CMX Lakeside Village 18 & IMAX — Local services in Lakeland

I am writing to address an incident that occurred at your Lakeland, FL location (CMX Lakeside Village 18 & IMAX) involving myself, my mother, my sister, and the theater manager.

We visited the theater this past Saturday, early in the afternoon, to watch a movie. Upon arrival, we inquired with the Box Office associate about a military discount. The associate confirmed the discount was available, and my mother, a veteran, purchased three tickets for our group.

As the transaction was processing, the manager approached and whispered to the associate, but we overheard her say, "Did you receive three military IDs?" To address this, I asked why multiple IDs were necessary when only one person was making the purchase. She replied in a condescending tone, “Because it’s policy, and we need to see three IDs.” I informed her that the tickets had already been purchased. My mother attempted to de-escalate, saying, “It’s all good; we already have our tickets.”

As we prepared to leave the kiosk and head towards the theater, the manager referred to me dismissively, saying, “That one is going to make it where you guys cannot see the movie—she rolled her eyes at me.” “That one” referring to me as an object or a thing (and not a person)! When I rolled my eyes again, she responded, “I don’t like the way she’s looking at me.” My sister replied, “Ma’am, that’s her face. I don’t think she can help how she looks.”

Feeling frustrated and attempting to diffuse the situation, I walked to the restroom. While I was away, the manager continued arguing with my sister, even threatening to call security and have us removed.

When I returned, I found my family near the concession area. By that point, the experience had left me feeling upset and unwelcome, so we decided to request a refund. Upon returning to the Box Office, the associate informed us the manager would need to process it.

When the manager arrived, her demeanor was visibly hostile—she operated the kiosk roughly, twisting the monitor and aggressively entering codes on the touchscreen. Despite her unprofessional attitude, she eventually processed the refund after my mother had to firmly request a receipt (on two occasions) as initially she did not intend to provide her with one.

To provide context, there were approximately 8–10 customers standing at the Box Office at the time, many of whom had already witnessed the initial portion of our altercation. Rather than allowing us to exit the premises peacefully, the manager made an inaudible remark under her breath as we were leaving. Since she was closer to the right-side door where my sister was exiting, I could not discern what was said. However, her comment prompted my sister to respond, leading to another exchange between them. At that point, I also became involved and engaged in the argument from the left-side of the door.

Finally, my mother and I walked outside, but I noticed my sister was still inside engaged in an exchange with the manager. I went around to the right side of the building and told her it was time to leave. As we attempted to leave the premises, visibly upset and trying to calm ourselves, the manager followed us outside.

By doing so, she abandoned the 8–10 customers still waiting inside to continue antagonizing my family, who were no longer patrons of the theater. She came outside yelling that she felt threatened and claimed she would call the police. It was perplexing to witness someone who claimed to feel threatened actively pursue the very individuals she alleged were causing the issue, leaving her job duties behind to continue the argument. At one point, she even made an inappropriate comment to my mother, stating, "I know you must be ashamed to call them your daughters."

I was deeply disappointed by the entire experience. The manager’s behavior was inappropriate and far from what I would expect from a leader in your company. Her actions left a negative impression not only on us but also on the other patrons and nearby businesses (Coldstone Creamery, Grill Smith, other CMX customers entering the...

THIS PLACE IS DISGUSTING!!

If I could give 0 stars, I would.... Now I admit its been a minute since we've gone to an actual movie theater, but last time I checked, cleanliness was still a requirement in a public space. Let me walk you through the experience....

First, we were greeted by an employee who was not so helpful in obtaining our pre-paid tickets at the kiosk. Meaning he could care less to help the customers. The scanners wouldn't read my phone (or the guy's next to me). Thank God I had the card I used to buy the tickets to swipe in order to print the tickets or that would have been more of my time wasted.

Next, we went through the concessions. First of all...$17 for a large popcorn and drink is ABSOLUTE CRIMINAL but I digress....

The concessions area was ATROCIOUS AND SO GROSS!!! It looked like a group of 2nd graders had come in to destroy the place with spilled drinks, slushy syrups all over the floor, counters, no lids for the cups, popcorn all over the floor, the list goes on... There wasn't one spot of clean counter by the register for me to set my purse down to get my wallet out to pay. I mentioned something to the teenager behind the counter that the place was so gross. His response was to laugh and shrug his shoulders. Again, another employee showing so much pride in the place he works. Good job manager....creating quite the culture aren't you?

And by the way, there was so much liquid on the floor....Can we say lawsuit?!? A Slip and fall is waiting to happen!!

Then we began the trek to our theater. And OMG y'all....the corridor walls literally have coke sprayed all over them. How is this place SO DIRTY?!?! And why hasn't the health department shut them down is BEYOND me!

The carpet down the corridors is literally puddling and pulling up. Again, another accident waiting to happen!

Finally we had made it to our theater. Good thing the lights were already dim because I'm pretty sure this place hasn't been cleaned in years. The floor was so sticky your shoes made that suction sound when you walked that we all know. AND in both cup holders there was left over trash from the previous show. I know times are tough to find employees but how can team members not be trained to do their job?!

The guy next to me dropped his phone at some point during the opening credits. Uh-oh!! After the movie, we watched him use his wife's phone's flashlight to locate his and 🤢...what was lit up under the seats!! All I can say is I hope he has a phone sterilizer at home....gross!!!

After the movie, of course one needs to visit the restroom. Shockingly they weren't too bad in the clean department. I felt rather lucky that on the 6th try of trying to find a soap dispenser with soap, I got soap. By the way, there are only 6 soap dispensers.... The Dyson hand dryers were BLACK where you place your hands. Those dryers have to be maintained with fresh filters or you are literally having everyone's germs blown onto your clean hands when you use the dryer. So a fast hand shake would have to do....more liquid getting on the floor....

As we made our way back through the lobby to leave, more concerns abound. The white ceiling tiles are BLACK from the dirt of the HVAC supplies blowing on them. So happy we were breathing dirty air for almost 3 hours. The wall base at the abandoned Concessions POS counters is missing, the millwork is showing signs of wood rot, dirt, dirt, and more dirt. There is just so much wrong.

I remember when this place opened so many years ago and it was THE place to see a movie in Lakeland. Its rather sad its come to this. We won't be back unless they completely renovate or demolish to rebuild.

I hope ownership /corporate sees this review and understands if they want to make it in a dying industry like movie theaters, they will need to spend money to make money. You can't offer folks dirty floors, overpriced concessions (and the popcorn wasn't even fresh), nasty surroundings thinking that will draw the crowds in when so many people would rather stay home and stream. ...

Outdated theater with dirty management. I've been going to Lakeside 18 Cobb theater since it opened in the early 2010's. I've had a lot of great experiences, until I worked there. The base staff (regular Cobb collared shirts) is great for the most part. Since I quit I’ve definitely notice a lot of short comings from the new staff. Exit greets aren't being made half the time, theater checks aren't made enough, and staff isn't very vigilant about annoying moviegoers on their phones or talking obnoxiously. This is due to a large flux of new employees coming in almost weekly. The turnover rate is INSANE. Management is so poor at not only maintaining the theater but maintaining employment with the staff. Managers suits are wrinkled up and dirty and they talk to you like you're stupid and have the intelligence of an elementary schooler. Leaving the auditorium at around 11:30-12 there wasn't a manager in sight, until I found one of the only two managers who was pregnant (none of my business) but sitting down smoking outside the exit on her phone while she was still working. The General Manager Brian is failing to run the theater properly. He mistreats, mocks, and borderline physiologically disturbs employees. I have plenty of horror stories and I've heard even worse ones form other employees. While I was taking tickets a random girl who was trying to get my number was distracting me from my job. I have several hints that I was busy and eventually flat out ignored her until a manager shooed her off. After I clocked out and left the managers told me they needed to speak to me. The theater has 3 perfectly usable offices, but they feel to need to go into the back-stock room. We went into the small stockroom in the back and the GM Brian has one manager on one side of the room and Brian standing right in front of the only door THAT HE LOCKED and began to interrogate me for 20 min. This isn’t the first time they’ve done this, they do it with almost every employee. They don’t utilize their offices and feel the best way to conduct business with other employees is in a small stockroom that is LOCKED with very dim lights. Brian performs poorly at hiring good working employees. He hires young girls from 16-22 who for the most part aren’t good workers, the looks he gives them are extremely creepy and employees have told me personally they feel very uncomfortable around him. Like I said in the beginning, the theater is outdated with old squeaky seats and the sound system is terrible. The IMAX auditorium which is supposed to be the best also has terrible audio with the speakers sounding like they’re blown out and large white lines on the projector screen that can be extremely distracting while watching a movie. I HIGHLY suggest going to the movie theater on the north side of Lakeland. They’ve recently renovated it with good speakers and extremely comfortable electric recliner seats. Lakeside 18 Cobb has recently been bought out by Cinemex and I hope that this change in ownership can rejuvenate the theater into becoming the best in town like it used too. But unless there’s a change in management I don’t think that’s...