Maltageddon crashes

Spoof-blockbuster Maltageddon may have topped the box office at Eden Century cinemas in its opening weekend but during the premiere it sparked more laughs than intended - not for the right reasons.

As the second half began, a technical hitch caused the video to run without sound. The computer system then had to be restarted in front of a full auditorium of people who waited in bouts of laughter and clapping.

After an error sound beeped, Windows XP appeared on the massive cinema screen and the film window minimised. A mouse cursor then proceeded to click on the Start button to reboot the system.

The incident was captured on a mobile camera by an audience member who uploaded the footage on YouTube. The video has already had thousands of views and is being posted and discussed on Facebook and other social networking sites.

During the clip, an audience member is heard shouting out the movie's catchphrase "We are Maltese..." prompting the rest of the audience to complete the sentence "We take no sh*t", followed by a loud applause and chortle.

Before the film continued, another audience member is heard wondering whether they should ask for a refund. Other internet commentators defended the film-makers saying the incident was out of their control.

When contacted, a spokesman for Eden Century said there was a slight glitch with the system which, as with all computer or mechanical systems, "can sometimes occur".

"Fortunately, it was fixed within one or two minutes. It is indeed unfortunate that it happened for the premier of this film and it is certainly a rare occurrence that such glitches occur," the spokesman said, adding that Eden Cinemas showed over 85 films a day and close to 600 films a week.

The spokesman also clarified that there was nothing wrong with the format of the film in question because there had since been 25 viewings without incident. "The film has already entered our top 10 films of the year in less than a week of exhibition with a number of sold-out shows. It is likely to end up within the top three of the year," the spokesman concluded.

Due to popular demand, this week the film will be shown in Cinema 16 and Cinema 11.

The video clip can be seen on: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIU0T0W5qXc or on www.timesofmalta.com.