Buying tickets weeks in advance for movies, especially big budget films, would have seemed really strange years ago. A new movie opens on a Friday and generally runs in the theater for a few weeks, which would give people ample time to stop in when they could make the time and catch a show. But these days?

A combination of many theaters changing from first-come-first-serve seat choices to reserve seating and many people on the internet, chomping at the bit to spoil anything, for anyone, forces us to plan ahead. Buy a reserved ticket weeks ahead, much like we’d do for a concert, choose a well situated seat and be pleasantly surprised with the film. Not knowing what’s going to happen.

With all of the ticket purchasing sites crashing, just as the tickets went on sale, shows that I wasn’t alone with this thought this morning.