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Topic: Too many Trailers article from the St. Paul paper

Scott Madsen
Film Handler

Posts: 58

Registered: Oct 1999

posted 05-17-2003 03:51 PM

I thought this was interesting..
Posted on Sun, May. 11, 2003

Previews are here to stay, so deal with it
BY CHRIS HEWITT
Pioneer Press

When John Woodworth sat down at the Carmike Oakdale theaters to watch the second "Lord of the Rings" movie, he was delighted to watch a trailer first. And another trailer. But, by the time he got to the 14th one, he was less delighted.

"People were groaning, lifting one cheek up, moving around in their seats, little kids wailing. If there had been dogs, they'd have been barking," jokes Woodworth, a Woodbury resident who says he enjoys seeing a few trailers (also known as previews of coming attractions). "You could actually see people thinking, 'OK, the movie will start after this one.' But, no, here comes another trailer."

Actually, Brian Graham, city manager of the Oakdale theater, says Woodworth only saw eight trailers but, combined with ads and other pre-movie teasers, he acknowledges it could have added up to 14 things to groan through before the movie started. He also says "Lord of the Rings" was an unusual case, because so many people saw it that Carmike officials (who dictate which trailers will be shown when) wanted to make sure audiences took in previews for a bunch of other upcoming movies. Eight, to be exact.

Woodworth vowed never to return to that theater, but he has, and he says the number of trailers has been smaller (and Oakdale is not the only theater showing lots of trailers; it just happens to be the one he visited).

But Woodworth says that, no matter what theater he goes to, "Twenty minutes of nonmovie stuff is uncalled for. It's risky to pull off something like that, because people are timing the movie along with needing to rush off to pick up the kids or meet somebody afterwards or start dinner, and that's hard to do when you're sitting there for 20 extra minutes."

HOW MANY IS TOO MANY?

Hugh Wronski, city manager of Landmark Theaters, agrees. "I love trailers, but I think it's diminishing returns after four or five of them. And I hate onscreen advertising. It's awful. I think people should bug theaters about that."

Wronski says he occasionally gets complaints about the content of trailers, but Graham and other managers say they don't hear many beefs about the number. In any case, movie trailers aren't going away.

"It's the strongest marketing tool at a studio's disposal," says Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, which compiles national movie-going statistics. "They've done surveys that indicate that moviegoers absolutely love trailers. But there is a point at which it becomes too much."

What is that point? What number of trailers is optimal, and what number results in trailer fatigue?

"As a corporation, our magic number is no more than three," says Pam Margolis, who handles trailers for the 13 Mann Theaters in Minnesota, including St. Paul's Grandview. "We think people do like to watch them, but they came to see a movie, not a half-hour of trailers."

At Landmark theaters, which include the Uptown and Lagoon in Minneapolis, Wronski says the number was four, but it's going up to five. And Graham, at Carmike's Oakdale, says it used to be five, but it's going up to six. In each case, theater managers say they make an effort to assure that the trailers will appeal to the people at each specific movie.

"Theaters do try to play appropriate trailers," says Dergarabedian. "It's not like the old days, where you'd go to a family movie and see an R-rated trailer."

APPROPRIATE PAIRINGS

In general, trailers show up before movies for two reasons: The studio releasing the movie you are seeing can attach a trailer or two for one of its own upcoming movies to each print it distributes to theaters. Or the theater chain (not usually the individual theater) can show trailers for upcoming films it plans to play.

Mann's Margolis says she tries to pair up trailers with movies "that will be shown in our locations and that have appropriate ratings. My feelings is, 'Why show an R-rated trailer to an audience that can't see the movie?' It's a problem because, if I have a G-rated movie showing, sometimes I don't even have one G-rated trailer to show before it." Her theaters are currently showing the "Finding Nemo" trailer a lot, not only because she's a fan of that particular preview but also because it's family-friendly.

Wronski says the same thing is happening in his theaters with the trailer for "Spellbound," a documentary about the National Spelling Bee. It's getting a lot of play because it's for a G-rated movie, which means it can play to all audiences. He also tries to pair up trailers by theme, so audiences at the comedy "A Mighty Wind" can expect to see trailers for upcoming comedies.

By art-house standards, "A Mighty Wind" is a blockbuster, and that's another element theater managers have to deal with: pressure from studios to show their trailers before the hottest films. This week, every studio wanted their previews shown with "The Matrix Reloaded," which is why, if you go to that film, you'll probably see more than the usual number of trailers. In fact, trailers are such big business that local and national firms are employed to go from theater to theater, making sure they're actually showing the trailers they say they're showing.

HOW TO MISS THE TRAILERS...

'It's very political. With these blockbusters, the studios really care about getting placement of their trailers. It's huge exposure, if you think about how big the opening weekends are for some of these films. And it's a captive audience of people in a dark room with no distractions," notes Wronski. Last weekend, for instance, about 25 million people saw "X2." That's 50 million eyes that every studio wanted to make sure saw commercials for their upcoming blockbusters.

Margolis felt the pressure that created: "Twentieth Century Fox shipped 10 trailers with 'X-2.' Usually, when these movies come in, they're shipped with two to six trailers."

Mann theaters didn't show all 10 of those trailers that Fox wanted shown with "X-2," and folks like Woodworth can be thankful for that. But what if you'd prefer not to see any trailers? Is there a way to avoid them? Probably not.

"Our new strategy is if the movie starts at 7:30, we leave the house at 7:30," says Woodworth, who usually attends movies with his wife, Denise, and kids. "It takes 15 to 20 minutes to get there, which means we miss 15 to 20 minutes of stuff before the movie."

Woodworth says the strategy works; he has never missed the beginning of a movie, and he usually arrives in time to see a trailer or two. But experts say Woodworth is playing a dangerous game.

... OR THE START OF THE MOVIE

Woodworth doesn't see movies the first couple of weeks they're in release. If he did, he'd find that popular show times are often sold out, especially for people who arrive 15 or 20 minutes after the movie was supposed to begin. Graham also notes that latecomers run the risk of getting: (a) lousy seats and (b) sore necks.

"Sometimes, if you show up after the trailers have started, all that's left is the front rows. Lots of people don't want to sit that close," notes Graham.

Even if you don't mind sitting in Craned Neckland, you may not be able to get away with showing up 20 minutes late. At a long movie like "Gods and Generals," for instance, Margolis said there might not have been any trailers shown, because theaters were trying to fit in four showings a day of the four-hour movie, and they also needed half an hour between showings to clean up theaters. That left no time for previews, which means latecomers to "Gods and Generals" would have missed the first couple of Civil War massacres entirely.

If, like Woodworth, you regularly visit the same theater, you may be able to get a sense of how much time you have to play with and plan accordingly. But if you really don't want to see previews, the only foolproof way to make sure you get the seats you want and that you don't miss anything is this one: Bring a book and park yourself out in the hall until you hear the movie beginning.