Traditional movie-goers disdain noise and distractions during screenings of films. If your cell phone goes off during the screening of a classic film at a New York art house theater, you run the risk of being tarred and feathered on the premises. However, movie studios are actively encouraging younger audiences to view theaters as a place where anything goes. Studios are promoting regional screenings of older films through audience sing-a-longs. The idea of audience participation has intrigued studios since The Rocky Horror Picture Show bombed during general release in 1975 only to go on to gross a fortune through midnight, audience participation screenings. The Sound of Music, Grease and The Poseidon Adventure have also found enthusiastic audiences who are encouraged to scream out their favorite lines of dialogue, as well as dress like their favorite characters. Critics of this policy say it makes a generation of movie-goers who are already immune to the joys of quiet theaters even more brazen about being boisterous - even when they go to movies that don't involve group participation. Nevertheless, studios are concerned about the dwindling number of tickets sold at the box-office - a problem they traditionally have gotten around by raising admission prices. However, with a movie ticket now the cost of plane fare to some countries, the studios are now looking toward audience participation as a partial cure for industry woes. Click here to read more
