Police: No 'Prom' for young fans
NAPERVILLE -- The No. 1 movie in America is "cinema non grata" at one Naperville multiplex.
The operators of the Nova 8 Cinemas on the city's far west side slashed the teen horror film "Prom Night" from their roster on its opening night, after an especially rambunctious crowd of young moviegoers sparked a near-riot there.
Naperville police Sgt. Gregg Bell confirmed 11 officers and squad cars were dispatched at 8:30 p.m. April 11 to the complex, at 352 S. Route 59, following a 911 call concerning "300 rowdy subjects in the lobby of the theater."
Initial reports of fighting and street gang activity in the multiplex proved unfounded, Bell said Friday. Police instead found themselves dealing with a particularly loud and unruly group of youths whose ages ranged roughly from 11 to 15, he said.
Police dispersed the crowd and restored order after decreeing that those congregating in the lobby could not return to their seats. Bell said no one was injured in the incident and no weapons were confiscated from the young patrons, although one teenage boy was arrested after returning to the theater in defiance of the police order.
Bell said police have experienced few problems at the complex in the past.
A Nova Cinetech human resources officer who would only identify herself as Kim said Friday that theater employees "had a problem" that night with a legion of young movie fans "who just couldn't behave themselves."
"It was basically just a large group of kids who were unsupervised," having been dropped off for the "Prom Night" screening by their parents or other adults, Kim said.
"We pulled it off the screen that night, but the weird, strange thing is, (the problem) wasn't just here," Kim said of the film's tumultuous reception.
She said it was her understanding similar trouble was reported at theaters across the country on "Prom Night's" opening night. A near-melee reportedly erupted inside a movie complex in Des Moines, Iowa, and misbehavior even occurred at the Nova theaters in Sandwich, although not on the same scale as in Naperville, she said.