“We take these matters extremely seriously”
The ODEON cinema at The Trafford Centre has issued a statement after a viral video alleged to have found ‘bugs’ inside the theatre(Image: Trafford Centre)
Bosses at a Trafford Centre cinema say they have called in pest control as a ‘precaution’ after a video posted on social media alleged there had been bugs in one of its screens.
Footage, which was posted on TikTok by user n.xmx.a on Saturday evening (December 27), shows what is believed to be an insect of some kind crawling around the chairs. The poster claimed to have attended the Odeon for a screening of The Housemaid, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried.
Captioned ‘Planning to watch The Housemaid but Odeon Cinema had other plans…’, another shot appears shows another insect crawling on the floor of the theatre.
But after being approached by the Manchester Evening News, bosses at the picture house say they are confident their building is free of bugs and pests. An ‘extensive’ sweep of the venue has also been performed.
Since being uploaded at the weekend, the video has been viewed close to a million times, racking up more than 960,000 views. It has also received over 21,000 ‘likes’ and hundreds of comments.
One person said: “No, there’s no way I’m seeing this hours before going to the cinema”. Another wrote: “What time was this on !! I’m paranoid.”
One customer alleged there had been ‘bugs’ in one of the screens at the ODEON cinema inside the Trafford Centre(Image: TikTok: @n.xmx.a)
While the original poster alleged the insects might be ‘bed bugs’, others suggested in the comments section that they might instead be mites, ticks or a so-called ‘carpet bug’. Some people also suggested on the TikTok post that the pests could have been brought in by other customers.
In further details, the original poster said they had attended the cinema at around 9pm on Saturday evening and later claimed a refund and ‘left immediately’. Set to audio of Sabrina Carpenter’s song Please, Please, Please, the poster initially wrote: “@The Trafford Centre @ODEON Cinemas pleasee please please sanitise ur seats properly, we got a refund and left immediately.”
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The cinema has now responded to the video, telling the M.E.N that it has since called in pest control as a ‘precaution’ and has done an ‘extensive sweep’ of the venue – ensuring there are no pests inside the theatre. It also apologised to customers.
A ODEON spokesperson said today: “We take these matters extremely seriously at ODEON, working with our pest-control partner as a precaution. We have carried out an extensive sweep of ODEON Trafford and are confident the cinema is clean for guests. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
First opened at the launch of the Trafford Centre, the ODEON cinema in the shopping centre features 20 screens, including a ‘monster’ IMAX screen and a state-of-the-art Dolby Cinema screen. Alongside The Housemaid, from Bridesmaids director Paul Feig, current big movies screening at the cinema include Avatar: Fire and Ash, Zootropolis 2, Anaconda and Marty Supreme.