I actually kind of dislike the assigned seating at movie theaters myself. It now doesn’t matter if i go early, the theater might already be nearly booked. The only way around this is to either make two trips to the theater or pay extra to buy online.

I'm kind of confused why you don't just call or check their website from home and reserve the seating, versus going down there in the first place?

If they're full you've saved yourself a trip going down there to reserve seating, when you can do it from home online or via the phone. And I've never had a situation where I've had to pay extra for the seats, doing it over the phone or online.

On the other hand, it does eliminate any rush to get there early once you have the ticket

Yep, makes it really stress-free. You just walk in there and walk through the front door and just sit down in your seats.