Cinema Guzzo has changed its rules to allow children under the age of two to go to the 10:30 a.m. movie screenings for free.
“I’m calling it the Stuart Becker amendment,” Vince Guzzo, executive vice-president and COO of Cinema Guzzo, told Global News.
“There’s already going to be a whole bunch of kids anyway. I don’t think anyone going then is expecting to have peace and quiet anyway.”
The change comes after Becker told Global News that he, his wife and two children went to see Finding Dory over the weekend.
“I wanted to take my almost three-year-old son for his first movie ever,” he explained.
However, because his wife is breastfeeding their two-month-old daughter, the couple didn’t want to leave her behind.
READ MORE: Cinema Guzzo charges 2-month-old baby for movie ticket, leaves Montreal family stunned
When the family arrived at the ticket counter, they were surprised to find out they would have to pay for the infant.
“We were ready to walk right out, but I looked at my son and I was like, he’s so excited, how can we do this to him?” he told Global News.
“I paid the $7 extra for my two-month-old and was angry about it, but what was I going to do?”
Cinema Guzzo changed its policy to charge everyone who goes to the movies back in May.
Guzzo told Global News the cinemas were receiving many complaints from people about crying children, and that’s why they took action.
“We’re going to make it economically not conducive for you to bring your child. The amount of complaints has gone down because less children show up,” he said.
“One of the messages we’re trying to tell people is we’re not a babysitting service. You shouldn’t use us as a babysitting service. You should have more respect and courtesy for the people around you.”
“It’s not a money grab. It’s a self-respect grab. It can’t all be free and it can’t be free when it’s damaging my regular customers.”
rachel.lau@globalnews.ca
Follow @rachel_lau