Lawmaker wants ACTUAL movie start time published - proposes legislation. - Page 3

Michael Elliott · 01-19-2005, 08:19 PM

Funny that Lew should bring up concerts. I've seen Bob Dylan ten times since 1999 and each of them has started on time with the exception of one, which was delayed a little bit due to an opening act. However, apparently being late to movies have some people thinking they can be late to anything and still not miss something. Whenever a concert starts at the exact time as listed on the ticket, there's always someone who shows up late and then complains that the thing started on time. I'm sure this would also happen with theaters but perhaps that's why they should get their early enough to begin with.

Ben Osborne · 01-20-2005, 07:27 AM

Quote:

With McDonalds the choice is there to get almost the exact same item at a competitor's place, but theaters nearly have a monopoly on it - especially if you only have one theater in town.

Even if a theatre is the only one in town, it's still competing against other forms of entertainment -- bowling, going to a restaurant, TV, DVDs, etc. Their "monopoly" power doesn't give them the freedom to raise ticket prices to $50 or to show 2 hours of commercials before each movie. If they did either of those things they would obviously be punished by the market. They can only do what partrons will put up with. Having only one theatre in town may make patrons more tolerant of advertisements, image and sound quality, etc., however their tolerence has limits -- a fact that I'm sure the theatre management is aware of.

Jesse Skeen · 01-20-2005, 08:14 PM

Has anyone considered keeping a list of companies that advertise in movie theaters and letting them know you won't be buying their products? I worked at a theater that started out with no ads at all, but later added slide projectors showing ads that I thought were very tacky and insulting. They even had a single-screen theater (now gone) that had curtains, but when the slides came in we had to keep the curtains open all the time and turn off the stage lights, it looked awful and really ruined the appeal of that theater. Obviously I had to keep silent about it since I worked there, but I simply stopped doing business with anyone who bought screen ads- for example a place I got food at started advertising for a while, so I just quit going there. Their ad contract ran out and they didn't renew, so I started going there again. If everyone would simply boycott anything that is advertised where there should not BE any advertising, that would keep the whole thing under control. (Similarly, if I buy a DVD that has forced trailers that I have to either let play or manually scan through everytime, I won't buy any of the titles advertised. The "Shrek 2" DVD has a trailer for a movie that hasn't even been released yet, but I have already decided never to go see it or buy it when it hits video.)

Steve Kuester · 01-20-2005, 08:25 PM

Has anyone considered keeping a list of companies that advertise in movie theaters and letting them know you won't be buying their products?

Now THAT's how you go about it! There are any number of ways to go about dealing with ads before movies without legislation needing to be passed.

Jeff Jacobson · 01-21-2005, 12:53 AM

Similarly, if I buy a DVD that has forced trailers that I have to either let play or manually scan through everytime, I won't buy any of the titles advertised.

Forced ads on DVDs: that's something I wish the government would ban. (Or at least there should have to be a warning on the outside of the packaging stating that there are forced ads.)

Glenn Overholt · 01-21-2005, 03:32 AM

For the forced DVD ads, I am writing down the chapter that I need to advance to in order to get to the menu now.

Glenn

Lew Crippen · 01-21-2005, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Live events are subject to random logistics that can delay performances. It is partially the reason they have opening acts.

Only poorly organized events (for the most part). Very complex, live events and concerts start on time all over the world: major sporting events (like every baseball game I’ve ever attended) and all major operas (at least the ones I’ve seen) start on time. I’d observe that events of these types don’t have warm-up acts that serve as a buffer.

Quote:

Funny that Lew should bring up concerts. I've seen Bob Dylan ten times since 1999 and each of them has started on time with the exception of one, which was delayed a little bit due to an opening act.

… and I thought that I was a Dylan fan.

Still, you must admit that most pop/rock concerts don’t start on time.

The Sydney Opera House has a policy of only seating latecomers at the first interval. They proudly have made Australian Prime Ministers wait on at least two different occasions.

Jesse Skeen · 01-21-2005, 04:23 PM

Sort of on that same subject, I once saw an old exhibitor's guide for "Ben-Hur" that says under studio contract, theaters were not allowed to let latecomers in during the opening scenes since it would have been a distraction to everyone else. I think "Psycho" had a strict no-latecomers policy also.

Lew Crippen · 01-22-2005, 08:57 AM

Quote:

I think "Psycho" had a strict no-latecomers policy also.

This was a big part of the publicity campaign. Hitchcock also did not allow any previews of Psycho—and most thought that the ending was the reason. However it later turned out that he was afraid of his film being accorded the same treatment as Peeping Tom, saying something along the lines as ‘look what they did to poor Micky Powell’.

BrettB · 04-05-2005, 12:13 PM

The physical barriers to advertisers would come down.
Here's a fun article.