Sneak Previews - What Happened To Them? (1 Viewer)

[Garysb]

There used to be two kinds of "Sneak Previews" One was a movie that was still being edited, where audiences filled out comment cards and based in part on this information the movie was edited or additional scenes were filmed. The other type was to generate positive word of mouth, where a completed film was shown a week or more before it's scheduled release date to generate interest. You were able to see the regular film playing at the theater before or after the sneak preview (double feature). The best regular film and sneak preview I remember seeing was the original "Rocky" with the sneak preview being "Annie Hall." Today on the rare occasions where they have a sneak preview, it is a separate admission from the regular feature. The term now is usually used where a film has Thursday evening screening the day before the official Friday opening. As reviews currently are printed on that Thursday or earlier it doesn't seem like much of a sneak preview. Are films still screened for the general public before they are completed or is that something from a time up to the '70's or '80's?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

They still do it but everyone attending is NDA’d to high heaven (non disclosure agreement) so word doesn’t always get out the same way.

 

[Tino]

They still do it but everyone attending is NDA’d to high heaven (non disclosure agreement) so word doesn’t always get out the same way.

I was one of the first people to see 1917 at such a preview.

Here’s the NDA I had to sign.

 

[TonyD]

Depends on where you live too.
Not going to get any prescreenings out in Podunck Wyoming.

 

[Todd Erwin]

The 1-2 week (or more) advance one-time "Sneak Previews" you are referring to are, unfortunately, long gone. The closest to that, other than the soft Thursday night openings, are Regal's "Mystery Movie" where they tell you very little about the film (other than running time and rating and maybe genre) but charge a much reduced admission price. These have typically been advance screenings of Apple TV+ movies before the debut on the streaming service.

The one "Sneak" I remember very well is Gremlins, which was two weeks before it opened, and when we returned on opening weekend, noticed that an additional scene had been added that was not in the sneak two weeks prior (the bit in the bar where the gremlin has a puppet in each hand before being hit over the head with a mallet).

 

[Tino]

I got you all beat!

I saw Raiders Of The Lost Ark as a sneak preview!

 

[Tino]

The one "Sneak" I remember very well is Gremlins, which was two weeks before it opened, and when we returned on opening weekend, noticed that an additional scene had been added that was not in the sneak two weeks prior (the bit in the bar where the gremlin has a puppet in each hand before being hit over the head with a mallet).

I saw this sneak too. With the same addition! Weird.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Completed, paid sneak previews still happen, but not very often.

I saw Onward on February 29, 2020 prior to its official release on March 6. Disney used that date in particular because of the film's idea of having one extra day with your loved one. The screening was full and everybody was really into it. I remember thinking that the movie was going to be the next big Pixar smash hit.

Instead, we all know what happened next and a few weeks later movie theaters were completely shut down.

Most recently, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish had a sneak preview over Thanksgiving weekend before its official release last month.

 

[Tino]

Back in the late 80’s I worked for a company that handed out passes to real previews. Months before the film came out. I saw too many to count.

 

[benbess]

I got you all beat!

I saw Raiders Of The Lost Ark as a sneak preview!

I tie you, since I also saw a sneak preview of Raiders before it came out. Wow. The audience went crazy.

Back in the 1990s I went to several sneak previews in Irvine, California, sometimes of films that weren't quite complete. One of them was Dick Tracy, starring Al Pacino. It was a weird film. Some of the FX were unfinished. I liked it, but I've still never seen the completed movie. There was a studio rep there from Disney, and they passed out comment cards that we filled out.

 

[Wayne_j]

The 1-2 week (or more) advance one-time "Sneak Previews" you are referring to are, unfortunately, long gone. The closest to that, other than the soft Thursday night openings, are Regal's "Mystery Movie" where they tell you very little about the film (other than running time and rating and maybe genre) but charge a much reduced admission price. These have typically been advance screenings of Apple TV+ movies before the debut on the streaming service.

There is another Regal Mystery Movie coming this monday. It is PG-13 and is 130 minutes. There is a chance it will be A Man Called Otto which is PG-13 and 126 minutes which is close enough to the 130 minutes that they could have used it as a placeholder.

 

[bujaki]

Spielberg previewed Schindler's List in Dallas. I was there with my children. We didn't know what hit us.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Only times I can recall seeing movies well before release date?

"Mars Attacks!" in 1996 and "Contact" in 1997. Saw both in DC weeks before formal release.

Don't recall them as test screenings - ie, there were no NDAs or questionnaires.

So not sure why they ran so early. These were one-off screenings, IIRC.

 

[Wayne_j]

The Regal Monday Mystery Movies have been a big success for Regal. Tonight I saw Missing and it mostly sold out two screens full of people at my location.