[Richard W. Haines]

JDC,

Thank you for your kind words.


I think the decor, atmosphere and general showmanship in a cinema tend to dictate behavior. If the
place looks like a real 'theatre' with curtains that open when the movie begins and the architecture is plush or at least doesn't look like a basement, audiences will behave accordingly. If you leave the lights
on during the commercials and the sound is too loud, why should viewers behave as if
they are in a legit theater. My experience is that in IMAX theaters or the surviving large screen movie
houses (i.e. Lafayette in Suffern, Ziegfeld in NYC), the audiences behave much better than in your
standard generic megaplex. Then again in an IMAX cinema they are selling you the 'experience'
which is not the case in a multiplex where they are selling you junk food and local commercials as opposed to the movie itself. On DVD they are selling you a top quality transfer of the movie along with all kinds of suppliments (in the best case scenario). It all comes down to what each venue is offering and/or selling the consumer.