a question for those who felt mistreated at a HAIRSPRAY screening — Page 2

I must commend you, Marc, for caring enough to take the time to express your concern and offer a way for people to be heard...I'm impressed!

What's next, will you be ushering and passing out popcorn?

It seems that everyone was mistreated by both New Line AND the cinemas. Even in a bad situation, even when it's not your fault, there is a proper way to deal with it.

Sorry everyone had such a crappy time.

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It also says that "Theatre seating is limited to theatre capacity, and is on a first-come, first-serve basis."

Therein lies the rub, best12. I got in line for the NYC screening at around 5pm, and a large group of Sebastian salon people were behind me in line. There was a lot of confusion, because they were told they had a private screening; also, their passes said 7pm and ours said 7:30pm. We all thought there must be two screenings. A woman from the salon group went to find out where they were supposed to go, and next thing we knew she came back through the line telling everyone with the salon passes to follow her. People came back through the line periodically after that rounding up the salon group and taking them to the front, while the rest of us continued to stand there thinking their screening must be separate from ours. At around 6:30pm word started to travel back the line that any passes from Evite/New Line were invalid and the only people getting into the screening were the Sebastian salon group.

From what I gathered, New Line had messed up and the salon group had "bought out" the whole theater for the screening. (Those were the words of the New Line rep.) The one rep New Line sent out to deal with the situation said if we wrote our e-mail address on our pass, she'd collect them and send us info/passes for future screenings. I did so, but I'm not confident I'll ever receive anything.

I still want to see Hairspray, but I'm angry that I wasted hours standing in line for nothing. New Line had to have known beforehand that they could not accommodate nearly the number of passes they gave out. If they were going to give preference to the salon group, they should have sent an e-mail to everyone who downloaded passes from their website simply saying that the screening had been cancelled. People would have been disappointed, but at least we would not have wasted our time.

Marc, to answer your original question, I'd love a pair of free passes from New Line, that I would use to see Hairspray this weekend.

Yea, Mark, a pair of tickets would be a good solution to the mistreatment of the fans.

Thank you Marc!

I second the free screening at Mr. Shaiman's house or ticket to the movie. I was just mad because I had planned for weeks, came into the city at noon to just walk around and wait in line. This will not stop me in any way of seeing the movie but I was so disgusted by disorgianization by New Line Cinema. I think I just felt more frustrated than anything, since I had my friends drive into the city only for them to get here for nothing.

I dont care for char-donnay.

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I'm sure it was not the intention of New Line Cinema to punish nor outrage the direct fanbase of their film - the folks that will be there opening night and bring in the bucks for its opening weekend box office.

It seems as if there was a miscommunication within PR at New Line. While I am sure all those who tried to attend the screening are pissed off, as you should be, you also need to understand that it probably was not New Line's intention to do so. You are not entitled to any compensation - and if compensation is provided, that would be merely a good gesture on New Line's part. So if they decide to do so, that's great. If not - you should not hold any animousity and show understanding that things do sometimes go wrong. (If I were New Line, it would make sense to me to hold a special day-before screening for those who already printed e-vites).

As for the "rudeness" of the staff at AMC, New Line is CERTAINLY not accountable for that whatsoever. Contact AMC's upper management in regards to those complaints, and I would say you should be entitled to an apology - possibly free tickets to the film after it opens, depending on exactly what happened with the staff.

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and by the way... you (probably without realizing it), answered your own question when you said: "Apparently when similar problems occurred at screenings in other cities, the theater(s) issued free passes to other movies. The theater here in New York made no such offer, they just told us to file complaints with New Line. OF COURSE I WOULD RATHER HAVE SEEN HAIRSPRAY THAN GET A PASS FOR SOME OTHER MOVIE... [emphasis mine]"

gee, do you think it was an ACCIDENT that similar 'problems' occcurred at screenings in other cities? do you think it was a last minute decision to issue those free passes in other cities? do you think it was an accident that there were no free passes issued here in NYC?

CapnHook, I'm sure we all know it was not New Line's intention to screw over those of us who waited hours for nothing. But it happened. When a company makes an error, they should attempt to correct it. It's impossible to re-do the screening, but a little compensation for our wasted time would do a lot for their PR. As it stands now, I'm sure most of the people who were there last night will never attend a New Line screening again.

no, people waiting in line does more for the film's PR than anything those who felt 'screwed over' might consider adequate compensation for the wasted time. after all, New Line didn't waste anyone's time... people who waited in line did that for themselves. (doesn't anyone think to himself: 'are major entertainment corporations in the business of offering something for nothing?')

now... how many message threads are on this site alone where people are talking about waiting in long lines to see Hairspray?

bzzzz, bzzzzzzz, bzzzzzzzzzzz

re: "I most definitely won't be purchasing any Sebastian products after last night."

but you see that doesn't matter much to Sebastian Industries either. they cater to the professional market, not the consumer market, and the people they were marketing to SAW THE FILM!

now if Betty Crocker was offering the E-vites, it would all be quite different, and all those people not getting in would indeed be a PR disaster... but that's why Betty Crocker (or Coca Cola, or Subaru...) doesn't do this type of promotion.

Show of hands: among those of you who had to wait in line and didn't get in, how many of you are not going to go see the movie, Hairspray, just because you're upset about what happened. Be honest: the vast majority of those who waited in line are going to pony up the $10 to see the film with everyone else. And of the small minority who don't, most of THEM will rent the DVD, or watch it on cable, or...

hey, don't look at me, though... i've never even seen Jurassic Park with commercial interruptions, and i CERTAINLY didn't wait on line to see a sneak preview... but the bottom line is that we all see what we WANT to see because we want to see it... and we want to see it because we've heard about it... and we've heard about it because... that's right, folks! YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT IT.

(hmmm... here's an original thought i just had: "there's no such thing as bad publicity." isn't that i clever, original thought i just had?)

I've waited in line for many things. Everything from free food to book signings, concerts, amuesment park rides, countless other movie previews pretty much all the same. Always knowing there was a risk of being cut-off or not seen.

The problem here is they way the "cut-off" was handeled. They called the police. That was pretty damn low.

It isn't so much that they goofed up, but it's how they handled it that's just wrong.

...like a bunch of four-year-olds getting caught stealing candy.

They didn't own up to the mistake, and they didn't act like adults running a (very large) business.

I agree it's shameful.

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