Just had my worst theatre experience ever at Cineplex Yorkdale for Jurassic World Rebirth

Went to the 1PM Wednesday showing at Yorkdale's UltraAVX auditorium (#9). While the movie itself was fine, the overall experience was abysmal.

First off, the crowd was packed with very young children (we're talking 5-year-olds) who kept squealing or crying whenever anything remotely thrilling happened. Rebirth wasn't exactly toddler-friendly, yet there they were.

Next to me were a bunch of teenagers glued to their phone, texting and taking photos of the screen (??) for half the movie. Behind me was a group of 11- or 12-year-old boys who did not shut up the entire time. I'm talking constant, loud, unfiltered commentary every 3 seconds, ranging from "That dino's legs are so fat and chonky. [cue chorus] Chonk! Chonk! Chonk!" to "OMG he/she is cooked," with zero awareness or effort to whisper.

I've been to countless rambunctious family-friendly screenings, and it usually adds to the experience, but this was easily on another level. There was no basic awareness that anyone was in a movie theatre.

As for the auditorium itself, I found the Dolby Atmos mix surprisingly weak. Gareth Edwards' The Creator really made use of the overheads, so I was expecting more here, but aside from maybe one or two directional sound moments (a vehicle swooshing by, etc.), the sound mix was incredibly flat.

I ended up rewatching Rebirth on the same day at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto's UltraAVX, and it was night-and-day. I think it's the auditorium that most closely approximates IMAX with Laser.

• The audience was incredibly well-behaved
• The 7.1 mix (not Atmos!) was louder and more immersive
• The screen was significantly larger, probably LieMAX-sized
• The laser projection was much better implemented (less greyed-out black bars)
  • From my experience, even the laser projection in Yorkdale's aud #10 is better than in aud #9 (with Atmos)

Safe to say I'm avoiding Yorkdale AVX for any high-profile movie going forward.