Employees at the Cineworld at Nottingham, England claim a "technical error" caused the the theater to show Paranormal Activity 4 instead of the more kid-friendly Madagascar 3.
In my opinion, that's very bad to screen a horror movie in front of a kid-friendly film. But we know it's not the only one. I remember looking at news in late-2010 that Showcase Cinemas, a US movie theatre chain of National Amusements, showed screenings of Saw 3D instead of Megamind and the news about Puss in Boots in the UK showing in Cineworld showed horror movie trailers.
If the parents ever considered dragging their kids to a film that is totally unsuitable for kids, they can look back on that experience and decide "Nope". There's always some parents who want to take their kids to a film the parents want to see and don't check what traumatizing stuff it could have first. I saw War Horse in theater last year and a 7-year-old-year girl right behind me was drowning in her tears when the pretty horse got tangled in barbed wire fences. To her parent(s)/guardian, it's a film about war! It's expected that a film about war is going to have stuff that isn't for the faint of heart! Not every film that has a horse is kid fluff!
Also, in the UK (as in most parts of Europe) you can't just take your children in every movie you want to see. The ratings here are no recommendations, but the legal minimum age.
Surely no one is stupid enough to stay in a cinema with their kids after realising that the film being shown is paranomal activity and not madagascar. And how long could it possibly take for the penny to drop?
Not long but the forth Paranormal Activity opens with a recap of some scary bits and a kill from the second one within the two minutes that I hear it was playing.
Forgot to mention, a friend of mine from Canada (The Forbidden Douchebag) reblogged the news on tumblr where last year, he was going to see Happy Feet Two, but ended up being The Sitter.
