Seems the movie theatres have decided that it's best to have the foxes watching the hen house. In an interesting move, Regal Cinemas has decided to build customer loyalty by giving their best customers devices to tattle on fellow movie patrons!


Here we see the idea in all its glory. It seems someone has come up with the idea to make this tattling behavior be part of the loyalty program for Regal Cinemas. Along with extra points for being a loyal patron, it seems that someone has figured out that pushing the equivalent of a movie ejector seat is good for business.
The way it works is that Regal Cinema loyalists are given a hand-held device with four buttons they can push to send a signal to the staff of ushers and managers. These are the buttons: there's one each for sound, picture, piracy or other disturbance.
Sound and picture I get. This is an early warning device.
Other disturbances I think will be the funniest one to be enacted -- because now not only do we have two talkative teenage girls (for example), but also an usher coming in, finding the tattler and then "shushing" the disturbance. Not sure how this will work, but I'd give five bucks to see it.
The button for piracy is interesting. I've never seen anyone in a theatre trying to make copies, but this obviously is prevalent otherwise there wouldn't be a button for it.
Now, personally, I think this will run its course in a few months. I give Regal Cinema props for trying something new...but beyond the novelty period of carrying one of these things in and the few people who will push the buttons to see what happens, I just have a hard time figuring the "loyalty" pay off in this. And I'm just not sure that turning your best customers into cops is exactly a move to improve the movie-going experience for them.
Guess we'll all have to go to the movies to see. Race you to the popcorn stand!