Oscar Stole My Television Set!: Kinepolis: A European Moviegoing Experience

Kinepolis is a massive movie theater in the heart of Madrid, Spain. It opened in 1998 with twenty-five rooms and over 9,200 seats, which earned it a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most seats in a movie theater. When you enter, there are little screens displaying only the showtimes, unlike how you can purchase tickets at those screens here in America. That extra money for screens (similar to those of ATM machines) without the ability to even print tickets already shows how much more the general public cares about movies across the Atlantic. There are also pamphlets with the
times. Once you have decided which movie you would like to see, you get in line to buy the tickets. The setup of the line is similar to when you check your bags at the airport, with the raised platform for the employees and a roped-out line. After the tickets have been purchased, it is time to move to the food station. It is self-serve, unlike your typical American theater. The closest I've gotten to helping myself here is by pouring my own butter on the popcorn after buying it. Kinepolis also had bags of chips and other atypical theater foods. Then you wait in line to be checked-out, similar to a grocery store. That's not all! Prior to entering your theater, you've just got to pick up the Kinepolis magazine, where the grand theater updates you about upcoming movies and events while you sit reading this magazine in the theater before the previews start. (I will post a picture of this as soon as I find it!) This is wonderful and feasible because the average European shows up earlier than the typical American moviegoer.
Stuck in Love, or Un invierno en la playa in Spanish. Titles are changed completely in foreign countries, and this Spanish one translates to "A winter at the beach." I wanted to see a Spanish film, but there was only one, and the scheduling did not work out. Thus we were forced to see an American movie. There were no subtitles. I was basically able to follow what was happening, and it was an ordinary little romantic comedy. I don't really care to see it again, because it wasn't noteworthy, so I will just stick to describing the experience rather than the movie. As always, see imdb.com for more information. The trailers (which, if my memory serves me, were all of American films) were all recut, some just narrated over, others dubbed with Spanish as the Americans moved their mouths. The inflection was often different in the dubbed voice, but it always paralleled the moving mouths, even though the breaths were taken at different points. My Spanish friends, my cousin, and I saw
The theater was huge, probably having a few hundred seats. The theater was probably close to being half-full, which is quite a turnout considering how many seats were there. It was Saturday, June twenty-second, 2013, at 8:15. It was the week before the students' last day of school, and final exams were underway, so that could be a reason for the less-than-stellar number of audience members. The chairs were spacious and couch-like. There were two armrests per chair, so I did not have to awkwardly take turns using it with the stranger to my left. Since Spanish people are very expressive in conversations, I expected to hear more reactions to the action on the screen than in America. I guess that was true to some extent, but I expected more. The plot was pretty predictable and not much happened, so perhaps that is why the crowd was quiet most of the time. They did find a goofy sex scene funny, expressing their laughter outwardly.
After the film, many stayed for the end credits. Kinepolis seemed to be getting more crowded, probably because the sun was finally beginning to set when we left around 10pm. It was really interesting to compare the experience to going to the movies home in the U.S. I'd like to give a shout-out to Javier and Sara, for taking Logan and me to Kinepolis. ¡Tenía una gran experiencia!