Best Place To Sit In the Theater?

[Ash]

Recently, I went to see Live Free or Die Hard.
I really wanted to go see the new Harry Potter film.  But because it was a Saturday afternoon and the theater would most likely be crammed with kids, I opted to see Bruce Willis reprise his role as John McClane.

Watch the trailer
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zND-2OkHUAI

When I walked into the theater, I figured there wouldn't be very many people.
After all, Live Free or Die Hard has been out for several weeks now.
There can't be that many people who want to see it, right?
Wrong!

The place was packed!  
(and the trailers were already showing so I had to find a seat in the dark)

I had two choices...
Sit all the way up front...close to the screen.
Or try to find a spot near the back next to a total stranger.

I hadn't sat way up front at a movie since Spawn was released in 1997.
10 years ago!

I chose the second row from the very front.
No deal...
I had to crank my head way back and it was uncomfortable as hell.
I lasted about one trailer in that seat before I turned to look behind me and spotted a perfect seat three rows back.
Out of the 5 front rows, it was the furthest one back.
I got up and moved to it.

It afforded me empty space on both my right and left sides. 

Funny thing about moving to that seat...
An older woman in her 50's or early 60's was two seats over from me and she had her purse sitting in the seat immediately to my right.
When she saw me sit down, she snatched her purse up right away and gave me a dirty look.
Like I was going to steal it!  
I felt like saying, "C'mon lady!  I'm not gonna take your purse!"

Anyway, I watched the film way to close to the screen.
It was a completely different moviegoing experience than what I'm accustomed to.
I think I'm going to have to rent that movie on DVD when it comes out just so I can sit back a bit when I watch it.

How about you?
Where do you prefer to sit in the movie theater?

[CheezeFlixz]

If I go to the theater I try to set in the middle or 3/4 ways back, rarely do I go to the theater though because truth be known I've got cleaner seats, cheaper snacks, a better sound system, a screen big enough to be enjoyed by a few people and I don't have to drive anywhere. Not to mention I never late for the opening.

[Scott]

Our 3 local theaters now have stadium seating and there is a walking area less than half way up and we like the second section about in the middle. Guess that 3/4 up, but because of the elevated seating it feels more centered to the screen, so I'm voting for middle.

[RCMerchant]

I like to sit front row center. If their is a balcony,I like to sit up there,front row center. The Strand in PawPaw has a balcony,but they closed it down in the 80's as it is getting old.

[DodgingGrunge]

I guess it depends on the theatre.  With stadium layouts there is typically an aisle that runs through the middle.  In that case I try to sit at the very front/center of the back partition.  But when it comes to older theatres, I find it most important to make sure that nobody is seated in front of me, even if it means having to stake a claim off to the sides.



When I lived in Chicago, I used to visit The Music Box Theatre weekly.  Before this 80+ year old relic was renovated, it was important to be able to sit so that you could stick your feet up on the seat in front of you, as rats would casually nibble the popcorn on the floor.     What a wonderful venue!

[Torgo]

In the middle.

I got stuck in the 2nd row from the front for Spiderman 3 and I hated having to sit that close. I could hardly tell what was going on.  I saw it a second time and this time got to sit in the middle and I realized that the reason why the movie didn't play well sitting that close were that the action scenes were edited horribly to begin with.   

[Trevor]

 

In my line of work, I normally end up in the projection booth screening the films myself.

The major pain is not standing through a movie, it is making up and stripping the reels of films afterwards, that is the pain. 

Usually I sit front row centre, but this was a bad idea when I went to watch "Hot Fuzz": great movie, but my ears were ringing for hours afterwards.

[Poogie]

I like to sit in the very back row where there won't be any one behind me. The thought of someone with a mouth full of popcorn, seeing something funny and spraying it all over my head doesn't appeal to me..I would prefer being the sprayer, so don't sit in front of me..   Then there's the ones who like to kick the seats, no problem I will have a wall behind me......no feet.

The best place to sit is in front of our own TV. 

[asimpson2006]

My film teacher in high school asked us this same very question on the first day of class.  I think his answer was in the center area but off to a side.

[BoyScoutKevin]

In the middle, but on the aisle. As long as I am not sitting directly behind some one. If I am then, I sit two or three rolls back from the midddle, but still on the aisle.

[JaseSF]

I've always preferred sitting way in the last highest back row.

[BlackAngel75]

When it come to seating, I usually go the middle, about half way up in the theater.  And if it's empty, anywhere away from screaming babies.  When I went to see Transformers, I got my seat.  I saw a family with a 5 year old and I moved.  But just as the movie was to start, and theater was fairly packed, another family comes in with a 3 year old right in front of me.  I couldn't move to another seat.  Fortunatly, she wasn't all that noisey, and she slept (incredibly) half way though the end.

[Ash]

One other thing I noticed when sitting up near the front was the flicker from the projector.
I noticed a visible flickering just below the center of the screen that spanned all the way from left to right.
It was extremely distracting.   

Have any of you noticed this when sitting too close?

[RCMerchant]

 The main reason I like no one in front of me is I like to slouch low...so that my legs are straight out. It was also quite conveinent when I was boozing it...I could sneak shots outta my half pint. Nothing like a drink when veiwing masterworks like the BEAST WITHIN or ANACONDA in a beat up old hick theater! Once inna while I still crave a shot when watching cheezy flicks....(sigh)....but I'm better off without it now. (Backround music plays...Barbra Bigshnozz singing 'They Way We Were'... " 'memories...misty whiskey , blurry meeeemoriiieeesss...."

[Trevor]

Ash, that flickering you mention is probably a major problem about to happen with that projector, either with the light source or with the projector itself.