Boycott Regal Cinemas
Wednesday, 08.08.2007 – Category: Events & Recaps, Media, News
Free Culture @ NYU is joining the call for a chain wide boycott of Regal Cinemas over their draconian punishment of a 19 year-old girl caught taping 20 seconds of the Transformers film. We demand that Regal Cinemas drop all charges against Jhannet Sejas, and that the entertainment group issue a full apology to the teen.
From a recent Washington Post article on Jhannet’s arrest:
“I was terrified,” said Sejas, her voice breaking. “I was crying. I’ve never been in trouble before.” She said the assistant manager of the theater saw her holding up the Canon Power Shot and reported it to the general manager, who called police.
Sejas said she had no intention of selling the 20-second film clip. She just wanted to show it to her 13-year-old brother, who had said he wanted to see the movie. She was shocked when the officers showed up.
Sejas faces up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500 when she goes to trial this month in the July 17 incident. Arlington police spokesman John Lisle said it was the decision of Regal Cinemas Ballston Common 12 to prosecute the case, a first for Arlington police.
While the question of whether or not Jhannet’s Transformers clip counts as fair use (it is our opinion that it does, as it is private, non-commercial use of an unsubstantial portion of the original), there is another question we should be asking, and that is whether or not we should be patronizing a corporation that insists on pressing charges against someone who is clearly not the intended target of anti-piracy laws. Regal Cinemas should be ashamed of itself and its silly zero-tolerance policy.
Here’s a list of Regal Cinemas in New York City that you should not patronize:
Regal Union Square Stadium 14
850 Broadway, New York, NY 10003Regal E-Walk Stadium 13
247 W. 42nd St., New York, NY 10036Regal Battery Park Stadium 11
102 North End Ave., New York, NY 10281UA 64th St and 2nd Ave
1210 Second Ave., New York, NY 10021UA East 85th St
1629 First Ave., New York, NY 10028UA Court Street Stadium 12
108 Court St., Brooklyn, NY 11201UA Kaufman Astoria Stadium 14
35-30 38th St., Astoria, NY 11101Regal Atlas Park Stadium 8
80-28 Cooper Avenue, Glendale, NY 11385UA Brandon Cinemas
70-20 Austin St., Forest Hills, NY 11375UA Midway Stadium 9
108-22 Queens Blvd., Forest Hills, NY 11375UA Sheepshead Bay Stadium 14
3907 Shore Pkwy., Brooklyn, NY 11235UA Staten Island Stadium 16
2474 Forest Ave., Staten Island, NY 10303UA Hylan Plaza 5
107 Mill Road, Staten Island, NY 10306
Click here for a page where you can find Regal Cinemas in your area.
We wish Jhannet the best of luck in defending herself against Regal Cinemas and hope that the chain will soon realize how inappropriate and sadistic its actions were.
Click here to Digg the story and help publicize our Boycott!
UPDATE: The President of Regal Cinema’s e-mail address is : ddelaria@regalcinemas.com and their official number is 1-877-835-5734. Call and/or e-mail to tell Regal Cinemas that they’re wrong!
12 Responses to “Boycott Regal Cinemas”
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August 8th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
This story about Jhannet Sejas is precisely the reason why a Movie Theater ratings site would be great. (See the Consumerist.com post here: http://consumerist.com/consumer/movies/how-do-you-know-which-movie-theaters-are-good-and-which-ones-are-bad-286498.php)
The actions that Regal is taking against Ms. Sejas is type of customer experience that companies should be trying to avoid – and not perpetuate.
Great Customer Experiences are central to customer loyalty and long-term customer relationships, something that Regal just doesn’t seem to get.
http://www.voxinc.com
August 8th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Are you kidding me? She broke the law. Period. Think about it in terms of shoplifting. Would you be boycotting Walgreens because they prosecuted a teenager for stealing a 25 cent pack of gum? No. The law is the law and 20 seconds or 20 minutes – makes no difference.
Now, before you start flaming, I hate the movie studios, the **AA’s and all the other media brats for their anti-consumer policies regarding their supposed intellectual property but this is different. Everyone knows you aren’t allowed to video tape in a movie theater. Even I have to side with Regal on this one.
August 8th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
sorry but the 20 second excuse is lame. Ever heard of movie trailer?
I agree no jail time, but the fine stays … broke the law .. end of story …
I am not ruining my movie experience because she broke the law …
August 8th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
[...] Been posting to the new blog for a few days and already TechCrunch and FreeCultureNYU have posted materials and ideas sans attribution: [...]
August 8th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Too many people are doing nothing while BAD new laws are being created and GOOD laws are losing their validity. Intellictual property rights laws are GOOD laws. This girl was stealing, she should be happy that she’s in a country where you don’t get your hands cut off for taking something that doesn’t belong to her. In the US we don’t have such a law (much to the Bush regime chagrin, I’m sure). If you’re running video in a movie theater, you should be held responsible. Period.
August 8th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Stop crying and blaming institutions for trying to protect themselves from illegal activities. Yes, she faces up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine, but that doesn’t mean that is what she will be serving/paying. She deserves to be prosecuted, but I do not think that under the circumstances you are describing that she should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, it should be reserved for the true criminals. But yes, she should still be punished.
August 8th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
So if breaking the law in any way shape or form requires punishment, does that mean cars should have automatic ticket printers for when you got 51 in a 50? Or does it just apply to getting caught?
This war on piracy is getting old. Make the experience a better value and you’ll attract the majority of the pirates back. But like the drug war you’ll never stop it all, so fighting it is pointless. Laws like this only keep people who wouldn’t pirate in the first place from pirating.
Hopefully she’ll get a lawyer that has some experience with copyright and can show how this BAD law doesn’t work with current fair use policy. And it’s very simple, if the evidence shows that she had 20 seconds of the movie and she wasn’t filming when asked to leave, than it’s obvious she’s no pirate. I can’t believe she’d use such a lame excuse if it wasn’t the truth. Hell if I want to take my camera into a theater to test it’s low light filming capabilities I should be able to as long as I don’t film a substantial portion of the movie. Like she was part of a ring of pirates that film movies 20 seconds at a time.
I think it’s nice that Regal doesn’t hold enough stock in their managers to decide if there’s reason to call the cops. I’m amazed the cops didn’t read the manager the riot act for wasting their time.
For a crime to be committed there has to be a reasonable intent to commit the crime. That’s why people who kill people in car accidents aren’t tried for murder in most cases. It’s obvious she wasn’t intending to commit a crime, and for all we know she didn’t know there was the FECA making it a crime to film inside theaters. And if any of you would take a moment to see past your MPAA rhetoric you’d see that too.
Yeah she did something stupid, and yeah there’s a BS law against it, but that doesn’t excuse Regal’s asinine zero tolerance policy.
Regal Cinemas is one of the worst theater chains, and this is just one more example of why. Theaters that treat customers like criminals, charge outrageous ticket and concession prices, and deliver a sub par experience shouldn’t be patronized. I’ve not been to my local Regal since they shortened their matinee times to 3 leaving only one showing per day that wasn’t $10.50.
I’m all for a boycott, but let’s do it for all their problems not just this one. If we don’t make an effort to take back our theater going experience, going to the movies will be as unbearable as air travel.
August 9th, 2007 at 11:18 am
[...] I hate the MPAA as much as anyone, and I’m currently not much of a fan of Regal Entertainment, but threatening to boycott them because they busted a 19 year old girl blatantly recording part of a movie in the theaters is ridiculous. Sure, I’ll agree that a year’s worth of jailtime would be excessive, but to suggest that she get off scott free due to “fair use” is equally insane. Regal may be dicks for pushing for the full penalty, but I’d be shocked if a judge actually sent the girl to the can. Likely she’ll have to pay a (hopefully hefty) fine and be done with it. A more than reasonable penalty, not only for blatantly breaking a very well publicized law, but for undoubtedly annoying the hell out of other moviegoers by holding up her freaking camera in the middle of the movie’s climax in the first place. [...]
August 9th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Is it just me, or does it seem like there are a lot of paid shills for Regal and the MPAA making comments here?
August 9th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
[...] free culture NYU calls for a boycott. [...]
August 12th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
As far as the person who quoted a car should be electronically be ticked if it goes over the limit–false, only those who get caught get punished. Plenty of people speed, very few get caught, same goes for piracy.
As for the NYU folk consider this: If I were witting a a 20 page paper and plagiarized 2 sentences of the paper with out giving credit, I WOULD BE EXPELLED, no questions asked, no excuse good enough. It’s too bad this is probably a really nice person, but she broke the law and should be punished in some way.
Also, consider this, it’s pretty hard to identify someone recording a movie in a big theatre for only 20 seconds unless the person who caught them was in close proximity and looking for such, it would seem to me the recording was going on for much longer, but that, and probably several other relevant facts did not cross the mind of the bias editor who wrote the article.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
[...] Regal Cinemas would like this woman’s life ruined over 20 seconds of a movie on a digital camera. Yes, it was stupid, but should she have been sent to jail for a year and be forced to pay $2,500 for that youthful mistake? No. And that is why everyone should boycott Regal Cinemas. Find the one nearest you and avoid it like a rabid porcupine. It is time that movie theaters stop treating its customers like criminals. No more wearing night vision goggles, no more zero-tolerance policies. [...]