Theater Chains Sued for Running Too Many Commercials (1 Viewer)

[EricW]

the lawsuit isn't going to change anything, whatever the decision is. the theater can simply state that instead of the feature film starting at posted times, it's their "presentation" that starts at posted times, and the commercials are part of the presentation. the only thing that will stop the theaters from showing commercials is if people stop going and to let the theaters know that commercials are the reason. if the loss in ticket revenue is more than the increase from commercial revenue, they'll stop doing it.

as for here in Canada, the commercials times are still under 20 min - i had no idea how bad it is elsewhere. 30 min is a bit much . it will end up being "who can stomach the pain from watching commercials will get the good seats" type of thing i suppose.

also, advertisers aren't stupid either - if they get complaints that from the public that their commercials are giving adverse reactions from the public, they'll pull the commercials as well. if they think their commercials are effective selling tools, then they'll keep doing it. they are, after all, PAYING to annoy us right now.

 

[Ricky Hustle]

I usually go to the theater about 5 times a year. This year will be once, for Return of the King.

Next year - ZERO. Theater chains, you can take your commercials and shove them...

The ad barrage I withstood for The Two Towers was the last straw as far as theater attending is concerned for myself and family.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I can never understand why people give up 35mm presentation, it's the best it gets.

Regal has started running this 30min "preshow". The movie starts on time, but the preshow contains the commercials, featurettes and all that stuff. MUCH less annoying

 

[Michael*K]

One of the Loews theaters here that I used to regular did the whole "pre-show" thing with local ads, previews, etc. It even would throw in a "xx minutes until showtime!" beween the previews. That I could tolerate because the pre-show always ended at the time the movie was scheduled. Now there's none of that. The showtime arrives and when the camera starts rolling, it's total bombardment with dumb ads for crap like Pepsi Blue. And if the camera starts rolling late (which seems to be more and more common), it's even worse.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Then what can they do for additional revenue?

If they stopped running so many ads when the movie is supposed to start, they could run them before the movie's starting time, still make money, and more people might come to the theater.

Around here, still slides for ads of local businesses or trivia or whatever are shown on the screen with the lights all the way up before the movie begins. At the time the movie is supposed to start, the lights are dimmed about halfway and stay that way through all the commercials and trailers, then dimmed all the way until the movie starts. If they left the lights at about 3/4 of the regular light and ran ads with the lights like that, you could still see the ads perfectly and people would be able to find a seat.

 

[EricW]

Then what can they do for additional revenue?

interesting question. how high can ticket prices go? as it is, a single admission isn't quite the same price of a DVD, but it's getting there (about 50 to 60%?). i never buy food at a theater.

 

[WilliamG]

I just ran across this thread ... YES, the commercials are annoying, YES, they're getting longer ... if the lawsuit helps, then so be it!

My family has seen LOTR:TTT 3 times- once without me- the second time, we went to a different, closer theater. To my surprise they played all commercials and trailers BEFORE the scheduled start time of the movie. However, this proved to be an isolated case because of TTT run time.

If they can do it for ONE movie, they can do it for the rest! (Anyone seen Gods and Generals yet?)

 

[Jeff Kohn]

Our local Edwards Cinemas have gone steadily downhill since getting bought out by that evil conglomerate Regal Entertainment Group. At one point, they were forcing a good 10 minutes of commercials, starting at the scheduled showtime. The 20-minute pre-show they're using now is somewhat better I guess, since it means the trailers start at the scheduled showtime. But it's still annoying, and given the steady decline in the quality of presentation, I find myself going to the movies less and less often. Maybe instead of trying to band-aid their declining profits with advertising that just pisses off more customers, they should try to improve the quality of the movie-going experience so that people actually want to start going to the movies more often again.

 

[Brent Hutto]

The problem is, I think you'd be surprised at how few people are more than mildly annoyed by the commercials. And a lot of people don't seem to mind at all.

The quality of presentation in theaters has been steadily declining for decades. The prices go up-up-up and yet the number of tickets sold continues to increase. Where's the incentive for them to do anything other than keep on making the experience more unpleasant?

I don't know of many other consumer markets that provide less feedback in the form of lower quality resulting in lower demand. The other example that comes to mind is PC software.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

If they want to generate more revenue, why not start doing things that the customers will like so they come more often (such as not delaying the movie from it's start time for lousy commercials)? I'm sure that if one theater decided to do everything right (in terms of the presentation, audio/video quality, service, and no commercials at start time), then they'd get more people to go. I know a few people (and many more HTFers) who would LOVE for a movie theater to be run correctly so they could go more often.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Call it a localized incident, but every movie-going experience in this state always involves people groaning when commercials come on in the theaters.

That's what's vile about the business world. They know the only way they can get people to be aware of their product is to make people watch their commericials. Hence the practice on DVD's with forced trailers, and the theaters that run commercials.

It's times like this I wonder who does the statistical analysis for these folks.

 

[EricW]

The quality of presentation in theaters has been steadily declining for decades.

really? here in Canada (specifically Toronto), the theater experience has only improved. seating is WAY better, screens get larger. everything is cleaner. yes, the prices have gone drastically up. and yes, people have cell phones now. a few months ago i had to go to an older cinema (one i remembered going to about 10 years ago) and i couldn't sit in the same position for more than 5 mintues. i'd forgotten how bad it was.

 

[John^Lal]

I hope the lawsuit is not won. It's Loewe's business and they can do what they want with it. Hopefully, they get the idea that no one likes watching commercials before trailers before the movie.

 

[Julian Lalor]

America, welcome to the rest of the world. I am so used to having to sit through up to 20 minutes of commercials and trailers that I barely notice it. This has been a way of movie going for 20 years or more now for cinema goers outside of North America. I see it as 15 minutes out of my life once a week. With all the problems the world is going through at the moment, I can live with that. I really see little point in clogging up the Courts (and taxpayers money) with these sorts of suits (and I'm a lawyer!).

 

[Brent Hutto]

I'll grant the seating comment. The "stadium" style pretty much guarantees visibility.

What's happened around here is that, compared to five years ago, there are now one or two good-sized screens in the newer multiplexes. However, most of the movies I see are on the smaller screens that are probably about the size of the biggest high-end home theaters with front projectors. And even the big ones are only big compared to the screens the became common in the 80's and 90's. There was at least one theater in town up until the early 80's with a single screen that was magnificant.

The biggest complaint I have now (or at least the biggest until the commercials showed up) is that you can not find a movie that stays in focus for the whole movie (especially at the beginning) and two out of three movie jitter horribly for the entire time. Sound is more variable, there's a couple of multiplexes where it's consistently of equal quality to our (modest) home theater. But in others it is horrible harsh and grating, not to menation at the wrong volume.

Overall, I'd say the quality of the actual projection and sound is somewhat better on average than a couple years ago and not even in the ballpark compared to 20 years ago. God I sound like an old geezer...

 

[Michael*K]

and yes, people have cell phones now.

I'm dying to know what about cell phones makes moviegoing an "improved" experience? When someone gets on a cell phone in a movie I'm in, I'm ready to take his or her head off.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

There's one theater around here that was put in a few years ago. It's nice, it's big, it has a lot of very cool features (big lobby with arcade games, stadium seating in every theater for at least 4 rows in the back, a huge snack stand and even a secondary one in an adjoining hallway). The thing is, there are all sorts of little problems. For instance, every seat is the same kind of seat, so the stadium-style seats that have comfortable headrests are a pain in the ass when they're not in the stadium seating area and the headrest pushes your head forward and down. There are constantly minor techincaly problems, the air-conditioning systems are extremely loud, and then there's the whole commercials thing.

I hope that this lawsuit is successful. They should at least start listing the start times of the commercials and the movie as separate things, rather than falsely advertise the start times of the commercials as the start times of the movies.

 

[Malcolm R]

Fortunately, as most of the theaters around here are independent, advertising hasn't been an issue so far. Most theaters show no commercials, only trailers. And the Hoyt's chain, which is the only one nearby that does show commercials, only shows 1-2 with the trailers.

Still, I'd like to see the practice nipped in the bud before it does spread.

 

[rick bie]

I saw Two towers the first night it opened here with my two sons(1 on crutches due to a fractured ankle) and my girlfriend, we got there a hour ahead of time knowing it would be a big turn out and also to allow my handicapped son a seat while waiting in the lobbies pre-seating area. We finally get in the theater itself and had to sit through approximately 25 minutes of trailers and commercials. I dislike the whole lets sue everybody fever which this country has been stuck in the last couple decades but in this case I feel its deserved especially when your cheap matinee prices are $5.50.
:frowning:
Rick

 

[David Rogers]

Regal has started running this 30min "preshow". The movie starts on time, but the preshow contains the commercials, featurettes and all that stuff. MUCH less annoying

They did this in front of Daredevil. As long as when the time on my ticket (which curently means "movie start time" as per their labeling) comes they start trailers and proceed immediately to the film, then that's okay.

Lowering the lights and running ads is worse than sleezy and cheap, and is not okay.

Listing something other than the movie start time on the ticket, to trick consumers into showing up for the ads (if they're trying to walk in at the wire and skip all that) would be extremely low and I hope illegal.