Movie theatres are struggling to compete with incredibly convenient streaming services and affordable home theatre systems. Various new gimmicks have been brought in to spice up the experience like 3D, luxury seating and rumble chairs. But no desperate innovation has been as soul-destroying as this.
Photo: AP
At these movie theaters, kids can play on a jungle gym next to their parents’ seats https://t.co/dSiubU7Qjc pic.twitter.com/JyWmSPDVXY
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) March 7, 2017
That’s right folks. A full on playground right there, just waiting for the little monsters to climb on and scream and fall and cry.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the movie theatre chain Cinepolis will open two of these hell holes in southern California next week. From the report:
The remodeled auditoriums at Cinepolis USA’s Pico Rivera and Vista theatres each feature a colourful play area near the screen in front of the seats, a jungle gym, and cushy beanbag chairs.
Cinepolis, the world’s fourth-largest cinema operator, hopes the new kid-oriented theatres — which charge up to $3 more than a regular ticket — will help it better compete with Netflix and other at-home options by enticing more parents and children to go to the theatre.
Let me just say that I am not a parent. Some of you out there might think this is a great idea. I respect your determination to procreate and put up with all the crap that kids do. But I am a serious movie theatre lover and even a visit to a corporate megaplex verges on a holy experience for me. This playground is blasphemy.
Cinepolis sunk $500,000 ($658,600) into each theatre in order to create these abominations. The lights will be on so the kids can see what they’re doing and they will only be showing films for children. Now, there are some great kids movies out there these days, but wouldn’t it make sense to show something the parents actually want to see, considering that they will be the only ones paying attention? Choose some flicks that are relatively non-violent/non-sexually explicit and give the parents headphones. They will at least get something out of it. As it is, Cinepolis is asking parents to pay an extra three dollars on top of the already expensive movie tickets just so their kid can experience playground equipment that would be free at the local park.
Does this effect me directly? Not immediately. If parents want to throw their money away to enter a chamber of horror, so be it. But I do have to live in society and these children who never learned to sit down, shut up and pay attention will be walking around making my life miserable one day. California residents, please take a stand. Don’t support this. The children are our future.