So last night I went to my first Cineworld Unlimited Secret Screening, and have to say I feel a little cheated. Having only had my Unlimited card for a few months, this was the first screening that peaked my interest. Why? Because the enticing email that was sent a month in advance promised a 'major new film well ahead of its UK release'. So I did the maths: screening to take place on the 15th July, what is due out in the next few weeks after that...
Ok, in hindsight, maybe a Marvel property being shown two weeks before the release date was a little too much to hope for, but I was not the only one hoping for this outcome - as the two gents sitting next to me confirmed.
So when Andy Serkis showed up to introduce Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (seriously annoying title to type, that one..) you could feel a palpable wave of disappointment go through the screening room. That is not to negate DotPotA (even that's a pain in the arse to type!!), I'd heard good stuff about it and had planned on seeing it anyway, but you have to feel that there was some false , or at the very least, intentionally misleading, advertising at work here. DotPotA is due for release this week, tomorrow, in fact. So while I'll agree that it was a chance to see a 'major movie', I would take issue with the notion that this is 'well ahead of its UK release.'
Further case in point, today I have received an email about the next unlimited screening to take place in August, and they've already announced the title of that - the new Daniel Radcliffe rom-com, What If? (no thanks) - so the cynic in me feels that there was some misleading marketing strategy here to get people to believe they were going to see one film 'well ahead of its UK release', when really it was basically a preview screening of another.
Perhaps I should be annoyed at myself for being sucked in by this, but the fact that the online booking system forced me to pay for 3D glasses (several pairs of which I already own) which I then could not get as they are not supplied at the ticket collection machine and the queues were ridiculously long upon arrival at the concession stands makes it much easier to be annoyed by Cineworld on this occasion. Having said this, it could have been worse, DotPotA was a pretty good film - I live in knowledge that the choice of film could have been a lot worse! But can't help feeling disappointed. So, another two weeks to go...
