Regal arms theater-goers with cellphone busters

By Gina Keating and Sue Zeidler

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The next time you talk on your cellphone in a movie theater, beware: Your neighbors are listening.

Regal Entertainment Group (RGC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the largest U.S. movie theater chain, is arming moviegoers with a new gadget that allows them to call in the ushers and remove unruly audience members with the press of a button.

"Cellphones drive us crazy," Regal Chief Executive Michael Campbell told the Reuters Media Summit in New York on Wednesday.

"We had gotten to the point ... where we have had people getting into physical battles in theaters. One customer will say to another 'Shut off your cellphone' or 'Shut up' ... We've had people assaulted with bats, knives, guns."

Regal is testing devices at 25 of its theater locations, handing them out to frequent customers and may roll it out nationwide in the next year if it proves successful, Campbell said. Regal operates 6,400 screens nationwide.

About the size of a pager, the gadget has four buttons. One alerts theater managers about a disruption in the audience, such as a fight over a cellphone.

A second button gives notice of faulty movie projection, a third button can be pressed if the room temperature is off and a fourth button, marked "Other" covers any other problem.

The device is part of Regal's efforts to keep fans coming back to the box office by making sure they still enjoy the experience, even as the movie industry faces greater competition from other media such as the Internet or video games.  Continued...