iStockphoto / Sony Pictures
Men holding their nose next to Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Brand New Day
One of the downsides of heading to a movie theater to catch a film is the fact that you have to deal with other people who made the same decision. That reality was highlighted by what transpired at a showing of the new Spider-Man in Colombia, as dozens of people fled over a noxious odor that may have been the result of a particularly vicious fart.
There has been plenty of discussion about the state of the movie theater industry that firmly bore the brunt of the pandemic, and there’s been plenty of hand-wringing in Hollywood and beyond over the past few years over anemic box office numbers linked to the decline in the number of people willing to wander into public to get their entertainment fix.
However, there is plenty of evidence to suggest cinema is Back thanks in no small part to the members of Gen Z who’ve been flocking to theaters in 2026 and boosting the blockbusters that are poised to help the industry surpass the $35 billion mark for the first time since the pandemic.
That resurgence has been powered by sleeper hits like Obsession and Backrooms as well as tentpoles like The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the last of which has injected some much-needed life into the stagnant superhero genre while raking in over $900 million around the globe in its first weekend.
That number included the tickets that were sold for a showing in Colombia, although dozens of people who attended had to flee the theater after someone seemingly ripped a fart of epic proportions.
A screening of Spider-Man: Brand New Day was reportedly interrupted by some potent flatulence
Last weekend, movie theaters around the world were packed with fans drawn in by the newest installment in the Spider-Man franchise, and that included one inside the Cine Colombia location at the Plaza Bocagrande mall in Cartagena, Colombia on Sunday, August 2nd.
According to The New York Post, the showing was going smoothly until things took a turn for the worse when a significant chunk of the people in the theater made a beeline for the exit, as a tweet featuring a video that captured a large crowd mingling outside asserted they were forced out by an “unbearable foul smell” supposedly caused by “powerful stomach gas expelled by an attendee.”
#MISERABLE 🤢 Una función de Spider-Man en el centro comercial Plaza Bocagrande, en Cartagena, terminó en anécdota insólita cuando un fuerte gas estomacal expulsado por un asistente obligó a varias personas a abandonar la sala de cine debido al insoportable mal olor. pic.twitter.com/UCpEQeAXrl
— Colombia Oscura (@ColombiaOscura) August 2, 2026
There is no way to confirm that was actually the case. The supposed culprit has (understandably) been in no rush to step forward, and there is speculation someone may have set off a stink bomb in the theater that continued to show the movie in spite of the mass exodus.
It is obviously annoying to get stuck in a theater with people who insist on talking or using their phone, but at least they won’t send you running like this.