UPDATE (Dec. 22): I’m including a comment from the Holderness family:
This is Kim Holderness. The wife of the man you have written about. Penn, no offense, is not organized enough to have saved seats. A well-intentioned friend had the idea. It was wrong. But Penn had nothing to do with this. You’ve published statements that are completely untrue. We have a well published email address. I suggest you use it when wanting to check facts or I don’t know… ask a question while writing about our family. I’m requesting you change you blog post to reflect the facts. Well, I guess there really wouldn’t be a blog post if you wrote “Man take family to movies.”
=================================
ORIGINAL STORY (Dec. 21)
I was refreshing Fandango every 10 minutes waiting for those tickets to go on sale. And when the greyed-out “buy” button finally turned green, I was among the first in the U.S. to buy opening night, 7 p.m. tickets to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In mid-October — a full two months before the movie’s opening night — I, my wife and our two oldest kids were assured a spot in the IMAX theater at Cary’s Regal Cinemas for a movie that would sell out within minutes.
It’s very important to note at this point that these were not reserved seats. Remember this before moving forward.
On Dec. 17, my wife and I left work early, got our kids in their favorite Star Wars shirts, and made the 30-minute drive to Cary to get a good spot in line a few hours before showtime. We were about 30th in line when we arrived — not bad considering the theater seats about 200. It was looking like we’d have pretty good seats for a movie my family’s been excited about since that helmetless stormtrooper first popped up in that trailer over a year ago.
You can imagine my disappointment, then, when we finally walked into the theater and turned the corner to find our seats only to find five or six of the premium rows — each 20 seats across and perfectly centered in the theater — marked off with poorly made name tags taped to each seat. And “guarding” the ends of those rows were adults (maybe 10 to 12 of them) telling people to move along because these seats were taken.
My moment of confusion soon morphed into anger when I realized what was going on. Whoever got to the theater early that day had brought with them these “reserved seat” signs and duct tape (it might have been painter’s tape … but I wasn’t paying attention) and made a dash to get them up before the rest of us walked in.
Go back to my second paragraph and re-read it. The tickets we bought did not reserve seats.
I was angry. Mostly for my kids (honestly), because despite my careful planning, we were going to get bad seats. But also for me, because, despite my careful planning, I was going to get a bad seat.
I sought out the manager. I never seek out the manager. But maybe five seconds into my calm explanation of what was going on, I understood very clearly what was going on. The manager had pretty much helped make this happen.
“Can they do this?” I asked.
“Uhm,” he said. “Hang on.”
He proceeded to talk to someone on his walkie-talkie. Are they still called that? After a brief chat, he turned to me and assured me he’ll “see what I can do.”
I returned to the theater, noticing other people starting to grumble about the situation, and decided to just pick a seat. Any seat. Name badges be damned.
“Oh, look Scott … we got a seat crasher,” a tall bro called out. I was immediately approached by said bro and an older guy with a white hoodie. They calmly, though bitterly, explained the situation.
“Yeah, this isn’t reserved seating,” I said.
“We’ve been here since 8,” the older guy replied.
“Yeah, and you got good seats,” I said. “The other 80 people in your group aren’t here.”
They sought out the manager. I motioned for my family go come join me, but two of the guys in the group sat on each side of me, to prevent my kids (ages 6 and 4) to join me. I gave up.
“This is eff’d up,” I whispered to the older guy. I didn’t say “eff.”
“Oh nice,” he answered. “Why don’t you punch a kid on your way back to your seats.”
I don’t know what he meant by that. He did take great joy in pointing out where my seats were, though.
And so I went back to my seat and sat with my family. The group next to me (back three rows) had been at the theater since 2. They were among the first to arrive.
The closer we got to the movie, the more those reserved seats filled up. Families, friends, some kids, humans in general … some arriving five to 10 minutes before the first trailers. I chatted with a woman in full Jedi gear in line for popcorn, and she was equally upset. She’d been in line all day as well and was relegated to the front two rows — she’d have to look up the whole time despite her careful planning. We were talking about refunds before the popcorn guy interrupted us.
Before the show, another manager walked up to the back rows and began handing out free passes for future movies. This was Regal Cinemas’ solution for the chaos they’d created.
Five minutes to showtime, I finally accepted my fate. I had bad seats — toward the back and far left — but I wasn’t going to let it ruin the movie.
Then he came in.
Joining the group — his seat reserved in the middle of the pack — was Penn Holderness. The Christmas Jammies guy himself. Han Bro-lo. Edit: Assumed mastermind of this whole plan (at least the beneficiary of it).
My wife had spotted him in the lobby before the movie earlier and noticed him with a camera. The Rant has playfully razzed his videos before. Others have been more vicious.
When we saw him sit down and join his group, it finally all made sense. The viral video guy had parlayed his local celebrity status to score him and about 100 others premium seats — the other 100 of us be damned. (If, in fact, a CEO was behind this, my apologies. Next time they want to block out a theater, I suggest a Monday 2 p.m. showing).
His movie-going experience led to this blog.
And this video.
And some fun dad Tweets.
And maybe some content for their TV show.
And about $1,000 in free passes and refunds that Regal Cinemas will end up eating so this group could have the best seats in the house.
My experience led to this blog.
Now look, my family did love the movie. As for my kids, the seating debacle only miffed their parents, and they’re clamoring to see Rey and Finn at least two more times in the theater before we end up buying it.
One of those will be on the house.
Actually it nothing to do with the jammy guy. A local CEO purchased 60 tickets for his employees and their families. Him and about 20 employees got there around 8am and held seats for employees who had to work.
If Mr. CEO wanted to be able to “reserve” seats, then he should have bought out the entire theatre. Better yet, management should have told him “no holdsies”. Nothing worse than seat holders & line cutters (experienced this at our Star Wars viewing at North Hills where a punk paid a guy to say that the punk & his girl were with him when irate folks who had been waiting in line for a hour complained to management).
Which local CEO screwed people over like this? And are you certain that Christmas Jammies wasn’t part of the group?
And that’s bullshit. You want to hold seats for your family or the party you travelled with, fine. You want to hold 4 rows for an entire group of people who aren’t even in the building? Fuck that and fuck the people who let it happen. That CEO should have rented out an entire theater instead of ruining the show for everyone else who was equally enthusiastic about being there.
Thanks for the clarification. Blocking out 60 tickets on opening night is still in very bad taste, especially in a theater without reserved seating. And according to some witnesses, only 4 or 5 people were there at 8 a.m., and others joined them throughout the day. The group was also very rude and intimidating to those who questioned their tactics. I asked one of the group members who they were with, and they refused to answer.
OH my goodness a local CEO — executive royalty, ya’ll!
Well gee, if this amazing job creating CEO wanted to ruin the movie for a bunch of people by saving half the seats and screwing over everyone else then by golly we better let him.
Who gives a fuck if they had to work? 1) see it when ur not working like, you know, EVERYONE ELSE. 2) there is NO reserved seating. You shoulda held your ground and got your family in those seats. Fuck them others and fuck the cinema pussy who wanted to avoid confintation. I can’t believe you all just let that happen honestly.
No one has balls anymore.
Well Fuck him and his employees
http://arstechnica.com/author/jon-brodkin/
https://kinja.com/albertburneko
PROOF: This is the Same man ^ who wrote the The Holderness Family article and now: http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/12/youtube-criticizes-t-mobile-for-downgrading-video-quality/ His next propaganda work. Fake story About taking seats from people.
I really “feel” this blog post. I feel such outrage. Like on a political level. I want to throat punch Christmas Jammies man. Certainly, some criminal act has been committed. If not for blocking off countless seats at a movie premiere, but for subjecting the public to such asinine videos. UGH!
First World Problems? More like #FirstOrderProblems! AmIRite or AmIRite??
I was there. It was everything that is wrong with people. I wish I had made a bigger stink, but there were kids there. Kids who saw their parents completely disregard others’ having sat in line to get a good seat. Had I realized sooner what was going on, those signs would have been balled up on the floor. Saving A seat is one thing. Saving ALL THE BEST SEATS with signs that looked official is quite another.
Karma’s a hell of a thing, folks. It’s coming.
I’ve been trying to comment, perhaps they are not being approved?
This is Kim Holderness. The wife of the man you have written about. Penn, no offense, is not organized enough to have saved seats. A well-intentioned friend had the idea. It was wrong. But Penn had nothing to do with this. You’ve published statements that are completely untrue. We have a well published email address. I suggest you use it when wanting to check facts or I don’t know… ask a question while writing about our family.
I’m requesting you change you blog post to reflect the facts. Well, I guess there really wouldn’t be a blog post if you wrote “Man take family to movies.”
Your husband took part of an awful group. I assure you that if I recognized any of the rest of the people, they’d be named too. Especially Mr CEO. But, alas, none of them chose to promote themselves in the manner that you have. Can’t just have cute videos and not own your other actions. Welcome to the world. Grab a helmet.
Helmet on. Thanks and Merry Christmas.
Maybe your husband should have had some balls and pointed out it wasn’t cool to fuck over other people with kids.
A well-intentioned friend had the idea.
Quite obviously by their behavior they were not “well intentioned.”
This means that:
A)Your husband is friends with a total asshole
B)Benefited from the actions of an asshole.
Don’t try to distance him as innocent, because there is no way he strolls in late believing that someone wasn’t holding a seat for him.
Holding a seat for someone else is equivalent to TAKING a seat from this man’s child.
Is this turning out the way you had hoped?
It’s a shame Penn sends his wife to fight his battles here.
Haha. Wow. You people are awful. Just…awful.
*Well, I guess there really wouldn’t be a blog post if you wrote “Man take family to movies.”*
Sure there would:
http://theholdernessfamily.com/i-took-my-kids-to-see-star-wars/
Obviously meant for the writer. The writer of THIS blog wouldn’t have anything to post. Get it?
You really shouldn’t fight the internet, it’s not going to end well for your fake brand of parenting.
@Kim- Did he or did he not show up just before showtime to take the best seats in the house- screwing over other families who waited for hours?
He did indeed.
He was there with our children well before. But, yes, I believe our well-intentioned friend was wrong. Especially with so many people waiting in line.
He was there well AFTER me who had to sit WAY lower and off the side. Your kids being there, btw, is why your husband didn’t get berated by my entire pissed off group.
As a side note, it’s hilarious that someone who offers social media services wouldn’t know better than responding, but by all means carry on.
I wouldn’t call your friend’s actions “well-intentioned.” In fact, they’re pretty much the opposite of “well-intentioned.”
If you recognized that your “well intentioned” friend was wrong, why didn’t you give up the seats? Why accept them? Why didn’t you take a stand against this if you really believed it was wrong?
Or did you only decide it was wrong after you’d benefitted from the act?
Chris — I shouldn’t respond? Your response is unclear. I always advise to try an correct any false statements.
Like I said, our friend should not have gone against the rules. I don’t believe he would have if management had expressed this. Penn didn’t take part in the seat saving. He shouldn’t have taken a seat that was being held against the rules. But when the writer of this blog insists it was some sort of masterplan by him — that is just false. It was wrong. I apologize if this destroyed your viewing experience. Seriously. Our kids are asking to go see it again – we’d love to have you join us. You can sit in front of Penn to block his view just for fun.
No, you should not respond.
Your explanations and continued engagement only further the perception that you are a family narcissists hell bent on self promotion, with little awareness of how others view your campaign.
FTR, I don’t share that view. I’m somewhat indifferent to you all. But surely you realize that opinion exists.
And I’d love to go to the movies. We’ll be out of town until after new year’s but I’m game.
Let’s do it. January. Movies. Sit in front of Penn.
Passive aggressive post is passive aggresive
Who cares if it was a master plan or not? It was something rude that you both participated in.
If one of my friends told me they were going to save all the good seats at one of the first showings of star wars by running in and taping up all the seats I definitely would not have been like YEAH COUNT ME AND MY WHOLE FAMILY IN WOOHOO THIS IS A GREAT IDEA THAT WON’T MAKE ANYONE MAD!
How do we know that your husband didn’t think of this terrible idea? If it was your husband, he deserves much more vitriol than he’s getting. If it was some other complete idiot’s idea, then welcome to the concept of guilt by association. If there’s anything the public hates, it’s people who think they’re better than everyone else. Your husband fits the bill, walking into the theater late like he owns the place and sitting with people who behaved so utterly abominably.
It doesn’t have to be part of a master plan, as you put it, the point of the post is that it’s endemic of a consistent pattern of shitty behavior on your part.
I agree that neither of you are smart enough to plan something like that well in advance. You’re just crappy people and you hang out with crappy people no matter how “well intentioned” you consider them to be.
Are you and your family coming to Europe any time soon? We’d like to give you a special tour and make you pay
I would have new money whipped those people down so hard. You don’t hold seats like you’re at Red Rocks especially without a tarp. Even if you did have a tarp I would have let you know how custie you were being to all the good people who got into the theater first. Howard would have had my back like he did when I almost got D1’d.
I can’t decide which is worse:
– Reserving a huge block of seats at a movie premier
– Vacationing at Atlantis
– Bragging about DUI
– Missing the MSG run to go to Atlantis
None of the above. Go watch a Holderness Family Video.
“But Penn had nothing to do with this.” Except fully participating in the bad behavior. Which means he had everything to do with this. Shameful.
Cowgyrl, My husband would be p upset if I called him a disorganized dumbass in public. YMMV. And I guess the question is why is your blog post named “I took my kids to Star Wars” when that isn’t even true? Someone else took your husband and your kids to SW.
To clarify some statements, the person who purchased the tickets was in contact with the theater weeks before the event. If I’m not mistaken, I believe they’re the ones who made the suggestion of holding the seats such a manner. Not saying it was right or wrong, just passing along details.
So, really, the theater manager should be the one being tarred & feathered, it sounds like.
No you are wrong here. Managers were contacted and how no prior knowledge and had no idea how to respond to the situation. They gave out around $1000 worth of free ticket promotions. Just because you think its right does not mean it is. We are in the real world and people that were waiting should not have to suffer because of “Mr. CEO”.
this reminds me of a similar situation a couple of years ago. I was taking my 6 year old son to his basketball game at the YMCA. When we got there, there were signs taped to the doors of the gym that said some filming was taking place and by being in the gym you were giving your permission to have you and your children’s likeness to be used in a television production. I asked the staff what was being filmed. It was some holderness family thing… their kids were playing in the game and they wanted to include it in their show. I told the staff 1) i did not want my kid or me to be filmed and 2) we were actually going to sit in the gym and watch our child play. We were told by the holderness film crew that we had to leave. The ego, the sense of entitlement, the narcissism, and the douchebaggery of this family never ceases to amaze me.
On it. I’ll email you once we get back in town. Maybe we can all even sit on the same row. My daughter still hasn’t seen it.
Chris, when Kim says she wants to see a movie with you “and have you block Penn’s view”, you have to read between the lines :giggity
this reminds me of a similar situation a couple of years ago. I was taking my 6 year old son to his basketball game at the YMCA. When we got there, there were signs taped to the doors of the gym that said some filming was taking place and by being in the gym you were giving your permission to have you and your children’s likeness to be used in a television production. I asked the staff what was being filmed. It was some holderness family thing… their kids were playing in the game and they wanted to include it in their show. I told the staff 1) i did not want my kid or me to be filmed and 2) we were actually going to sit in the gym and watch our child play. We were told by the holderness film crew that we had to leave. The ego, the sense of entitlement, the narcissism of this family never ceases to amaze me.
That’s ridiculous and a shame that the YMCA allowed it. I wouldn’t want my child filmed for cheesy reality TV either. I hope the Y at least gave you refund for the class.
Based on the guys blog post it looks like he was also taking pictures with the flash on during the movie! What an ass!…Also the CEO of Atlantic BT bought up all those seats
Just for the record, not Atlantic BT. Different theater, different day, different time, and most importantly different way of treating others.
I recommend you wear this when you go see the movie while sitting in front of Christmas Jammies: https://royalhats.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/2013-06-15-trooping-will-5.jpg?w=305&h=403
Nah, we’ll go and have a funny story to tell.
Are you going to serve up some Justice?
that is so awesome of kim holderness to allow you to go to a movie with her family. and allow you to ACTUALLY SIT NEAR PENN HOLDERNESS!!!!! she is so thoughtful and gracious. maybe she could teach cotillion? or lead sunday school?
hey kim, here is an idea: spend the time/energy that you currently devote to promoting your family’s brand on volunteering, serving food to the homeless, picking up trash, etc. it may be hard to believe but there are indeed other people in this world.
I was at the same showing. Not to see Star Wars, mind you… just to be close to the amazing Holderness family. It was wonderful.
since learning of their example of human decency, i have changed our family christmas card… cutting out the faces of my unimportant family and replacing them with the glowing, angelic faces of the real Holderness Family. I know all our friends will cherish these forever instead of using them as firestarters as is usually the case.
What did they smell like?
What a shame is so much passion spent on a movie. There’s many, many other much more important issues to rant about, but it seems our society is just too shallow to see the things that would make our lives and those of our fellow human beings better. WWJD?
What would jesus do? Probably be happy that people are being made happy instead of being a douche on the internet. Going to a movie is not mutually exclusive of helping others.
I heard Jesus went to see Star Wars on the same day. Judas got there early and blocked off a whole row. Ten minutes before the movie Jesus comes strolling in with Philip like he owns the place and sits down in the best seat like he’s some big shot. Later he posted a video and a bunch of tweets about taking his “boys” to Star Wars. It was pretty rude but, I don’t know, I guess he’s the Son of God, so what can you do. Fringe reality show people and people who die for our sins get all the special privelages :/
http://arstechnica.com/author/jon-brodkin/
https://kinja.com/albertburneko
PROOF: This is the Same man ^ who wrote the The Holderness Family article and now: http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/12/youtube-criticizes-t-mobile-for-downgrading-video-quality/ His next propaganda work. Fake story About taking seats from people.
It was a movie! Two hours of your life, get over it! With everything going on in the world and this is what has people all worked up? I find it hard to believe if you are so willing to crucify Penn over “seat saving” at a Star Wars movie and Kim for responding and defending her family, that you yourself are not too much of a forgiving person yourself. Relax people!
no this jammy family has committed great sins against the internet in teh form of these terrible videos and star wars actions and they must pay
I don’t know, if a friend of mine had told me he’d get there early and reserve a seat, and gave the impression that everything was on the up-and-up, I don’t think I’d give it a second thought. I don’t know the Holderness family personally, but we have a lot of mutual friends and, despite what you think about their internet videos, they’re genuinely nice people. Pretty sure Penn wouldn’t deliberately try to screw people over.
Just playing devil’s advocate here, but sounds like they realize the situation – which was a bit out of their hands – was not cool, so why not take the remorse over it as genuine?
I guess everyone commenting is more fortunate than most of us though: your friends are all super nice, never make poor decisions and would absolutely, without question give up a seat that someone else saved for them at the most highly anticipated movie of the last decade.
A bummer of a situation, but also kinda typical internet knee-jerk reaction to blog about it, all based on your assumption that Penn Holderness is a prick because he makes silly internet videos.
This is fully on the theatre. I’d contact their parent company, the local media, and such so the PR stunt will have a bitter aftertaste for all who were involved in it.
And I’d do the utmost to avoid the theatre and let as many people know what they allow to happen to their paying customers.