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The show was already
labeled as sold out online around 6:30ish, but I had gotten
tickets about an hour and a half before. The movie had also
sold out every night performance on its two screens (the other
room seating 340ish). A line had already formed when I got
there at 8:15, with it stretching around the corner and down
the street by the time we were let in around 8:45 (the fact
that it was raining did not help). I've heard elsewhere
reports of not much diversity in audiences, and for this show
it was a lot of young white kids (high school to college) with
some occasional middle aged couples. 8 Mile was probably the
first movie since The Spy Who Shagged Me (same two
auditoriums) that had sold out many of its night shows a good
distance before their time.
Even for American Pie
2 in the same two rooms, their night shows (7 and 8) did not
sell out way ahead of time despite still selling out the
entire night. When I got out at around 11:20 (from 8 Mile), there was a
small line for the midnight show which was not sold out yet.
But by 11:40 the line was about as long as our 9:15 one but
still not sold out. There was also a 12:45 am show but no line
yet.
There were definitely some underage students in line for
the movie, as was extremely evident when a group of
fifteen-year olds in front of my friend and I (once we got in
the lobby) so desperately attempted to make it look as if we
were with them at the I.D. check when it backfired on them.
Poor little kids. There was also an I.D. check at the door to
the auditorium (with a security guard blocking the next room
over where the other 8 Mile screen was), with one rather
humorous scenario unraveling as a couple of the same aged
teenagers hopelessly argued with security about how they were
seventeen but couldn't prove it. I didn't buy it for a second,
and it even resulted in many of the faces in line walking in
chuckling loudly about it (myself included).
I had been watching the status on 8 Mile through MovieFone
all week, and had noticed its busy ranking typically in the
top three (I've never seen a teen oriented film show up so
high this early). And even at a New York venue, it had labeled
two Friday night show-times as sold out by around Wednesday
(X-Men & probably Harry Potter had done that...Chamber of
Secrets is already selling out) with the entire night almost
sold out on its many screens by late-morning Friday. Scanning
around town via the source, many shows had sold out at various
theaters with even a venue or two where some movies don't get
that busy (or sell out way in advance) unless it's an event
picture. But back to my audience...
For the most part, I was a little letdown by the crowd as
it was a pretty plain audience. By the looks of everyone, it
appeared as though it could've been a rowdy bunch of people
but it was a very toned down experience. No cheers or claps at
the lights dimming (not that it's common at this multiplex or
area - I'm more used to the enthusiastic crowds that flock to
the bigger theaters in town) and not a sound could be heard as
the "Feature Presentation" tag came up.
As for trailers, we had The Hot Chick which drew a lot of
laughs with even Adam Sandler's cameo getting a few cheers and
a couple, "yeah!" No real claps or anything afterwards, but a
good majority of the crowd was laughing. Then came Adam
Sandler's own Eight Crazy Nights, which to me is looking even
stranger than it originally did from the first preview. A few
laughs during but no real enthusiasm regarding it. Up next was
The Hunted, which withdrew no evident reaction, followed by
The Life of David Gale with a similar reception. Then there
was Dark Blue (same response), Empire (same response), and the
concluding Daredevil trailer which didn't even excite the
audience too much on its own. No cheers or claps afterward,
and it was a little hard to decipher what people were thinking
about it.
As for 8 Mile itself, the audience seemed to enjoy it but
there wasn't much of an applause afterwards even though
several moviegoers attempted to jump-start one. I've heard
some really "out there" opening day predictions for the film
from crowd reports, but from what I've physically seen and
overheard in general, 8 Mile's looking for a $13 - 17 million
first day return. I have several crowd report comparisons for
this flick that aren't all in the same league, so it'll be an
interesting turnout.
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