Has anybody ever left the theater in the middle of a movie because it was so bad?

[Briareus Delta]

Never actually walked out. But very, very tempted several times during 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. I think the only thing that kept me in my seat was the fact that I'd waited eagerly for so many years for the film to appear, I wanted to give it every chance.

 

[kaelcarp]

Cold Creek Manor and Queen of the Damned are the only two movies I have walked out on. QOTD is the worst movie I ever tried to see in a theater.

 

[gully_foyle]

Like most others, I haven't been willing to walk out on a movie. However, I was honestly tempted during The Phantom Menace, I was so disappointed.

DVDs I am quite happy to stop watching if I feel they are unadulterated crapola. Like Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

 

[PTeppic]

With the costs of going to the movies these day I can't afford to leave mid way.

Amen to that. I inadvertently went to see Raja [I think this one, but the plot summary doesn't match what I remember of it] (getting it confused with Beyond Rangoon, which in the end I never saw), which is a Bollywood film. I was ethnically unique in the audience, not least because it was not in English, or sub-titled so I couldn't understand the dialogue. I like to think I pick up plots quickly, so stayed, since I'd paid.

To answer the original question, I've walked out of a few films: A Knight's Tale, Rules of Attraction (both fairly near the beginning) and American Pie: The Wedding (about 2/3 through - perhaps should have stayed it out).

I'm not a huge fan of horror, though tinker round the edges: the night I saw Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in the end I decided I wasn't in the mood so walked out, though I saw it at another showing. Stood up to leave Hostel, moved back a few rows, but in the end sat down and saw it through.

For variations on straight "walked out", during The Mummy the reel snapped (irrecoverably for that time-slot) so we were evicted (though I went to see a subsequent showing); during Mickey Blue Eyes a parent died (150 miles away, expectedly) so I missed a reel or so taking the phone-call and in Shall We Dance (with wife) the 3rd reel was upside down and back to front (very amusing!) so we got our money back and had to go to a subsequent showing to see the rest.

(It's quite sad but I keep a list of all the films I've seen since 1995, including notes such as "walked out". One such note is that a friend & colleague was also in the auditorium to see Final Destination 3, but walked out, only to find his car stereo had been stolen: double bad!)

 

[jenna]

The only movie I almost walked out on was Valentine, the "horror" movie starring poor David Boreanaz, who must have been having a brain hemorrhage the day he said yes to that one. The only reason me and sis didn't walk out was because we saw on the ad that he had a shirtless, tied to the bed scene... Turns out that it was another character though, ho hum. Pointless. My sister still has the ticket to that one, so if she ever meets anyone associated with it she can demand her money back! Oh, although it was nice to see Denise Richards get murdered.. I think we've all thought about that one, haven't we??

Also, I fell asleep during Van Helsing. That's the only one I've ever nodded off in while in the cinema, though I do it all the time at home..

 

[Delvo]

I've left several, and it's always been a comedy that went the first 20 minutes or so without anything funny happening. These include "The Fisher King", "The Mystery Men", "Epic Movie", and one from China which seemed to be about a very poor neighborhood full of very poor people using their outrageous martial-arts abilities to stand up to some kind of business/mob/gang-like organization. I think that was also a musical, and was called "Kung Fu Histle", but I'm not sure.

There might be another one or two of those that I'm not recalling right now. The only one I've left that wasn't a lame unfunny comedy was a Harrison Ford movie a few years ago about a computer network administrator or something like that who ends up being the only employee in his company/bank/whatever who's there when a group of criminals show up to rob it or use its computers for some other sort of illegal scheme. But that wasn't because of the movie; it was because there was a big black bar across the middle of the screen with the top of the image below it and the bottom of the image above it. And I wanted to go back and see it later, but didn't get the chance.

 

[BladeOfFire]

I have once, it was in the middle of Vanity Fair. Possible one of the most boring movies ever.

 

[kaelcarp]

I've left several, and it's always been a comedy that went the first 20 minutes or so without anything funny happening. These include "The Fisher King", "The Mystery Men", "Epic Movie", and one from China which seemed to be about a very poor neighborhood full of very poor people using their outrageous martial-arts abilities to stand up to some kind of business/mob/gang-like organization. I think that was also a musical, and was called "Kung Fu Histle", but I'm not sure.

Wow, two of those - The Fisher King and Kung Fu Hustle - are among the better movies I've seen. Especially The Fisher King, which I think is one of the better Terry Gilliam movies.

I guess it shows how much tastes may vary.

As far as the price of movies goes, if a movie is really bad, it doesn't matter how much I've paid for it. I'm not going to sit through it. I mean, either way they have by $10-12. Sitting though an extra half hour of a bad movie isn't getting my money's worth anymore than leaving early is. At least if I leave early I can do something worthwhile.

 

[tangaloomababe]

Only once have I ever walked out on a film. "Meet the Flockers" I to got dragged along to this mindless drivel. I like a comedy but this didn't even rate a laugh let alone my time. I don't think I even made it to the half way mark and when people say to me "What a funny" movie, I am just stupped

 

[dustinzgirl]

You know, if your dads went to high school and then worked for a few years for the guy that owned the drive in until it went broke, and now manages the local theater, you wouldn't have to walk out of movies, you can just change theaters. I did that a few times, but I don't remember which movies they were.

PS: I know one was that Vanilla Sky movie but I don't remember what I switched it for. Holy crap that was the most boringest movie ever made. I'd rather watch 1960's health class films.

 

[Mad Tam McC]

The only film I walked out of was Disney's Tarzan. I took my daughter to see it (first film she's been to see at the cinemea) and she found it too scary and we had to leave.

Mind you the trailer for Gladiator didn't help!

 

[HoopyFrood]

Like a few others, I've never walked out on a film -- perhaps some part of me retains a shred of hope that it'll suddenly get better at the end, and I also think part of me wants to stay and see how it ends. There are plenty of films that have bored me so much that I start daydreaming halfway through, or, if the cinema is almost empty, just take up a conversation with my friends (which we did during Alien vs. Predator 2 -- there was another group in the room with us, but they too just gave up and started having a whispered conversation as well...)

 

[j d worthington]

I've got to admit that I've not walked out on anything, but I've come close. As far as the absolutely worst film I've seen? Try this:

Antropophagus (1980)

I saw this as The Grim Reaper. I also saw it for free (my then-wife was working at a movie theatre and we got into most other theatres in town free of charge). This was perhaps the only time I ever felt I not only got rooked at that price, but that I should have been paid for even showing up, let alone staying....

 

[Quokka]

I didn't walk out on Titanic as I was there with my girlfriend who was enjoying it but I do count it as the most painful experience cinema has inflicted upon me to date.

 

[Foxbat]

I didn't walk out on Titanic as I was there with my girlfriend who was enjoying it but I do count it as the most painful experience cinema has inflicted upon me to date.

I agree it's pretty bad. Probably the most over-rated film of all time. I still can't figure out the reason for all those Oscars.

 

[ShrubChucker]

I wish I could have walked out of Woody Allen's Scoop. Unfortunately, I was in a plane somewhere over the Atlantic at the time...

Personally, anything that has to do with Woody Allen is horrible....

 

[ShrubChucker]

I have walked out of a few movies....just walked into something I would rather see.

Aragon and The Golden Compass are most recent,
Mainly because I was bored...and the books were better.

There have been a few others but I can not remember.

 

[ShrubChucker]

I agree it's pretty bad. Probably the most over-rated film of all time. I still can't figure out the reason for all those Oscars.

When it came out I saw it with my GF, I told my teacher that my butt hurt after the movie (because it was so long) He said that was something I should keep private.

 

[Vladd67]

I didn't leave the theatre but someone did nudge as I had nodded off while watching Empire State in '87. Back then we worked on the theory if Barry Norman didn't like a film and gave it a lousy review then it was usually worth seeing, this time he was so right.

 

[Wybren]

I've only walked out on 2 Evita and then well we actually drove out of Team America. I wish I had walked out on phantom menace, I bought tickets to the first midnight screening and wished I had sold my ticket to my friend who couldn't get one.