OMG, Theater Executive Says He's Open to Letting Millennials Text During Movies

Screaming toddlers may not be your biggest worry the next time you go to a movie theater.

The CEO of theater chain AMC Entertainment says he is open to allowing people to text during the movies, at least in some theaters.

“When you tell a 22-year-old to ‘turn off the phone, don’t ruin the movie,’ they hear, ‘Please cut off your left arm above the elbow,'” Adam Aron said in an interview with Variety. “You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s not how they live their life.”

Aron acknowledges something has to be done to pacify other theatergoers who for some crazy reason want to, say, watch the movie. Aron, who is four months into the job, is a newcomer to the theater business, having previously worked at Starwood Hotels and for the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers.

While one option would be to allow texting in certain rows, Aron says he leans toward allowing it in some theaters and not in others.

“There’s a reason there are ads up there saying turn off your phone, because today’s moviegoer doesn’t want somebody sitting next to them texting or having their phone on,” Aron said.

Movie theaters have been experimenting with different inducements to get movie watchers to keep their cellphones off, ranging from catchy ads to rewards programs that encourage phone naps. Even live theaters on Broadway have struggled with the issue.

Now, it seems, the millennial set may have the last lol.

Update: AMC says on Twitter that it would only consider a test on few screens.

“We know vast majority of audience wants no texting,” it said.

Even those comments sparked a lot of disapproving replies. And that’s among people that already are on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/AMCTheatres/status/720463849439277056

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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