Though one accidental showing could be chalked up to a mistake, repeated showings of Rise of the Guardians instead of Guardians of the Galaxy seem like trolling to us.
Fans got way less than they bargained for on Thursday when a Regal Cinemas in Virginia repeatedly showed the wrong Guardians film in a Guardians of the Galaxy screening. Instead of showing the latest Marvel film, the theater mistakenly showed the opening segment of 2012’s kiddie flick, Rise of the Guardians. The worse thing is, it just didn’t happen once, but three times. Dean Browell, who was sitting in the audience with his 10-year daughter states that they sat through 15 minutes of previews, before being shown five minutes of Rise of the Guardians before a theater employee came in to say they were fixing the error. Unfortunately, the same audience was then subjected to another 15 minutes of previews before Rise of the Guardians played again. The cinema then offered to give the audience a ticket to a late 3D Imax showing, with half of the moviegoers taking the offer.
But Browell, who deemed the Imax showing to be too late in the day, stayed on for the 2D showing and waited. According to Browell, “There was a 10 minute wait, then the lights went down again and the third go of previews started, this time with the new Interstellar one, which gave us hope.” However, all hopes were dashed when Rise of the Guardians started playing for a third time, which drew expletives from a then-agitated crowd. Browell adds, “It was now 9:15 p.m., from an 8 p.m. movie..Those left in the theater stormed out and then joined a line 50-people long trying to get their money back, anything. We were so disappointed.”
YOU HAD ONE JOB. (Then it happened AGAIN.) @RegalMovies #rva #GuardiansOfTheGalaxy pic.twitter.com/DUbyAuLDlu— Dean Browell (@dbrowell) August 1, 2014
Fortunately for Browell and the others who stayed on, the theater refunded their tickets, gave them a poster for Guardians of the Galaxy, and tickets to a Friday show. Oddly enough, this isn’t an isolated incident. A woman in New Jersey tweeted that the same mix up happened at a Regal screening as well. And again, the movie shown was Rise of the Guardians instead of Marvel’s sci-fi superhero flick. CinemaBlend theorizes that Regal had been showing kid-friendly matinees featuring Rise of the Guardians and that an employee might have labeled the Dreamworks film as just Guardians, which could have heavily contributed to the wrong movie being played.
Guardians of the Galaxy has already proven to be a box office hit, with a projected $36 million estimated take at theaters this Friday. Marvel for its part, has banked on the film tracking well and even greenlit sequel even before the first one has been released in cinemas, with an estimated theater release in July 28, 2017.
Have you or anyone else you know experienced the same mix-up when watching Guardians of the Galaxy? If so, share your stories in the comments.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, CinemaBlend
