False alarm at 'Avengers: Endgame' after fans thought they heard gunshots

ATLANTA — Imagine being really involved in an action-packed movie, and then, all of a sudden, you think you hear gunshots outside the theater.

That’s exactly what happened Saturday afternoon for a group of people watching “Avengers: Endgame” at AMC Phipps Plaza in Buckhead.

People in the theater said they heard a popping sound from the hallway that sounded like gunshots. Some said they heard screaming and then complete chaos ensued.

The popping noise turned out to be the sound of someone popping a balloon display in the hallway. Still, people in the theater said it was a chaotic scene.

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"All of the sudden, we start hearing this commotion from the back of the theater," said movie critic and film lover Matt Goldberg.

Goldberg and his wife were at the 11 a.m. screening of the newest Marvel movie on Saturday when something went wrong.

"Some people say they're hearing shots. Some people say they're hearing a man yelling. And no one's really sure. It's a lot of chaos and confusion," Goldberg said.

He said the chaos caused everyone to scramble.

"Everyone starts ducking down and just making their way to the exit that's at the front of the theater because that exit will take you outside," Goldberg said. "Obviously we weren't in any real danger, but we didn't know that at the time."

Goldberg said that, after the incident, the theater rewound the film about 20 minutes and replayed it the end. Some people just left.

"We're OK. We're just a little rattled. I think when you have a theater full of scared people, it would have been nice to have a representative from the theater come in and turn the house lights up and say, 'Hey, here's what happened,'" Goldberg said.

Channel 2 Action News contacted AMC theaters on Monday but they did not respond. We spoke  to a manager who said an outside vendor had set up the display and had started taking it down during the movie.

The theater refunded moviegoers and gave them free passes to a future film.

Cox Media Group