If you’ve been to a Regal Cinemas theater lately, you’ve almost certainly seen their theater promo that is done entirely in movie quotes. Provided you didn’t enter the theater very late, this 60 second ad features theater goers speaking exclusively in movies dialogue, ranging from The Godfather and Casablance to Shrek, The Goonies, and Caddyshack. Despite the innocuous nature of the ad, and the fact that it’s clearly Regal trying to answer AMC’s famous Nicole Kidman ad, it’s one that has grown to become an irritant for film goers, and they’re all making themselves be heard.
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A thread on the /r/movies subreddit has quickly gained traction today with over 1700 upvotes on it as of this writing. Titled “Regal’s ‘famous movie quotes’ promo is driving me slowly insane,” the entire thread is filled with users venting and empathizing with each other about having to listen to the bad impressions, the hokey delivery, and the overall cringe of Regal’s ad. Many are criticizing the overall ad itself, which is delivered in such a random way that any contextual jokes of the movie quotes are completely lost since the entire “joke” is simply the lines of dialogue themselves and not that they’re inherently funny lines.
If you haven’t seen the ad yourself you can find it below, where you can also see what people are saying about it after having watched it a dozen times ahead of every movie they’ve seen in the past year.
Make it make sense
“The guy that says ‘So you’re saying there’s a chance?’after being told that there is not bothers me the most.” – /u/cosmoboy
Next time you see it
“This ad makes me feel insane. Next time you see it, imagine you didn’t know any movie quotes and are experiencing a schizophrenic breakdown while all these random people say nonsense to each other.” – /u/jimmygommbas
Bring back the coaster
“I absolutely loath this ad. What is so wrong with their classic rollercoaster opening? Why do they need two and one seemingly designed to drive the audience nuts.” – /u/ToDandy
Even the employees hate it
“Wait until you come full circle and get Stockholm Syndrome and start quoting it too. Source: I work at Regal and have seen the ad A LOT. We all hate it too lol.” – /u/DarkestDayOfMan
terrible
“My partner and I complain/roast this commercial every time. It’s SO BAD. Everything is so random and, sure, while the concept is nice the execution is so bad. The ‘Hey You guuuuys’ isn’t bad, but everything else is terrible.” – /u/Argine_
Only one thing makes sense
“The only part which makes any logical sense in its choice of quotes is the bit with Danny Trejo. He accuses the woman next to him of drinking his soda, she retorts that she has her own, and the girl next to her passes judgment on the guy sitting on the other side of Trejo, who we are to presume was the actual drink thief. (Granted, it took me several DOZEN viewings before I fully realized that’s what was going on…) Otherwise, fire this thing straight into the sun. It makes me appreciate the Regal Pepsi Girl policy trailer that annoyed me so much over 20 years ago.” – /u/TServo2049
weaponized cringe
“GOOD GOD, this ad is weaponized cringe. My partner and I have been actively trying to show up as late as possible to movies now to avoid having to watch it again.” –/u/happybarfday
Nicole wins
“This promo played a small part in me switching from Regal to AMC. It’s much easier to just zone out during the Nicole Kidman video.” – /u/Talk_About_Kevin
