Aurora Massacre movie theater to reopen....Is it right?

[Deberg_1990]

Would you attend?



http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/02/us/colorado-theater-shooting/index.html



Relatives of nine people killed last summer at an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater said an invitation to attend an event on the eve of the remodeled complex's reopening is "disgusting" and "wholly offensive to the memory of our loved ones."

The Aurora Century 16 movie theater, where 12 people were killed and 58 were injured, is scheduled to reopen to the public January 18.

An e-mail sent to the families said Cinemark USA Inc. would hold a "special evening of remembrance" for invited guests the prior evening.

The invitation and the timing of it -- two days after Christmas -- infuriated relatives of nine of those killed. They signed a blunt letter to the theater chain's management.

"During the holiday we didn't think anyone or anything could make our grief worse but you, Cinemark, have managed to do just that," the letter began.

The letter calls the Cinemark event a publicity ploy from a company that is oblivious to the emotional strain on the families of the victims.

"Our family members will never be on this earth with us again and a movie ticket and some token words from people who didn't care enough to reach out to us, nor respond when we reached out to them to talk, is appalling," the letter reads.

The group says it will urge others to boycott "the killing field of our children."

"The theater has no immediate comment," a Cinemark spokeswoman said when reached by phone.

The invitation, sent through the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance, said a movie would follow a private ceremony at the remodeled theater complex.

It added: "We understand this may be a difficult time for you. Counselors will be available at the theater if you would like to speak to someone."

Read the full text of the letter on CNN affiliate KUSA

In December, the office of Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan announced the private event for victims and their families, first responders, local leaders and "to those working on the community healing process." The mayor and Gov. John Hickenlooper are expected to attend the event.

James Holmes is accused of going on a shooting spree during a midnight screening of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises" July 20, 2012, at the movie complex. He faces 152 charges.

Several victims' families and survivors have filed lawsuits against Cinemark USA, Inc.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

Yeah. It's all the movie theatre's fault. I'm sorry they lost their loved ones, but suing the movie theatre and then calling them disgusting for reopening is pretty disgusting in itself. The movie theatre didn't shoot anyone.

[AussieChiefsFan]

Not necessarily "wrong", but business at the beginning could be tough.

[TimeForWasp]

As long as they show mostly bloody shoot em up movies.

[Deberg_1990]

Not necessarily "wrong", but business at the beginning could be tough.

Kind of what i was thinking. The public will vote with their wallets. Personally i wouldnt go there to see a movie. It just wouldnt feel right.

[007]

Business will be tough but I don't think they need to close their doors permanently over it. Should Sandy Hook shut down permanently as well?

[AussieChiefsFan]

Kind of what i was thinking. The public will vote with their wallets. Personally i wouldnt go there to see a movie. It just wouldnt feel right.Exactly.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

Business will be tough but I don't think they need to close their doors permanently over it. Should Sandy Hook shut down permanently as well?

Those kids don't need an education! Think of the deceased!

[rockymtnchief]

I think what has set most people off and is in bad taste (I read this in another article) is that the theater sent letters to the victims families to "hurry and reserve your tickets now" for the rememberance. (paraphrasing here). It made it sound like, to get people back in the theater, they were using the victims families as a ploy to get others back.

I have no problem with it re-opening, but the other article made it sound like they were going about it in a distasteful way. Sorry for not having a link.

[Deberg_1990]

Should Sandy Hook shut down permanently as well?

Actually, i think they are discussing whether to reopen or shut it down permanantly and build a new school.

[AussieChiefsFan]

Actually, i think they are discussing whether to reopen or shut it down permanantly and build a new school.:eek:

[cdcox]

Columbine reopened.

The Hyatt Regency remained open (I understand that doesn't quite fit the same category of loss of life).

I have no problem with the theater reopening and would attend a movie there.

You can be respectful of the victims while at the same time recognizing that life goes on.

[ChiefRocka]

Move on or "they win"

[Dunerdr]

Move on or "they win"

This. If you dont its almost like a big empty trophy for "them" .

[wilas101]

Seems like bad timing that is likely mixed with some poor judgment on the side of the theater.

They could do a lot of stuff though to look very good in the aftermath of all this. Any number of things could help people get past what happened and build good will in the community. For instance, they could give that particular theater an honorary name to memorialize the victims. They could decide to show no more violent movies in that theater and show only G rated movies or comedies so "nothing but laughter is ever heard inside that room again" and use the other 15 theaters for the action type movies. Hell, set up some type of scholarship or community oriented charity and utilize that theater for raising money or playing free cartoons for the poor kids that can't afford to buy tickets.

Seems to me someone's knee jerk reaction to revive business backfired when it didn't have to.

[bevischief]

What are they going to show?

[unlurking]

People die every freaking day. Are we supposed to remember all of them and never set foot where they passed?!

[Braincase]

If they don't want it to reopen, let 'em buy it and turn it into a memorial.

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

Families are obviously letting their emotions take over. Can't blame them, but they are being dumbasses.

[Mile High Mania]

So, should we just stop going to places where murders have taken place? That's going to close down a lot of places...

[tredadda]

Business must go on. To not reopen the theater and leaving it as a memorial invites more possible incidents like this as other nutjobs will want to do something that will get them remembered long after their passing.

[Deberg_1990]

What are they going to show?

Free Passes to Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D

Welcome Back everyone!

[Chiefshrink]

Would it be wrong to rebuild the Twin Towers ?

[crossbow]

This has to go down as the worst advertisement attempt of all times. Go ahead and open but lets show some respect and understanding for the victims. The theater owner makes himself look totally insensitive. Only an idiot would think those people can forget what happened there. Was this "special evening of remembrance" a free event intended to console these people or a greedy attempt to profit from their grief? How insulting, geez.

Stupid owners blew it so might as well close down now.

[AussieChiefsFan]

Would it be wrong to rebuild the Twin Towers ?Aren't they already?

[CoMoChief]

yes its right.....it wasn't the movie theatres fault. they have the right to do business as usual.

see this is what I'm talking about....the "tragedy" gets hyped and hyped by the media and gets implanted into people's brains instead of just going about your lives.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

fact is the community was asked and asked that they reopen.

that doesn't excuse the bumbling invitation to the grand re-opening though.

[Red And Yellow]

Life moves forward, the only time we should be looking back is to learn from our mistakes

[OnTheWarpath15]

What are they going to show?

The new Die Hard movie?

[alnorth]

There is a whole lot of fail in this thread. Most of you obviously did not read the article.

They are not being criticized for re-opening. The morons who are running this theater invited the families of the victims to go to the theater (where their relatives died!) to attend some kind of remembrance ceremony and movie, on the eve of their grand re-opening.

That was pretty damned stupid. They should have just quietly re-opened, with maybe some advertising to let the community know they are back in business.

[alnorth]

Families are obviously letting their emotions take over. Can't blame them, but they are being dumbasses.

Instead of blindly calling the families dumbasses, maybe you could have, you know, read the article first?

[Iowanian]

It's a place of business.

The events there were of no fault to that company and they shouldn't be punished. It's not a shrine, it's not a place of extended mourning for anyone outside of those directly affected.

They have every right to re-open their business.

They would be getting shit on by the same family members if they HADN'T invited them to some ceremony if they just opened the door and started showing the next Borne Movie.

[Deberg_1990]

The morons who are running this theater invited the families of the victims to go to the theater (where their relatives died!) to attend some kind of remembrance ceremony and movie, on the eve of their grand re-opening.

That was pretty damned stupid. They should have just quietly re-opened, with maybe some advertising to let the community know they are back in business.

Its probably a damned if you do, damned if you dont thing. They most certainly would have been critisized having a "Night of Rememberence" without sending out an invite to the victims families. It was probably just the way they did it. Maybe it came accross as being in poor taste?

[Deberg_1990]

This statement leads me to believe the families dont want the theater reopened:

The group says it will urge others to boycott "the killing field of our children."

Heres the full letter:


http://www.denverpost.com/dnc/ci_22296310/letter-families-aurora-theater-shooting-victims-cinemark


To the Management of Cinemark USA, Inc.:

During the holiday we didn't think anyone or anything could make our grief worse but you, Cinemark, have managed to do just that by sending us an invitation two days after Christmas inviting us to attend the re-opening of your theater in Aurora where our loved ones were massacred.Thanks for making what is a very difficult holiday season that much more difficult. Timing is everything and yours is awful.

You (Cinemark) has shown, and continues to show, ZERO compassion to the families of the victims whose loved ones were killed in their theater. You, Cinemark, have never once reached out to the families to offer condolences.

This disgusting offer that you'd "like to invite you and a guest to a special evening of remembrance on Thursday, January 17 at 5 PM" followed by the showing of a movie and then telling us to be sure "to reserve our tickets" is wholly offensive to the memory of our loved ones.

Our family members will never be on this earth with us again and a movie ticket and some token words from people who didn't care enough to reach out to us, nor respond when we reached out to them to talk, is appalling.

You (Cinemark) refused our repeated invitations to speak parent to parent with no lawyers involved. Instead, we get invited to attend a "special evening of remembrance" at the very theater where our loved ones lay dead on the floor for over 15 hours. We would give anything to wipe the carnage of that night out of our minds' eye. Thank you for reminding us how your quest for profits has blinded your leadership and made you so callous as to be oblivious to our mental anguish.

We, the families, recognize your thinly veiled publicity ploy for what it is: A great opportunity for you to distance yourselves and divert public scrutiny from your culpability in this massacre.

After reading our response to your ridiculously offensive invitation, you now know why we will not be attending your re-opening celebration and will be using every social media tool at our disposal to ask the other victims to ask their friends and family to honor us by boycotting the killing field of our children.

[luv]

It's a place of business.

The events there were of no fault to that company and they shouldn't be punished. It's not a shrine, it's not a place of extended mourning for anyone outside of those directly affected.

They have every right to re-open their business.

They would be getting shit on by the same family members if they HADN'T invited them to some ceremony if they just opened the door and started showing the next Borne Movie.

Yep

[Deberg_1990]

We, the families, recognize your thinly veiled publicity ploy for what it is: A great opportunity for you to distance yourselves and divert public scrutiny from your culpability in this massacre.



This line here sounds like the families do blame the theater somewhat. Not enough security perhaps?

[Fish]

We, the families, recognize your thinly veiled publicity ploy for what it is: A great opportunity for you to distance yourselves and divert public scrutiny from your culpability in this massacre.

Culpability? Seriously....

[DaFace]

The theater can't win, and that's all there is to it. They could have just quietly re-opened, but then people would have whined about them going on with business as normal without acknowledging the tragedy. They decided to acknowledge it, and now they're getting blasted for it being a publicity stunt or something. It's not like they were charging people to go to the event.

The families are hurting and upset, which is understandable, but they're overreacting here.

[Mr. Laz]

So the movie theater is just supposed to go out of business and be unemployed?

[DaFace]

So the movie theater is just supposed to go out of business and be unemployed?

Officially, they're griping about the "evening of remembrance" rather than the opening in general. It's pretty clear from the letter's tone that at least some of them are cranky about the reopening in general, though.

[Deberg_1990]

At least the theater is making upgrades. Theater 9 where the shooting occured is gettin one of those cool new Extreme Digital Screens!


Theater No. 9, where 12 people were killed and 58 others were wounded on July 20, is reportedly going to be turned into one of Cinemark's "extreme digital cinemas" with a screen that stretches from ceiling to floor. That theater is also set to have 61 less seats than it had on the night of the shooting

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/cinemark-victims-families-opening-night-aurora-theater-reopens_n_2397733.html

[Mr. Laz]

Officially, they're griping about the "evening of remembrance" rather than the opening in general. It's pretty clear from the letter's tone that at least some of them are cranky about the reopening in general, though.
I imagine they would of protested any kind of opening.


They are hurt and grieving, need to take it out on somebody.

[DaFace]

At least the theater is making upgrades. Theater 9 where the shooting occured is gettin one of those cool new Extreme Digital Screens!


Theater No. 9, where 12 people were killed and 58 others were wounded on July 20, is reportedly going to be turned into one of Cinemark's "extreme digital cinemas" with a screen that stretches from ceiling to floor. That theater is also set to have 61 less seats than it had on the night of the shooting

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/cinemark-victims-families-opening-night-aurora-theater-reopens_n_2397733.html

I'll be curious to see how that turns out. I'm one of the most logical people I know, and even I'm a little creeped out by the idea of going to that actual room to watch a flick.

[Deberg_1990]

I'll be curious to see how that turns out. I'm one of the most logical people I know, and even I'm a little creeped out by the idea of going to that actual room to watch a flick.

Yea, i mentioned earlier i personally wouldnt want to go there to see a movie. It would be weird sitting there watching something like Django Unchained knowing how much real violence had occured right there in your seat.

This is like a social experiement.

[Bump]

Move on or "they win"

movie theater's just got added to the Axis of Evil.

[Garcia Bronco]

I live 3 miles from said theatre and I would have never gone there to begin with. I would imagaine from an insurance perspective the are required to re-open.

[BWillie]

I would have thought the place would have reopened the week after this occurred.....I don't really understand the backlash?

[DaFace]

I would have thought the place would have reopened the week after this occurred.....I don't really understand the backlash?

Well, there were bullet holes in the walls and blood stains all over the place. It probably took quite a while to clean it all up.

[mcan]

So in their greif they wandered into lawyers' offices and filed suits and then wrote a formal protest letter with a sarcastic "thanks for..."

Yes, you lost family members, but don't forget that the Cinemark company, its employees, and the theater itself were ALSO victims of this crime. And these people who are trying to bring suit against the theater are shitting all over one of the other victims. Its such a crazy shame, I almost can't believe it. But, just like it doesn't surprise me that somebody is crazy enough in this society to paint their face and shoot up a crowd, it doesn't surprise me that somebody wants to take advantage of a tragedy to try and get a payout... And that's all this letter is about.

[TLO]

I wouldn't reopen Sandy Hook... but that's just my opinion. The movie theater I don't see a real big issue with.

[BlackHelicopters]

Perhaps reopen as porn theatre.Make some in the town very happy.