Ever WALK OUT on a crappy movie? (and why?)

[AnakinFlair]

As a general rule, if I pay to see a movie, I stay and watch the whole thing, good or bad.

The only time I've ever walked out was during First Man. And it wasn't because the movie was bad, per se, but because the goddamn shakey cam made me so nauseous I had to leave before I vomited.

[AnakinFlair]

I know that SGT. PEPPER'S is a bad movie and an insult to the Beatles (who not owning their songs had no say in what happened to them), but I sat through all of it--for the badness of George Burns talk-singing "Fixing a Hole" there were good covers by Frampton, the Bee Gees, Earth, Wind & Fire--and I wanted to know how it would end. There's a love story that ties the movie together, so I wanted to see what happened to Billy Shears and Strawberry Fields. I even bought the casette tape of the soundtrack.

I'm not sure I'd say it's much worse than ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. Those two movies and YELLOW SUBMARINE all try to string together a narrative from a collection of Beatles songs. SUBMARINE does it best, because it has the actual recordings, but I find this kind of approach doesn't work. It's too cloying. The actual story of the Beatles is far more interesting than anything you could make up.

Before PEPPER, the producer Robert Stigwood was riding high--having produced TOMMY, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER and GREASE right before it. That was the first major blow to his reputation as a hit maker. The second was MOMENT BY MOMENT--which also derailed John Travolta's ride to superstardom. I've never seen that movie, but I gather it had a lot of audiences walking out on it.

I have to ask- who owns the rights to the Beatles music? Because I just read that Yesterday had to pay 10 million for the rights to the Beatles music used in that film, so it confuses me as to how something as bad as Sgt. Peppers could be made at all.

[Jim Kelly]

I have to ask- who owns the rights to the Beatles music? Because I just read that Yesterday had to pay 10 million for the rights to the Beatles music used in that film, so it confuses me as to how something as bad as Sgt. Peppers could be made at all.

PEPPER was made in the 1970s, so maybe the rights were going for a lot less. At the time no one fully appreciated just how long the Beatles were going to last. ATV Music, owned by Lew Grade, held the rights. But I should look into this and see exactly what kind of deal Stigwood made with ATV.

Back in the early 1980s when Paul McCartney was collaborating with Michael Jackson, he made the mistake of telling Jackson about the value of owning the publishing rights. MJ then bought the rights to the Beatles songs from ATV, to Paul's chagrin. Later on, when Michael Jackson was in financial troubles, he sold half of the rights to Sony, but kept half. More recently, since Jackson's death, Sony has bought his half from his estate. Paul McCartney is currently trying to argue that he should get the US copyright back--the Lennon estate are trying similar legal challenges.

This just applies to the Lennon-McCartney song book. George Harrison owned the rights to his songs for the Beatles, as well as those he did as a solo act, clever lad.

[Punisher007]

No, but I've come close a few times. But as a general rule, if I pay to see a film, I'll sit through it till the end. If it's bad, then I just never watch it again.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

As I understand it, the theater doesn't get that much from ticket sales. They make their profit on popcorn, drinks, and candy. That's why it costs $6 for a small bag of popcorn.
So basically showing you the movie is sort of a way of getting you in to buy the popcorn.

The way it used to work is that the split is largely in the studio's favor the first couple of weeks, then it gradually shifts and the longer it runs the more it is in the theaters favor. Internationally it is a bit different. I think studios like Disney and Marvel have such leverage that they can negotiate for longer and more favorable splits.

But yeah generally there is more margin on concessions.

[AnakinFlair]

PEPPER was made in the 1970s, so maybe the rights were going for a lot less. At the time no one fully appreciated just how long the Beatles were going to last. ATV Music, owned by Lew Grade, held the rights. But I should look into this and see exactly what kind of deal Stigwood made with ATV.

Back in the early 1980s when Paul McCartney was collaborating with Michael Jackson, he made the mistake of telling Jackson about the value of owning the publishing rights. MJ then bought the rights to the Beatles songs from ATV, to Paul's chagrin. Later on, when Michael Jackson was in financial troubles, he sold half of the rights to Sony, but kept half. More recently, since Jackson's death, Sony has bought his half from his estate. Paul McCartney is currently trying to argue that he should get the US copyright back--the Lennon estate are trying similar legal challenges.

This just applies to the Lennon-McCartney song book. George Harrison owned the rights to his songs for the Beatles, as well as those he did as a solo act, clever lad.

Thanks. I remember now that Michael owned the rights for a time.

[Guy_McNichts]

I don't think I've ever walked out on a movie in the theater. It never happened when I was a kid, and these days if I'm going to take the time and trouble to go to the theater, I must be pretty confident I'll at least want to sit through the whole film.

If it counts, there have been movies I've tried watching on TV that made me change the channel/turn it off in disgust:

- Halloween: Resurrection
I knew it was going to be bad, but after H20, I was at least curious how they brought Michael Myers back. And that explanation....I remember screaming at my TV "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" and turning it off.

- Batman v. Superman
Took me four sits to get through this movie. I distinctly remember reaching the scene where Bruce & Clark meet for the first time while Eisenberg is...doing whatever the hell he was going...and realizing I still had about two more hours of this thing and thinking, "I got s**t to do."

- 40 Year Old Virgin
I made it about a third of the way in and got bored. Just an endless stream of sex jokes that got real tedious.

[Ozymandias]

Yeah, I don't get the impulse to tough it out because you paid for it. Money's already wasted, now you're just wasting your time on top of that.

That said, I've never walked out of a movie. Came close with Batman and Robin though.

I sympathise with the general concept; I don't even recall walking out, but I do seem to remember (25-30 years ago) movies that really disappointed. Nowadays, walking blindly into a cinema to watch a movie is certainly a waste, so the opportunity for a serious let-down becomes greatly diminished.

[Jim Kelly]

Often when I watch something at home, especially something I'm struggling with, I have the wish that I could have seen it in a movie theatre--because the movie theatre experience forces you to sit there and concentrate on the movie. You've made this commitment and you're going to sit there to the very end and when you get to the end, you'll have done it. I don't have that same commitment at home--there are always other things I could be doing.

Of course, a lot of people going to movies these days don't feel that same commitment, as they are doing lots of other things as if they are in their home and they don't need to adjust their behaviour for the theatrical experience.

[stargazer01]

Never but I wanted to walk out of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Paul Blart: Mall Cop. I was so bored with them and annoyed for wasting my $.

Also, Spider-Man 3 (the original trilogy) was such a bad experience I regretted wasting my $.

[Jim Kelly]

The last time I was in Rio de Janeiro, I was at a giant mall that has a huge movie multiplex. I decided I wanted to see a movie there and selected LALA LAND, as I'd already seen it so I would be able to follow the story even though it would be in Brazillian Portuguese. There was a huge line-up and the time was ticking down before the movie started, but I finally got my ticket but only after a lot of difficulty and I used up most of the small money I had.

But then I had to find the theatre and I was racing all over the place trying to locate it, showing people my ticket, I got one elevator down but no that wasn't it and then across a walkway to another set of theatres not there, then back and up over to a bunch more theatres and I walked in on some Marvel movie, that wasn't it.

Finally I just gave up and left, but now I only had enough money for the bus that was supposed to get me to the metro, however I missed the stop and then the bus went into some completely new area, I didn't know where I was and we went through a ghetto, then the bus stopped there, but I didn't want to get off because I had no more money and didn't know where I was at, but a few other people stayed on the bus, so I waited for about half an hour and then the bus got going again and travelled into more unfamiliar territory until finally we were back to where I started from and this time I did get off and catch the metro. Two hours later.

[Surf]

I've only seen three movies alone, of which I walked out of Coyote Ugly and that made it a double burn. I don't have an excuse other than I thought it would be way more racy than it was and it was a matinee. Tyra was HOT as hell at the time but this was before she found her goofy-assed lane really. I was thinking more Skinimax level of bar dancing and it, was, not. John Goodman smacking on fried chicken almost made me ill. It was super dull, not hot and I deserved to get beat out of that money.

When I was a kid and I theaterer jumped (don't follow my example, kids at home.... pay for your movies), I'd leave a movie and try to jump to a better one if I wasn't enjoying it. It was a dollar threater and there were a bunch playing at the same time, with a staff that didn't even give a dam so I'd just wander around in and out until I found something I liked.

For sho. I don't even think we still have dollar shows anymore. They were GREAT for seeing a movie on a re-pass though, sound an picture quality matched the admission price but when you're a kid you're really not trippin'. Back when, a couple close homeboys and I made a special trip to the mall- yes this was that far back and the plan was to go see Leprechaun and hoped we wouldn't get carded. Yea, who knew this was the first of a usually straight to video franchise, it sucked, hadn't seen it since. We might not have even gotten to the end and were kinda pissed but not ready to leave and Army of Darkness was playing next door and we sneaked into that show. It was the first time ever being aware of Ash and the Evil Dead trilogy and it blew my mind. I usually didn't rock with more or less demonic fare back then but I loved that movie. The skeleton march was all Harryhausen and I ate it up, funny but no too over the top (not like the preceding movies in the trilogy). Bought it on VHS then went back and bought a widescreen VHS Evil Dead II, I probably still have it somewhere.

Not as an adult. But as a kid my Grandma took me to see Austin Powers without knowing what it was about. After about 5mins she dragged me out and said that was not what she expected lol.

Heh. My Grandma took all of us to see Spaceballs and yea we ended up leaving not long into it. There was like 6 of us and I was the oldest but the jokes flew over my head but Grandma knew what was being said and I guess she didn't want us repeating Mel Brooks lines.

[dswynne]

Not by choice, though it I did walked out of a theater TWICE.

The first time, it was after watching the beginning of the original CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981). My step-dad wanted to watch a film about Greek mythology, just as he had seen JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS when he was younger. As soon as "boobs" were shown, the family left the theater. I came from a conservative family, I must say.

The second time was when we went to see BABY: SECRET OF THE LOST LEGEND (1985). Again, as soon as "boobs" were shown on the screen, the family was out the door.

I think that was the last time we ever went to the theater as a family. After wards, if we did see a "new release", it was at home and on VHS. And the funny thing is that, years later, I would re-watch these films, and come up with this conclusion: COTT was awful, but still entertaining, and the BABY film was just awful. I probably wouldn't have gone to see the BABY film anyway, but I would have definitely stayed for COTT (due to my appreciation of Greco-Roman mythology).

DSW

[Osiris-Rex]

Back when we were kids, before we got real women, my brother and I would go to R rated movies to see naked women. We went to one that was something about a Miss Nude World, or something like that.
It was actually rather boring and when we saw the guy running the event he was so gross that we just got up and left the theater. Only one I can recall walking out on. Though I was tempted to walk out
on Batman Forever. (No, not because of lack of naked women, just is was such a letdown after Batman Returns)

[Scott Taylor]

That cute little dinosaur movie had bobbies?