WASHINGTON — As movie theaters worked to woo Americans to countries after COVID-19 lockdowns and labor strikes, the industry marketed blockbusters like “Wicked” and the dueling shows of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” as nothing less than events. cultural. .
But when some films become “events” on their own, sometimes different behaviors accompany them.
During the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour theatrical run last fall, fans danced and belted out the lyrics in theaters, sharing their joy on social media.
Last year, fans at early screenings of “Wicked” did the same, to the chagrin of other moviegoers.
A video of a woman dressed as Glinda the Good Witch garnered over a million views on TikTok and beyond, after she announced to her theater, “I’m here to hear Cynthia and Ariana sing, not you.”
After a period of increased learning to watch movies only from the comforts of home, Americans are slowly returning to movie theaters following the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Along the way, as attendance has grown, the question of how to behave as part of a moviegoing audience has become a topic of passionate debate online.
When asked if it’s appropriate for fans to sing in the theater, “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo, who plays Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, told NBC that she thinks the practice is “awesome” and that ” It’s time for everyone else to join in.”
Dwayne Johnson, who stars as Maui in Moana 2, told the BBC that theatergoers who have spent their “hard-earned money on a ticket” should be able to sing along.
The backlash online was swift, with one user replying: “I paid my hard earned money for a ticket too and I don’t want to hear you all trying to sing so what now.”
It all revolves around two questions that, like everything else in culture, are constantly evolving: When you’re watching a movie in a theater, how should you behave? And when can a viewer become a participant?
Film singing is a theater tradition
Real personal interruptions at the cinema seem minimal. Representatives from Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, a prominent chain known for its variety of movie screenings and food service, and ACX Cinemas, a family-owned chain based in the Midwest, both say they haven’t experienced anything major.
The instinct to join is not new. “Sing-along shows have been a staple of the film industry for over 100 years,” says Ross Melnick, a professor of film and media studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. But singing, he says, usually happens in “designated settings for singing together where there is clearly a collective performance of the audience.”
According to Esther Morgan-Ellis, author of Everybody Sing!: Community Singing in the American Movie Palace, screenings of American films in the late 1920s and early 1930s were often preceded by singing.
An organist would play three or four popular songs and the audience was encouraged to join in, often guided by the lyrics projected on the screen.
At other times, the singing would be accompanied by a short film that included lyrics and a dancing ball on the screen that would bounce around the words to help the audience keep time.
While singing has long been common, other behaviors were once hotly debated.
When movies were a new medium, Americans argued not only about the content of the movies themselves, but also about where people watched them.
Was the dark room a hotbed of vice and immoral behavior? Should movies be shown with the lights on? Should speech be permitted or prohibited?
And, of course, there were divisions; movie theaters were not fully integrated until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“We have never been a monolithic society. Not ever, and more so now,” says Melnick. “You can tell so much about America by seeing what’s going on in its movie theaters.”
In 1944, MGM, the movie studio that had produced “The Wizard of Oz” just five years earlier, released a short film titled “Movie Spoilers” that warned moviegoers not to engage in disruptive behavior.
Some of the film’s concerns – “sticking gum under the chair, taking off your shoes” are still considered unresolved today. But the short also featured the etiquette of another era, like ditching jackets in the lobby and using the hat rack under your chair.
Today, acts of participation can be more ad hoc. An Ariana Grande fan account started an internet firestorm after posting on X that users should share photos they took of their favorite scenes from “Wicked.”
While some commented and posted their photos, others responded with harsh comments. A round of applause came from the Alamo Drafthouse account, which responded, “Or, don’t do that.” The theater chain has a no talking or texting policy, and violators are pulled over after a warning.
Chaya Rosenthal, Alamo Drafthouse’s chief marketing officer, said the policy “is all about respect — respecting the movies, the filmmakers and fellow moviegoers who have paid for a ticket who deserve an immersive experience.”
Theaters experiment by giving the audience what they want
To allow visitors to choose their preferred viewing experience, theaters have offered special singing performances of “Evil.”
The flagship movie theater in Minneapolis announced Monday (and “Monday only”) showings as enjoyable.
Universal Pictures, which produced “Wicked,” began holding special screenings of the film starting on Christmas Day.
When Taylor Swift fans caused a riot in 2023 by dancing and singing along during shows of “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” Michael Barstow, executive vice president of ACX Cinemas, saw the commotion not as a nuisance but as part of the draw.
“The reason they paid money and went and saw that inside the movie theater was to have a dance party with other people,” Barstow says. “That’s something we have to lean into and embrace and try not to be too much of the entertainment police in those auditoriums.”
To draw people back to the theater, movie distributors and theater owners have expanded the types of experiences they offer. ACX Cinemas hired actors to dress up as characters from “Wicked” and “Moana” to take photos with visitors and hosted a themed brunch at its subsidiary’s restaurant.
Theaters are starting to offer slates of themed popcorn buckets to accompany wire films — sandworm-shaped buckets for “Dune 2” and gothic coffins for “Nosferatu.”
Even before pandemic lockdowns, theaters were upgrading hard plastic chairs to comfortable leather backs, and waiters in custom theaters began offering seat-side dining service (often at the cost of interrupting viewers to hand over the bill).
Alamo Drafthouse hosts “movie party” events where interaction is encouraged and its strict no phone policy is void.
Attendees at a special “Magic Mike XXL” screening were given fake money to throw at the screen and visitors were encouraged to dress in regency clothes for screenings of films such as “Pride and Prejudice” and “Emma.”
And though the theater’s unique experiences may be gaining notoriety, decades of late-night showings of “The Room” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” have enticed devotees to adopt unorthodox viewing practices.
Longtime viewers flock to regular screenings to shout synchronized snark, throw objects at the screen, and even play the movie.
“It’s really hard, what we all do, especially from the last four years,” Barstow says. “The fun part is that all the gloves are off as far as being creative and trying things. And that’s exciting
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