Man in China sues after ads delay movie by four minutes (1 Viewer)

[Colin Sims]

The Story Here!!!!

 

[Carl Johnson]

And I thought that moronic lawsuits were exclusive to the United States. What else is he suing for, reimbursement for getting his cavity filled after spending the past 20 years snacking on Gummi Bears?

 

[Cam S]

That is really sad. People will find anything to sue a company over. Just like the McDonald's "Fat" lawsuits.

 

[MikeH1]

The westernization of China
Good to see the people are following the plan accordingly.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

It's a ridiculous lawsuit, but maybe the headlines will actually lead to less commercials in front of movies...
...yeah, right. :rolleyes

 

[David Susilo]

Who does he think he is? an American?

 

[Armando Zamora]

Now I'm fired up. If he can sue the theater and studio for showing ads, I'm thinking that I have a shot at suing our local meteorologists for f***ing up the weather forecast yesterday.

 

[Christopher~O]

Sweet. It's always appaled me that I have to pay $13.50 CDN for a movie then sit through 4 or 5 commercials before the previews.

This combined with droves of inconsiderate movie goers pretty much keeps me out of the theatres except for a couple of movies a year.

Cheers.

 

[Brett_H]

All,

While I agree that it sounds like a frivolous lawsuit, at least he's only trying to receive 2x the cost of his ticket for a monetary reward (in addition to blocking the inclusion of advertisements before the film). He doesn't seem to be suing to get rich quick but rather to try and "change the system". I know it's not exactly an attempt to solve something as noble as world hunger, but IMO it's a lot better than the people who sue McD's for their overweight children...

-Brett.

 

[Robert_eb]

Well, I for one don't go to the movies to watch tv commercials. I enjoy watching the theatrical trailers but when you throw in an ad for Toyota than another ad for joining the army than another ad and another...
The last film I went to see was The Two Towers. It was supposed to start at 6:30 p.m. After the 5 minutes of "tv commercials" and 5 minutes of theatrical trailers, the film started at 6:40 or so.
My solution to this is play all the ads and the trailers before the actual start time intead of just sitting there looking at a blank screen.
Maybe I should contact my attorney about this.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

5 minutes of trailers on TTT?

Geez, our theater had about 20, plus over 5min of ads

 

[Charles J P]

Our showing of Catch me if you can started 15 minutes late, and I would say that the ads started about 5 minutes or more before the scheduled start time.

 

[Cees Alons]

Mmm. I'd say this is apparently not an American.
You people think it's frivolous, because you're so accustomed to those ads. But I can tell you: I was amazed to hear that part of the attraction of the Soprano's series stems from the fact that it's written without any thought of ad-timing. (I didn't notice that first, because we generally don't have ads during our TV shows on non-commercial networks.). And the article also says he may have a case.
And he's only suing for the price of a ticket!
No. No signs of americanization of China yet here!
Cees

 

[Danny Tse]

About 7 years ago, I went to a Chow Yun-fat "movie" at a theater in GunagZhou, China. The movie played OK, although the image was kinda dim and grainy. Then about halfway through the movie, the screen turned blue, and the words "Side A Ended" appeared on the upper right hand side of the screen. Then followed by "Open", "Closing", and finally "Playing Side B". Yes, this was at a theater with a silver screen.

You think I have a case? Too much time has passed??

 

[brentl]

The dollar value is not the problem, it the waste of the courts time that bugs me.

He'll also get court costs and attorney fees if he wins.

So, once again it's the lawyers getting rich.

Brent

 

[Philip_G]

My solution to this is play all the ads and the trailers before the actual start time intead of just sitting there looking at a blank screen.

when I was a projectionist I used to operate the booth this way, I would often start projectors 5-10 minutes early so the FEATURE started AT the start time, but too many people bitched because "there's always 5 or 10 minutes of trailers" and no one can be ON FUCKING TIME. sorry, rant off
just remember you have to operate for the lowest common denominator, usually a moron.

 

[Lee L]

If I owned a theater, no one would be allowed in after the advertised start time. Because of these late bastards, many theaters don't even turn the lights down during the trailers anymore. You have to get adjusted to the dark while watching the first few minutes of the movie and lose the little bit of enjoyment you might get from the trailers you are interested in because the screen is washed out.

 

[Eve T]

More power to him!
I for one, am sick and tired of going to the movies to watch TV commercials. If I wanted that I would just stay home. By the time all the advertisements are over (along with the trailers)my dang hotdog has been finished.
The cost of going to the movies is expensive, tag along concessions and it's really expensive. I don't pay that kind of coinage to view advertisements.
They really have a good thing going don't they? Hmmm lets see yes, yes we will put your Toyota commercial up and you will pay us Mr. Advertiser, and......our customers will actually PAY us to watch your ads. Wow I should go into that business hmmmmmmmmm.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

I agree with Eve. I was just commenting the other day to my wife when we went to go see Harry Potter how I don't like all the preshow ads. I understand the theaters need the money to make up for revenue lost to movie rentals and HT geeks like us. But, it ruins the whole theater experience for me.

How long before pop-up ads start appearing at the bottom of the screen during the show?

 

[Brian Lawrence]

Good for him.

I hate hate hate ads in the movie theater!! This past weekend I went to see the new Harry Potter flick, and had to sit through about 10 frickin minutes of ads for Soda, a videogame, NFL football, Blockbuster Video, Mountain Dew and a few others I cant remember.

I sickens me to the core, that I cannot go anywhere these days without getting commercials crammed down my throat. I pay $9.25 for a movie ticket, I don't feel I should be subjected to ads for Pepsi Blue.