Outside North America just about every country I’ve ever lived in or visited had assigned movie ticket seats.

It's shifted a lot in the past few years: AMC has assigned seating in most (all?) theaters, for instance. Our regional theater, Harkins, same.

Personally, I like being able to select the exact seats and pre-order popcorn and soda and just have it show up to me right as the trailers end.

I'm also in the northeast (Europe). It is quite normal to have assigned seats.