I don't need to write an article asking where everyone stands on people talking during movie screenings. We've all collectively decided as a society that anything beyond the occasional one sentence whisper during a movie is abhorrent and should possibly be someday punished by brief imprisonment. So, apart from a few scoundrels, we're all on the same page there, at least once the movie starts. During the previews, however, there doesn't seem to be any social norms a high percentage of us have agreed on. Instead, there seems to be three distinct camps.
Let's split them up...
People With No Issue Talking At Normal Volume
The lights being lowered means nothing to these people. They have paid their $12.50 to see Horrible Bosses 2. They have not paid for Bridge Of Spies or Chappie to advertise at them. As such, they have no qualms full volume talking about the upcoming movie being previewed and/ or discussing unrelated subjects like the rising price of movie theater popcorn or the pros and cons of having too many purse compartments vs not enough purse compartments. Now and again, they'll hit up their phone too. Why not? After all, it's their last chance before the real movie starts and they need to know if Hank texted about whether that party is happening later or if new Candy Crush lives are available.
People Who Talk At The Beginning Or Very End Of Previews
For the most part, this group keeps their traps shut during 95% of the actual preview, but during the first few seconds when they realize what movie is being featured, they feel compelled to lean over to their screening mates and say something like, "I'm totally in on Age Of Adaline. I don't care what the haters say" or they wait until the very end to say, "Was that the guy from those funny Allstate commercials?" They want enough silence to watch the previews without distraction, but they also want enough freedom to burn the opening and closing 10 seconds in order to interact.
People Who Want Almost Complete Silence
I put almost here because most of these people are OK with both preview and in-movie "ohhhh" and "ahhhh"-ing. Or the occasional twelve-inch voice comment. In general, however, they consider previews to be part of the actual movie-going experience. They want to invest in what they're watching and actually enjoy the content. They don't want to hear noise, and they definitely don't want to be stepped over every few minutes because the clumsy Wet Bandits decided to roll into the screening 10 minutes late and can't find Row J.
So, where do you stand? What do you consider proper theater etiquette to be? Give us your take in the poll below and/ or hit up the comment section to hit us with your own take.
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