwing and constant conversation are normalised. Some films have sought to embrace the general atmosphere of chaos, with The Minecraft Movie’s clarion call of “chicken jockey” signalling the cue for children to run riot.
Meanwhile, high-profile stars including Tom Cruise energetically cheerlead for audiences to patronise cinemas and ensure films are watched on the big screen on opening weekends.
Scorsese has multiple projects in production, including a Hawaii crime drama starring Dwayne Johnson and a documentary about the late Pope Francis, with whom it is believed he had the final interview.
Is it a bit rich that Marty is giving up on movie-going, after having insisted that we see Killers of the Flower Moon IN the theater WITHOUT an intermission? Not to mention the fact that he probably has a home theater that’s nicer (and cleaner) than any public venue we’re likely to get into for the privilege of spending $20 or more? Yeah, it is. That being said, I can’t fault him for his commentary on audiences of today! I, too, find it infuriating when people talk throughout the film, and definitely when you see all the bright phone screen lights pop up in front of you. Again, between Covid and streaming, and the demise of attention-spans thanks to things like TikTok, people have forgotten how to be appropriate audience members. And I for one am too chicken to say anything in the moment, cause things can escalate so quickly these days. So basically, Martin Scorsese has come to the Jean-Paul Sartre reality of going to the theater: Hell is other people. Though not getting a bathroom break for a three-hour movie is a close second!
Photos credit: IMAGO/Massimiliano Carnabuci / LiveMedia/Avalon, Selene Daniele/AGF/AGF Foto/Avalon, Ufficio stampa Lega/AGF Foto/Avalon
Someday Martin will let us know what he actually likes.
This made me literally LOL. Every time I see a photo of him these days, I can’t help but think about Grandpa Simpson shouting at clouds.
How “precious” Martin
He is never happy about anything.
He’s a bit pretentious but he’s also not wrong about rude audiences. We went to see the new Mission Impossible and had to ask the woman next to us to turn off THE FLASHLIGHT on her phone because she was using it to do knitting.
I went to see Dogma’s re-release on the weekend it was out.
I went on a friday afternoon (took off early from work).
I spent almost $20 on the movie, and another $20 on a slushie and popcorn.
And i was the only person in the theatre. It was fantastic.
And, still a wonderful, funny, clever, odd movie.
If only i knew the seat reclined, i didn’t notice the buttons until i got up to leave.
I don’t go to the theatre much anymore.
I miss the dollar theatres of my college years. They were great.
Stopped going to movie theaters years ago due to sticky floors and undisciplined audiences
God only knows the hellscape it is today with cell phones and social media.
I do not go to movies at night. I go around noon. The theater is empty (or almost) and no one is rude. You can sit far away from anyone else. It is also cheaper. The audiences at later times are not always good to be around. So, go see Sinners at 12 noon.
I quit going in the evening when I was sitting next to an empty, urine soaked and smelly seat. No usher, so complained to ticket desk person who was not interested. There was no other row of 7 empty seats for our group so I toughed it out. No more. Is the daytime option any better really?
Weekday matinees are my preferred time, but I can make that work since I have a flexible work schedule. Next best alternative is first showing of the day on a weekend (preferably Sunday), at least the theater will be (in theory) clean. I almost never go the first week of a release, I wait and do my best to avoid spoilers. I also avoid kid or kid-adjacent movies like the plague. It’s rare that I am not the youngest person in the audience, and no one has called me young for at least twenty years.
I admit I would not go to movie theater in a dare anymore…but I’m not an old time director lol just an old lady who is leery of crowds and hates the constant phone usage. And if people talk back to the screen and immerse themselves in that way, it’s just now for me lol
I don’t go to the megaplex theater anymore. Last time I did was several years ago at the behest of my sister. I spent an ungodly amount (whatever happened to the matinee discount?) and got too close to a motion sensor fake butter dispenser while grabbing some napkins. So fake butter was automatically sprayed onto my coat sleeve, which stunk through the movie, and then took more than one washing to get out. I will see movies at the local “art house” independent theater, where the rest of the audience is more respectful.