An actual bat managed to get into a screening of The Batman

Cinema-goers in Texas certainly got more than they bargained for when they went to see The Batmanmovie after a live bat managed to find its way into the screening.

Talk about an immersive experience.

Footage of the bat flying and swooping around the theatre Cinépolis in Austin, Texas was posted on Twitter by Jeremiah (@Jermiah24_) who was in the audience at the time and couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.

He tweeted: "I'm at the Batman movie and there are real bats in the theater..."

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Of course, with a bat on the loose, it meant that the screening had to be momentarily paused as management attempted (albeit unsucessfully) to remove the animal and contacted animal control, KXAN reported on Friday.

The tweet has gone viral with over 24,000 likes and people found the bizarre situation pretty amusing.

A different clip from audience member Vincent (@sparty1211) shows an employee informing customers the projector lights would be turned off in order to try and move the bat into a different room.

"...the projector to turn that light off and I'm going to turn all these lights off and try and get it to go into this lighted area," she said as the crowd chuckled.

"If you are uncomfortable being in the dark with the bat, please remove yourself now," she added as a louder laugh can be heard from the movie-goers at the hilarious situation.

Although customers were offered a refund, many of them decided to stick around and watch the film, "bat and all."

Apparently, the extra guest was part of a prank where somebody managed to successfully sneak the bat into the theatre and release it.

In response, the theatre’s general manager Heidi Deno said the venue will be “adding additional security and checking all bags upon guest entry," AP reported.

There were no reports of anyone being bitten during the incident and luckily for those movie-goers, less than 1 per cent of bats in the wild have rabies.

The cinema's spokesperson informedCBS Austin that "local animal control was immediately contacted, and they have been overseeing the situation to ensure guest, associate and animal safety".

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