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San Diego movie theater disruptors
CO2, live chickens, freezing AC, blazing sun, snuck-in food, thrown popcorn
During showings of Minecraft: The Movie, audience members threw popcorn and soda into the air.
While Silent Movie Mondays is returning to the historic Balboa Theatre downtown, other movie theaters throughout San Diego County are anything but silent.
Something strange is going on inside local cinemas — and it’s sending people out the doors early for reasons ranging from absurd to alarming. There have been walkouts and evacuations sparked by rowdy A Minecraft Movie screenings, freezing auditorium temps, scorching sunlight, missing 3D glasses — and most recently, a June 24 mid-movie evacuation at AMC Mission Valley due to an apparent carbon monoxide leak.
Mid-movie evacuation at AMC Mission Valley due to an apparent carbon monoxide leak
That incident occurred on June 24 and was reported by patrons online. “Someone there was told a CO2 leak,” said Redditor Imecoli. “At least that’s what they told the people in the M3GAN 2.0 screening.” A TikTok video posted by Jennifer Chernay showed dozens of people lingering outside the theater after being evacuated, including an employee named Juul, who said, “I work here. It was a CO2 leak at the bar.”
Yelper Alison L. weighed in: “In the middle of the movie, the lights were turned on, and we were told to evacuate. I asked the worker who was in the theater to go out the emergency door. She told me 'no' — that we needed to go out the main door and didn’t even tell us what the emergency was.” Alison added that staff failed to communicate the nature of the emergency, even after everyone had evacuated. “I still had a headache when I went to bed last night. Next time, it might be worse — and people could die if they don’t handle things properly.”
While no official news reports have cited injuries, this wasn’t the first incident involving forced removals at the popular 20-screen AMC Mission Valley, located off the I-8 freeway. In April, a woman named Stacy S. brought leftovers from Yard House into the theater. “I spent $100 on food — steak,” she said. “The manager, Dennis, here, sucks .... and he wouldn't let me stash my leftovers in the theatre somewhere.” After being told she couldn’t bring the food in, Stacy returned it to her car and missed the first 30 minutes of the movie. “He had to be a d--- and make me cry. Never again.”
"I wouldn't DARE to sit in these seats.”
Sneaking food into this theater is a common practice. As a longtime regular, I’ve seen countless moviegoers stock up at the nearby Target and tuck snacks in baggy clothing or oversized purses. Some are caught at the door or mid-screening — like a middle-aged guy who had a bag of chips stashed in his hoodie.
Also in April, Fox 5 San Diego reported on rowdy behavior during showings of Minecraft: The Movie, where audience members threw popcorn and soda into the air and, in one case, brought chickens as a nod to the video game turned blockbuster. Some moviegoers didn't sign up for the Rocky Horror Show-esque 4D experience and left the theater.
Samuel Esparza from Oceanside attended the Minecraft flick with his 7-year-old son. “I wish the parents attending wouldn’t encourage the BS and tell their kids to STFDASTHU (sit the f-ck down and shut the hell up).... just because it’s a kid's movie doesn’t mean that children should misbehave and act like a bunch of banshees.”
Back in December, at the same Mission Valley AMC mentioned earlier, Janell walked out before the film even started. “I ended up getting a refund for my tickets bc I wouldn't DARE to sit in these seats.” She posted photos on Yelp showing stained upholstery and left a 1-star review.
The movie mayhem isn’t limited to Mission Valley. A Redditor named usaokay, who frequents theaters in Mission Valley, Mira Mesa, and Poway, described another disruption at Regal Edwards: “A parent brought their baby to a full-room R-rated showing at night … the child [was] crying every ten minutes until the social pressure was enough (as other patrons were upset), and they left.”
At another AMC location, an A-List member was supposedly asked to leave after a dispute over 3D glasses that were supposed to be left behind when exiting the viewing area. “The staff and manager begin to accuse him of throwing the glasses at the staff...." explained the patron, which led to getting thrown out of the theatre.
Even the open-air Rooftop Cinema Club Embarcadero at Manchester Grand Hyatt (which will be screening the Minecraft movie on July 5) hasn’t escaped complaints. Amanda K. from El Cajon left a scathing one-star review despite the venue’s 4.6 average Yelp rating. “It was so sunny that we left 15 minutes into the movie,” she said. “No umbrellas or anything set up to provide shade. The kids were super excited to go and sad to leave, but we couldn't risk them getting bad sunburns, which is what would have happened if we stayed. No refund or movie reschedule was offered, so I wasted $100.”
And then there are the quieter exits — people walking out because they didn’t bring a blanket for the freezing auditoriums or because someone nearby couldn’t stop scrolling TikTok or Instagram with the brightness of their devices cranked up. It's not as dramatic as a live chicken running through a Minecraft screening — but still enough to make some moviegoers think twice about buying that next ticket.
Here's something you might be interested in.
San Diego movie theater disruptors
CO2, live chickens, freezing AC, blazing sun, snuck-in food, thrown popcorn
San Diego movie theater disruptors
CO2, live chickens, freezing AC, blazing sun, snuck-in food, thrown popcorn
During showings of Minecraft: The Movie, audience members threw popcorn and soda into the air.
While Silent Movie Mondays is returning to the historic Balboa Theatre downtown, other movie theaters throughout San Diego County are anything but silent.
Something strange is going on inside local cinemas — and it’s sending people out the doors early for reasons ranging from absurd to alarming. There have been walkouts and evacuations sparked by rowdy A Minecraft Movie screenings, freezing auditorium temps, scorching sunlight, missing 3D glasses — and most recently, a June 24 mid-movie evacuation at AMC Mission Valley due to an apparent carbon monoxide leak.
Mid-movie evacuation at AMC Mission Valley due to an apparent carbon monoxide leak
That incident occurred on June 24 and was reported by patrons online. “Someone there was told a CO2 leak,” said Redditor Imecoli. “At least that’s what they told the people in the M3GAN 2.0 screening.” A TikTok video posted by Jennifer Chernay showed dozens of people lingering outside the theater after being evacuated, including an employee named Juul, who said, “I work here. It was a CO2 leak at the bar.”
Yelper Alison L. weighed in: “In the middle of the movie, the lights were turned on, and we were told to evacuate. I asked the worker who was in the theater to go out the emergency door. She told me 'no' — that we needed to go out the main door and didn’t even tell us what the emergency was.” Alison added that staff failed to communicate the nature of the emergency, even after everyone had evacuated. “I still had a headache when I went to bed last night. Next time, it might be worse — and people could die if they don’t handle things properly.”
While no official news reports have cited injuries, this wasn’t the first incident involving forced removals at the popular 20-screen AMC Mission Valley, located off the I-8 freeway. In April, a woman named Stacy S. brought leftovers from Yard House into the theater. “I spent $100 on food — steak,” she said. “The manager, Dennis, here, sucks .... and he wouldn't let me stash my leftovers in the theatre somewhere.” After being told she couldn’t bring the food in, Stacy returned it to her car and missed the first 30 minutes of the movie. “He had to be a d--- and make me cry. Never again.”
"I wouldn't DARE to sit in these seats.”
Sneaking food into this theater is a common practice. As a longtime regular, I’ve seen countless moviegoers stock up at the nearby Target and tuck snacks in baggy clothing or oversized purses. Some are caught at the door or mid-screening — like a middle-aged guy who had a bag of chips stashed in his hoodie.
Also in April, Fox 5 San Diego reported on rowdy behavior during showings of Minecraft: The Movie, where audience members threw popcorn and soda into the air and, in one case, brought chickens as a nod to the video game turned blockbuster. Some moviegoers didn't sign up for the Rocky Horror Show-esque 4D experience and left the theater.
Samuel Esparza from Oceanside attended the Minecraft flick with his 7-year-old son. “I wish the parents attending wouldn’t encourage the BS and tell their kids to STFDASTHU (sit the f-ck down and shut the hell up).... just because it’s a kid's movie doesn’t mean that children should misbehave and act like a bunch of banshees.”
Back in December, at the same Mission Valley AMC mentioned earlier, Janell walked out before the film even started. “I ended up getting a refund for my tickets bc I wouldn't DARE to sit in these seats.” She posted photos on Yelp showing stained upholstery and left a 1-star review.
The movie mayhem isn’t limited to Mission Valley. A Redditor named usaokay, who frequents theaters in Mission Valley, Mira Mesa, and Poway, described another disruption at Regal Edwards: “A parent brought their baby to a full-room R-rated showing at night … the child [was] crying every ten minutes until the social pressure was enough (as other patrons were upset), and they left.”
At another AMC location, an A-List member was supposedly asked to leave after a dispute over 3D glasses that were supposed to be left behind when exiting the viewing area. “The staff and manager begin to accuse him of throwing the glasses at the staff...." explained the patron, which led to getting thrown out of the theatre.
Even the open-air Rooftop Cinema Club Embarcadero at Manchester Grand Hyatt (which will be screening the Minecraft movie on July 5) hasn’t escaped complaints. Amanda K. from El Cajon left a scathing one-star review despite the venue’s 4.6 average Yelp rating. “It was so sunny that we left 15 minutes into the movie,” she said. “No umbrellas or anything set up to provide shade. The kids were super excited to go and sad to leave, but we couldn't risk them getting bad sunburns, which is what would have happened if we stayed. No refund or movie reschedule was offered, so I wasted $100.”
And then there are the quieter exits — people walking out because they didn’t bring a blanket for the freezing auditoriums or because someone nearby couldn’t stop scrolling TikTok or Instagram with the brightness of their devices cranked up. It's not as dramatic as a live chicken running through a Minecraft screening — but still enough to make some moviegoers think twice about buying that next ticket.
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