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

[David Weicker]

This was a Nineteen year old thread. What was the purpose of reviving it?

Are any of the details still true?

 

[Capt D McMars]

You know this thread is almost 20 years old, right?

..and yet it's still holding relevence...hummmmm!!

 

[Malcolm R]

unsecure and has Chinese links on it...not for me Chief!!!

As others have noted, that link was from nearly 20 years ago. Hardly surprising the domain has lapsed.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Sad that it’s gone on that long, though with reserved seating you could theoretically come in right at the start time and miss the commercials. I hardly go to theaters anymore though because of them and the general sloppy presentation standards. I boycott anything that I see advertised in a theater, or anyplace else where commercials shouldn’t be shown.

 

[Capt D McMars]

This was a Nineteen year old thread. What was the purpose of reviving it?

Are any of the details still true?

Go to the movies and find our for yourself

 

[Colin Jacobson]

..and yet it's still holding relevence...hummmmm!!

Hummmmm... not really.

I go to AMC all the time, and while they run a 20-minute pre-movie mix of ads and fluff, it ends at ticket time.

That's innocuous. As long as the ads conclude by ticket time, it's no harm, no foul.

They run too many trailers for my preference, but those have always been viewed outside of the realm of "ads" at movie theaters. Indeed, many people love trailers.

In any case, it's weird to bump a nearly 20-year-old thread and treat it as "news".

 

[RobertMG]

Hummmmm... not really.

I go to AMC all the time, and while they run a 20-minute pre-movie mix of ads and fluff, it ends at ticket time.

That's innocuous. As long as the ads conclude by ticket time, it's no harm, no foul.

They run too many trailers for my preference, but those have always been viewed outside of the realm of "ads" at movie theaters. Indeed, many people love trailers.

In any case, it's weird to bump a nearly 20-year-old thread and treat it as "news".

they need to keep the doors open

 

[Wayne_j]

Hummmmm... not really.

I go to AMC all the time, and while they run a 20-minute pre-movie mix of ads and fluff, it ends at ticket time.

That's innocuous. As long as the ads conclude by ticket time, it's no harm, no foul.

They run too many trailers for my preference, but those have always been viewed outside of the realm of "ads" at movie theaters. Indeed, many people love trailers.

In any case, it's weird to bump a nearly 20-year-old thread and treat it as "news".

Last night at Regal they started playing 10 minutes of ads (Not trailers) at ticket time, that was followed by 10 - 15 minutes of trailers.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Last night at Regal they started playing 10 minutes of ads (Not trailers) at ticket time, that was followed by 10 - 15 minutes of trailers.

Huh. I've not been to a Regal in a good 5 years, but I don't recall that as a tendency when I last visited.

Last time I remember lots of - or any - non-trailer ads that started at/after ticket time was when I went to a movie in England spring 2019.

I was actually kinda shocked that they had so many ads since I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen any in front of a movie in the US.

Maybe Regal has started to run post-ticket-time ads over the last few years?

My time as a Regal regular was recent enough circa 2019 that my UK experience wouldn't have stood out to me that much if I was used to it in the US.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

And to be clear, I don't count theater promos as "ads" in this context. I've seen Nicole Kidman pimping for AMC roughly 294 times, and I've seen IMAX self-pimping a lot as well, but I don't see them as "ads" for this discussion.

I would think of non-movie ads as Coke or candy promos - outside of the "go to the concession stand" context.

Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but when I think of pre-movie extraneous ads, it's anything not directly involved in the promotion of movies or the theaters.

So AMC promos or whatnot don't count for me.

 

[TravisR]

Huh. I've not been to a Regal in a good 5 years, but I don't recall that as a tendency when I last visited.

Last time I remember lots of - or any - non-trailer ads that started at/after ticket time was when I went to a movie in England spring 2019.

I was actually kinda shocked that they had so many ads since I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen any in front of a movie in the US.

Maybe Regal has started to run post-ticket-time ads over the last few years?

My time as a Regal regular was recent enough circa 2019 that my UK experience wouldn't have stood out to me that much if I was used to it in the US.

Regal has commercials in between trailers now. And not Nicole Kidman but actual ads for things like cryptocurrency.

 

[Edwin-S]

Up here in Canada, Cineplex would have a pre-show. After the pre-show a raft of commercials. Trailers after the commercials and rhen the show starts.

I don't go out much to theater anymore. The theater is an outdated ruin and runs commercials, so the whole outing feels like watching cable TV.

It's sad that sitting on my couch watching a show streamed on Disney+ or some other service feels more like a theater experience because of zero commercials than being in an actual theater does.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Last night at Regal they started playing 10 minutes of ads (Not trailers) at ticket time, that was followed by 10 - 15 minutes of trailers.

After almost 3 years on no butts in the seats you'd think the theaters would adjust thier thinking, but they are still in the 90s!!! That's why a thread like this was Zombi-fied!! 20 years later and very little has changed!!!

 

[jayembee]

When my wife and I went to see Wakanda Forever at an Apple Cinema, we got there about 15-20 minutes before the movie's start time (6:30). The screen was blank, and stayed blank until 6:30, at which point, they showed two trailers, the IMAX intro, and then started right in on the movie. We were gobsmacked.

It's probably why the tickets cost $19.00 (for the IMAX 2D showing), but we were happy.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

A quick point and a serious question:

-Running a commercial theater multiplex costs more in overhead and movie rental costs than it grosses in revenue from ticket sales alone.

(I don’t think anyone loves commercials where there didn’t used to be any.)

But given that reality, what alternate proposals do you have for theaters to cover their overhead so they can stay open and continue to show movies?

 

[TravisR]

After almost 3 years on no butts in the seats you'd think the theaters would adjust thier thinking, but they are still in the 90s!!! That's why a thread like this was Zombi-fied!! 20 years later and very little has changed!!!

"No butts in seats"? Just the top three movies in the U.S. this year will probably make about $1.5 billion this year and last year, Spider-Man made $800 million in the middle of a Covid surge. Nobody likes a mountain of junk before the movie but it's inaccurate to act like theaters are empty across the country too.

 

[Edwin-S]

Yes, I shamelessly stole Craig Ferguson’s “stripper name” joke.

A quick point and a serious question:

-Running a commercial theater multiplex costs more in overhead and movie rental costs than it grosses in revenue from ticket sales alone.

(I don’t think anyone loves commercials where there didn’t used to be any.)

But given that reality, what alternate proposals do you have for theaters to cover their overhead so they can stay open and continue to show movies?

Maybe they should be approaching the studios and telling them there needs to be a more reasonable split of the box office receipts during a film's early run due to the front loading of so many releases.

The studios are literally killing the theatrical distribution of their films with their greed in copping almost all of the ticket grosses during the critical opening days of a release. Yet the studios produce most of their films for theatrical distribution first and every other means of distribution second.

 

[ScottRE]

Mostly when I go to the movies, if there's anything before the trailers, it's like Noovie or First Look. After that, it's about 20 minutes of previews and that kind of stuff I always look forward to. It's all part of the experience for me.

 

[Capt D McMars]

"No butts in seats"? Just the top three movies in the U.S. this year will probably make about $1.5 billion this year and last year, Spider-Man made $800 million in the middle of a Covid surge. Nobody likes a mountain of junk before the movie but it's inaccurate to act like theaters are empty across the country too.

That was no part of MY conversation...no where in MY text do I address the subject of "empty theaters". My subjest text is about the theater owners unwillingness (after 3 years in COVID) to address the commercial Elephant in the room. They have not onlt contiued to show commercals, but have doubled down on these. At these gate prices, I'd rather wait and see at my house!! That apparently hasn't changed much in almost 20 years, according to this thead!!

My suggestion to you is to get a better understanding of the whole thread, taking something out of context or adding some one elses text to another...before you attack some one?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Let’s calm down without getting into personal arguments!