[h3]Cinema owners try to lure us back to the movies [/h3] Cinema owners are freaking out over plummeting attendance. Going to the movies has stopped being nearly as much fun because of the crummy movies, the door-searches, the camera-confiscations, the nonstop advertising, security guards scanning the audience with infrared goggles, and especially the dumb anti-piracy nag-PSAs (hint to cinema industry: if I'm spending $$$$ to get into the cinema, I'm not a pirate, I'm a customer). They propose to fix this by jamming cell-phones and creating nicer auditoriums. This seems like a pretty ineffectual band-aid to me. Better movies, fewer ads, eliminating invasive searches, infrared scanning, and no insulting pre-film notices would go a lot further to luring me back into the dark. [/p][blockquote]The mantra at ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood is ``ease, comfort and control.'' Besides reserved seating, the 15-screen complex has online ticketing and 21-Plus Screenings, where, if you're 21, you can bring alcohol into the theater. ``People complain about sticky floors, dirty bathrooms and zombie staff,'' said the ArcLight's Robert Brugeman. ``To get their attention, you have to offer a premium product.'' [/p]Theater owners are also taking aim at cell-phone users. NATO has made solving the cell-phone problem a ``high priority'' and is looking into jamming cell-phone signals. [/p][/blockquote] [a href="vny!://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/peninsula/14457900.htm?source=rss&channel=mercurynews_peninsula"]Link[/a]
