A few years ago, I kind of wondered about this, and mused whether I could stay for a second showing in a theater, or if I'd be shown the door. It would've mattered years ago, when I was homeless, and sometimes purchased a ticket to see a good film, and sometimes missed most of that film because I just wanted to sleep instead.<p>But a recent change has definitively killed this idea: reserved seating. Reserved seating was never a thing in these United States, not in the major cities where I lived. You showed up at the box office and it was General Admission for any seats you could take, first-come, first-served.<p>But a few years ago, I became aware of an independent theater nearby which had reserved seating. And sometime in the past 12 months, reserved seating has been introduced as standard to both major chains that dominate my hometown.<p>So if your ticket is purchased for a specific seat at a specific showing, there's no way you could argue that you could stay in that seat, or any other, for the next showing, or show up early for the prior showing. You won't necessarily get challenged, but now there's an extra risk of someone else who belongs to that seat, especially in a popular film.<p>Movie theaters are currently struggling to reinvent themselves, and they're risking obsolescence as more blockbusters go straight-to-streaming, and direct-to-video isn't such a dirty word anymore. It's a miracle that they bounced back after the pandemic. They are now hosting live video-game events, a live Taylor Swift concert, classic films on a weekly basis, and other creative auditorium uses: I believe that your company can have a teleconference in there, too.<p>My local theater recently added a full bar. Alcohol at the movies wasn't a thing when I grew up. The first time I had a beer and a movie, it was in Barcelona. So far, I have not been subjected to any drunken disruptions, but the floors remain sticky as always.