/r/opencaptions
Anything about open captions except dislike for open captions. Open captions are on-screen subtitles in movie theaters or live theaters. Open captions benefit deaf/hard of hearing, autism, attention deficit disorder, auditory processing disorder, ESL, kids learning to read, adult literacy, noise sensitive.
/r/opencaptions
In an effort to increase awareness of the availability of open captions, we have been posting in selected subreddits. Some people have responded stating that open captions might bring them back to movie theaters. Say what? Instead of hurting movie theaters, with adequate promotion, could open captions actually INCREASE their business? The key is more promotion and clear communication about how open caption screenings are limited and separate. Here's a sampling of the responses that were posted on the subreddits in response to our various posts:
u/paigeh52: Thank you for posting this! I haven't gone to a movie in years because I rely on captions. I'll have to go check this out!
u/MasterRKitty: thanks for posting this! I might start going back to the movies.
We can't find it now, but there was also a comment from a Redditor saying that open captions might get him to go to the movies more than the once or twice a year he does now.
Came across this theater offering open captions in Janesville, Wisconsin. Interestingly, they have multiple open caption screenings daily.
Just found out about this reddit thread from 5 days ago when the op mentioned it on another thread.
This Redditor described what happened when he was using a closed caption device.
https://www.reddit.com/r/deaf/comments/1h31fhv/just_had_someone_try_to_get_me_kicked_out_of_the/
It is only Friday, but the data is already clear: at many theaters, open caption sales for Moana 2 are through the roof. Multiple factors come into play: holiday weekend so the daytime screening times aren't a problem; maybe parents like the earlier open caption screening times; maybe other screenings are so full that the we-don't-cares are grabbing the open caption seats. It is a good bet that many people will be experiencing open captions for the first time this weekend. Hopefully it will be a good experience that encourages them to return to theaters for more open caption screenings.
Often, theaters will try to stick the open caption screenings at only the lowest demand times. When people are at work for instance. Or very early in morning or very late. Three people wanted to see Wicked in open caption badly enough to get up early this morning in Glendale, California for the 8:45 am open caption screening of Wicked. This was the earliest screening today (and tomorrow). The next earliest screening was/is at 9:00 am. Should Caption Action 3 complain to the theater?
Edit: We found an earlier one than that. 8:20 am today at AMC Orange in Orange, California. This theater also had non-captioned screenings at 8:00 and 7:45 am, but what makes it unfair about it being so early for the open caption screening is that people who don't want to see the early non-captioned screenings have plenty of other choices - and people who need/want open captions do NOT have plenty of other choices!
Found this facebook post by The Showbox, a dinner theater in Hopkinsville, Kentucky (not far from Louisville). Judging from the results of searching their page, it appears they occasionally offer open captions.
Anyone who follows the movie theater industry knows that many if not most tickets get sold within a few hours of the scheduled screening time. This is because going to the movies is often a spur of the moment activity. So, we were stunned to discover this post on Facebook that warns (threatens??) that any open caption screenings that do not have tickets sold 24 hours prior to showtime could be switched to a regular showing. If true, this theater's policy is DISCRIMINATION! See our reply comment below on Facebook. And if other theaters have similar policies, this is further proof of why we need laws to protect and require open caption screenings!
Edit: This is a post from a public Facebook group. Direct link is in a comment below.
Edit 2: It MUST be true. According to her Linked In profile, Lori Specter is a manager at AMC Theatres in Illinois. Direct link to the Linked in page in comments.
Edit 3: A policy like this means that if no seats have sold for open caption screenings of popular movies like Wicked and Moana 2 by 24 hours before the show time, those screenings could get taken away and people who don't decide that they want to go to the movie until about 4 hours before the show time, will not be able to buy tickets! That's discrimination.
Edit 4: The Facebook post that was screenshotted, is now gone. However, there is still one there from October 25, and another from October 9 that says the same thing. Adding links to those earlier posts in the comments.
Edit 5: The two earlier October Facebook posts saying the same thing, are now also gone! The screenshots before the posts were removed, can be seen in the comments below.
We had a Sunday, November 24 12:05 pm open caption screening of Wicked at the Cinemark Christiana in Newark, Delaware on our spreadsheet. It had already sold 5 seats. Today, we checked back and found this open caption screening had been removed. Yes, removed even though it originally showed five seats had already been bought for the open caption screening.
Edit: as of 11/11, the open caption label is back. Apparently the earlier label may have been a mistake as cinemark reportedly does not post open caption screenings until within about 2 weeks of movie time.
The first drop of a scheduled open caption screening has been found: The AMC Dakota Square in Minot, North Dakota had scheduled an open caption screening of Wicked for Thursday, November 21 at 3:00 pm. Today, went back to check that theater (because the Saturday screening has already sold 4 seats) and found that Thursday open caption screening had been removed. It had not sold any screenings yet, but given time, it probably would have. The theater still has Friday, Saturday, and Sunday open caption screenings of Wicked.
In Arkansas, only four theaters offer open caption screenings regularly. The vast majority of theaters are not offering open captions. Even in Little Rock, the biggest city in Arkansas, the AMC, VIP, and Cinemark theaters do not offer open caption screenings.
ARKANSAS THEATERS OFFERING OPEN CAPTIONS
ARKANSAS THEATERS NOT OFFERING OPEN CAPTIONS
Here's another one found and verified today. BTM Cinemas Scene One Spectrum in Albany, New York (where two other theaters already offer open captions). Verified their two Wednesday offerings:
It continues to rain new theaters....Verified the West Newton Cinema in West Newton, Massachusetts is offering open captions. See the OC under the 10:30 AM screening of Conclave for tomorrow.
Yet another discovery for today. When it rains, it pours. The Regal Crystal Lake Showplace in Crystal Lake, Illinois has open caption screenings. For example, this screening tomorrow. There's also an OC Wicked already set up for November 23.
Busy day for this sub. Now we have found that in Venice, Florida the Spotlight Theatres has open caption screenings. Their open caption screening of Conclave tomorrow has already sold seats.
Looks like Apple Cinemas is quietly expanding open captions at its theaters. Here's another one just found, in White Plains, New York.
Just discovered that the Apple Cinemas Brass Mill in Waterbury, Connecticut has open captions. They have open caption screenings of the Venom movie daily this weekend.
Hat tip to u/Jaded-Enthusiast for the tip that the AMC Southpoint 17 in Durham, North Carolina has regular open caption screenings. We did not know because this theater is not officially part of the AMC open caption program (see https://www.amctheatres.com/open-caption - it is not listed under North Carolina). A quick check verified that this theater has regular open caption screenings. Keep the tips coming, folks!
Time and time again, we have seen movie theaters post open caption screenings (as we set up our spreadsheets for collecting data) --- then take those open caption screenings away. What really gets our goat is when we see that a scheduled open caption screening has already sold some seats --- then is taken away and changed to a non-captioned screening! This is totally unfair to people who want or need open captions. We just saw this happen this past week at a Cinemark theater that had scheduled a 3:40 pm open caption screening for Wicked on Sunday, November 24. First, we found that screening set up in advance as an open caption screening and documented that it had already sold 5 tickets. Then when we checked again yesterday, we found that open caption screening WAS NO LONGER OPEN CAPTION and had now sold 7 tickets. Programmer error? We don't think so!
We are fed up with theater programmers setting up OC screenings then removing them as the time gets closer to movie release, denying open caption attendees the chance to buy the tickets. If no tickets have already been sold and the removed open caption screening is moved elsewhere on the schedule, that is okay in our book. But in this case, seats had ALREADY been sold while it was labeled an open caption screening. So unless this theater restores the open caption screening, there will be no open caption screening of Wicked that Sunday (we checked Wednesday too. No open caption screening there of Wicked yet either).
Theaters, be warned. Wicked and Moana 2 are going to be hot. Caption Action 3 is watching you and if you remove an already-scheduled open caption screening without replacement we will be posting about your theater on social media to tell the public what you are doing. If an open caption screening has already sold seats before you remove it, we are going to post the numbers and blast your theater even harder on social media. Open caption discrimination will not be tolerated!
In Arizona, 24 movie theaters are known to offer regular open caption screenings. How many do not? 61 do not, meaning less than 30 percent are offering open caption screenings.
ARIZONA MOVIE THEATERS OFFERING OC
ARIZONA MOVIE THEATERS NOT OFFERING OC
Looking forward to these two movies? Tickets for open caption screenings are already available at multiple locations. If non captioned screenings sell out the we don't cares (aka people who don't care if the movie has captions because they are used to captions) will eye the open caption screenings next. So you may want to snatch up open caption seats now.
Edit: tickets for Moana 2 went on sale yesterday.
Beginning this Sunday October 20, the Look Dine-in Cinema in Reston, Virginia will have open captions on Sunday evenings.
Copied from MOCM Facebook post (with their permission):
As Bugs Bunny once sang: "OVERTURE, CURTAIN, LIGHTS...THIS IS IT...THE NIGHT OF NIGHTS!"
Actually, for this event, it's at 2 pm in the afternoon on Saturday, November 2. The MOCM committee rolls out the red carpet and invites people to come watch the film with Tom Hanks and Robin Wright called "Here" with open captions!
But this isn't just any movie event...the MOCM committee is planning a very special program celebrating the accomplishment of the Open Captioned Movie Bill now in full effect in the State of Maryland! And everyone gets to revel in that celebration. Your ticket purchase comes with a drink of your choice and popcorn. Hurry, the deadline to be one of the movie VIPs is on Saturday, October 18th.
So easy to remember the 2s: For $20, come enjoy a piece of America's favorite pastime at 2 pm on November 2! See you there!
[Image Description]
Flyer has light blue background, white background picture of the movie “Here,” rated PG with Tom Hanks and Robin Wright.
Text:
MOCM COMMITTEE
INVITES YOU TO
[Movie Marquee Sign]
Open Captioning MOVIE
[Ribbon Filmstrip]
NOVEMBER 2
Saturday
2:15 PM
TICKET INCLUDES
Drink and Popcorn
Deadline: October 18
[QR CODE]
TICKET $20
JotForm to register:
https://form.jotform.com/242844261498162
Movie location:
Cinemark Columbia Snowden ScreenX
9161 Commerce Center Dr.
Columbia, Maryland 21046
General questions, contact:
Payment questions, contact:
On bottom of the flyer shows images of a movie clapboard and an old-fashioned movie reel.
Just now we discovered via a Facebook post that tiny one-screen Flat Rock Cinema in North Carolina is offering open captions. A search of their page found an earlier post from September 22, so they may have started then. Wonder what Smiles are in their hashtag - a food unique to their area or do they mean customer service smiles?
ALASKA THEATERS OFFERING OC
ALASKA THEATERS NOT OFFERING REGULAR OPEN CAPTIONS
Movie theaters in the U.S. offering open captions:
ALABAMA THEATERS OFFERING OC
ALABAMA THEATERS NOT OFFERING REGULAR OPEN CAPTIONS
Movie theaters in the U.S. offering open captions: https://www.reddit.com/r/opencaptions/s/FMUbKpCd0f
Yesterday on Facebook, the Laurelhurst theater announced they were excited to begin offering open captions.