NY Hairspray Screening Disaster — Page 4

The same thing almost happened in Arizona. I had the evite tickets and I show up at the theatre right after work only to find out that the theatre was all filled and we could turn in our passes for a future screening. At this point I was starting to get really mad because I was looking forward to this all day. I asked if I could get a pass to this movie and they it would be HIGHLY unlikely. And then I asked if the movie was in the Cine-Capri (its the largest movie theatre in the state of Arizona) and the manager said it wasnt. Which I thought was really dumb. So i didn't get to see it and I thought it was poorly managed. But i guess i'll just have to wait and see it when it opens on Friday.

Wowwwwww.

I was so put out this morning when my friend and I came to the conclusion that neither of us was a good enough driver to successfully get to the Pittsburgh waterfront, but now...it's quite the blessing in disguise. Of course now I have to wedge in a screening on Friday after work and before "Harry Potter" is released.

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Call (310) 854-5811. Press one, then spell out CEO Bob Shaye's last name to get his voicemail.

Updated On: 7/17/07 at 12:52 AM

Call (310) 854-5811. Press one, then spell out CEO Bill Shaye's last name to get his voicemail.

It's neither here nor there, but fyi his name is Robert Shaye.

Oh God, I had no idea that woman was dead. That's awful! My friend and I and a lady standing next to us thought she must have just had a seizure or something and we saw her get put onto the stretcher and taken to some kind of room or emergency stairwell... that really upsets me now . How awful...to have died standing in line for something she wasn't even going to get into. Somebody call New Line and tell them that. That should get a point across.

Seriously--that really does upset me though. Does anyone know what caused her death or what exactly happened?

Yeah, the free movie pass was nice though...went and saw Ratatouille with some friends. Pretty good movie.

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I'm tired and I'm pissed, so I will keep this relatively short.

I had planned well in advance to attend the NYC screening today. I Took off work early and hauled my skinny butt from lower Manhattan up to Lincoln Square and got on line at 3pm with my friends. We were easily a good 20 people back in line. We waited. We waited. We waited. Out of no where, a large group of people in Hairspray movie shirts and pins walks up, strolls past, and clusters in front of the theatre. The women behind us had apparently tried to see another screening of Hairspray, and they became very anxious because at the last screening, a group from carnicval cruise lines preempted everyone and took every seat. The E-vite seats said 7:300pm. The flyers that accompanied the Salon group said that they were going to a 7:00pm screening.
First there was chaos about what would happen. Was there one screening? Was there two? No one seemed to know and anyone you asked gave you a different answer.
Finally, ONE secrurity guard was sent out to deal with the entire grid-sized crowd.. We weren't told it was FULL. We were told that E-Vites were invalid. 100% invalid. The front of the line was told once. The guy said "If you have a problem, talk to New Line". It took them a LONG while to tell the 'rest' of the line. Then were were told that we should stay in line.. some people would be let in. So we waited. They sent out a little blonde woman to collect email addresses to be notified about futire screenings. Some compensation - give us your info, then do this again and let this happen again.
The best answer I was given, and it sounds like crap, was that the E-Vites were sent out because the company said that they wouldn't fill the theatre and then ended up filling it. I don't know.
While those who wanted to gave their info to the little woman, the theatre called the police and theys howed up, yelling over load speakers, and herding us all down the block like common criminals.
Very very VERY badly handled. I see it wasn't an isolated situation. At least other theatres were kinder to patrons. We were left outside with no info and had the cops set upon us for merely being present and waiting to get in on line.

It was VERY VERY badly handled in every way and the staff members were rude. The salon people as well were VERY snotty as well... and no one wanted to deal with it it. They all said to talk to someone else.

With all these cities experiencing the same problem, I am starting to think that maybe this was the plan all along--just so word of mouth can build!

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SAME STORY IN SAN FRANCISCO, AMC METREON THEATRES

Hundreds in line.
Some had waited hours ahead of time (I waited for two)

I knew something fishy was going on when I saw the 100+ party of hair-dressers showing up with their "official passes" for the 7PM show (versus our print-out 7:30PM passes).

The crowd took it really rough and wouldn't take "no" for an answer. Soon the question became: "What are you going to do with all these unhappy people?"

The poor AMC staff boor the brunt of the abuse (I'll admit, I was in there pissed off too). A manager from AMC came out and gave free general-movie passes to the crowd who stayed behind... so my friends and I saw RATATOUILLE instead. AMC was pissed because the free-tickets were on their dime.

The contact information for the
SF NewLine Cinema Event Organizer is:
Rebecca Robbins
415-834-1111 ext.607

CALL HER! They have our contact information (necessary information to fill-out online pass) if they end up refunding or something.

i was in LA and the black passes WERE NOT the only ones valid... i had a prinout and i was in the front of the line... from what i can tell, they were initially going to let in the black passes first but they actually let in the first few of us in the line (i think) that had evites... i'm not sure what happened after i got in the theater but when my friends and i went to get snacks and use the bathroom we saw some bad things out there... even though i was able to get in... i'm very sorry for what happened to other people... that must suck

They should all be fired. I wrote to some of those connected to the film but have not heard a word about tonight's fiasco. The publicity person from New Line (Catherine Mcdonough) wrote me saying she knew nothing about this and was "forwarding it on". I expect that I will never hear another word from them.

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Reading tis thread makes me laugh.

All this fuss over not being able to see a movie for free? Crowds that acted so insane the police had to be called in. Someone praising one woman as being fabulous for calling the theatre owners "F**king F*gs."

Katrina and 9/11 were a "disaster" ... let's keep it all in perspective. If this is the worst thing that happened to you all this week.. count your blessings!

Updated On: 7/17/07 at 06:07 AM

^ Exactly. These people had every right to be pissed off. If I went and waited two hours to get into this movie only to find my pass was invalid, I'd be pissed off.

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