I went to the movies the other day

It's the first I'd been in a couple years. I was way early, but they had a solid half hour of ads and previews before the screening time; and a solid twenty minutes after the scheduled start time. That can't be worth their while. They could have gotten in a whole extra screening or two or three for the ads they must run in a day.

• Ads are free and bring in revenue. Features cost rental. If a cinema could get away with it, it would run ads all day all the time.

• I seem to recall the reason we pay for tickets is to not have to watch ads, like TV, PPV, DVDs and On Demand.

• Exaggeration fail.

  PPSM%2C%20seeking%20out%20hyperbole.

• It really happened PPSM, but how would you know, when's the last time you went to a multiplex?

• The last movie I went two (6 weeks ago) showed ELEVEN coming attraction clips. Of course there were ads before also so OP is accurate.

• One of the reasons they run ads and previews IMHO is to accommodate late-comers who didn't anticipate the lines to buy tickets. Next time ask exactly what time the actual flick starts. Of course you may not get prime seats. Actually I love watching previews, let's me know what's going to be worth seeing.

• I don't mind watching previews for films. What I don't want to see is a half hour block of ads for Lifetime's and ABC Family's holiday offerings (with Tori Spelling!), ads for various chiropractic and insurance firms, crappy short films for some contest by 7-up, etc etc. All of it at ear-splitting volume. Damn.

  Thanks%20a%20lot%2C%20Regal%20Cinemas%21

• Erm, when the previews are for lame, sometimes offensive violent actioners like Alex Cross, End of Watch and that Ryan Gosling/Sean Penn (as Edward G. Robison) schlock fest - I mind.

• I like seeing trailers, but there's a franchise in the UK that also has a "Live from the Red Carpet" section before every movie, with about 4 minutes of interviews. They change it like every 3 months so you end up watching interviews for a movie that's been released ages ago. Then they have a 'funny' short film to convince you to turn off your phone. Then loads of adverts and then trailers. For Skyfall it was 35 minutes before the movie came on. Made worse by the fact that the ads were for the Skyfall cologne, the Aston Martin, the computer game, and the James Bond channel.

• What would you rather they show for the half hour before the previews, just a blank wall? You have to have that downtime. The theater can't show back to back movies as you're suggesting they squeeze in.

• R10, I don't know how old you are or where you live, but they actually did used to just leave the screen blank for that half hour before the previews. Sometimes they'd be playing the radio or the soundtrack to the film, but that was it. It wasn't that long ago. The craze for subjecting the 'captive audience' to ads began in the late '90s, I think. It started out just as graphics projected onto the screen for local businesses, and has since progressed into a loud, obnoxious nonstop barrage of commercials for every insipid product under the sun.

• 10 minutes would do it. And obviously a sensible gap between screenings. OP is right though, for a theatre that starts screenings at 11am they could probably get in an extra screening.

  Mrs%20Norman%20Maine

• I guess none of you remember when they used to show cartoons before the movie... Yeah, I'm old -- and I was a child then. Nut many of what you young'uns know as "classic cartoons" were created just for that purpose. Those were the days.

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• I haven't been in a theater in over 3 years. I could care less if they fail. They take their customers completely for granted.

• I like trailers so I don't mind but I too am surprised how long they are running lately. Apparently, though, showing trailers to an audience at a movie theater actually gets people interested in the coming features so they will be more likely to come and pay to see them, at which point they will see a shitload of trailers again and that will lead them to come back and pay again, and, therefore, it pays. Or at least that is the theory. The theory seems as sound as advertising itself. In fact, it is the same thing.

• I always show up at the theater to buy my ticket at the time the movie is listed to start. Buy ticket, buy soda and corn, mosey to the theater and watch the last five minutes of pre show crap. The posted times are my arrive times.

• [quote]let's me know what's going to be worth seeing. A book on punctuation might be worth a look.

  O.%20Dear

• The last two movies I went to, I timed the trailers - both times it was a total of 25 minutes of previews.

• Movie theatres need revenue. They get it from advertising and from the concessions. They have to share the box office with the film distributors on a sliding scale. Most film distributors sell packages of movies. Same with trailer packages. So if you own theatres, maybe you have to take a package of ten movies and ony four or five of them look like they might generate big numbers of asses in seats. Ads help. People don't go to movies like they used to.

• [quote]they had a solid half hour of ads and previews before the screening time; and a solid twenty minutes after the scheduled start time Stopped going to multiplexes a decade ago, and this is the reason why.

  Not%20worth%20it.

• Went to see Argo yesterday (loved it) and I counted because of this thread. Seven coming attractions. My favorite was the one for The Great Gatsby that had a blaring ROCK soundtrack. A total disconnect unless this Gatsby lived in 2012.

• They keep cutting new GATSBY trailers and each one is worse than the next. Cannot wait to see this one crash and burn.