By The policy of the AMC 13 Lincoln Square movie theater at 1998 Broadway is clear and familiar to theatergoers:
“Smoking is prohibited within the theatre, including auditoriums and common areas. This includes vapors, e-cigarettes, and any other devices which may emit smoke or vapors.”
Yes, smoking in a confined indoor space seems incredibly intrusive today. It is commonly understood as increasing the risk of asthma attacks for others in the room and even of cancer. But it is remembered as an unremarkable element of daily life by many older, long-time moviegoers.
Numerous apartment fires and deaths have been caused by lit cigarettes that drop from the hand of someone who has fallen asleep. In an urban environment, smoke may also seep in from within the building or even from next door. The April 17, 2023 evacuation of 2000 people from the AMC, as reported by Ilovetheupperwestside.com, occurred when smoke from a fire of unknown cause drifted in from the 55th Floor of a penthouse of the Millennium Tower, the high-rise building that houses the theater.
There have been other smoke-related evacuations at the AMC. Understandably, when experiencing an auditorium filling with smoke, most people’s first thought is to get out. Many might remember school day fire drills and practicing calmly proceeding out onto the sidewalk and away from the building. Often, what moviegoers report in blogs is not fear or panic; it’s about inadequate lighting and- getting a refund – a matter that seems to be well handled by management.
Fires and smoke-related evacuations in movie houses are linked to various sources (including electrical problems and fire bombs), are surprisingly frequent. Finding the cause of any smoke and or fire is left to firefighters. Of course, people do speculate online about what exactly was the origin of the smoke that required them to evacuate and, as one Upper West Sider reacted online, they mostly regret such things as, in this moviegoer’s situation, “missing the last ten minutes of “Wolf of Wall Street”.
The premiere (AMC) auditorium was modeled after the Thomas Lamb-designed, Loews 72nd Street, a Thai-inspired movie palace (180 E 72nd St) that operated from 1932-1960 and was demolished by 1961. It would have been usual for the time to have a specially designated smoking section or balcony accommodating smokers. However, historically, incidents do not seem to have been caused by cigarettes dropped on the floor or on holstered seats of movie theaters when smoking was allowed until the early 1980s.
In recent times, policy restricting smoking addressed concerns about health (as the name of the Clean Indoor Air Act suggests) more than fire prevention. According to the New York State Department of Health, “Enacted in 1989 and last amended in 2022, Public Health Law, Article 13-E, known as the Clean Indoor Air Act, prohibits the smoking of tobacco products and the use of vapor products in nearly all indoor and certain outdoor public areas and workplaces.”
Smoking violations in movie houses today? It seems there’s some covert vaping noted by audience members. However, they rarely alert management because they don’t want to miss out on a movie. Additionally, the likelihood of activating smoke alarms is a forceful deterrent. But, if smoking is reported, AMC staff ask offenders to leave. If they are heavily under the influence of drugs of drugs/ alcohol and/ or aggressive, law enforcement is called to intervene, according to Grace, a Lincoln Square AMC staff member.
Apparently, the risk of the detrimental influence of exposure of young people to smoking in films is significant. “The U.S. Surgeon General has concluded that exposure to onscreen smoking, such as in movies, causes young people to start smoking,” said President and CEO of the American Lung Association Harold P. Wimmer.
There has been some, but not enough progress. According to the Truth Initiative:
“Today, all six major studios — Comcast, Disney, Fox, Sony, Time Warner, and Viacom — have adopted policies to decrease tobacco depictions in their youth-rated films. Still, tobacco use remains prevalent in movies that appeal to youth because many of these policies include exceptions and loopholes. Additionally, with new movie releases increasingly available via at-home streaming, many young people have more access to movies of all ratings.”
If clean air policies are expanded in the future in the interests of health, cigarettes if you see them in public places, may only be those smoked in films—their impact is conveyed through visual images viewed on a movie screen, TV, cellphone, or laptop.