A rodent problem has shut down a popular movie theater in Methuen, Massachusetts.
The city's health department is forcing the curtain call until the issue is addressed after a woman complained that a rat ran over her feet while she was watching a movie this past week.
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The woman, who wants to remain anonymous, said she went to see a movie at the AMC Methuen 20 at The Loop shopping center last week when a rat she said was about the size of a cat ran through her popcorn that was on the ground and also ran over her feet.
And now we're finding out she's not the only customer who's given the theater a bad review. Customers have complained online about heaping piles of trash, unemptied trash barrels and soda machines that looked like they haven't been cleaned for some time.
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A sign on the door of the theater and its website Tuesday read, "We apologize for the inconvenience, but this theatre is temporarily closed."
In a statement, AMC said it was "reviewing this situation with the theatre team and our vendor partners to ensure this does not happen again," noting they were "working fervently to ensure all issues are fully resolved" through deep cleaning and pest remediation.
The theater was forced to close after the woman NBC10 Boston spoke with filed a complaint with the city's Health Department last week. She also posted on Facebook, saying, "I went to see 'Wicked' at the AMC theater at The Loop in Methuen yesterday. Right in the middle of the big finale, a giant RAT; not mouse, ran through my popcorn on the floor and over my feet. Giant. I quietly lost my mind and grabbed all of my stuff and left."
The Methuen health department said when they inspected the facility, they found holes in the walls, rodent droppings and rodent urine.
This was the first official complaint against the theater in at least the past two years, health officials said. Inspectors go into the theater every six months, but they're only required to inspect the kitchen and not the rest of the facilities.
"When the rodents are feeling emboldened enough to run in front of people and the public, that means that the problem has probably been existing for a while," said Caeli Tegan Zampach, Methuen's director of health, human services and inspections.
As of now, the movie theater has been told to clean up its act and require more regular pest control before they can reopen. And city health officials say that even after that, the city will have a recurring role in inspecting the facility.
"The only rats you expect to see at the movie theater is maybe 'Ratatouille' on the screen, not a rat popping out of your popcorn box when you're trying to have a snack," said Rock Fortin, an AMC Methuen 20 customer.
Health officials say they probably won't fine the theater because the owners are complying and trying to fix the problem.
