When is this movie really going to start? I’ve been here half an hour.

[Mike Blakesley]

Theaters should communicate with people when they have to do things that people don't like. For example, there could be a card that comes up at the end of the ad package that says "Thank you for watching the foregoing ads. They help pay our expenses, and help keep us from raising prices. Enjoy the show!"

Heck even my Ford pickup has a Sony logo (which is really an ad) come up on the little screen when I turn on the stereo. The same logo (ad) appears on the dashboard speaker grille. I'm sure Ford collected a a bit of a fee from Sony for allowing those logos (ads) to appear in their vehicles. Whether they passed the savings along to the consumer is another guess.

[Bobby Henderson]

A quick "thank you for watching the ads" snipe would be the least they could do. A better move would be cutting the number of commercials and trailers in the pre-show. A half hour is just ridiculous.

A pre-show that long is really bad when you're going to watch a movie that is really long just on its own. I deliberately avoided buying any soft drinks when watching the Avatar sequel and Killers of the Flower Moon. The half-hour long pre-shows made me even more determined to enter the theater with an empty bladder and do zero to add to it.

If they would just cut the damned pre-show down to around 10 or 15 minutes there would be less chance of movies with just average run times near 2 hours turning into bladder busters.

I'm sure many of us who've visited big chain theaters lately have overheard other people in the auditorium growing increasingly annoyed at what seems like an endless run of movie trailers. Just when you think it's finally over, nope. Another green band. You can hear people whispering curse words. Sometimes they'll just say it out loud, "Jesus, when's the fucking movie going to start!?"

The theater chain bosses just don't realize how much they're torturing their customers with that crap.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

The theater chain bosses just don't realize how much they're torturing their customers with that crap.

You're right. They don't care, because they are making money by running ads... lots of independents also do the same.

[Ed Gordon]

You can play this one before the show to encourage your audience to visit the snack bar:

...and you can run it again to clear the auditorium just before the between show cleaning starts.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Imagine the theater actually becoming it's own pre-show advertisement...

[Mike Blakesley]

That Kars-4-Kids commercial on the radio makes me instantly spin the volume knob to zero, or listen to something else. There are a couple of ads on iHeart that do the same thing, especially some obnoxious casino ads.

A half hour is just ridiculous.

Yes, especially if it has trailers and ads mixed. THAT is just against the rule book, in my opinion. There again, I can see complaints from advertisers who know their ad is going to play "first," and they know hardly anyone is in the place then. The ideal thing, if you're running ads, would be to somehow mix them up at random on different days. But no ads should ever play after the main program starts.

[Bobby Henderson]

Imagine the theater actually becoming it's own pre-show advertisement...

That's a great ad -and social experiment. Out of the couples that were brave enough to take those two remaining seats I wonder how many other couples simply left the auditorium to get a refund. That's assuming the social experiment was real and not portrayed by a bunch of actors.

That Kars-4-Kids commercial on the radio makes me instantly spin the volume knob to zero, or listen to something else. There are a couple of ads on iHeart that do the same thing, especially some obnoxious casino ads.

There are commercials that run on our local TV stations I can't stand; I end up hitting the mute button or even changing the channel. Some things are more annoying to me as I have gotten older. I thought I was supposed to be moving in the other direction and lightening up!

I can't listen to commercial radio stations anymore. They suck. All our "local radio stations" are owned by big companies that set the play lists -basically the same 8-10 songs over and over again for months on end with lots of commercial breaks mixed into it. None of the "disc jockeys" have any independence on what they can play. But they'll gaslight listeners with recordings of fake listener requests asking for them to play a song that played not even an hour ago. The free streaming services are a little better, but not all that much. I have 3 free months of Amazon Music Unlimited and so far I like it quite a bit. No commercials and I can listen to just about any music I can think of at quality levels that don't sound like crap. I listen to music a lot while I work and while I work out at the gym. So I'll probably keep that service and get rid of something else.

The ideal thing, if you're running ads, would be to somehow mix them up at random on different days. But no ads should ever play after the main program starts.

Even if it is just movie trailers the audience can take watching only so many of them in one sitting. When the trailers have over-stayed their welcome you'll hear the groans, comments and even some curse words as each new green band hits the screen. I think some of the blame for these longer pre-shows is the digital projection setups. It's a lot easier to add a trailer to a digital pre-show than it is to manually build a trailer into a 35mm print. So they just add more and more of them into the pre-show. This is running at the polar opposite of a general public that is increasingly accustomed to instant gratification -thanks also to digital technology.

[Mike Blakesley]

Here's my favorite feature about Amazon Music Unlimited. Listen to an album (not a greatest-hits album) by your favorite artist. Then make sure the "play similar music when my music finishes" is turned on. After your album ends, it will play a mix of similar music, including other songs by the artist of your chosen album. But the best thing is, since you listened to an "album," it will assume you like "album cuts" and will play stuff besides just the hits. You'll hear some really off-the-wall stuff mixed in with occasional hits, which for me is a way more entertaining experience. I've discovered a lot of new-to-me artists and songs that way, including artists I've been curious about forever but never got around to checking out. I listened to an album by (Canadian band) April Wine, and Amazon followed it up with a slew of obscure Canadian bands I'd never heard of but a lot of them were great!

[Marcel Birgelen]

That's a great ad -and social experiment. Out of the couples that were brave enough to take those two remaining seats I wonder how many other couples simply left the auditorium to get a refund. That's assuming the social experiment was real and not portrayed by a bunch of actors.

It's an old video, but from what I've been told those were no actors, but they obviously had to consent afterwards to be in there. Obviously, there was some pre-selection going on, as only couples were sent to that room to make it work.

Even if it is just movie trailers the audience can take watching only so many of them in one sitting. When the trailers have over-stayed their welcome you'll hear the groans, comments and even some curse words as each new green band hits the screen. I think some of the blame for these longer pre-shows is the digital projection setups. It's a lot easier to add a trailer to a digital pre-show than it is to manually build a trailer into a 35mm print. So they just add more and more of them into the pre-show. This is running at the polar opposite of a general public that is increasingly accustomed to instant gratification -thanks also to digital technology.

With 35mm, there was an inherent laziness to rebuild the trailer reels, so when they were still (mostly) good, they often ended up slapped onto new features, unaltered, especially in multiplexes. In the digital age, this has become just a point-and-click job, but apparently for many it's still too much to ask for some regular updates in the trailer program.

Although I've come to tolerate commercials in front of my movie going experience, especially given the situation many theaters are in those days, I think we crossed a line somewhere. I still consider going to the movies a "premium experience", especially if I'm going to a "first-run" show. I'm paying extra for the privilege to see it first and on a big screen, so should I really be bombarded with advertisements? Besides annoying me to squeeze a few extra cents out of my presence, it also cheapens the experience. But I guess that's the core of modern-day capitalism: eventually it's all just a race to the bottom. I've heard that Amazon has announced, at least over in the U.S. that Prime Video now includes "select advertisements" at "no extra costs", marketed like they're offering you a SERVICE by showing ads...

[Bobby Henderson]

Here's my favorite feature about Amazon Music Unlimited. Listen to an album (not a greatest-hits album) by your favorite artist. Then make sure the "play similar music when my music finishes" is turned on. After your album ends, it will play a mix of similar music, including other songs by the artist of your chosen album.

That feature is built into the "basic" Amazon Music service as well, but with some limitations. I don't think the basic service plays as wide a selection of similar music. And the audio quality level with the basic music service isn't nearly as good as the "HD" or "Ultra HD" levels in the Unlimited plan. It doesn't sound terrible (like trying to listen to Sirius|XM online), but it's not great either. Amazon did some down-grading with the basic music service, such as removing any rewinding or skimming forward controls on a song's time line in the music player. They'll also make listeners play an album in song order rather than being able to select individual songs. Those limitations weren't there previously.

But the best thing is, since you listened to an "album," it will assume you like "album cuts" and will play stuff besides just the hits. You'll hear some really off-the-wall stuff mixed in with occasional hits, which for me is a way more entertaining experience. I've discovered a lot of new-to-me artists and songs that way, including artists I've been curious about forever but never got around to checking out.

I've discovered a decent amount of good music from newer bands in that fashion. Some tune would start playing that sounded really good or catchy. I'd open the player on my computer or phone to see who was playing the song. It might be a group I would have never heard about otherwise. If there is a lot of buzz going on about a certain band I can pull up their music library and see what all the fuss is about. I also like being able to pull up classic albums released decades ago.

Although I've come to tolerate commercials in front of my movie going experience, especially given the situation many theaters are in those days, I think we crossed a line somewhere.

I think the theater chain bosses are hoping the younger customers don't know any better and that the older customers don't remember how the movie going experience used to be. The glut of ads and trailers do cheapen the experience. It's just another thing to make it feel like "watching TV in public."

I've heard that Amazon has announced, at least over in the U.S. that Prime Video now includes "select advertisements" at "no extra costs", marketed like they're offering you a SERVICE by showing ads...

Yeah, that's their way of sneaking in a new pricing tier. They'll do something to down-grade the existing service (like add commercial interruptions into the shows) and then make you pay a few dollars more per month to get rid of the ads. Some customers simply decide to cancel in response.

[Barry Floyd]

When I advertise a 7:40pm start time for a movie, I have the automation start the show at 7:20pm+/-. When I build my playlists, I put all of our normal policy trailers, ad packs, and 3 trailers on the front and note the time duration before I add the feature presentation. I always start the actual movie at advertised start time. My regular customers have figured it out, but the new comers always show up 15-20 minutes past start time figuring they were going to skip the fluff at the beginning. Then they complain to me we started the movie early.

[Bruce Cloutier]

It amazes me how much money is spent/wasted on advertisement production and in getting them aired/played when they are targeting an audience (doesn't matter which) that absolutely would do anything they could to NOT pay any attention to the content. It is just ludicrous. It has to be blindly driven by greed and ego.

Nothing pisses me off more than seeing the same ad twice in the same commercial break. I generally end up flipping the bird at the screen more often than I would like to admit. There is nothing worse than having to periodically sit through 5 minutes of commercials for every 5 minutes of content. At that point the content is no longer of interest. Doesn't matter if this is the radio, TV, or cinema. Trailers on the other hand are a great way for us to decide what we might want to see next. Well, so long as it is one or two.

The day will come when some of these advertisers/sponsors realize that there is hardly any value in the money spent. Look what happened to Twitter when the advertisers pulled back. They are just not smart enough to find a better way to market. Probably not smart enough to get some other job. Maybe they don't have the balls to NOT spend on this. Perhaps for them it is a game just to see how obnoxious they can get. Because they certainly can't quantify how much sales depends on the advertisement expense. Heck, it would be rare if they could prove that anyone bought or did anything because of an ad. I have not bought anything from an ad. Well, I think maybe my first TiVo?

Just saying.

You guys are probably committed by contract to show the ads. Probably in the fine print.

Maybe there needs to be a revolution?

[Harold Hallikainen]

The morning guy at a top 40 AM station I worked at got a call from a woman on the request line requesting a commercial. The DJ told her they only take requests for songs. She replied, ^You still play those?'

[Bruce Cloutier]

Nothing pisses me off more than seeing the same ad twice in the same commercial break.

We were talking about this thread in the office (by the water cooler) and Kevin mentioned that they were just at a theatre and they played a KIA commercial back to back. He and his group were laughing at the déjà vu and cracking jokes about the content. Then he says it played yet again... a third time!

At that point you have to truly question the intelligence of everyone behind that coming to the screen in that manner. Someone has to be incredibly stupid or they have to have an exceedingly low opinion of the average patron.

Oh yeah. Sure. I remember the product name. But I don't think that is how they want you to remember it.

If that were me sitting there I would steam about that for at least another 10 minutes and not even notice whatever else might be up there. Nothing like starting into a good feature film all pissed off at the world. The theatre used to be a place where you go to escape the insanity of the real world.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Speaking of KIA, I bought a used 95 Kia Sportage when I moved to Utah in 1998. I had my doubts about it, but the little SUV turned out to be one of the most reliable vehicles I ever owned. I couldn't kill it or get it stuck. Drove it through over and around mountains where there were no roads. Here is a picture I took out in the West Desert to give you an idea. That road in the distance is the Pony Express Trail.