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Topic: When does the movie REALLY start?

Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 01-18-2005 08:14 AM

Interesting. It looks like a Connecticut state representative has said "enough is enough" and is proposing legislation that would require movie theaters in Connecticut to post the start time of the actual feature.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/ae/movies/2993012

quote:
Lawmaker wants theaters honest about movie start times
Associated Press

MANCHESTER, Conn. � Coming soon to a theater near you: movie listings that print the start time for the main feature.

Frustrated with lengthy advertisements and previews that delay movies and chew up viewing time, a state lawmaker wants theaters to be honest about when a movie actually starts.

State Rep. Andrew Fleischmann is proposing legislation to force movie listings to print the time the previews start, and when the movies start.

"We're being robbed of our freedom of choice because we're not told when the actual movie will begin," said Fleischmann, a Democrat.

Movie ads are big business for theaters. A report from the Cinema Advertising Council, an industry group, found that on-screen revenue for its members grew 45 percent from $190.8 million in 2002 to $315 million in 2003.

Messages seeking comment were left for the council, the National Association of Theater Owners, Loews Theaters and Regal Cinemas.

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Jeremy Fuentes
Mmmm, Dr. Pepper!

Posts: 1168
From: Corpus Christi, TX United States
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 01-18-2005 10:15 AM

Well at least they have their priorities straight. [Roll Eyes]

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Thomas Procyk
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1842
From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 01-18-2005 10:44 AM

I'm confused. How is not printing the start time of the feature robbing people of their freedom of choice? You're not preventing them from choosing anything else. I would think including the trailers in the running time would be enough to solve this "problem" (the fact that they "eat in to viewing time") and come to think of it, most movies I have seen recently have ended well before the running time indicated they should. (about 10-15m)

I'd like to take this "legislation" a step further and add that if the start time of the FEATURE is advertized, NO ONE shall be admitted after that specified time. Only between the time(s) of the ads and the feature will tickets continue to be sold for the engagement. [thumbsup]

All this would cause is an onslaught of people shuffling and mingling for seats during the first reel.

=TMP=

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 01-18-2005 12:37 PM

At all the theatres I worked which did show commercials, our contract with the advertising agency (Pearl & Dean or Carlton) specified that only the programme start time could be advertised. Basically they didn't want customers timing their arrival to miss the ads. Box office staff were under strict instructions not to reveal the feature start time over the 'phone when taking advance bookings, on pain of being escorted to a cellar and introduced to The Gimp.

In the one theatre I worked which had an absolute policy of never showing any ads or trailers at all, ever, this caused a problem. This place was a well-known London arthouse with a hard core of regular customers (most of whom belonged to a membership scheme) who knew that the feature always started at the advertised time, and that latecomers would only be admitted if they could be seated without disrupting others. But unsuspecting newbies who deliberately arrived 10 minutes late and whose seat was in the middle of a full row would often find themselves being refused admission - and the place didn't give out refunds in those circumstances. This was all explained in the small print on the ticket and in the monthly printed programme brochure that was mailed out to members, but needless to say the policy caused some heated exchanges at times.

My guess would be that you'd see more of this if you did advertise the feature start time; but that most mainstream theatres probably couldn't afford to be as picky in refusing to admit latecomers. In any case cinema advertising would die off. Only the other day I was reading an article about a new Sky hard disc TV recorder which, on payment of an extra subscription, will record broadcasts off air and automatically edit out the commercials. The writer was predicting armageddon for the advertising industry if the idea takes off.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-18-2005 12:43 PM

What a stupid thing to legislate. I dislike cinema advertising as much as (if not more than) anyone here, but I fail to see why we need a law for this.

If a customer cares, he can always call the boxoffice (not the recording) and ask when the feature starts. Problem solved.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 01-18-2005 12:47 PM

While I dislike the increased number of TV commercials tacked onto the front of movies, I disagree with the Conn. State Rep's legislative idea.

As Thomas said, if you post the actual start time in the newspaper ads then you'll have lots and lots of people stumbling into the darkened auditorium for at least the first 20 minutes of the movie, if not longer. This kind of thing would really stink in a normal sloped theater. Who can manage to enjoy watching a movie when a bunch of latecomers are stumbling by with their potato heads getting in the way of the screen? This would still pose a nagging distraction in a stadium seated theater. Viewers already have to put up with enough distractions (cellphones, crying babies, assholes putting their feet on the back of your chair, farting assholes, etc.).

I don't even agree with a compromise move of posting times when the ads start and when the show starts. You'll still have most of the audience arriving in reels 1 and 2. On top of that, most theater directory ads in newspapers are pretty small and already have microscopic copy. Who's going to get out a magnifying glass to read 2 point type needed to fit all those extra numbers?

In general, I think most people would agree movies simply should have fewer TV commercials and trailers attached to the front. But I understand exhibitors are getting squeezed further and further by distributors and have to look for additional revenue sources.

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David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 01-18-2005 01:09 PM

Conn. State Rep. Andrew Fleischmann is clearly an idiot. [Roll Eyes]

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Wolff King Morrow
Master Film Handler

Posts: 490
From: Denton, TX, USA
Registered: Feb 2004

posted 01-18-2005 06:11 PM

It's just to pick up from Andy Rooney's rant he did about the same thing. Personally I find it such a non-issue. Regular customers to a given theater simply choose when they want to show up. Seeing as how on busy nights you want to show up early to get good seats, there's no reason a theater should be forced to recalculate start times.

What they SHOULD be doing is forcing studios to offer a skip ads feature on DVD versions of movies. I'm getting more and more disgusted with ad-laced DVD's that you can't skip to the movie on.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-18-2005 06:40 PM

It would have no effect, probably. The smart people would come at the beginning of the program like they always have, but would continue to gripe about the ads. The idiots would, as noted above, stumble around in the dark and ruin the movie for the smart people.

The REALLY smart people will patronize mom-n-pop theatres that don't show ads. [Wink]

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 01-18-2005 11:30 PM

quote: Thomas Procyk
All this would cause is an onslaught of people shuffling and mingling for seats during the first reel.

I've got to agree with Thomas and Bobby on this! I can't even go to a regular theater with the public...they're too aggravating. And then god forbid there be something wrong with the presentation to add to the frustration!

quote: Mike Blakesley
The REALLY smart people will patronize mom-n-pop theatres that don't show ads.

I know Mike said this partially as a joke, but think about it...sooner or later exactly that will become the draw pulling people to independent theaters and small chains.

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Thomas Dieter
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 234
From: Yakima, WA
Registered: Jun 2004

posted 01-19-2005 03:04 AM

I have to agree with Thomas on this. Customers that come to a movie late make it entirely to hard on the other customers that are prompt. I will admit that I have been to my share of late films due to miscommunication and other factors.

Here is what I want to clarify. When they refer to ads, are they referring to the on screen advertisements paid by other companies to advertise their product, or are they referring to the trailers. If i read that article properly, the theatres are already abiding by the law, before it's even passed.

I have to agree that sometimes these theatres that put every trailer on that comes in the cans is annoying. I remember a complaint when I was a floor personnel about the amount of previews that were playing. Customers movie (previews and all) started at 7:35. By the time the featured film actually started was 40 min later. Of course this could have been prevented by 2 things. Studios not putting so many trailers in the can, and studios not requiring some trailers to be programmed.

Personally, when it comes to watching a movie, I would prefer to stay in the hall or lobby until i know that the previews are started cause I don't like the advertisements of candy, pop, food, cars, lawyers, etc. etc. I would really like to see an on screen light show from lights like you see at a dance.

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Dominic Espinosa
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1172
From: Boulder Creek, CA.
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 01-19-2005 02:10 PM

Instead of attacking the scheduling why isn't anyone legislating preview lengths!?
40 minutes of trailers is unnacceptable!
At the theaters in my chain that show rolling stock we are limited to 1 minute and 30 seconds. That's it.
The entire trailer pack isn't to exceepd 8 or 10 minutes and I find anything more than that is annoying.
Why should a theater show that many previews on one movie? It's rediculous!

The last theater I saw that did that was programming completely unrelated trailers. Doesn't the concept of programming trailers to match the feature make any sence to these people?

I think the legislation should be this:
Trailer packages should not exceed more than 12 minutes max.
Ad packages should be limited to no more than 1:30 to 2 minutes at the time of the companies next contract renewel with their rolling stock provider.

Telling patrons when the FEATURE starts is a bad idea because then you're going to have all the fashionably late morons trying to find seats in a big ass thater on Friday night annoying everyone trying to catch the opening of the movie.
It's dangerous too!
Imagin a dark opening reel, with lots of shadowy scenes...Someone could walk right into somebody without seeing them!

Attach the length, not the schedule. Deal with the problem and not just the symptom...What's the matter with these guys?

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-19-2005 03:13 PM

quote: Dominic Espinosa
I think the legislation should be this:
Trailer packages should not exceed more than 12 minutes max.

No-o-o-o....the government should STAY THE HELL OUT of the movie business!

Or if they really want to do something useful, make it illegal to bring anyone under 5 to any movie not rated G. And make cellphone usage in a theatre punishable by huge fines. You know, stuff that would really enhance the experience of the actual movie.

The way things are going, ads will probably pay for part of the cost of the new gee-whiz Digital Projectors we'll all be showing Star Wars 7,8, and 9 on, so might as well learn to love'em.

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Thomas King
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 119
From: Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
Registered: Oct 2004

posted 01-19-2005 10:59 PM

I'm firmly of the opinion that the feature start time is the time that I press play [Smile]

We'd be sunk if it wasn't for the big fat cheque that Pearl & Dean send us, and we rely on trailers to drill into people what we're showing soon (heaven forbid they should look at our poster boards, pick up a programme or look at our website). I think the twenty or so minutes that ads and trailers take up is quite reasonable, if you're so busy that you can't spare it, you shouldn't be at the cinema anyway [Smile]

However, I must temper this by saying that at "less professional" cinemas *coughodeoncough* I have had to sit through thirty five minutes of adverts alone. As long as advertisers don't get greedy and try to take advantage of the public, I don't see there's anything to complain about.

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Adam Wilbert
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 590
From: Bellingham, WA, USA
Registered: Mar 2002

posted 01-19-2005 11:44 PM

Mike is right on on this. I don't think that we should even be talking about outlawing anything just because it's mind numbingly annoying. I think Regal is on the right track with programming: "The 20" starts before the scheduled showtime and previews start at the showtime (with no rolling stock). I'd be embarrased if this dufus was my representative. Brad should post names of all of our connecticut members so we can ridicule them! [Big Grin]

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