In a bid to stay ahead of the curve and widen marketing strategies, AMC Entertainment is considering allowing cell phone use in its theaters as a way to attract millennials.
“There does seem to be a consensus that there are pockets of consumers who do not see as many movies as other segments of the population and that we can be doing more to attract those people. Millennials come to mind,” said CEO Adam Aron in an interview with Variety.
“We need to reshape our product in some concrete ways so that millennials go to movie theaters with the same degree of intensity as baby boomers went to movie theaters throughout their lives.”
Millennials, more technologically savvy than the baby boomer generation, are greatly attached to their cell phones.
“When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone, don’t ruin the movie, they hear ‘please cut off your left arm above the elbow,’” Aron said. "You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s now how they live their life.
“We’re going to have to figure out a way to do it that doesn’t disturb today’s audiences. There’s a reason there are ads up there saying turn off your phone, because today’s moviegoer doesn’t want somebody sitting next to them texting or having their phone on,” Aron said.
An option would be to have texting-only auditoriums.
Jimmy Kimmel offered his opinion on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” about the possibility of cell phone usage in movie theaters.
“Pretty soon the only difference between a movie theatre and your house would be the soda all over the floor,” said Kimmel on the April 14 show. “This is like a national forest deciding to allow bottle rockets to be shot off.”
Kimmel continued: “No texting in theaters was our last remaining unspoken rule as a society. It was no texting in theaters and McDonald’s breakfast ends at 11 a.m.”
Watch Jimmy Kimmel’s reaction below and comment.
