Movies in Denmark

Neil and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean the other night and it was our first movie experience in Denmark. In most ways, it's the same as seeing a movie in the US. But there were a few interesting differences. When I went to the ticket counter to purchase my tickets, the man told me I could sit in the fourth row center or further back on the sides.

"Huh," I thought. "I'm not going to a play or a concert, what's with the assigned seats?"

But every seat in the theater had a number on it and entering the theater was much less stressful because we didn't need to race to get good seats. I think US theaters should adopt this right away.

The concessions in Denmark are better than in the US, too. Granted there are a few independent cinemas like the E Street Cinema in DC where they serve alcohol and higher quality snacks which are pretty fantastic. But at the regular run-of-the mill theater in Copenhagen, the concessions were awesome. Denmark has a fondness for Bland Selv (or blend it your self) candy - the kind where you scoop things out of bins and make your own mix. In the US, they may have these at movie theaters, but not near the level they have in Copenhagen, there was literally an entire room with walls filled with candy choices - it was amazing. There were also self-serve slushies, alcoholic drinks, other candy, popcorn, chips, etc. It was like a convenience store in a movie theater with a fantastic selection of blend yourself candy. Mmmm.

Neil and I chose some candy and headed in to the movie which was in the original English with Danish subtitles. I have done an abysmal job learning the language so far, but am trying so I found myself spending the first half of the movie reading the subtitles in an attempt to learn more Danish, but then I realized it was really taking away from my enjoyment of the actual movie and Johnny Depp so I avoided the subtitles from then on.

By far the most hilarious part of the movie experience was the name of the theater itself: Cinemaxx which just makes me think of Cinemax in the US and the shows they have on late at night (perhaps some of you also called it Skinemax?). Apparently Cinemaxx is a European cinema chain and nobody here giggles at the name. Oh, I am so American.