There’s an iPhone app that lets you translate the Minions dialect at the end of Despicable Me—by asking you to keep your phone on during the movie. Doesn’t that go against the first commandment of movie-theater etiquette?
The movie, which grossed $60 million in its opening weekend, features odd little characters called Minions that speak their own language in the movie and all throughout the end credits. And Best Buy has created an app that translates the language, allowing viewers to know just what the heck the Minions are saying at the end. The problem? Your phone has to be, you know, on for it to work.
Some are touting the app as a potential disaster for the future of movie viewing. If people have their phones on during the movie, what about distracting ringing and texting? Apparently, once the app is activated the phone’s screen dims and ringer is silenced. Also, Best Buy claims the app “discourages texting” so other movie viewers aren’t likely to be bothered. Though, how do you discourage texting?
Others are saying, essentially, that the critics should just chill out until they’ve tried the app for themselves.
So, NewsFeed readers, we put the question to you: Do apps have any place in a movie theater? Have you tried the app? Were you subjected to it this past weekend at the theater? Was it as irksome as it sounds? Do tell.