Last Wednesday evening I decided it would be fun to go to the movies with my daughter and her roommate. The only film we had an interest in seeing was slated to begin at 12:05 AM on Thursday, the 19th (later that night). I went on line to purchase the tickets for the 3 of us and I entered the necessary information for the purchase.
The system confirmed my purchase and then printed out the tickets... for 12:05 AM on Friday, the 20th (the next night and after my daughter would be leaving town).
I called the theater and ended up having to speak with two people. The second person, no doubt a manager, explained to me that this was an industry standard and a problem that the industry as a whole had been trying to solve. I calmly explained that there could be only one Thursday the 19th at 12:05 AM and that this was the one that was coming up in 3 hours, not the supposed industry standard of the one that supposedly was coming up in 27 hours.
The person failed to acknowledge that their website was incorrect and went on to say that this was the industry standard because it was the end of their business day. After the person confirmed that a credit had been issued to my credit card for my cancellation, I thanked him and wondered about the state of the industry.
If this is an industry standard, and an industry wide problem that many exhibitors are trying to solve, I no longer have hopes that this group of industry professionals will find a solution for piracy. At least not the ArcLight Theater in Sherman Oaks, California.
