The Motion Picture Association of America has released new best practices guidelines for movie theater operators who want to crack down on that worst of crimes — the shaky-cam pirated movie. To that end, the MPAA is suggesting a zero-tolerance policy, not just for people caught trying to record a motion picture, but for anyone who dares to take out their cellphone to take a photo during a screening. [More]
movies
Who Knew Popcorn Was The Secret Crunchy Slayer Of Movie Ads?
By 10.15.13
You’re settled in your seat at the movies, nice and early because maybe you like the previews and don’t like to hunt for just the right seat. But you got there a little bit too early and now you have to sit through the theater’s commercials. Hope you got some popcorn to snack on, because it could help make you immune to the onslaught of marketing, according to a new study. [More]
Theater Chain Selling Movie Ticket/Digital Download Bundles
By 10.8.13
Part of what makes the cost of a movie so unattractive to some consumers is the fact that you can only see the movie once (unless you go hopping from theater to theater, which we most certainly would never, ever advocate as a good way to spend a lazy weekend afternoon). Meanwhile, for about the price of two tickets, you can own an HD digital copy of the movie to watch repeatedly. That’s why one theater chain is selling bundles that combine movie tickets with digital downloads at a later date. [More]
Blogger Admits He Maybe Overreacted By Calling 9-1-1 To Report Cell Phone Use In Theater
By 9.10.13
Your head is on fire. A spaceship spewing bug-eyed aliens just landed in the backyard, and they look mean. Someone in the movie theater is using a cell phone, but the staff doesn’t seem to care. The neighbors have turned into ravenous zombies intent on noshing on your brains. Three of the aforementioned scenarios are all emergency situations and thus warrant calling 9-1-1 for help, while one is not. Let’s take a guess which is an inappropriate reason to get emergency responders involved. [More]
Price Drops Again On Cameron’s House From ‘Ferris Bueller’
August 8, 2013
If you’ve ever dreamed of living out your ’80s movie fantasy of rolling a Ferrari through the glass wall of a very expensive home, that dream just got less expensive. Two years after dropping the price on the A. James Speyer-designed home (best known as Cameron’s house in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) from $2.3 million to $1.65 million, the sellers have dropped the asking price again to a mere $1.5 million. It’s a steal! [via AVclub.com] [More]
Netflix Says It Is Not Deliberately Cropping Videos
By 7.18.13
Even though most TVs sold are now “widescreen,” filmmakers still shoot their movies in a variety of formats, not all of which fit into the standard 16:9 aspect ratio of your average flat-screen. Thus, some titles are still letterboxed when they are broadcast by cable companies or streamed over the Internet. But some people claim that Netflix is re-cropping movies to remove the letterbox bars. [More]
Yes, Commodities Trading Used To Be Exactly Like ‘Trading Places’
By 7.17.13
The Consumerist staff are children of the ’80s who write about business and finance, and 25% of us are from Philadelphia, so naturally we love the movie “Trading Places” a little more than the average person. But does it accurately portray the world of commodities trading? People can’t possibly make their fortunes selling frozen concentrated orange juice futures…right? Well, no. They can. [More]
‘Trading Places’ Co-Writer: Wall Street Movies Take Themselves Way Too Seriously
By 6.28.13
It’s been 30 years since Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd starred in Trading Places, a hit comedy whose big climax involves trading a bunch of frozen concentrated orange juice futures, and you’d be hard-pressed to think of any films about high finance that treated the topic with a sense of humor (though there are certainly some laughable moments in the Wall Street sequel). This baffles the writer of the 1983 film. [More]
Alamo Drafthouse Gives Out Free Movie Passes Over Alarm That No One Complained About
By 6.19.13
To some people, the Alamo Drafthouse chain of movie theaters may be best known as the place that created the greatest anti-texting PSA ever, but for one Consumerist reader, it’s also the company that won him over by proactively responding to a minor annoyance without anyone having to file a complaint. [More]
From The Shameless To The Egregious, We Grade The Product Placements In 12 Ad-Packed Movies
By 6.7.13
You’ve probably seen the 30-second TV ads promoting that new 2-hour commercial for Google starring those two actors from that other movie that people really liked eight years ago. We’d like to think product placement has sunk to a new low, but every time we’re convinced that advertisers have hit bottom, someone throws them a more powerful digging implement. [More]
This May Not Be The Best Way To Stop A Theatergoer From Using Her Phone, But It Makes A Great Story
By 5.16.13
Imagine you’ve paid good money to see a play but someone nearby won’t stop talking and using her phone. You complain to a manager during intermission, but the distraction continues. You make a comment to the woman hoping she’ll either leave or cut it out, but to no avail. So what’s next? If you said, “grab her phone and throw it against the wall,” you wouldn’t necessarily be right, but you’d make yourself a hero to some folks out there. [More]
Game Of Thrones’ George R.R. Martin Buys Local Movie Theater Rather Than See It Go To Waste
By 4.22.13
It’s not exactly breaking the siege of Storm’s End or winning the Battle of the Trident, but A Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin is undertaking a small-scale heroic effort of his own, buying a beloved local theater that has been dark for years. [More]
Flixster Gives Me Free Movie I Find Offensive, Provides No Way To Delete It
By 3.26.13
When Thomas buys films on DVD or Blu-Ray, they often come with an Ultraviolet digital download code that viewers can use on a variety of digital platforms. He keeps them on a Flixster account, which lets him stream movies wherever he happens to be. He’s about to delete this account. Why? It’s a great service, and something he doesn’t have to pay extra for, but they granted him a free movie that he hates seeing in his account. [More]
Hey Kids… This Mystery Shopper Report Tells You Which Stores Will Probably Sell You R-Rated Movies & Games
By 3.25.13
When I was an adolescent, my friends and I had to rely on word-of-mouth about which stores would look the other way when it came to movie ratings and parental advisory warnings on music. But kids today, they have the benefit of the Federal Trade Commission, which periodically looks at how strict various businesses are about sticking to these ratings systems. [More]
Own The ‘Rocky II’ House For Only $139,000
March 15, 2013
Usually if you want to buy a house featured in a famous movie, like The Godfather or Amityville Horror, you need to pony up seven figures. But the 3-bedroom, 1.5-bath South Philly rowhouse from Rocky II (aka, the one where Rocky finally wins) is up for sale for the completely reasonable price of $139,000. [via Philly.com] [More]
Netflix Insists That This DVD Works Just Fine, Sends It Back To Me Twice
By 2.26.13
Michael wants to see this movie, “Cork n’ Bottle String Band: The Ken’s Bar Story.” It wasn’t exactly in the year’s top 10 at the box office, but Netflix has it, because Netflix is cool and stocks copies of relatively obscure movies that people still want to see. What he’s found, though, is that Netflix does not necessarily stock working copies of these movies. [More]
Delta Actually Listens To Customer Complaint About Confusing Website, Clarifies Free Movie Policy
By 2.1.13
Remember Josh, whose story we posted yesterday? He got this crazy idea in his head that Delta Airlines offered free movies on demand in the Economy Plus section, just because their website happened to say so. He sent off a quick e-mail complaint asking for a refund, and Delta explained that the site totally didn’t say what he thought it did, and he would get no refund. We published his story, and all of a sudden Delta changed their minds, cut him a check, and changed their website. [More]
Hollywood Realizing That Facebook Likes Don’t Result In Box-Office Bonanzas
By 1.8.13
For years, Hollywood studios have been tossing piles of cash at Facebook in the hopes that getting people to “like” a movie or TV show would somehow translate into box-office returns or high ratings. But some studio executives are reportedly wondering if this might be a waste of money. [More]
