Imagine getting ready to see Marvel’s latest superhero blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy, only to be treated to DreamWorks animated Rise of the Guardians.

That’s right, instead of seeing Gamora, Rocket, Star Lord, Groot, and Drax defending the universe you end up with Jack Frost, Santa Clause, the Toothfairy, the Easter Bunny, and Sandman (not to be confused with Neil Gaiman’s Sandman). Well unfortunately that’s exactly what happened at two different Regal theaters.

Maddie from New Jersey tweeted the following from her screening.

omg they started playing rise of the guardians instead of guardians of the galaxy EVERYONE IN THE THEATRE IS CRYING pic.twitter.com/BOhaCboVsH

— maddie (@thestorysofxr) August 1, 2014

Meanwhile the people of Virginia had this problem not once but three times. Here’s what Dean Browell tweeted out.

https://twitter.com/dbrowell/status/495005692550725632

 

The audience sat through 15 minutes of previews then five minutes of the animated movie before the theater tried to correct the problem. This happens again after sitting through the same 15 minutes of previews. At this point, the patrons of the 2D screening were offered tickets to a later 3D IMAX. Those who stayed had to sit through another round of previews only to have their hopes dashed for a third, and final time.

After an hour and a half of this mess, the theater refunded their tickets and also gave out a poster and complementary tickets to a later screening.

Jim Gordon would probably say Jack Frost and the rest of the unsung guardians are the ones the galaxy deserves, but perhaps not quite the ones it needs right now.

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The writer of this piece is:

Laurence Almalvez
Laurence has previously written over at Whatculture.com.
Laurence tweets from @IL1511