Image Credit: Merie Wallace
Walking out of a movie makes the statement to your fellow theater patrons, “I hate this film so much that I can’t stand one more minute of it!” But walking out of a movie and then asking for a refund not only means the movie felt like a waste of your time, but your hard-earned money as well. It’s the dissatisfied movie-going experience double whammy.
Recently, The New York Times reported that not only are folks walking out of Terrence Malick’s love-it-or-(literally)-leave-it Tree of Life, but some are demanding refunds, too. While the evidence in that particular story isn’t overwhelming (only two pairs of walk-outs asked for their money back during an opening weekend screening at a theater in Connecticut) it seems enough people still think they could have stayed home and watched their laptop screen saver for free instead of the “creation of the universe” montage.
According to an employee at the AMC Empire 25 in New York City’s Times Square, they’ve seen a steady number of walk-outs and refund requests for the Brad Pitt-Sean Penn drama. (“People are upset with the movie,” the employee claimed.) But patrons who sat through the entire film and then decided they wanted their money back were out of luck, as AMC’s policy is to only offer refunds 30 minutes into a screening. The same goes for Landmark, an independent movie chain (prime territory for The Tree of Life) whose policy states, “If a film is not what is expected… and the feature is viewed less than 30 minutes a refund can be processed for you at the box office.”
I’ve only asked for a refund once before — and was honored — for Fast Food Nation, thanks to its more-than-unsavory graphic cow-slaughtering sequence. But I’m curious to know, have you ever hated a movie so much that you asked for a refund? If so, did the theater give you your money back? Share in the comments section below!
Read more:
‘Tree of Life’: A Deconstruction
‘Tree of Life’ review
‘Tree of Life’ pulls in moviegoers near and very, very far.
Random Heart!
You only have a right to ask for a refund if the theater itself didn’t provide a comfortable viewing experience. As for the movie’s quality itself, that’s all on you.
No it’s not, the quality of a film is on a film’s producers and creative team. I agree that you should receive a full refund if the theatre itself is less than satisfactory, but I also think one should be able to receive a refund at least 30 mins. into the film if it is just not their cup of tea, or if the film is just generally shoddy.
If it makes you feel better Mike, I just walked out. I didn’t ask for a refund.
Did you read the article? Many theaters have a policy that allows it.
Frankly, I’m not cheap enough to do that.
We all have the internet. If you don’t know the nature of the film you are going to see and what others thought of it, that’s your fault. You choose the movie
I got my money back for “Year One” – but not because of the movie – because of the 3 lame a$$holes who were texting during the entire movie – even after being asked 3 times to stop. I got my money back for my entire party and then laughed my a$$ off when one of the jerks hit his hand on the way out the door and dropped his cell phone and it shattered.
I agree with you Mike. You purchased a product, a movie to view. If every movie was exactly how we expect, then what’s the point of watching a movie. We all might as well make our own movies and not bother going to the theater. And walking out of a Terrence Malick movie? Really!!!! He’s makes on film every ten years. He’s not interested in satisfying the general public. Why are people going into that movie thinking it’s Transformers?!!!
In this day and age, surely people know quite a bit about a movie before they go. For instance, why would you deserve a refund for Fast Food Nation when you knew the subject matter and therefore knew there might be unsavory scenes? Stupid.
@Mike – if you don’t know the facts, don’t post. Most theaters DO give refunds for movies people just don’t like and are not anywhere near what the promos described. If you leave in a reasonable amount of time there should be no hassle. Several of us asked a theatre manager which film he would recommend (none were familiar). We went to the showing he raved about. It stunk – gross violence and language (and we’re far from being prudes). It was not entertaining. We asked for our money back after only 25 minutes and we got it. Unfortunately, we got stuck for the $100 popcorn.
Yeah. If there was something about the actual theater that made your experience unsatisfactory, then a refund makes sense. I don’t think they should have to give you your money back just because you chose to see a movie you didn’t end up liking, especially if you sat through the whole thing. That’s just too bad for you.
I walked out of “Random Hearts” too. Didn’t ask for a refund though, didn’t know it was allowed. Glad to hear AMC’s policy. I wish we had walked out of the “Halloween” remake.
Surprised though, Aly, that you were upset with “Fast Food Nation.” It was VERY widely publicized to be upsetting and graphic. Especially considering you are employed by an Entertainment Magazine, it’s weird that you hadn’t heard that.
(I avoided it like the plague.)
The only time I ever asked for a refund was for “Hollow Man”. Walked out about minutes in, the movie was bad, but it was the ENTIRE audience talking and yelling and being rude that made me leave. The theater’s staff was very courteous and a refund was easy.
I never ask for a refund, just a ticket for a different movie. If I wanted to go to the movies I will probably be able to find something else I like. They are also more likely to give you some free snacks if you complain nicely.
Actually you can know how horrible a film is going to be in the first 10 minutes! Why because their telling you what the movie is about about and who are the characters.
Exposition FTW.
Not always. Some films start out rocky but pick up later on. I never claim to have seen a movie if I only watched ten minutes of it.
And there is no way you *should* say you’ve seen a movie unless you’ve seen all of it (forget about just 10 minutes of it!) But I have a feeling that’s what a lot of people do today… they run by it on a cable channel, watch 10 minutes of it, decide it “sucks” and then state their opinion of disliking the movie when they haven’t even seen it. There’s a whole generation (or two) of ADD/ADHD-afflicted people with no patience for anything that’s cerebral… They respond solely and entirely to the visceral.
Yes, several times. AMC gives you a refund if you leave within the first 30 minutes, and I take full advantage of that policy if I’m not enjoying the film. The most recent was a couple of years ago with Whatever Works, I love Larry David, I love Woody Allen, sounded like a can’t miss movie. It was wretched. Another one was What Just Happened, but not because it was a bad movie, there was some weirdo howling with laughter after almost every line. I mean literally after every line. It had to be somebody that just wanted to screw with the audience or something. But usually I’ll just leave and go into another theatre and watch a different movie. I did that with Cold Creek Manor, I left and watched Kill Bill again.
I walked out and got a refund for Alice in Wonderland. I love Johnny Depp, but that movie was crap.
I still get hassled by my friends for making the decision to go to Cold Creek Manor. I didn’t even think to walk out.
Halloween remake. It was just too damn brutal.
Aly, you asked for a refund for Fast Food Nation? Why? Because it showed the reality of how a burger is made? You can’t just wish away reality. If the slaughter of cows bother you (as it does me) then do something to make a difference like going vegetarian/vegan.
Good point JC!! Hopefully Fast Food Nation turned people into vegans.
MMMMM…. meat.
Choosing not to view graphic, and harrowing images helps ensure that nothing will change. Avoiding truth actually makes everything worse. So, thanks for walking out of “Fast Food Nation”, you stupid wuss. Hope your day wasn’t ruined, snowflake. And @Danman, I got the meat you like best right here -tubesteak smothered in jockey shorts, bee-yatch.
I’m eating a juicy burger right now. Nom nom nom.
I watched the movie and still enjoy meat. Circle of life. Is what it is.
It’s the audience’s job to research a movie beforehand. If you don’t like the movie, tough luck.
point taken, but then again if a refund´s possible why not taking it? it has become pretty obvious what to expect from certain directors and right now everything´s a sure bet: terrence malick = slow paced films, michael bay=stupid overproduced popcorn fare and entertaining for most people, chris nolan=the almost perfect blend between art and entertainment…so people shouldn´t be surprised when they pick a movie from certain auteur, proof´s out there.
I worked at a movie theatre for a number of years and we never offered refunds if you weren’t happy with the quality of the movie, early in the film or otherwise. The theatre doesn’t guarantee the quality of a movie, just the presentation of said movie.
However if you have problems with the presentation or the crowd, we would give money back.
Many years ago a group of us were so excited to see a movie that we sat through it even though the picture was shaky. One friend stopped looking at the screen after a while because she got a headache. People told the theater but it never got fixed. We went as a group to tell the manager at the end to make sure he knew. All he did was yell that if we watched the entire movie then no refunds. We were thinking – what an idiot – we wanted to help you fix a problem but you made us never want to come back to your theater again.
Agreed with both of your comments – if there’s an issue with the crowd, I support it, but I think it’s trashy to ask for a refund just because one isn’t enjoying the movie.
I disagree. Since part of what viewers paid goes to the film producers, there should be a refund.
@ Matt. Why is it trashy to ask for a refund if you realize you’re going to hate the movie after a few minutes? Would you also think it’s wrong to ask a restaurant to change a meal if it wasn’t what you expected after a few mouthfuls? Fair enough if you watch the film till the end, or finished the meal before you complained, but if it’s done early on what’s so trashy?
I worked at movie theatres for over ten years and we never gave refunds after the first 20 or 30 minutes. We figured you should have figured out by then whether you were in the wrong theatre or didn’t want to deal with subtitles or whatever. At both theatres where I worked, the unofficial policy was “you paid to see it, not to enjoy it.”
@Matt – I disagree too. At today’s movie prices, you’d be foolish not to request a refund for a film that was not even close to what it was promo’d as. How many of us have watched promos and thought a movie would be hilarious – only to find that the one funny part in the promo, was the ONLY funny part in the entire film!
I’m with you. Refunds would be appropriate if the theater itself deprived something from your experience. I don’t think you should get money back just because you didn’t like it or it wasn’t what you were expecting. I think the 30-minute policy would generally work, but I also think people should give movies more of a chance instead of making a snap judgment based on the first ten minutes in.
@Suncatcher: That’s what promos are supposed to do. They’re ads, and just like for any other product, they want to make it look as appealing as possible so you’ll pay for it. A good ad isn’t a guarantee of quality.
To “@Matt” (Angela)? Something about your comment grabbed me… about people making snap judgements and not giving the film (whatever it is) a chance. I know I’ll sound old, but my generation was the MTV Generation (Gen X) and WE were supposed to be the ones with the short attention spans. But man, I really see just no patience or anything but “instant gratification NOW” for the generations after mine. When I hear about people even FF on their DVDs (not through commercials–that’s fine) through anything that they find slightly annoying or boring, I grit my teeth. How will they ever really know if they like something unless they give it a real chance? And then they form opinions about things half-seen and think those opinions are valid. Okay, I’m stepping off my soapbox now.
If the theatre has that policy, I have no problem taking advantage of it. If they don’t, I’ll just leave the bad movie and give another one a try, or watch a good one I’ve seen before.
I worked at a theater that didn’t do refunds, but in the first half of the movie you could come out it it wasn’t what you though and get a pass to a different movie. It made people happy.
Cloverland — the most nausea-inducing movie of all time.
It’s Cloverfield.
You could at LEAST get the name of the movie right you dumb b*tch.
Wipe the Cheetos stains off of your mouth.
Jacob. Tsk, tsk. Be nice.
Relax Jacob.
I’m pretty sure JJ Abrams first name is Jacob.
Grow up Jacob.
Jacob, if they asked for their money back for Cloverfield why in the heck would they want to remember the name?
Wow Jacob! Why so obnoxious to Vivien? Like @Jacob said, you’re not likely to remember the title accurately if you have no plans on ever watching it again (unless it’s to avoid repeating the mistake).
Was it more nauseating than Cloverfield?
Ummm Blair Witch Project!!!
green lantern
Yellow Brick Road starring Cassidy Freeman.
Jo, as I read your reply, I checked Netflix and the film will be available after 8/2. Should I rent it out of pure curiosity or skip it entirely? How bad is the YellowBrickRoad?
@Jo. Cassidy Freeman is the bug-eyed actress from Smallville. That right there should have been a HUGE clue that YellowBrickRoad was only ever going to be a turd of a movie. Hell, even the title, with all the words mashed together, is pretentious and annoying! It’s no big surprise that the movie completely tanked at the box office.
@Jo. Which reminds me, I watched Kristin Kreuk (another Smallville alum) in The Legend of Chun Li on DVD a couple of years ago – well attempted to watch, I couldn’t even make it to halfway because it was so bad. Just plain awful! It’ll be hard to believe that YellowBrickTurd could be as bad as that!
@Denise. I think you’d only enjoy Yellow Brick Road if you were a mega fan of Cassidy Freeman. It was one of the most cliched, predictable and really boring movies I’ve seen in a long time. I wanted to watch a horror movie, and all I got was a horrible one!
@Kim. Chun Li was a big budget stinker whereas Yellow Brick is a bargain basement turd!
Hey kim, play nice. Cassidy Freeman might not be particularly pretty or talented but there is no need to call her names.
I liked “Cloverland.”
I enjoyed “Cloverland” a lot! I also loved “Some Countries for Old Men”, “Transmorphs 2″, and “The Green Guy” with “Brian Reynolds”. I hate all those “Beatrice Potter” movies with the wizards and stuff. I keep waiting for the rabbit, AND IT NEVER COMES!
Thank you for making my afternoon so much funnier!
BAHAHAHAHA!
Transmorphs 2…hahaha
I got a full refund and a voucher for Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon. I don’t know what was worse, the movie or the parents who let a 2 year old run wild during it.
Got a refund for Transformers 3 as well. Same reasons too! Awful movie, awful little kids with awful parents sitting behind me, just an awful time altogether.
yep transformers 2 is one of 2 movies that ive ever walked out of. terrible, terrible movie
Didn’t see Transformers 2 in the theatre, but did on DVD…fell asleep 1/2 way through. I was p*ssed I wasted my Netflix DVD for the week on that movie!
Won’t see Transformers 3, but I wasn’t surprised to see that every single person in the theater left half way through Transformers 2. It was just my son and I at the end, chatting out loud about the mess that movie was.
Transformer 3………….SUCKED!!!Didn’t walk out, I was determined to see how M. Bay ended the trilogy. And he ended it badly, I love Patrick Dempsey, but I didn’t see the point of having him in the movie.
I’m totally walking out and getting a refund next time I have to deal with a 2-year-old running around an R-rated movie. Happened at Bad Boys 2 – terrible movie, a 2-year-old running up and down the aisles, and a group of 12-year-old boys behind us watching their first R-rated movie and finding way too much humor in anything. All that is why I don’t go to movies very often anymore.
I never thought to do that. There’s a theatre by me that has first run movies for half the price of other local theatres, but the risk is there is ALWAYS a crying baby or bored toddler running the aisles. It could be a rated R movie at midnight on a school night and there is a kid too young for the theatre. I just stopped going there and see fewer movies now.
I saw a parent bring their young kid to Black Swan, and I was like, why? The kid was more like eight or nine, so beyond the toddler, running-around-and-crying age, but she was also at that point when she would vaguely get a sense of what’s going on. I just couldn’t stop thinking about how irresponsible that was from a parenting perspective.
This is why I got a refund for The Sixth Sense – who brings toddlers (and babies!) to The Sixth Sense?!?!?! Had to go back and see it another day.
Mikey is right. As a courtesy at time when someone knows how to approach and explain their disappointment without yelling- cursing or attacking staff then yes I accommodate a refund ( 30 MIN)
If I pay to see a movie in theaters, I know that I’m taking a bit of a risk since, even though I read the reviews, I don’t know whether I’ll like the film or not.
If I don’t like it, I don’t ask for a refund. It’s my own dang fault for picking the flick.
Exactly. No one forced me to go see Hudson Hawk. I went of my own free will. I’ve never asked for a refund due to the quality of a movie (once or twice I asked for a refund because of bad sound or picture)
Another Bruce Willis bomb…..I walked out of Mortal Thoughts (so long ago). It was so terrible, i couldn’t stand anymore. I didn’t ask for my money back, cuz I just wanted to get far, far away from that terrible film.
And there you have it. In a nutshell.
If the theatre has the policy, I’ll get a refund, I don’t see the problem with it. Of course, I won’t ask for a refund for the five dollar coke, I’ll just pretend like it’s a fine wine or something.
I agree. If you’re going to see Transformers 2, are you really expecting a cinematic masterpiece? I always read reviews to get an idea of what I’m about to see so I don’t waste time and money seeing a horrible movie when people can just tell me it’s horrible. If I still want to see it to judge for myself but it got largely negative reviews from practically everyone, then I can just wait a few months and rent it.
See my above post. No, I was hardly expecting to see anything this side of good, but wanted to see a movie with my teenage son, for his sake. That said, I was NOT expecting to see one of the worst movies ever to disgrace a cinema. Same can be said for Gulliver’s Travels–a travesty. I’d like to get my money back directly from Jack Black for that one.
I don’t think anybody expects a cinematic masterpiece when they see a movie like Transformers 2. I do think they expect to be entertained though, otherwise they wouldn’t have gone to see it. If you’re not enjoying yourself, and the theatre has a refund policy, leave and get a refund. There’s no reason to have angst over it.
Well said.
Prisoner of Azkaban…only because all the seats in the theater were wet. They had just cleaned them or something.
Consider yourself like either way. That movie was AWFUL.
*lucky. sorry.
I loved POA….
I loved POA too. Emma your heart is cold.
Emma is an idiot. All of the HP flicks are awesome except for the first one, which is a shame.
huh? POA is the best of the whole d*mn movie series!
Emma is seriously confused. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a good movie. So are the other Harry Potter movies. Consider yourself unlucky.
Emma and Zeo are both right: POA was awful AND it was the best of the series. It’s disappointing too because I love the books and was so looking forward to being entertained by the movies. The producers apparently decided that the sets and special effects were more important than doing a good job of transferring the story and characters to the screen.
Oh I loved the movie, I just didn’t like my seats wet
..or something.
However, I’ll ask for a refund if something is wrong with the presentation: The sound when I went to see THE DARK KNIGHT kept going off, and I left in the middle and got a refund.
oh, well. there are some parts in tdk where the sound is muted. maybe you didn’t realize that…
No, I know that the sound is sometimes muted. I mean that the sound sometimes went completely off (The entirety of the Joker’s bank robbery at the beginning was like a silent movie.)
The sound was off when I saw The Dark Night too! Whenever Batman talked it sounded like he was whispering! I told them but they just rolled their eyes and told me that’s what everyone said.
That sucks. I had a great experience with The Dark Knight.
My sister worked at a theater and said she would have a lot of people asking for refunds to Pans Labyrinth. They thought it was supposed to be English, one person even asked her to switch it over to English, as if it were a DVD or something.
HAHAHAHAH
I worke at a video store when that movie came out on dvd. Corporate sent us big signs to put up next to the disks. One said “Caution: The spoken language is Spanish, with English Subtitles” and the other said “This movie has been rated R by the MPAA, and as such is not be appropriate for children”.
Basically, people had rented it and complained that this movie that was not the child’s fairytale they thought it to be. People = stupid.
When I rented it at Blockbuster, the guy working the counter checked to make sure I knew it was in Spanish three times.
LOL!!
Oh Jesus.
Are you serious? Good lord, some people are MORONS!! On a side note, that movie was incredible…
Oh, I really want to see “The Book of Morons”.
opps, my bad… never mind.
A friend worked at a hteratre and said people took their kids then walked out because they didnt know that it R. They had to put up a sign outside that said “This film is an ADULT Fairy Tale”. It was pretty great.
When “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” came out, my local multiplex put up signs at the ticket window explain that it was in Chinese with subtitles. I have to assume stupid people were complaining.
They eventually had to do that in the theaters in our town too. Signs on the ticket window, movie posters, and the theater itself. And there were still people that walked out complaining when the hubby and I went to see it. It’s really sad.
*for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” that is.
I’m sorry, but those people were either stupid, or just too lazy to read…..that was an excellent movie.
I work a movie theatre and I’ve had a similar experience with Jet Li’s Hero. A woman wanted her money back because she didn’t realize the movie was subtitled. She basically said this was America and we should only show movies in English.
LOL! Only in America!
We need more Bort license plates!
I only ever walked out of 2 movies: George of the Jungle and some awful thing with Bridget Fonda and Albert Finny where he is an angel or something. Never asked for my money back though.
I’ve never done it, but a few friends went to go see Tree of Life last week and asked for their money back. According to them, the manager didn’t even ask which movie – he just knew it had to have been Tree of Life, and he gave them refunds.
Blair Witch was the only movie I ever walked out of.
Why would I ask for a refund?? It’s not the theater’s fault the movie stinks. And I also wouldn’t leave. Remember MST3K? Just think (silently) of all the jokes you can make of it.
Why not? Theaters make most of their money from concessions during the first couple of weeks of a movie’s run.
While they make most of their ‘profit’ from concessions – they’ve still got to pay for the film rentals. Additionally when a customer recieves a refund it deducts from the ‘admit’ tally of the film, which studios take into consideration when supplying theaters with advertising materials and films themselves. If the studio doesn’t think certain films will play well at your theater – they’re not going to go out of their way to get you a copy of the film in the future. It’s not all about the immediate profit.
I can’t remember the last time I bought any concession. So the admissions price is the only thing they get from me.
Highlander II
Funny you mention that, I’m actually watching an episode of the TV Series right now. Great show; terrible sequel.
Funny though I wanted to walk out of The Thin Red Line, Mallick’s last travesty, but stuck it out.
But he’s a genius. (sarcasm)
Never walked out. Usually I know what I am getting myself into before I go. Also, one way to avoid awful patrons is to wait until the lights go down and the previews start. Stake out an area where no one is sitting and go there. That’s my technique for avoiding morons.
“The New World” was Malick’s “last travesty,” which came out in late 2005. I think “The Thin Red Line” may be my favourite of Malick’s films.
I thought The New World was surprisingly beautiful. It was the first of Malick’s films I watched.
The New World was beautiful, but way too long. I think he could have deleted a whole hour and have ended with a much better movie.
The New World was my first too. I didn’t see it in theaters, just on DVD, and I didn’t get through it the first time. But later, when I was older, I gave it another try, and if you have some patience, it really is quite spectacular. I’m sure he could’ve easily made it shorter and still work, though.
I remember seeing Thin Red Line in a crowded theater on opening night. It turned out to be the only movie I’ve ever seen where people applauded the ending – not because the ending and the movie were great, but because of the fact that it actually, finally ended.