Fan Warns Movie Theater Cameras Are Watching You in Your Seat
A film fan has warned people that surveillance cameras in movie theaters are watching them in their seat.
In a viral TikTok video, spotted by the Daily Dot, content creator Ashan shared how surveillance cameras were discreetly watching him as he sat in his cinema in West Yorkshire, U.K.
@man_likeaj Well 😂 #foryou #fy #cinema ♬ I Got 5 On It – Tethered Mix from US – Michael Abels & Luniz
‘They are Watching’
The video begins with Ashan filming the concession line at his local movie theatre and recording himself watching the closing credits of a film there.
“Next time you [go to] cinema,” Ashan writes in the TikTok video. “Just remember… They are watching.”
Ashan then jumps to an unsettling shot of the security camera screen at his local movie theater with 10 different perspectives of a single screening room in the venue.
The TikTok video amassed over 28.7 million views and 3.1 million likes in the last month.
TikTok users were left stunned by the abundance of surveillance cameras at Ashan’s movie theater — with many viewers unaware that there were recording devices in a pitch-black screening room.
“I’m never going to the cinema again,” an angry viewer comments.
Another TikTok user describes the plethora of surveillance cameras in Ashan’s movie theater screening room as their “biggest fear.”
The Problem of Piracy
According to an article by 2M Technology cited by the Daily Dot, surveillance cameras are installed in movie theater screening rooms to prevent any form of movie piracy taking place.
Movie theaters are adding new surveillance cameras with infrared sensors to ensure full visibility for security staff in these dark screening rooms.
2M Technology reports that these cameras can also identify movie-goers who are planning on infringing intellectual property laws by picking up the “red dot” on their phones or camcorders.
Pirated movies and television shows continue to remain a problem for the film industry. Last year, pirated films like Barbie were reportedly being uploaded straight to TikTok in a sequence of short clips — before the films had even hit streaming platforms.
TikTok users were uploading pirated films to the video platform in a series of clips between two and 10 minutes long.
Image credits: Header photo via TikTok/@ma_likeaj.
