i've tried that many times; success rate below 20%; how it's gone wrong:
- my reserved seats are occupied, regardless of how full the theater is; when holding a popcorn and drink it's impossible to get the phone out to show the usurpers; it's also impossible to communicate verbally due to the aforementioned preview soundcannon; by the time a manager is found, if they can be found, the movie has started
- there are all kinds of perturbations to the above; a horde of children that want to sit together and their karenmoms incensed i want to sit in my reserved seats; there are empty seats down low in the look straight up section and the usurpers motion to those seats implying that's where i should go; the manager fails to get the usurpers to move and motions me down to the bullshit section and on and on
- staggered start times are factored for concession staffing; if your movie is one of the last of a batch then the manager is going to cut staff loose or re-task them where they are not available to help any late surge; in addition the competence level of concession staffing has plummeted to negative numbers; this last caveat alone requires the insurance of a 20-minute buffer, which of course inevitably only is needed when it's not needed
- occasionally the manager will volunteer a refund for complaints, but only for monies paid, with no consideration for the sunk cost of opportunity and time; i made the effort to buy the ticket online and commit the time, and i don't care what the "contract" says or doesn't say, the only way to ensure my sunk costs are recovered is to arrive early, acquire concessions, and then hold hands over my ears and shut my eyes during the 20-minute preview storm
now, of course, i could patronize alamo, which kicks ass but it's 30 minutes away
there is an alamo-clone 15 minutes away, but it sucks and is over-run with people who i don't like to be around