AMC Theaters Now Warns Moviegoers About Lengthy Previews Before Films Start
AMC Theaters Now Warns Moviegoers About Lengthy Previews Before Films Start
While moviegoers are long past the days of rushing to the movie theater to make it to their seats before the listed showtime, AMC is now giving a courtesy heads-up that’s hard to miss. Previews and various advertisements have almost always come before movies in theaters, and that aspect won't ...
"Movies start 25-30 minutes after showtime," the AMC disclaimer reads.
showtime noun show·time *ˈshō-ˌtīm *
: the scheduled or actual time at which a show or something likened to a show begins
For AMC and other major theater chains, the trailers and advertisements are considered part of the "show". It's part of their website terms of service somewhere, but I can't find it right now.
or something likened to a show
lol whoever wrote this definition must have seen some absolute garbage
Miriam is the only dictionary which included that bit, and I assume it’s because you can describe any event start as showtime.
But commercials are not the show.
I don't mind previews in general, I think it's a good way to get settled in before the picture. I often see something that I would unlikely run across normally, and while I might not even ever watch it, I like being exposed to what's out there. Now, can previews be better, as in presenting the movie while not dragging on or revealing too much...absolutely. I'd love to have shorter, less spoiling advertisements, and more of them to get a feel of what's been made.
Now, ads in general, I'm not a fan of. That's probably because I'm not used to them since I don't watch general TV (which, I have no idea how people watch and don't go insane).
The trailer for Project Hail Mary had me really hopeful that it was going to be a perfect trailer, then at the very end they revealed a huge plot point that would have been better left as a surprise.
I actually thought this was a response to my comments in the trailer thread, lol. Having not read the book, I don't know where a good cut off would be. Having not suggest an alien at all? Alien contact revealed, but not much more? Some replies say there's still a lot more, so maybe this isn't ruined "enough"? If the trailer had only shown him without much of any plot revealed, would it attract enough viewers who knew nothing of the book?
It's a tough decision, and there will always be upset people. The goal is to get tickets, so whatever marketing research deems will work the best wins.
When I first saw the poster I was extremely excited. Once I saw the trailer though, I was a little worried. I think Ryan Gosling is fantastic, and I generally love him in everything, but I worry I won't like him in this particular role. I do agree that the trailer should have stopped before revealing as much as it did.
I don't watch network TV either, but if I had to put up with ads at all, it would be on the device that I watch and not vice versa.
Obligatory not an American, not an AMC customer.
I feel the same as you about the previews. I don't catch many new releases, so any time I go in the trailers are usually different and it's a fun way to notify me of upcoming films I may be interested in. The formulaic trailers present a lot better on a big screen with a better sound system than I have at home, so I don't mind sitting through them. However, I also enjoy the ads at my local cinema because most are from local businesses. Some of them are very cute and/or bad but it's always interesting to see how other small local businesses are trying to market themselves.
We used to have like eight to ten minutes of trailers. I could live with that. This just reinforces that my (quite nice) home theater setup is the best way to consume content. I recommend getting a projector if you have a good space for it. Changed watching movies for me forever.
I used to reliably be able to leave my house at the listed show time, drive about 10 miles to the theater, get a ticket, park and buy popcorn and be in my seat right as the show started.
I just got out a regal imax screening, seated at showtime and expected some trailers but they ran 30 minutes of straight up ads and then 15 of trailers. Dudes, the movie is already 3 hours long and tickets were $30 a pop - can we please cut this crap all together?
All the AMCs in my area start the actual movie ~20 mins after scheduled showtime. So we leave the house at showtime and arrive just in time to start the movie.
Marcus theaters is the one I frequent most, which is seldom. When movie pass was a thing, I went to at least 3 movie a week, maybe more because it was basically free.
I would show up 20 minutes late
everytimeevery time, and I would catch the message about turning your phone off and the Atmos sound blast right as the movie would start. When you see that many movies, the trailers are all repeats. It was a 100% success rate.I went to the new How to Train Your Dragon the other day, and the movie actually started about 23 min after the scheduled start.
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