Sick of going to the movies and they supposed to start and yet its twenty minutes of freaking ads.
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You can ask the workers when the movie actually starts and they will tell you. There’s a schedule they have printed every day or a digital one they can reference usually. They will also tell you the exact time the credits end for better scheduling
Oh heck, I never thought of just asking! (Admittedly, I’m usually high as balls and socially awkward at a movie but still!)
So are the workers
Not for our chain.
They tell you when the screening starts and the runtime of the movie.
Which obviously includes credits
Are you posting from 2007?
Must be spill over from the meme groups posting ancient stale memes
Since you get to pick your seat when you buy your ticket, I’ve been showing up 20 minutes after the start time. I catch the tail end of the endless trailers and haven’t missed any of the movie yet.
I don’t think they thought this through…
They did think it through.
The money they make from advertising is the same whether you show up on time or not. I’m pretty sure reserved seating nets them more concession stand income as people know they have ‘extra’ time to buy something and still get the seat they wanted.
The really frustrating thing back when the ads were first being shoved in was not having a consistent amount of ad time, so guessing the real start time was a pain.
I can agree that ad revenue hasn’t changed much, but it would be interesting to see how many hits each ad get, which can be determined by what time a person redeems their ticket. If anything, I’d guess that fewer people see the ads, based solely on my own experience. And also based solely on my own experience, I don’t think concession sales have changed, either.
Just show up late. That’s what I do.
I have been timing movie previews since August 2022. I was posting the data weekly on Twitter but I stopped using Twitter when the sale to Elon was finalized.
My Qualifications
I have a monthly pass that allows me to go up to 4 times a week. I also worked at a theater for 4 years, with part of that time being as a manager and projectionist. I have selected and put ad rolls on the film myself.
I go every Sunday morning. I started timing ads and previews before the movie started and logging them in a chart, but I am not a data analyst. I am just an annoyed theater patron.
Movie Previews and Ad Roll Lengths
Note: Most of my data is from seeing movies at AMC. I can’t guarantee every theater will be this way but theaters that use digital film distribution instead of physical film should be similar.
Timing start at the scheduled showtime and start the moment the last ad stops and the film credits start.
If you go to AMC, the Nicole Kidman ad is always the last one. I stop counting as soon as she says “AMC Theaters, we make movies better.”
- You can safely go to the theater 15 minutes late every single time.
- Ads ranged from 17 min to 31 min.
- Once, the movie started exactly on time with no ads at all, but that was two years after I started timing previews. This is an outlier.
- Newer movies have longer ads. Movies in the larger rooms have longer ads. IMAX, Dolby, Laser, Prime, and 3D/movies 4D have longer ads. For these movies, ads tend to run approximately 24-27 min.
- The longer the movie has been out the shorter the ad roll length.
- The studio/distributor behind the movie also matters. Indies and smaller budgets have less ads, but big studios like Disney and Sony have more. Studios like Searchlight and Focus can be deceptive as they are owned by bigger companies but they still aren’t as bad as said larger conglomerates.
TLDR: I tracked movie ad times for years and recommend showing up 15 minutes late.
Thank you for the indepth comment. I will take this knowledge and use it.
Turns a 2 hour movies into two and a half almost. My ass starts to hurt halfway through.
That’s why I only watch movies at home… I need comfort.
And subtitles, and the ability to pause, and home cooked meals, and and and
Oh yeah? I went to go see Dogma last week. The movie started right on time. I missed out the buddy christ bit because we were busy getting snacks and hitting the bathroom thinking weve got plenty of time.
You’ve got to know the policy of the theatre you’re going to.
Lol get rekt.
Buddy of mine suggested going to a theatre in anotger city. He said there will be no ads and so we hurried instead of going slow and chill.
Turns out there were the usual 20min of ads and we had plenty of time.
So not even the theatre has only one policy.Weird. It’s pretty consistent at the ones I go to.
Cinemas ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Well, one of the symptoms how stuff gets rid of itself. Also prices and other things.
It’s a luxury issue really and cinemas and in part the entertainment industry can cry me a river.
This is why I haven’t gone to the movies in many years. Add in the people who just can’t keep off their phones for 2 whole hours (or put them on silent) and that convinced me to invest in higher quality home entertainment.
Don’t forget the talkers. Two old ladies in front of me wouldn’t shut up.
Plus films are getting longer and my bladder is not getting bigger.
Go 20 min later if you’re going to something like an AMC theater. AMC is particularly bad.
But better that, support locally owned theaters or smaller companies in general. They generally plug the snack bar, tell you to turn off your phone, then cut to trailers.
Dude my local theater does this too. I have 3 choices. B&B, AMC, or Cinemark. All three do this. Its 30 minutes of fucking ads. Movie supposed start at 10.55. Its freaking 11.25 when it started. Including trailers. Which in age of YouTube there not needed. Because I seen them all.
I should’ve clarified. Locally owned independent theaters.
That said, not everyone has those. They tend to exist in big urban areas, or very small communities. If you’re in the middle, you get the chains.
They just announced they were upping the ad content. You are seeing it in real time.
Growing up in Sweden, ads were not allowed in TV. So only time you got to see ads was at the movie. So ads felt special and fun to watch.
I was going to mention that this was one of the reasons I like going to the last remaining drive-in theater in my area, since it doesn’t do that. Then I realized that it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen a movie there, and decided to check what’s playing. 3 of the 4 “now playing” movies and 13 out of 15 “coming soon” movies are sequels or reboots. And now I’m mildly infuriated, too.
It’s fun to try guessing what brand the ad is for (up to a point). I hate when they tease me as if the movie is about to start and then start playing more ads instead.
Movie trailers are good though. Have seen some that I’d never have watched without seeing a trailer there.
Yeah that pisses me. They say now enjoy your movie and get another 10 minutes of ads.
I don’t know in my cinema it’s usually max. 5-10 Minutes. Sometimes even no commercials at all.
It’s an independent one though.
Nope Life Of Chuck. 30 minutes after movie start time did it actually start. This is at a Cinimax.
