audience reception
walther p99
NJPosts: 3,416MI6 Agent
how did your audience react throughout the film and when it ended? mine shuffled out like it was a funeral even with the bond theme blaring.
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"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Sold out, big reactions.
I also saw it out in the suburbs in a 3/4th filled theater. (This theater had it playing every 15 minutes.)
Also a good reaction. Except for the group of teenagers more interested in checking their phones and walking in and out of the theater through the whole movie. I don't think it had to do with them liking the movie or not. It's just pretty typical of teenagers in many theaters.
Do you in the UK get that too?
(For those teenagers reading this...I know a lot of you know how to behave but you've got to admit that many don't. Maybe I'm getting old. Grrr, get off my lawn.)
(I saw Lost In Space in New York and I was HORRIFIED to find that the audiences cheered, clapped and woo-woo'd throughout. Matt LeBlanc won't get any better if you applaud, people. It's a FILM).
@merseytart
A land where audiences are reserved and quiet during the showing of the film? I have dreamed of such a place! Jetset, if you tell me British theaters--sorry: threatres--are free from cell phones going off (and, worse, people answering them) and screaming children, I may have to change my citizenship!
. . .And you were with a crowd that cheered Lost in Space? You must've been in Manhattan's notorious Speed district!
This was in Times Square though, so chemical influences probably shouldn't be ruled out.
@merseytart
The crowd was definately into the film...laughing at the one liners and reacting with approval. Some applause at the end, especially during the gunbarrel walk. I saw CR at the same multiplex, in the same auditorium, but on Saturday night of opening weekend and the theater was a little more than 1/2 full. I think today bodes well for QOS' box office take in the US.
~Pendragon -{
mountainburdphotography.wordpress.com
Anyway, the audience had a good time, clapping, laughing, cheering, it was all good fun.
The crowd enjoyed it, but wasn't what anyone would call overly exuberant. A few lines got some laughs, and there was a smattering of applause at the end...par for the course, for being in the middle of nowhere...
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Maybe the return of Sheriff J.W. Pepper would have produced more knee slapping fun in your theater! If the audio equipment is somewhat decent, I actually prefer older, quite theaters that are a dying breed everywhere I suppose.
I purposely watched the matinee showings on the 1st and 2nd days, considering that my party got split up when we watched DAD during the evening of its opening day. The first 2 or 3 showings at my local muliplex would generate a sprinkling of viewers but I noticed there was a cordoned queue prepared for the 1:40 p.m. show. Also, I have a preference for the top-most row for the unrestricted leg space, far proximity with the row most immediately in front, and not having annoying kicks on your backrest or having feet propped up next to your head.
Just would like to add my twopeneth worth.
I remember seeing 'Saving Private Ryan' on opening night at the Monmouth Mall NJ. My word that was an eye opener, a completely different experience to cinema going in Blighty!
I remember Barry Norman, a well known British film critic who once remarked that if people wanted to eat and drink they should go do it at a restaurant and not watching a film!
So gauging people's response in a UK cinema is always difficult and to be fair I cannot remember a time where people have ever clapped their approval at the end of the film.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
We take it so far HB that one chain in the UK, Vue, had special over 18 only showings of QoS even though it is certified a 12a ... got to keep those pesky noisy kids in line )
There was one off-beat moment when Gemma and DC were in bed together and she was saying how she was angry at herself for doing this --some kid yelled out "Sl*t!" and everybody laughed
And, um, that's about it.
However, I do remember in CR when Bond get his knackers whacked with the knotted rope every bloke in the audience going 'aagh' and somebody shouted 'poor b*****d'.
In the preview I went to, mobiles were being confiscated on the way in for collection later. B*gger that, I thought, and as I'm rather well versed in concealing things (not for criminal purposes, I hasten to add) passed the frisking with not only mine, but my friends mobile.
Anyways, the audience I watched it with remained silent throughout, and left quietly chatting to each other. I can't recall laughter, and there was certainly no applause.
In all my years of going to the movies I've only experienced that once, and that was during a Sunday afternoon showing of The Dark Knight this past summer. The auditorium was sold out (itself a rare occurrence for a matinee) and the audience was so into the film I almost found it unsettling. They laughed at every Joker scheme (even the really sick ones), oohed at every move Batman made and actually cheered and clapped thunderously at the end. I never experienced that level of connection to a movie from an audience before or since.
As for QoS, the auditorium I saw it in was about 1/3 full (another matinee showing) and the reaction was mostly reserved with no cheers or applause at any point. About the only line that actually got a discernable laugh from the crowd was the one about winning the lottery (interesting in and of itself since you had to read the subtitles to get the joke, so I guess the crowd was actually paying attention). Most people started to shuffle out even before the gunbarrel logo at the end had finished.
There was some noise and movement during the plane chase as though people were losing interest which I thought was strange as the plane chase is one of the more accessible action sequences
That was something most of us on AJB saw coming a mile away, since we knew QoS takes place minutes after CR, and we knew from the preview that Bond and M interrogate Mr. White. Since he obviously wasn't riding as a passenger, then he must have been in the boot. Maybe that's why the reveal didn't have the shock value for me...nice to know that someone was caught off guard!
The people watching the movie seemed to come from all walks of life and the age range was diverse, but there was no reaction from them whatsoever. I mean, even the oil drowned body of Gemma in a classic Goldfinger pose didnt even stimulate a reaction, except from me.
In fact, there were a number of scenes in the movie that emulated previous scenes from Bond films, which i picked out, but seemed as though no one else knew anything about.
And of course, the terribly misplaces gun barrel scene which half of the 50 people missed as they were out the door already.
Lets just say, the movie didnt really stimulate this crowd. I dont excpect applause in movies, but the odd cheer or strong group laugh generally indicates the viewers are actually not asleep.