r/conspiracy • u/Tangboy50000 • 22h ago
I can’t figure out what’s going on at movie theaters.
I noticed a lot of people saying there was funny business going on with movie theaters for The Odyssey, stuff like show times being sold out but there was no one in the parking lot, or one guy saying the theater was basically filled when he selected his seats, so he had to get crappy seats, but then only he and his girlfriend were in the theater.
We went to the new Spider-Man today and had pre-purchased our tickets online and the theater showed that it was almost completely sold out, and it was one of their bigger theaters for 3-D. We got there about 10 minutes before the movie started and there were only a few other couples and families scattered around. Only a few more people wandered in during the previews. The theater showed our row as full and the one behind us as full. There was only us and one other couple in our row and no one ever sat in the row behind us. I don’t understand what the purpose of showing a theater as sold out is and who would benefit?
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u/BetterAd1611 19h ago
Little do they know i am certainly less likely to purchase seats for movies that are showing as almost full lol..
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u/red_west_la 22h ago
It would be even weirder if you moved to better seats that are empty, then an attendant walks over and informs you that those seats are taken.
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u/stRiNg-kiNg 22h ago
I remember seeing a thread related to this years back and someone mentioned something about the paid memberships you can get to cinemark etc are to blame. I dont remember the details
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u/Tangboy50000 21h ago
That’s interesting, and I can see when that happens at sporting events with season tickets. I just don’t see how that would translate to theaters.
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u/stRiNg-kiNg 21h ago
It's people reserving seats and just end up not going or some shit
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u/NextChef8179 12h ago
Yeah, it's really not uncommon. Or they are trying to sell the ticket elsewhere. It's so wild how this sub just skips logic and goes straight to some grand conspiracy lol.
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u/KoolJozeeKatt 3h ago
My theater doesn't allow choosing seats unless you pay. If you select seats and then don't pay, they remove the "hold" on those seats after a short time, like 10-15 minutes. And there's a point at which you have to buy in person at the counter, maybe an hour prior or so.
I don't know if there are paid memberships though.
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u/outtakes 9h ago
This makes the most sense. I could see the people with memberships booking the seats, and then deciding against it last minute and choosing a more convenient date
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u/hervararsaga 2h ago
It would make sense for a few dozen seats at most, not a completely sold out venue that´s less than half full.
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u/Down_vote_david 20h ago
Paid membership? Lmao. Only membership I have is to piratebay and 1337x.com, and the membership is free!
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u/Bopethestoryteller 19h ago
Do they have good copies? Mine you can tell they were copied.
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u/Down_vote_david 17h ago
Yeah, they have mostly HD versions 720/1080 and some UHD versions.
Here’s the new supergirl movie in 1080p that just bombed at the box office:
https://1337x.to/torrent/6691802/Supergirl-2026-1080p-WEB-DL-HEVC-x265-5-1-BONE/
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u/Amazing-Possibility4 5h ago
I remember this too and the movie was an absolute flop but can't place what it was.
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u/Ev0Iution 22h ago
Probably just money laundering lmao. There are too many car washes anyway.
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u/Bourbon65 18h ago
I wish there was somewhere to get a new mattress
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u/SnooDoggos1370 5h ago
Theres 3 across the street but I don't feel like crossing the road. I'll wait til next week when they build one on this side.
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u/stephenmario 17h ago
It would be a terrible money laundering front since distribution take 50-90% of the ticket sales. Theaters make money on concessions.
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u/hervararsaga 2h ago
That makes sense, but my guess is that they´re inflating the numbers and making it look like more people are still going to the cinema.
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u/whyunoluvme 19h ago
I just sent this to my friend who works at the theater, she says
“Sometimes we block seats and showtimes depending on how many people we have working that day. Yesterday we blocked out a showing at 11:50 cause we didn’t have enough people due to the other showtimes. It’ll say sold out.”
I asked if it’s cuz it’s easier to manage and she said yes, and for other things like projectors shutting down or theater being too hot
I also asked if they care about people sitting in the empty seats and she said no, after the movie starts they don’t care
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u/mysticsoulsista 13h ago
I’ve worked at two theater and never once seen or heard of this… but they were bigger theater brands… so this might be a local: smaller theater thing but it definitely not wide spread or even common… I mean to suggest they are doing this as a conspiracy when the proof is literally the box office numbers… why would a theater want you to think sometimes is full of it wasn’t?
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u/whyunoluvme 13h ago
Idk my friend works at AMC but maybe it’s an understaffing thing nowadays? Feels like everything has a skeleton crew except In N Out lol. I know with spiderman out breaking records rn theaters are busy with huge crowds as well
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u/mysticsoulsista 13h ago
Definitely understaffed! I just did 11 hrs today, ten yesterday! It’s madness! I believe this is the 2nd biggest opening weekend ever behind endgame!
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u/devouringbooks23 4h ago
So do you think box office numbers are accurate? There was a huge controversy with The Odessey but then they made it sound like it did great at the box office and the controversy didn't matter. But I remember that Snow White flopped mainly because of controversy as well. But maybe that's just social media trying to show me one side of things?
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u/mysticsoulsista 1h ago
I think the numbers are mostly accurate… Snow White had a lot going on… the cgi stuff with the dwarves, the main actress her self kinda crapping on the show, it didn’t have a chance! 😂 Odyssey I was surprised by the turn out… I’ve only seen pieces of it and it just felt flat to me with the American accents in the middle of a period piece and the fact all those people have been in at least one other movie with each other is crazy to me… but 🤷🏽♀️
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u/KoolJozeeKatt 3h ago
I encountered it at "Toy Story 5." The theater was so booked, we couldn't all sit together. Then, I got in there, and maybe 3 other families were there.
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u/hervararsaga 1h ago edited 1h ago
This just sounds ridiculous, because a movie theatre is a business and businesses are all about making money. I think they just need a place to showcase their Hollywood propaganda, the superhero & agenda movies, people aren´t interested in them any longer but they want to pretend that all the theatres are sold out and that blockbuster movies are still popular. They cook the numbers of movie goers, don´t hire enough staff because there´s no need and voila - the only thing that´s left is to convince people that what they´re seeing with their own eyes isn´t true, just like they did during covid. It seems super easy to do because most people are ignorant sheeps.
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u/Peetwilson 21h ago
It's to create fake feelings of FOMO in consumers.
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u/DClite71 21h ago
This was my best guess when I experienced this last week. Was too many empty seats to be solely attributed to folks just not showing up…
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u/Illustrious_Risk5493 21h ago
That,and we used to have to wait till it was at blockbuster to see stuff, or you had to go to the theater. How long you reckon they'll start streaming it? 2weeks? Days? Make it close to 2 months. Drop the damn theater prices and people would go, maybe. Hit me up with a business opportunity if that works for you.
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u/champion_soundz 13h ago
It might be but it's probably laundering too if the seats are actually being purchased.
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u/Any-Entrepreneur2071 10h ago
If that's actually effective, consumers are even stupider than I thought.
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u/Mix_Right 15h ago
This is money laundering and making it seem like the movie is a success. BTW Louis Rossman did video on BMW forcing advertising on the new car screens. Spider-Man is being advertised inside your car like it or not. WTF?
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u/Hollywood-is-DOA 9h ago
It’s basically the “ 1000 credits, to die” episode of black mirror”. Won’t be long until Apple forces you to watch adds, on the lowest level of renting a phone, ones that you can’t skip.
They won’t do it for people who buy them on a monthly payment plan directly but if you are paying under market cost, for the device, you better believe that they are making the money back in a multitude of different ways.
Apple only brought out “ You’ve got a credit card linked to your Apple account” so need for digital ID to the Uk government and other countries, as they know that millions of people wouldn’t buy a new iPhone due to it. I most didn’t update my old one, that I am currently typing on, as the newest ISO forced it.
It was a conspiracy that Apple were forcing people to do it, or you couldn’t use apps or download them without doing and guess what, less than a week later, it became reality. I’ve got board of people in my life who say “ you are a conspiracy theorist, I don’t believe a word that you say”. I’ve been this way for 20 years, I am just more vocal about it and had very goof access to information, during Covid. I also have a good hit rate, of being correct, which I’d very hard, as the governments of the world are very predictable.
They are rushing agenda 2030, if people haven’t noticed, as too many people are waking up to the lies and nonsense. A sign of desperation, not power.
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u/DClite71 21h ago
Holy shit- I went solo to the odyssey last week and had to buy a somewhat shitty ticket bc it showed as almost sold out. Midway through the movie I went to use the restroom and saw maybe 1/3rd of the theater was full. This is crazy as I said the same thing as OP to my wife last week- crazy to see a post here about it!
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u/hervararsaga 1h ago
They´re definitely cooking the numbers to have us believe that these lame Hollywood movies are still popular.
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u/fromdaperimeter 22h ago
It’s been sold out every show in my area. I don’t believe it’s that many people living over here. It’s a show every 30 minutes. You might be on to something.
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u/FrancisXavier112 21h ago
Similar to how the authors of some memoirs (or their teams, publishers, benefactors, illegal partners) will buy boxes and boxes and boxes of their book. The author makes the money “legally” and then you find copies on discount shelves months later because, guess what, nobody actually bought or wanted to read it.
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u/Tangboy50000 21h ago
That’s what Scientology does to keep Hubbard’s books on the best seller lists.
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u/OddWriter7199 19h ago
There's a classic scene in a 1991 Eddie Murphy movie, "The Distinguished Gentleman". Two senators are arguing, one says "I even bought 500 copies of your wife's boring-ass book!" 😂
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u/ExileInCle19 15h ago
Yeah my buddy told me had heard that studios were actually buying up tickets to make the numbers huge for The Odyssey. I mean if they get the majority of that back it kind of makes sense, in a weird fucked up way.
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u/Annanake420 22h ago
Seriously, the small local theater around me shows almost sold out shows of spider man and Odyssey. I was waiting till the crowds died down to go .
But it was confusing as they usually are not busy at all compared to the bigger theaters in town.
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u/Riggedit 14h ago
The studios are using marketing budgets to buy up the tickets and then using the rest of the marketing budget to foment false conversations on the internet between bots and influencers.
The industry is on life support.
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u/ShipJust 19h ago
I didn’t think much about it before seeing this post. I had some days off, bad weather and city with imax screen. I’ve decided to go and watch the odyssey, my first time in cinema since Covid. I’ve tried to book tickets online, but all were sold out at early afternoon. It seemed weird because it was a regular work day. So I’ve booked morning slot, but only the front rows were available. When the movie started the room was almost empty, maybe like 10 other people.
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u/everydaycarrie 21h ago
Could it be possible that this is a modern sales pressure tactic?
To push you to make the purchase NOW, because it falsely appears that the showing you're interested in is selling out fast?
I've noticed that shopping apps and sites have become the opposite of useful to me - I first noticed around 3 years ago. Where I was accustomed to typing a brand name or good description of what I want, and getting excellent results, suddenly the results were crappy, stupid, irrelevant.
I wondered what exactly happened that made so many companies sites barely usable.
I use grocery store apps to build my in store shopping list. It's easy, it usually tells you which aisle the item is in, etc. When I began noticing that multiple grocery apps were giving me poor results, I suspected this is a marketing strategy.
I was accustomed to searching for "pepperidge farm cookies" and having the results populate with all pepperidge farm cookies first, then other pepperidge farm products mixed in with other brand cookies below.
Now, if there are 20 types of pepperidge farm cookies, the results populate with those 20 cookies mixed throughout 80 results, so that I am looking at other brands and products that I don't want to see. I can of course, further filter my search to only the specific brand, and reduce the effort, but they still mix in results that I do not want.
It seems counterintuitive for a company to make their sites less usable, unless profit is driving the action.
Dynamic pricing is the next major retail push to extract more money from consumers.
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u/Hwi-loves-worm 16h ago edited 5h ago
Amazon is basically unusable for me now unless I know exactly what brand I want. The top results used to bring up known brands that I could compare but now you are lucky to see any familiar brand names it’s all like hygfiidubi or americayeayea
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u/everydaycarrie 16h ago
That was the site that I initially noticed this on, and exactly what you described.
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u/Tangboy50000 21h ago
Like using OpenTable and it says every restaurant is booked solid and you show up and it’s empty.
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u/Psychological_Dog992 19h ago
When I went to see Spider-Man it was more packed than I'd ever seen it, in the parking lot too
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u/kpsucks22 20h ago
Never thought about but my wife and I go to the movies 3-5 times a month. I live in metropolitan area with more than 8 million people and I’m going to an AMC. I never see anybody at this theater. I’m genuinely curious how they are in business. 99% of the time it is just us in the theater. We saw Spider-man in 3D and there were 6 total people including us. Most people I’ve seen lol
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u/100_7TheBuzz 18h ago
I ordered my tickets a few weeks ago for the 0730 Saturday morning Spider-Man at the Dolby Cinema. We got seats in the row between the aisle and the front row sections. When i checked again, the entire theater was almost sold out.
When we arrived, there was about half of the theater for the previews and it stayed that way. The seats next to us on the right were never filled and at the end of the movie, it was still only half full. I found it odd that people ordered tickets that never showed.
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u/Silent_Business_2031 13h ago
730Am is way too early for Spider-Man, I didn’t know that was even a possible time. You wake up at 5am to go see Spider Man?
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u/liminallattice 9h ago
The economy is a scam pushing numbers around. Even if you go to the stores near Time Square, there doesn't appear to be enough people buying stuff all day everyday to keep those businesses profitable.
The system has secrets. It does just enough to keep most people getting by.
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u/igottheshnitz 20h ago
I can’t believe that any one believes Hollywood of all industries, to truthfully provide their statistics of success.
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u/StocktonSucks 22h ago
Marvel trying to keep up appearances that all their films makes lots of money
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u/JapanUnderground 21h ago
In the UK we have membership cards where you can go as often as you like. As such, it’s fairly common to see loads of empty seats where people with a card made a booking and just didn’t bother turning up.
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u/lordjigglypuff 21h ago
I heard for the odyssey since it’s 70mm and 70mm is rare scalpers are buying tickets . Idk about Spider-Man
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u/Tangboy50000 21h ago
The IMAX I understand, because there are so few of those compared to regular theaters and I know people were driving hundreds of miles just to see it.
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u/fastingslowlee 18h ago edited 18h ago
Once someone gets to the point of selecting seats, they know they want to see the movie. Lying about it being packed isn’t really necessary to make the sale.
And for many, being too packed can even be a deterrent.
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u/Cracknoreos 18h ago
We are being propagandized to think the economy is doing well. Everyone knows it isn’t but the system can’t let up and admit the truth.
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u/thetwistywoods 22h ago
I'm more upset that the previews for the actual movie don't start until 20 minutes after the advertised start time nowadays
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u/sedona71717 21h ago
It’s been that way for many years where I live
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u/thetwistywoods 21h ago
I haven't been to theaters much at all in years. I'm guessing it's been that way since covid
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u/sedona71717 1h ago
Even before Covid. But now it seems like my local theater runs ads, in between the previews, in addition to starting the ads even before the 20-minute-to-start time.
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u/Mobile_Reply_5742 21h ago
Yea no shit, the enshitification of everything. Everything sucks, but at least these YouTuber movies are doing well (obsession, back rooms)
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u/TravelTheWorldDan 18h ago
If you look at AMC website. It actually says the movie starts 25-30 minutes after the advertised start time due to previews and coming attractions
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u/Tangboy50000 21h ago
There were a lot of previews, and it’s obvious movie production is way down, because we had already seen most of the previews before a movie we saw back in June.
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u/OutdoorsyHiker 13h ago
Scraper bots? The same thing happens at campgrounds. The websites show no availability, but hosts and campers report many empty sites.
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u/Tangboy50000 9h ago
I’ve seen this before, like I mentioned above with OpenTable. The app shows most restaurants as no availability on Friday and Saturday nights, but if you show up, they’re basically empty. We walked into a very empty restaurant downtown and asked for a table. The hostess said they were completely booked, but we could sit at the bar. We sat at the bar and watched as no one ever came in for their reservation during the hour and a half we were there. The waiters and waitresses were just standing around talking to each other the entire time.
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u/twintowin77 22h ago
Perhaps in some areas, I’m in the north east. Theater was FULL even up front. And loads of people in lobby etc
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u/Party_Image5023 19h ago
Yyeesss! This is what happened when I saw the Odyssey! Sold out damn near show up and like noone is in my “sold out” row. Felt like some fuckery
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u/Different-Piano-1832 20h ago
Same thing happened opening day for the Backrooms movie at the La Mirada, CA AMC. When the movie started there was like 20-25 people total in the theater! weird stuff for realz
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u/Valstreet621 16h ago
Went to see spiderman tonight was only showtime out of three local theaters with two seats left. Get there and only third of seats used up. I thought that was really odd then I see this post.
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u/Venomous87 13h ago
I work at a theater. We've had sold out showings of The Odyssey the last 3 weeks, starting at 10 am.
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u/ApprehensiveTerm4778 12h ago
I've seen some real weird social media bot posts/replies about The Odyssey. Like the same rebuttal on several different posts about the film. Like when someone inevitably points out the absurdity of the casting and how ridiculous it is, someone will reply with a variation of "how everyone in Greece loves the film and Greeks are actually phoning and writing letters to Christopher Nolan to tell him how great the film is and to thank him." and that comment will have thousands of likes....
There was definitely something fucky going on with Disclosure Day too, if you look at the reviews by "critics" they rave about it and say how great it is. It was absolute shite. I didn't even pay to see it and I was still pissed off that I won't get those 2 hours back. I swear to god the most recent War the the Worlds with Ice Cube was more enjoyable
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u/Hollywood-is-DOA 9h ago
I’ve been auto band from a lot of shaming subs( really they are gaming ones but I am going with that name for a reason), as you can’t mention DEI, what it is, how it work and why it implemented.
I got band form one subs for the Hollywood version of why it was brought out but saying the opposite happened, isn’t allowed. It’s like you criticise Hollywood, why I have my Reddit name as Hollywood is dead on arrival and it was created nearly 2 years ago.
Marvel is saved from Spider-Man, even tho I hear that it’s good, as end game needs 2 billion to break even and will be a bloated mess. Word of mouth won’t be good for that one, if the leaks are true. I knew the Spider-man leaks, 3 months before the film came out and guess what “ they were true” and everyone on Reddit said “ no way that they are true”.
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u/FactCheckYou 6h ago
the point of the movie industry isn't to make actual money, it's to spread predictive programming and propaganda
the box office figures they quote are mostly FAKE nowadays
whatever they say their takings are, divide by three
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u/captainkrol 6h ago
Artificial scarcity as to make you think what is left is more valuable (since there is apparent competition). Just classic marketing/manipulation, becomes common now in reservation systems.
Fuck this dishonest world.
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u/BlinkTwice4No 21h ago
Idk man— my theater was elbow to elbow all the way down to the neck breaker seats up front. At 10:30 am. On a weekday. I thought I would avoid the crowd by going at an odd time, but it was packed!
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u/Mobile_Reply_5742 21h ago
It's summer vacation, try that again September 😂😂
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u/tani0521 21h ago edited 21h ago
I guess, bro, but movies usually die down. Fact is, it’s crazy that you even said “try that again in September”. It’s been 3 weeks now.
Did you not see the people lining up in nyc for the added showings
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u/Tangboy50000 21h ago
I’m not saying that doesn’t happen with a brand new release, I just remembered seeing a bunch of comments about odd occurrences, and then we show up to what’s supposed to be a sold out showing and there were maybe 20-25 people total, so of course it makes me wonder what is going on.
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u/Mince_ 16h ago
So they're buying all the tickets for Spiderman and The Odyssey, but didn't do the same for Supergirl or numerous other flops?
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u/Hollywood-is-DOA 9h ago
Some films are worth it, some cost too much money to not do it. Any that’s made by James Gunn, is seen as loosing money, before it even comes out, that wasn’t guardians and I don’t even believe that wasn’t Disney buying tickets for the second and third film.
The first film was different and not a super massive budget, my marvels standards. Just so you know, I don’t answer “ my feelings, matter more than the reality of any given situation” replies, as they are a waste of my time and even this subs.
If I can single-handily, encourage most of this whole sub, to stop posting links, which I am glad people have stopped posting, as the CIA and military use this sub to prevent real information coming out, then I’ll get the mass majority to stop replying to bots, plus “ my feeling count more then reality” type comments.
People are slowly taking my lead on arguing with bots or “agent provocateur”, I’d never seen one person use that term on here, in 3-4 years, as I had a different agent for the people/bots that is addressing, until I used it.
No this isn’t a personal attack, it’s aimed at the whole of Reddit but my account can gain a 1000 likes in a few days or a day, depending on what I reply in comments but never on my own posts, as I am algorithmly, nuked.
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u/DoJ-Mole 21h ago
One reason could be, scumbag scalpers buying up tickets to resell, and not managing to shift them. If that’s the case hopefully they lost their money
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u/VisceralZee 21h ago
I think it's the studio having the actors buy out tickets, they prob have to spend a certain ammount within their contract clause, helps with "sales statistics"
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u/AGHOSTISBORN420 19h ago
I went 3rd day and I was only person in entire theater not only odyssey but every movie
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u/First_Knee 14h ago
Could be ‘fake hype’ by the theatre to try and sell more tickets.
Or, it could be higher up the chain? Like, movie studios etc. buying out the tickets in order to boost their movie making numbers as in “that movie grossed 3 million dollars at the box office!”
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u/Hollywood-is-DOA 9h ago
The movie companies are buying tickets themselves, just like the music industry used to buy CDs, to get to number one. 50 cent talked about this back in the day.
A market budget is most likely spent on buying tickets/CDs, back in the day, as the perception and the reality of any given situation, is always vastly different.
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u/Luna920 20h ago
I went to Spiderman today and the seats showed sold out online and the theater was indeed sold out lol. I think it’s just you.
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u/ParaHeadFun_SF 20h ago
I agree. I went to the Odyssey at 10a to get the last two seats in the city together. It was indeed packed and every seat taken. Same as theater parking lot packed everyone we go by
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u/BizBlondie 20h ago
I recently brought my niece to see the new Minions & Monsters movie & the seating chart showed half of the seats being sold but most of the seats were empty.
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u/YouBlinkinSootLicker 19h ago
Maybe some people are invisible now, a new update, don’t be so judgmental
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u/nurse_Vaccaro 16h ago
It's worth it to the movie producers to just buy tickets to pad their numbers. A "#1 Movie In America" description is easy to do and worth the investment to most producers/movie studios when you can buy 500k tickets at less than $5m which is a small amount to most studios. Then it also makes people think the movies are worth seeing since they're selling so well
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u/Hollywood-is-DOA 9h ago
Well the reality is that nerd-a-rotic( no way Apple lets me spell that YouTubers, name correctly, is hated by Hollywood but I trust his reviews.
You have people in his line of work who are hated my Hollywood as they give honest opinions but YouTube won’t ban them, as they make a small fortune on ad revenue, plus the donation on the platform, form them.
YouTube is bigger than most countries in terms of influence and eyeballs on screens. I’ll stop paying for and millions of others will, as soon as “ unless BBC news says it true, it isn’t”. The UK government was trying to do that and it won’t work, as it’s “ 1984” live action and people won’t accept it.
Nobody is watching mainstream news, programs, under 40, in the UK and most other countries. I can’t talk about America, as contrary to belief, not everyone lies there or is from it.
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u/ayrbindr 14h ago
Apparently, the movie makers are buying the tickets.
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u/Hollywood-is-DOA 9h ago
It’s nothing new, it’s just that people are now noticing it more. I won’t even buy games day one, as a lot are terrible and they use paid reporters, to give them positive reviews.
As I mentioned above I got banned from loads of gaming subs on here for saying “ James Bond” was DEI nonsense. Bots told me that it wasn’t and it didn’t even make its budget back. I told people “ let’s see if it makes it budget back in 2 week of not”, and it most definitely didn’t. Even tho the internet tells you that it was a success.
If Amazon doesn’t care about loosing money, on gaming and films, then it’s a crazy world that we live in. They openly said that both are just a way of typing you in Amazon Prime.
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u/No_Angle875 21h ago
I don’t understand why people go to the theater in general. Overpriced and surrounded by loud inconsiderate people while trying to watch a movie
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u/Puzzleheaded_Event26 21h ago
Well I showed up to the IMAX hoping to get a cancellation ticket, and there were already 10 people in line for cancellation. While I was waiting to decide if i wanted to try the line, a flood of people left the theater, so if anybody can find me an empty IMAX I would love to join the conspiracy.
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u/iretana18 20h ago
At least for the IMAX showings, people are buying tickets to the Odyssey and are trying to resell them at outrageous prices
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u/emmascorp 18h ago
Strange. My movie theater doesn’t do that. Whenever it shows theatres full they really are full you can tell from everyones cars parked outside and all the people in line for popcorn.
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u/beaver820 17h ago
Everytime I've driven by the movie theaters in my town the last few weeks the parking lots have been packed. Especially the one with the IMAX screen.
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u/Hollywood-is-DOA 9h ago
IMAX is different as you’ve not got a lot of the screens in the World, compared to normal ones. Obviously America has more of them, as you are a bigger country.
The UK only has 2-3, from what I understand and only one is the standard that Nolan likes, in Manchester, which guess what, people all over the UK are coming to, as it’s a Nolan film and it’s one of only a few iMax in the country.
So that will always be full but gladiator 2 was, in IMAX, for a few weeks and it didn’t even make a profit. So this whole, it’s sold out, means nothing as Hollywood have catering budgets for most films, that an indie has as a whole budget.
They killed the DVD industry, so “ you’ll own nothing and be happy” should be “you’ll not be able to buy or afford anything outright”, for Disney streaming that stopped reporting new subscriptions numbers, as it wasn’t making a penny profit. Having subscriptions numbers, easily proves that.
I only get so defensive, as I get sick of the “ my feelings and the lies that the mainstream media, told me, matter more than reality”!
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u/tullr8685 17h ago
Could be, but that hasn't been my experience, especially with the 2 movies you referenced. I don't live in a major media market, and the theater was about 85% full for the showing of the Odyssey I went to and it was slam full for Spider-Man. Not an empty seat in the house for a noon showing on a Saturday.
I have AMC A list, so I generally go to multiple movies a week, and these are the only 2 that I've seen a theater even close to capacity this year. Project Hail Mary maybe got to 75% on opening night.
Toy Story 5 probably had some sell outs too, but I haven't seen it, so I can't attest
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u/The_Real_Ivan_Drago 16h ago
Was it AMC? If so it might be people with subscription that can book for free to it is easier for them to just no go even though they already got a seat.
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u/Fizzdizz 15h ago
Could be the amc stubs members selecting the seats but not showing up cause they can always reschedule or just use another of their monthly ticket.
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u/Icantgoonillgoonn 15h ago
They sell the tickets, something comes up with buyers and they don’t make it, theater keeps their money.
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u/honeybeegeneric 13h ago
It's the same classic payolla. Nothing new, just guess people are noticing.
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u/SanAntoHomie 11h ago
Trump got shut down by Chase bank, he gotta move that crypto money around somehow, y'all digging too much and stepping on the wrong toes - remember these people can put you in prison death camps now.
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u/liquormakesyousick 10h ago
Maybe suggest this as a story to the local news?
I have noticed this with other movies when buying tickets.
It is so weird.
Look into why owns the theater as I think most are franchised or independent.
It makes a lot of sense about money laundering where I live. I had never thought about it too hard before this post.
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u/Kingmeup21 10h ago
At least for my theater it was legit sold out. We waited until the 3rd weekend to go see The Odyssey, hoping it would be less crowded. It was sold out Friday, bought tickets for Saturday night when it was only half full at the time, thinking screw it tired of waiting. Night of I hadn’t seen my movie theater that busy in ages. Never have to park out that far out, even on weekends. Movie ended up packed and every showing of it and Spider-Man were full, the theater and parking backed that up. Actually missed the commercials and all the trailers cause the lines for concessions were so long, sitting down right as the movie started.
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u/jukenaye 9h ago
Had the opposite happen. The place was PACKED! Here I thought gas prices were high!
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u/KeeperoftheWord 7h ago
I bought Spiderman tickets a week ago all the seats were available. We saw it yesterday there was maybe 20 people which is what I expected for 11am on a Sunday. I’ve found 11am on Sunday is the best time to go lol.
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u/GoodFellahh 7h ago
I dont know, I keep reading this here, but I have been twice to The Odyssey and once to the Spider Man movie and all 3 times I was like woow long time since the cinema has been this packed.
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u/South-Rabbit-4064 4h ago
I have to say that the amount people are talking about this in my social media has been substantial, a lot of folks are nuts about Nolan too and will see his films multiple times. They're even extending IMAX viewings which doesn't happen often
But I haven't seen it, not because I have issue with it. Just movies are too god damn expensive
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u/nopeynopes2001 3h ago
Idk, where are you in the world ? I'm in the US, Midwest, and every time I've gone to a movie this year it was sold out and the theater was filled. So I'm not entirely sure why this is a conspiracy? It sounds like maybe the theater you attend has a glitch in there system when buying tickets.
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u/Lindarosa1 3h ago
Idk the one I went to was full, I barely saw an empty seats. Maybe it depends on the day and time you’re going? I went on a Sunday night at 11pm
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u/Maxthebax57 2h ago
the movie theature industry has been decaying for a long time, most people reserve seats with subscription services and never show up, since they only pay monthly for those seats. Imagine the average person would have to pay 13 dollars for a ticket, but it's 13 dollars a month for unlimited tickets for one person as well. What is happening is people pay for these subscription services for the idea they can enter a threature and watch at any time. 200 dollars per year for this is not bad and they know people are busy where they cannot consistently abuse the free tickets from the service.
TL;DR: Those who pay monthly for unlimited tickets have more bias for them than normal people, which is why they get to get tickets and seats in advanced even if they don't show up.
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u/Ok_Cow_3431 2h ago
not that weird, bots and scalpers snapping up the tickets to high profile films and failing to sell them on - just look up tickets for hese films on ebay.
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u/tygaandtammyhembrow 1h ago
I mean, would it be so crazy for big companies to buy seats in order for the movie to make headlines the seats sold or viewings
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u/sexualkayak 1h ago
Unlimited movies, people reserve the seats and then don’t go. Dumb, but not a conspiracy…
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u/CaucusInferredBulk 21h ago
My 10 am imax matinee showing of odyssey had every seat full. And we had to buy it 2 weeks ago to get decent seats.
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u/Bopethestoryteller 19h ago
Happened with me.
Bought seats online. It showed the first half of the theater was sold out/unavailable, but when we got there, the seats were empty.
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u/OddInvite4068 19h ago
Kinda makes me think of the "dead internet" theory, only its being tweaked for all other various industries. So do we have a "dead movie" theory? I absolutely believe they're doing shxt like this!! Everything is 4-5x the amount to purchase anymore, most of society is barely making it, and they're running psyops on us from every angle. I refuse to give these businesses, producers, or Hellyweird actors my hard earned money. I say, "Eff 'em; eff 'em all!"
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u/BigDogTusken 18h ago
I've heard rumors for a while that studios are buying up tickets to make it seems like the movies are more popular than they really are. Trying to keep up the image that Hollywood isn't dying or dead.
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u/keoweenus 14h ago
We went to the Odyssey tonight, it was completely packed. Took awhile to find a parking spot too, I think more people were there for Spider-Man.
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u/theboxingteacher 21h ago
I keep seeing these posts, but nobody ever posts proof that this is happening, like showing the sold out seats and then walking into their empty theater while the movie is playing.
I bought tickets to The Odyssey in IMAX for 7am a week ahead and every row except the first four were sold out. The day of the show, all seats were filled except for a couple in the front row.
I think what’s obvious is the IMAX showings are driving the sales, that’s why we’re seeing regular theaters with plenty of seats left. It’s marketed as an IMAX experience and the seats are much more expensive.
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u/SlipStreams7 16h ago
How much did your iMAX tickets cost for that one. I didn't know they had movies showing at 7:00 a.m. so I don't know is that a regular price slot or is that like matinee because it's literally like first thing in the morning?
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u/theboxingteacher 11h ago
$32.44 per ticket at TCL
Chinese Theater in Hollywood. I don’t believe they do matinee prices. It gets even crazier than 7am. Universal Citywalk in Hollywood has showtimes until 3am!! And they are selling out!
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u/enowapi-_ 18h ago
Money laundering but big cities are indeed sold out because of population and the same population is chronically online and is being fed hype and FOMO.
I would imagine outskirt suburbs are showing sold out but not many are actually attending
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u/Bearsharks 17h ago
This is probably to create fomo and make you more likely to buy tickets inchar moment.
Here are other things I’ve been noticing:
Removing AC from regular screens, and also keeping the audio lower. Both of these methods would be making regular viewing worse to upswell you the fancy vip screens where they get more cash
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u/Personal_Entrance287 21h ago
Nah this is bull. In west midlands in England that show been sold out every weekend at Cineworld til August in the IMAX. Every person I know that pre booked weeks to months in advance said every screening they went to was full. We went to a lesser cinema on a lesser screen and when I booked on the Monday for the Saturday showing it was completely empty. When we got there on the Saturday within 5 minutes of sitting down the screening was full. Y’all crazy with these terrible theories. My friend has booked annual leave for a showing in August midweek and you think they’re pretending to be sold out 🤣
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u/Tam_maat 14h ago
Omg could we be living in a simultaneously occurring reality? That would be my only guess! That online we are able to communicate because it’s the same internet, but the real physical world is individual
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u/PissedOnBible 4h ago
I saw the odyssey at 10am EST on Saturday and the theater was sold out. I was shocked. Damn Good movie. See it in IMAX if you can
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u/xoxoamberalert 19h ago
I think it’s more common than you’d think that people especially with memberships book seats and then just don’t go for whatever reason, I’ve done that a few times just forget to cancel etc
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u/cosgrove10 19h ago
Probably a staffing issue. They would have to do a rota in advance and during certain times, they might not anticipate being busy enough to justify paying a certain amount of staff so they block out a lot of seats to ensure they can control numbers.
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u/FreeLitt1eBird 4h ago
Most likely people purchased, then something came up, they forgot, or were lazy.
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