The forces of good have prevailed once more, after unruly youngsters disrupted a superhero screening in Balclutha on Sunday. Engrossed Riviera Cinema staff and patrons were shocked when the venue’s sold-out afternoon performance of Spider-Man: Brand New Day was suddenly broken by a group of teenagers running into the theatre and creating an uproar. In a social media post, cinema owners Chris and Grace Rottenberry apologised to patrons for the interruption, decrying the youths’ “disgusting” behaviour, and threatening to “name and shame” the pint-sized villains unless an apology was made. Police were also made aware of the incident — the second in which the youngsters had been involved that day — and their parents were alerted. An update to the post about 5pm Sunday said the parents and their children had come forward to apologise. “To the group of seven boys/girls who thought it was a good idea to ride your scooters and bikes on to the premises and start running into our sold-out screening of Spiderman screaming and yelling, we have you on camera doing this and effective immediately you are banned from setting foot at the cinema,” the initial post read. “We know who some of you are and we will happily name and shame if you do not come back to the cinema and apologise to our staff. “Our customers spend their hard-earned money for a few hours of escapism and your disgusting behaviour has ruined their time and dampened their experience with us greatly.” The updated post added: “Clutha you work fast and we appreciate your assistance. Thank you to the parents of the group who assisted and made them come back and apologise immediately. We understand that is not always easy so thank you.” Senior Sergeant Robin Hutton, of Balclutha, said “nuisance” incidents such as this were not uncommon locally. “Police were called to The Warehouse, Balclutha, prior to the incident, in regard to a group of youths causing a disturbance, but they had been moved on before police arrived. “We were then made aware of the subsequent incident at the Riviera Cinema, and used CCTV to identify a group of seven youths, who were later trespassed from both The Warehouse and [cinema building] TPŌMA.” He said the group had been referred to Youth Aid. “Nuisance incidents like this are not uncommon, but I don’t believe this is part of any wider pattern.” TPŌMA facility director Mary Woodrow said such incidents were “disappointing”, but rare at the community complex. The youths would be trespassed from all but school events, she said. “There have been occasional incidents with youth misbehaving but this does not happen often at all. “In most cases a warning is enough to deal with bad behaviour but, if it’s severe or the bad behaviour persists, then a trespass notice will be issued as we need to keep the facility a safe, enjoyable space . . .” The Rottenberrys opened the 38-seat boutique cinema — Balclutha’s first for more than 50 years — in August 2023, before relaunching the former Oamaru cinema as a sister Riviera Cinema the following June. Spider-Man: Brand New Day earned $US927 million ($NZ1.5 billion) worldwide in its opening weekend, making it the second-biggest global and domestic United States debut in history, behind Avengers: Endgame. richard.davison@odt.co.nz
