In late May 2025, social media users were quick to share claims about the roof of a movie theater in Argentina collapsing on the audience during the screening of a film.
Multiple posts on X (archived, archived, archived) and Facebook (archived) shared what was purported to be an image showing the aftermath of the collapse in which a firefighter appears to be looking at the rubble. Most sharing the claim pointed out the apparent irony of such a dangerous event happening during a screening of "Final Destination: Bloodlines," a horror film about cheating death.
(X account @realshawnhunt)
However, the image shared with this claim is authentic —meaning it was not a product of artificial intelligence (AI) software or other digital editing tools — but miscaptioned. The roof collapse depicted in the photo in question did not happen in Argentina but rather in the Pacific Northwest town of Wenatchee, Washington.
On Feb. 25, 2025, the roof of the Liberty Cinema located in downtown Wenatchee collapsed in the middle of a screening of "Captain America: Brave New World." There were two people in the theater at the time and nobody was injured.
NBC News reported on the incident at the time, including video that matches the image depicted in the claim in question. Further, keen-eyed readers will note the firefighter featured in the image has an American flag patch on his gear.
The NBC News report credited the footage to the
Though the image shared with the claim about the Argentine theater roof collapse was miscaptioned, a real incident reportedly did occur at Cinema Ocho in La Plata, Argentina, during a screening of "Final Destination: Bloodlines" in May 2025.
A report from Argentine news outlet Infoebae stated, "a piece of ceiling … fell from the ceiling of room 4 and struck Fiamma [a moviegoer] in the shoulder, back, knee, and ankle."
According to the photo and video documentation reported in the Infoebae article, the damage did not appear as severe as that shown in the photo from the Washington incident. Nonetheless, it was still an extreme safety hazard for unsuspecting movie watchers. Entertainment industry publications like People magazine and Deadline also reported on the collapse in La Plata.
Given the similar circumstances of the two incidents — and the click-worthy parallel of an apparent thematic connection to "Final Destination" — social media users appeared quick to accept the miscaptioned photo of the Washington collapse as an authentic representation of the Argentina event.