Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez praised for their cinema etiquette after attending Dune 2 screening

‘As a theatre employee, I salute them,’ says fan

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were spotted at a screening for Dune: Part Two, and their behaviour inside the movie theatre has received praise from fans.

The couple, who have been married since July 2022, were seen inside a Los Angeles movie theatre following a Monday night showing of the sci-fi film, which hit theatres in the US earlier this month. In a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, a movie-goer filmed the Gone Girl actor and the “On The Floor” singer leaving their seats once the movie ended. However, it was the couple’s actions at the end of the film that are being applauded by people online.

“Dune 2 was AMAZING. Post credits scene was realising JLo and Ben Affleck were sitting right in front of us lol,” the X user captioned the clip. In the video, the pair were seen crouching down over their seats as they picked up their trash.

Lopez, 54, looked cosy in a cream cardigan and denim overalls while she picked up her large beverage and bucket full of popcorn. Meanwhile, Affleck, 51, was sporting a flannel jacket as he collected his belongings.

While many people on X were delighted to see the A-list Hollywood couple out on a casual and lowkey date, what surprised users most was that the celebrities picked up their own trash after the movie.

“Ben and Jen picking up their trash, thank you for setting a good example,” one fan replied to the video.

“And they’re cleaning up their own mess. As a theatre employee, I salute them,” another user said.

“If Ben and JLo can take their trash with them after a movie, so can you,” a third person wrote, while someone else said: “So many people just leave their food and drinks behind in public places like this, it’s disgusting. Shoutout them.”

Director Denis Villeneuve’s second installment of Dune has already earned $81.5m (£64m) in North American ticket sales since it hit theatres just one week ago. The film features a star-studded cast, including Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Josh Brolin, and Javier Bardem.

Meanwhile, Lopez has her own accomplishments to celebrate following the release of her film, This Is Me... Now: A Love Story, and subsequent documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told, on Prime Video. The movie musical, which was released on 16 February, accompanied the artist’s new album of the same name.

While This Is Me... Now: A Love Story has largely received mixed reviews from critics and viewers, The Greatest Love Story Never Told provides an in-depth look into Lopez’s relationship with Affleck and the support he gave her throughout producing the daring project.

“I had good intentions with this, I just don’t want to suck,” Lopez tells Affleck in the doc, to which he replies: “You know you’re scared.”

The “Jenny from the Block” singer then says she’s scared “it’s gonna f***ing suck a f***ing dick.”

“You’ll be scared it’ll suck until it doesn’t,” the Oscar winner reassures his wife. “You’ve gotta discern between things that suck DNA-wise, and things that just don’t work right.”

“Right now it just sucks,” she declares, before Affleck once again tells her it doesn’t “suck”.

“That’s wrong. That’s just inexperience, that you haven’t done this process before,” he tells the Grammy-nominated musician.

Lopez then teases Affleck: “I’m sorry that I’m not an award-winning director. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I wasn’t doing all the things at 21 years old.”

Nearly two decades after the pair called off their first engagement due to “excessive media attention”, Lopez and Affleck rekindled their romance in 2021 and tied the knot in 2022.

“We didn’t break up right at that moment,” Lopez recalled of ending her engagement with Affleck in 2003. “It happened over the series of the next few months.”

“I knew in my heart that I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life - I knew that,” she added. “But it didn’t feel like we were going to make it.”