NYC: Truth in Movie Start Times
 

There's been some discussions about this in the past, from a person filing a class action suit against theaters to people just ranting about the advertisements before the movies. It seems that NYC City Council will try to create a provision to tackle this. While the theaters have poo pooed the idea, because they feel that people will not come until the movie start time, well maybe in other markets. Here in NYC if the movie is packed, you better be there early enough to get a good seat. I have been to theaters where the movie didn't start anywhere from 10-30 minutes AFTER the scheduled time.

Also proposed in Connecticut last month:
Too many trailers? Conn. lawmaker wants movie start times published

If someone is on such a tight schedule that they need to have the actual movie start time down to a gnat's ass, I'd say they are too busy to be taking in a show. This is simply a matter of someone, somewhere having no other problems in life to ten to than wasting other people's resources.

sorry I beg to differ.

If I'm going to a Broadway show, curtain time is at 8pm on the nose, with the exception of Avenue Q which tends to run about 5-15 minutes late for some reason.

I go to a restaurant and let the waitstaff know that I'm going to a show, they make sure that food and service completes well within time for that curtain call.

If I am going to the movies, and I rush for a call time, and I then am FORCED to watch 15 minutes of commercials, thats 15 minutes that I didn't have to rush. I live in a busy city as it is and if I don't have to rush for something the more I prefer that.

that's for me.. but then there's the parents, they tell their babysitter what time they will be coming home based on the advertised showtime and the running time of the movie, they account for travel time and that's what they have budgeted for babysitter costs. If it deviates it can throw off the budget.

But you really aren't forced all that much to watch these previews. It is pretty much certain that there is going to be a period of time that you are going to sit in a theater if you wish to get a decent seat. And rushing around and holding a tight scedule takes some of the relaxation off of just spending an evening out for entertainment. I'm just saying my city council should be better using their time than worrying about such trivial matters.

Seems to me that in the grand scheme of things, there are more urgent things to be worrying about. But maybe that's just me.

I usually enjoy the movie ads. They're like the best of TV commercials, and usually done with higher production values and better writing. I can hear Art cringing as I say this, but I actually don't mind being advertised to. Either it's a product I'm interested in, in which case I'm glad to know about it, or it's not, in which case it's easy to ignore and forget.

If I remember correctly, when I was in Paris in the early 80s they used to have two times on their marquee... the first was the start time for commercials and the second time the film start time...

I don't know if they still do this (they don't in the movie theatres in Cannes so I'm thinking it might be a Paris thing). Anyone else have any experience with this?

I like the idea by the way...

While I think it's a good idea, isn't there other more important things to worry about.

All of the ads & previews are somewhat annoying, especially if its a movie I really want to see but I also expect it. The ads & previews have been a part of the movie experience longer than I've been seeing movies, there is no big secret here. If I really don't want to see them, I simply wait outside until I am ready to go in.

eh, I just stopped going to movies in the theater once the ads started.

I break my rule and go once every 4-5 months but for the most part I'm happy to wait to watch it on my home theater. When I do go, I remember why I don't...

It's not so much that the movie starts 15-20 minutes after the published time, it's that I'm paying to watch advertisements. The whole point of paying to see a film is that it's not financially supported by advertising dollars. If advertisers are paying the studios or theaters to run ads, then theaters should lower the price of the tickets.

I don't see why this is necessary. At least where I live(d), the commercial all start before the time the movie was supposed to start, and the previews start when the movie was scheduled to run. Just like it's been for years, previews first, then movie.
I think it's good to have the little preview buffer there for people running late or that are in a long ass line to buy popcorn. I'm usually one of those people everytime I go to the theatre.

If you are someone that only has a limited timeframe, all movie theatres have end times for their movies. They use them so the ushers know when to go clean up the theatre for the next group of people coming in. You could simply call and ask the theatre if your in that big of a hurry.

Oh, and use the 15 min rule. If your going to see a movie at 1900 and don't want to see previews, go in at 1915 and the movie will start any minute.

Exactly! I already pay (in NYC) close to $10 for a movie ticket and a huge mark-up on any snack i choose to buy I see no reason that i should have to watch commercials as well.

I am exactly the same way.....it has come to the point that I will go to the movies maybe once a year......and then only for something really big (lord of the rings as an example).

I just dont like paying ten bucks for a movie....then watching someone pitch me products....when I am likely to Buy the freakin flick on DVD within a few months anyway....and usually for less than the night at the movies.

i only go to movies back in my hometown where the tickets are only $4, the food prices are reasonable, and there are only previews before the movies... every other place i've seen a movie tries to suck out every last cent they can from you AND makes you watch 5-10 minutes of ads before the movie. it's just not worth it to me anymore, especially with how quickly movies are turning over to dvd these days... i could go on one movie date (not including food), or get an entire month of netflix for about the same price.

and not only are they showing ads before the previews (which are also ads) before the movie, but many theaters have a slideshow of ads playing before they dim the lights to show more ads... so if you want a good seat, you'll likely be sitting through about 15-20 minutes of non-stop advertising before each movie. enjoy the show!

Man I almost forgot. I was going to ask what people considered a better option whilst waiting for the movie to start and then I remembered that when I was a kid, they showed cartoons before the movie started. Of course there were still previews of coming attractions (which I sort of want to see) but the ads for the Martinizing cleaners, check cashing places and used car lots were not there.

Back in the days (~10 years ago) in Sweden, we only had two TV channels with no commercials. Back then it was actually exciting to go to a movie and see *gasp* commercials! It was so very very capitalistic and decadent and American. Now it's just boring. :)

Anyways, we get about twenty minutes of commercials and previews, movie tickets are from ~$11 to $17. I don't want to know what a ticket would cost without the commercials. So, to me it's a neccesary evil.

At a movie theatre I used to go to in Ontario, there were constant commercials before the advertised start time, they'd just loop over again and again to punish people who showed up early. If I ever see that Toyota Matrix commercial again, I'll shoot myself. Then at the start time, they'd start a different reel of commercials, and then the previews, and then the movie.
All of the places around here in Nova Scotia do about 5 minutes of ads, followed by 5 minutes of previews. I was amazed the other night when I went to the theatre. Somebody screwed up, and there weren't any commercials or previews at all. Everybody was confused and you could hear everybody wispering things like "They skipped the previews?" "The Movie's starting?" and people arguing whether or not it was the movie or the previews...

I like previews. Hubby and I see 2-3 per month, it is our time out together and they give us an idea what we might want to see later. We are lucky, the theater we frequent doesn't play ads, just a projection before the previews start with local adverts. It doesnt cut into time as much and we aren't paying for adverts we don't want to see anyway.

People are reacting as if the City Council are calling for a ban on advertisments before movies. They are not. all they are asking for is truth in advertising. If they make claims like "this film starts at 9:00 pm" then the film should, in my opinion, you know, start at 9:00 pm.
The ads and previews are good. Better than sitting staring at a blank screen when I happen to be a few minutes early. But when it comes down to me paying for the 'privledge' of watching ads; that's when it gets a bit much.

Between a nice home theater system at home, rising prices, and ads, I rarely go to the movies any more. There are no jerks with cell phones at home and two tickets with a drink is about the same price as a dvd. The ads just piss me off, that isn't what I paid for.

I think people need to get over it. You can complain all you want about how you didn't pay to see advertisements but they are there and unless you want to pay more for your movie, they are here to stay.

If an extra 15 min is going to throw off your whole schedule that you probably shouldn't be going to the movie anyways.

i don't really mind the showtimes not reflecting the actual movie start time... but i'm flabbergasted why concessions prices and number of advertisements go up but ticket prices continue to climb at the same time.

I don't like the commercials before films, but then I simply choose to come 15 minutes after the scheduled starting time. Having said that, I do understand this might be a local issue. The tradition in my country is to have a numbered tickeat, with a seat assigned to it. Basically it doesn't matter if you com before, or during the ads - you just claim you seat, because you have a ticket. If you're late for the movie - well, that's another story. In that case most people grab the first available seat, but otherwise there's no problem with seating or ads - at least for me.

My theater has started showing ads before the start time, this I don't mind because at least there is something to do and they did it before the start time. But then at the start time they show trailers, which sucks but it has always been this way. I would love it if they show all ads and trailers before the start time because then I am not forced to watch it.

It's just like cable... you're paying money and they are still running advertisements. It stinks but it's another way for a theater to make money. When I used to work at a theater, I was told by the manager that the company basically doesn't make any money off the ticket sales. Perhaps that was because we were a small town market with lower ticket prices, but really, the studios get the gate. The theaters make money via concessions, which is why the prices are so high. Another way to make the money without gouging the customer is with pre-movie advertising.

I've heard the same thing somewhere before. I specifically heard that the contract that movie theatres have with studios is that for the first 2 weeks of a movie's release 100% of the ticket prices go to the studios, then after that it goes down to like 90% (week 3), 75% (week 4), etc [roughly what I remembered].

Now that most movies don't last more then 2 weeks, the studios make a ton on $$$ but the theatres struggle to break even (especially after costs - equipment/wages/rent/etc). Then don't forget that the only way a theatre to make money is with state of the art equipment..... stadium seating, digital sound, even digital projectors.

It's pretty amazing that movie theatres even make money. (if they do that is)

That is exactly how they work (I used to help run a movie theater). However, the price markup on the concessions is outrageous. A typical large bag of popcorn used to cost 50 cents to make (this was around '97, could be more now), and it sold for 4.00. Drinks were the same; that is where the money comes in, not from ticket sales. We didn't run ads then; I guess that is just the icing on the cake for theater companies now.

I don't think you can compare it to cable tv. For $50 you are getting over 100 channels. Even if you assume that the cable company only keeps half of the money to cover costs and make a profit the networks are getting an average of $0.25/channel. At that rate, it takes 40 million subscribers just to clear $10M, which won't even cover their operating costs. There is no way in hell cable networks would be able to operate AND make a profit large enough to justify the investment without commercials.

Media exists pretty much for the sole purpose of projecting commercial images against your retinas. If it was possible to sell you a movie/newspaper/channel that was nothing but advertisements, believe me, it would happen. The movie, the news story, the TV shows, none of those are the point. The point is the advertiser dollars that keep rolling in. Nobody cares about giving you something of worth or merit to watch, as long as it's good enough to keep you watching. All they want is the money they get for bringing you the ads.

To the point, it's only fair, I think, that you should be able to choose whether you are the recipient of advertising or not. But if my movie experience is being subsidised by advertising, I should see that reflected in my ticket price.

I honestly do not understand why people still go to the movies. The price per ticket and for snacks took me away long ago. I can wait a couple of months for it to come out on video.
Not to say I didn't enjoy going to the movies, but why the frig does it have to cost so much (including snacks)?
Our society is built on a supply/demand system. Why not demand more?

Follow-up :)