I saw them in the home counties region of England and the English are very reserved so the cinema was very quiet and noone applauded or anything!<BR>A lot of people there were new to tolkien so didn't feel the emotion of the fans!

We're obviously a teensy bit more emotional here in London (although we clearly have nothing on the Yanks when it comes to audience participation...) When I went to see it on the 17th, and there were cheers and claps when the film started, and when Legolas killed the Oliphaunt.

I consider myself a dedicated fan, but one thing is certain:<P>I hate it when people talk -read: loud and continually - (or make any other noise) during a good film. ESPECIALLY whistling and crying "Oooohhhh! He is sooooo hot!" e-v-e-r-y s-i-n-g-l-e time Aragorn or Legolas appears on screen! PLEASE!! I BEG YOU!!<P>A well-deserved, heavy applause at the end of the film is nice of course, but <I>during</I> the film? No. Absolutely no.<p>[ 6:43 PM January 09, 2004: Message edited by: Carannillion ]

I took my Mom and nephew out to see it again yesterday. Let me rephrase that. I took my nephew and dragged my Mom But it's all good. There were only about 20 people there altogether. An old couple was sitting a few rows behind us, and younger lady sat down in front of us, I'm thinking she was on a multiple viewing as well. She started sniffling when Theoden died, and jumped a few times during the Shelob scenes ( I love it when people jump, I find it funny, specially when I know what's coming! ) The old couple was intent on talking through most of the movie, but at least they picked the loud parts, so I couldn't hear most of what they were saying. When you see Shelob's stinger come down dribbling all over the place, the elderly woman screamed "OH, GEEZ!" I nearly giggled about that for the rest of the scene. At least until that awesome moment with Sean Astin,("Don't go where I can't follow") then I was crying. Both the elderly couple and the woman in front of us were crying by the end, which was pretty nice. But I must say, it could never compare with that first showing audience.<p>[ 8:12 PM January 09, 2004: Message edited by: Shy Hobbit ]

I went to the first day of RotK - the 26th (Australia always gets movies late, dangnabbit!) - and waited for and hour to get good seats*, etc etc. The wait was worth it 'cos my group of 5 friends got seats all together <I>right in the middle</I>, 2nd row from the back.<P>Anyvague. The audience. It was a pretty happy audience, enthusiastic in the right way, minimal mobile-phone action, applause at the end. The best part, however, was the fully grown guy in the row in front of me who gasped loudly when Shelob re-appeared. It was great. It should have been scripted. Give the man an Oscar. Everyone laughed and cheered at him. <P>I got home and mum asked me what the movie was like, and my reply was, 'it was great! really great! This guy gasped really loudly when Shelob re-appeared, and I can't remember anything else that happened!'<P>So that's my audience story. I'm going to miss packed-out LotR opening-day cinemas *sniff*<P>*'only an hour?' you say. Hey, I live in a small city.