While queues at movie previews are not all that uncommon - it's unusual for them to happen after the final reel.
Monday evening saw a clash of the blockbusters at the same George Street complex that bordered on dangerous for cinema-goers. Crowds flooded out of two upstairs cinemas, only to find their exit blocked by security.
With packed preview screenings of Star Trek and X Men Origins: Wolverine finishing simultaneously in two adjoining cinemas, there was always the potential for an over-crowding issue. The problem was that instead of focussing on crowd control, security were intent merely on piracy (mis)management.
As is now the norm, both audiences had been stripped of their mobile phones on entry. Less typically, both were now presented with a shambolic lack of organisation in their return.
The phone desk for the Star Trek preview was located - inexplicably - at the top of the only public set of stairs in the complex.
The desk for the Wolverine media screening was more sensibly located away from the exit point, but was run so inefficiently that a line stretched back the length of the building to meet the former crowd.
With the addition of a camera crew filming audience reactions the effect was hundreds of people packed into a small area, unable to leave.
The crowds were for the most part good humoured. Some patrons even took the opportunity to get a picture with Margaret and David of the ABC's At The Movies .
The critics were less amused, but that could equally have been due to the quality of Hugh Jackman's latest offering.
While a horde of disgruntled critics being forced to queue for their phones sounds like the beginning of a joke, or the makings of a Hollywood director's therapy session, the reality was in hindsight a warning to security teams struggling with the increasing demands of the industry.
