Dave Rose, Owner of Township Theater in Washington Township, NJ Interview

Dave Rose speaks with Mendte in the Morning about the rise in rowdy behavior at movie theaters during screenings of ‘A Minecraft Movie’ and the parents that are not controlling their kids.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, there's a new movie out right now called Minecraft. Minecraft.
I was just never into Minecraft. I guess it's not
my age thing, right, certainly not. I'm getting a look
from Badleie like, no, you're off by about forty years exactly,
maybe a little more. But nonetheless, there are now cinemas
warning against disruptive behavior at Minecraft movie screenings. Apparently police

(00:21):
were called over some viral reactions. So on the phone
right now with us is Dave Rose, who's the owner
of Township Theater in Washington Township, New Jersey. Good morning
to you, Dave.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good morning, Ken. How are you so?

Speaker 1 (00:34):
You know, you try to run your theater, you try
to keep things nicer people. And then what happened when
you showed Minecraft.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well, here's what it was. We noticed a lot of
kids were coming in just buying, you know, a ticket each,
and the line was out the door because you know,
to process one one at a time, one at a time,
it takes a while. So I looked at my wife
and I said, wow, lot a lot of these kids.
You know, they're coming in by themselves. So we didn't
really think anything of it at the time, but they

(01:02):
wound up being about seventy five of these kids and
they go in the theater, the movie starts, we left,
our manager stays behind. And what I'm finding out is
apparently there was memes on TikTok that basically in sight
rowdy behavior based on things that the characters say, like

(01:26):
chicken Jockey, which I have no idea what it is,
but when they said certain things, the kids got rowdy,
throwing stuff, jumping up on seats, you know, going crazy
with each other. And they also brought tubes of hand
cream or something, and I don't know what that was,

(01:48):
but they were smearing it all over themselves, squirting it
around the around the theater, on the seats, and these
kids were stupid enough to take a TikTok video of
themselves doing it, which then went viral. Yeah, so, I
mean it was. It was just kind of nuts. My
manager called me after the show and he was like

(02:10):
almost in tears, telling me how bad the theater is.
And they destroyed a row of seats. They were uplifted
out of the out of the anchors, into the floor.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Were you able to get any of these parents of
these kids.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, we did. My wife put a Facebook post out
and it turns out that, you know, we did know
the town. I'm not going to mention it now because
that that did cause like an up uproar. We you know,
supposedly we called out the town, which I don't I
don't even know what that means. I did not know
these kids. But some of the parents responded by defending

(02:51):
their kids, saying, oh, their kids, they're having fun. They're
having fun. So that post went crazy. The Senator Shapizi
commented on it, and that's and that's how this thing
became what it is now. My wife was on Channel
twelve news last night. We've been on radio channels like yours.

(03:13):
So I don't know. It's just it's it's it's kind
of stupid because the parents of today are just not
the same. I see it every day in the theater.
I told Natalie, I get you know, these kids are
standing on seats, the parents are taking a picture of
the kid as if it's like something fun. They're standing
up on the arms of the chairs. I mean, what

(03:33):
what's going on today? I don't know.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
I mean, it's as they used to say, it's funny
until somebody loses an eye. I mean, what if the
kid falls and then they'll sue you because it's your theater.
That's the thing. It's like, Okay, the kids acting recklessly,
You as a parent are sitting there watching the kid
act recklessly, and somehow it's the theater's fault that you
sat there and watched your kid fall because they was
standing on the on the on the arm rest. But ultimately,

(03:57):
will you go through insurance? How much damage was called
to the theater financially?

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Well, I mean we we we came in the morning after.
I actually had to come in with a you know,
a hammer, drill, a sledge hammer, screws, nails, and I
had I had to put the seats back together. I
had had to bend the frames back, drill them back
into the floor. I mean, I do it myself, you know,
because I am a owner operator. So we did it ourselves.

(04:26):
We got the theater kind of back back in shape.
So and and again, I don't I don't know if
I really want to prosecute these kids, even if the
detectives find out who they are, because the police department
does have the video now. But I just wish the
parents would, you know, do a little more with their
kids and explain when you're going to go into a business.

(04:47):
You do not act like this. Okay, be respectful. My
mother used to show me teeth before I walked into
a store, like don't touch it else.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
And that was worse than any other punishment you could.
Dave Rose, owner of Township Theater in Washington Township, New Jersey,
we hope this doesn't continue happening. Thank you for giving
a heads up to all the other movie theater owners
that we appreciate your being on today. Thanks all right,
you have a great one.