Where do you sit in the cinema?

Middle...I have a habit of showing up 15 minutes early to EVERYTHING (everything) so I pretty much get to camp out where I wish. But I have to wait until the previews & din of the crowd have started before I can surreptitiously open the delicious cold beer I snuck in.

Maybe in the middle you do get to see the film better, but at the front you LIVE IT, man. It's THERE, in your FACE.

OTOH maybe that's why I can't stand the fast cutting in modern action films, that really can be disorienting from too close in.

gotta be front for the legroom. Although my girlfriend insists on sitting further back so as not to "make her eyes go funny"

a couple rows up from the very back

Always always halfway between the very front and the very middle and slightly to the left

I like to get eye level to the center of the screen, so it depends on how stadium-seaty the place is.

It honestly depends on what movie, how crowded, who the other audience is, etc. Generally closer to the front, preferably in the row right behind the aisle that separates the front section from the stadium seating section.

These days I prefer to watch them from the comfort of my rec room, frankly.

"Where do you give handjobs in the cinema?"

i like the middle but i LOVE the front

the back never works for me. i like the noise, man, the insaanity!

Surm are you answering Abbott's question here?

middle. aisle seat.

Middle of the center section, slightly closer to the back than the front, if it's not stadium seating. If it is, then either front row of the elevated section for maximum leg room, or the last row of the floor section. If I sit too close, I get dizzy and pukey.

DID you GO DOWN ON HIM – in – a theey-a-trr?

lol waiting for that

good spelling abbott

what is this stadium seating of which you speak?

i kid

Most theaters nowadays you have to be nuts to sit in the very front. Way too close to the ginormous screen. Almost enough to make one nauseous (and I'm not one to get easily nauseous, to say the least), and I don't want to have to move my head around constantly to see what's going on in the top left of the screen, then the bottom left, then whoa now the guy in the upper left is talking but pointing at something in the bottom left.

The Bourne Cloverfield Womit Conspiracy

xpost yes yes but legroom.

front-middle

Behind a very short and very quiet person, if I can find one

Some pokey cinemas have the seats way too close to the screen, but most of the ones I go to have a reasonable gap. And legroom is a must, I hate the endless shuffling to try and get my lanky pins into a comfortable position.

middle-back

not to be a crepe but when i go out to the theater, even though you're sitting in the dark, it is still a social experience. i like being able to get a sense of how the rest of the room is reacting.

I once sat in the third row for a movie* at the Uptown theater in Washington, DC, which has a 32' x 70' Cinerama screen. I nearly got a migraine trying to follow the action.

*OK, it was Star Wars Episode III. Happy now?

On my red leathe rcouch at home.

always in the middle, the middle middle. that's where everything's calibrated to work best, is my theory. I remember when surround sound started appearing that sitting on one side or the other, or too far forward, the dynamics would seem off.

I've been to the uptown many times and never sat upstairs. I keep wondering what it's like but then I figure if it ain't broke, etc.

middle, pref. aisle for leg stretch

Alfred has a very good point, there.

CLOSE ENOUGH TO REST MY EYEBALLS ON THE SCREEN!!!!!

Though if I'm at the movies, that means I'm with a friend who has dragged me there and they always try to make me sit back a row or two. Bah.

When I'm out I sit in the middle, aisle seat.

Usually 3/4 of the way up, aisle seat.

I prefer the right hand side.

If I'm on my own, I'll sit as far away from anyone else as possible - which is usually not a problem, as it's usually the early show.

We should have a poll thread with a seating plan!

toward the front, preferably middle of the center row.

When I saw Batman there was one guy right at the front in the middle - the screen was so big that I doubt if he could have seen it all. I vaguely admired his lunacy.

(he could have sat elsewhere!)

Row 6, just to the left of center.

Could've been me xp. Front row, middle seat. When I go to the cinema, I want AN EXPERIENCE - bright light, loud sound, whole field of vision used at all times. Batman worked quite well, and action films are generally quite good (it's not like you need a considered view to take in the subtleties). Plus, it being lunatic as you say, I almost always get the seat I want. I feel pretty aggrieved when there's some other loon in *my* seat and I have to settle - in which case I sit as close to the front as I can, as close to the centre of the row as I can

There are some downsides to this cavalier approach:
- going with other people. It's very rare that anyone understands my passion on this matter. I have to fight my instincts and compromise, and then bury those feelings of hatred. But I mean, come on - I went to see 'Shine A Light' with someone who insisted on the back row, and to be honest I'd've got a better view on telly. WHAT'S THE POINT OF THAT THEN??
- it really doesn't work sometimes. I wouldn't advise taking in a subtitled film that way, for example. Also, trailers are hell due to the fast cutting
- there's no getting round this - where you're there on your own, you are absolutely visible to a roomful of people, all of whom think you are a saddo and a lunatic

Two to five rows closer to the screen from the most central point in the theater.

Final advantage to the front row - it's the only place that guarantees you won't get someone with an afro or a beehive coming in afterwards and heading straight for the seat in front of you

when was the last time you saw someone with a beehive?

god i hate all those beehive people that i have never seen at the movies

Great, *now* I look like a mentalist

as close to the middle as possible

10-12 rows back, dead center. Don't mind sitting closer, but hate the first few rows. Further back's okay, if that's all I can get. Hate the way back and the far sides, especially hate the sides up close. Basically do everything I can to avoid crowded theaters, though semi-crowded is good for comedies.

Just like adamrl, middle and a bit to the left.

I once heard some bullshit theory that because of the curve of the screen or something a movie should always be seen from a bit to the right or left, not from the center.

at the front you LIVE IT, man. It's THERE, in your FACE.

How about your NECK, dude? We once sat on the front row. WHAT THE HELL. It was torture.

I usually sit in the middle. A bit closer to the front but still middle.

But you get to stretch out! Tis the most comfortable place fer sure, never had a neck problem.

Wherever allows me to sit so that I don't crick my neck or go goggle-eyed; so generally as central as possible.

There's a front section, then there's a horizontal walkway, then a mid section.

The front row of that, with lots of leg room. Next to Melinda Messenger.

ya middle. Disturbing allocated-seating trend in Australian cinemas lately :/

I always sit close to the front, so that the screen will be VERY BIG.

Also, less people sit down the front, so no problems with munters.

Following on from all the "poopsock"/"jug of wee" threads, I misread this as "where do you shit in the cinema"

Kids films from the frony row are often terrifying.