In Theater View
1. I created a Field called [timeline] using integer
2. I set a rule to sort (a-z) for [timeline]
3. I used minus numbers
Tools - Options - Theater View - Add..(under details) - Expression
If you create an expression like this it works
[timeline]
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
This expression does not work
<font alpha="50">[timeline]<//font>
-1
-2
-3
0
1
2
3
Not sure why the font would break that, but that is what it appears is happening.