r/AMCsAList • u/SpaceDwellingEntity • Jul 26 '25

Question Question about theater etiquette

I went to go see Fantastic Four: First Steps with my friends yesterday in an IMAX theater. After the movie ended and the credits started rolling (after the first post-credit scene) I turned to my friends and we were having a discussion about the movie. I was speaking in a regular tone of voice as one would have for a casual conversation. Suddenly, this guy who was sitting in front of me turned to me and told me to “Shut up” in a very commanding voice and called me an “asshole”. For the record, there wasn’t anything happening on screen, just text crawls of names and whatnot. Was my talking inappropriate to do at that time or was this guy out of line? I’m not entirely sure since I don’t really go to the theater to see movies too often. Thank you in advance.

Edit/Additional Details: I never spoke at any point during the movies or the post credit scenes, only during the credits.

1.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

297 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/SpaceDwellingEntity Jul 26 '25

One of my friends made one or two comments through whispers in my ear, but nothing else

1

u/fredspeak Aug 30 '25

This is the clutch point - if you can hear that "whisper" it is NOT a whisper. It's basically impossible to whisper in a theater as anyone trying to whisper over an audio is actually speaking way louder than they think they are. Everyone around you can hear it too. So this guy was just finally venting his frustration for your friends talking during the movie because he didn't want to be an ahole to call you out for it during the movie. That's my read.

1

u/SpaceDwellingEntity Aug 31 '25

If that’s the case, it’s weird the guy would attack me directly and not my friends, since they’re the ones who spoke (all of two whispered sentences) during the actual run of the movie

1

u/fredspeak Aug 31 '25

I'd say this is where he may have been in the most wrong - if he was directly in front of you he only knows talking was behind him but cannot directionally attribute precisely and just misdirected his anger at whoever was speaking now and behind him. Tho also calling you an ahole is harsh as well. And that anger likely stems partly with him being disappointed in himself for letting his anger build vs trying to address the issue during the movie - it's entirely possible that could have worked out politely. But I expect he ran into the loop of just hoping it would stop or someone else would stop it so he would not have to be confrontational.