“The Batman,” the weekend’s biggest movie, had an unexpected element introduced to a screening in Austin, Texas, this weekend – a customer unleashed a live bat in the auditorium. Yes, this is 100% true.
On Friday night at the Moviehouse & Eatery movie theater in northwest Austin, an unidentified guest unleashed a live bat, which then began flying around the theater (as bats tend to do).
The guest has not yet been identified and how he or she smuggled the bat into the theater remains to be seen (and is honestly pretty impressive).
When the theater’s management was notified of the bat, they attempted to lure it out of the theater by shutting off the screen and turning on a light in the hallway, as was documented via social media.
Apparently, that didn’t work, and while everyone in the theater was offered a refund, most decided to just stay and watch the movie with a winged nocturnal mammal hovering above them, according to CBS Austin.
“Local animal control was immediately contacted, and they have been overseeing the situation to ensure guest, associate and animal safety,” Annelise Holyoak, a spokesperson for theater owner Cinépolis, said in a statement. “To ensure a prank like this does not again occur, we’ve added additional security and are checking all bags upon guest entry.”
That’s right — any wiseacre who tries to sneak another bat into a theater will be stopped. Probably.
It should be noted that Austin has a huge bat population (the city even has a minor league hockey team called the Ice Bats and bats emerging from underneath a bridge downtown has become a nightly event), so the sight of a bat in a theater isn’t exactly out of the ordinary.
Warner Bros.’ “The Batman,” a reboot starring Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader, opened to an impressive $134 million this weekend in North American theaters.
