AMC now warns moviegoers to expect ‘25-30 minutes’ of ads and trailers

Movie theaters: "Why are movie theaters dying?"

(Also Movie theaters)

This isn't new at all
- In the 90's they were like 10 mins, 20 tops, and most of that was trailers for upcoming movies. It was great pre-internet.
  Now they can go fuck themselves with their ads, right in the dickhole.
- I remember being a kid and a movie at 8:35pm would have 2-3 trailers and the movie would start.
  A decade ago, I noticed it was 10 minutes of trailers. And a few ads for random products showed up.
  30 minutes of this? This is new to me.

Seems like a major selling point for theaters could be that they DON'T show ads, and that would be a draw.

They're competing with my big TV at home, my comfortable couch, surround sound, private bathroom, control over the volume, ability to pause, great snacks, and no annoying people. The only thing they have is first access, and I'm more than willing to wait to get all the benefits of watching at home.

Alamo Drafthouse already does this. Their pre-movie things are all related to the movie being shown, usually featurettes or meme videos related to it.

Their website literally said a movie started at 7 pm tonight so we get there at 7. Unfortunately it was a mistake and the movie started at 6:30.

We got to our seats with 3 trailers to spare.

Back before covid I went to the cinema almost every week to watch some 3D movie, always late past the trailers/ads and with a sub hidden in my backpack. Fool me once.

I won't sit through an ad, at home, in my underwear. I most certainly am not putting on pants, leaving the house, and paying admission to see ads.

The bar to get me to put pants on keeps rising.

I didn't think there was anything worth watching before. I'm certain now. All ads are insults to your time and intelligence.

Most didn't even notice the 12 mins of every hour taken for ads on TV (old stat; could even be worse now). And if you brought it to their attention, something about doing chores during them or somehow accepting them as the only way in which you'd receive your entertainment was what you heard. Any moment of most ads is an insult to your mental as far as I'm concerned. And others just don't want to protect themselves.
- In the late 80’s the Simpsons ran 22 minute episodes which I think was normal. That would be 16 minutes of ads an hour.
- Back in the late 50s/early 60s, a tv season season ran 39 weeks long, and an hour-long show ran for 54 minutes.
Most of society is exceptional at something and important, and most of them are shallower than a valley girl.

I think the saddest of all is when they roll ads for themselves. I'm already in your shitty theater, why are you advertising how "magical" your experience is? Just reeks of desperation and won't convince me to visit more frequently, there are many reasons why I very rarely go to AMC theaters and wasting my time advertising yourselves while I'm already there won't change my mind.

I don't mind previews much, but ads? No.

I still remember the first time I saw an actual ad in a movie theatre. It was a car ad. I wanted to set the screen on fire.

It's been ~25 minutes of trailers since 2010. All that's new here is the transparency.

It been 30 mins for ads and trailers for as long as I can remember and I am in my 40's.
- The last two years have been a hard 35 mins of ads. Not just expected blockbusters as before.

To all those people saying “well I’ll just show up late”, wait till they start denying entry if you are past a certain point with no refund, forcing people to sit through the ads.

That's the day movie theaters die
Pop in earbuds, pull out phone, and find something else to do for (hypothetical required minutes prior to main feature).
Eject me due to using phone during compulsory ad viewing time? I’m never coming back to the theater again.
- They shouldn't even really call it public masturbation if it's quite dark in there.

The ad industry is destroying every form of entertainment or data access available. Even within the entertainment itself we get product placement for cars, foods, etc.

Have you seen the beaches at Miami? That shit is dystopian.

If the sentiment in this thread is representative of the population, it seems like theaters no longer have a value proposition. Home theaters are good enough, we have streaming, and we have budget limitations.

There's an independent cinema near me which is doing it right.
The venue is a heritage building which has been refurbished to a high standard, and they have reasonably priced food and drink, including beers.
They participate in film festivals and show a lot of niche and foreign movies that would be impossible to find otherwise, so it's actually worth going to see something different or interesting.
To support accessibility they have child-friendly showings with zero ads or trailers, autism-friendly showings also with no ads, brighter light and less volume, and even pay-as-you-can tickets that go down all the way in price to completely free if you ask for it, so everyone can see a movie, even people who have nothing.
To me, making the cinema experience actually appealing again like that, and an actual part of the community, is the only way for cinema to thrive going forward.
Of course, the big chains can't possibly adapt to that, but as far as the big chains go, then fuck 'em.
- That sounds amazing!

Tvs are gigantic, projectors aren't all that expensive anymore, people are sometimes obnoxious in public, and it's a lot of fun to piece together a good sound system. Fuck theaters.

And since I don't have to drive anywhere if I'm already home, drinks are back on the menu.
Can also pause when I have to take a piss in the middle of a 3-hour movie.

I now warn AMC to expect more yarr 🏴‍☠️

Well...I'm never going to see a movie in any theater ever again.

It's already been a decade for me. Doubt I'll ever go again.
- I genuinely don't remember the last time I left a theater saying "that was so great." I saw Inglourious Basterds and Zombieland in the theater when they were out, enjoyed both, haven't seen either movie again in any format, and I don't have any concrete memories of walking into a theater since then. If I've seen a movie since what was that? 2010, 2011? It didn't leave an impression.
  I used to be a big movie buff, now I'll occasionally rewatch Army of Darkness and that's about it.

Fine by me. At least my local AMC theatre only does reserved seating, so now I know there's really no rush. Plenty of time to stop by the grocery store for candy on the drive over

Sail the high seas.

This comment section seems to think this is news. 15 minutes of trailers is probably the least I've ever seen in my life at a chain at least. 25 minutes has been pretty standard for years. Doubt it's increased very much over the past ten years.

Same "logic" that expects me to watch ads for a streaming service I pay for at home.

I can get ads for free, capitalists. You're not even playing your own game anymore. You're playing some bullshit home version and hoping we don't see the difference.

I recently watched cable television at a hotel.
Honestly, appalled. The ad segments are, as an aggregate, SHORTER than YouTube.
How tf did we get to this point, media fragmented across 20 different streaming services that want $10-$25/m to see their Alice of the media you're interested in.
Shits ridiculous

I haven't gone to see a movie in years. If I paid to see a movie in a theater and they started showing me fucking ads (not trailers, full on ads), I'd walk out and get my money back.

I haven't gone to see a movie in years
I think that's the case for most people in this comment section. Coming in 30min after the supposed start time and not missing anything has been the standard for years. It's not like they interrupt the movie for ads, just come in later and skip them.
- It’s not like they interrupt the movie for ads
  Oh man, could you imagine? I'd actually never go to a movie again if that became a thing. That'd be such bullshit.
The last movie I saw in a theater was Iron Man 2. That movie felt like an ad by itself, I'd be pissed if I had to sit through an additional half hour of more ads
- Last one I saw in theaters was the first Sonic movie back before covid lockdowns

Well they're already doing it so at least they're being open about it now I guess.

"Oh boy, here I go [pirating] again"

It's so sad. The studios started turning out an endless stream of absolute dogshit, just totally boring spectacle that there's no reason at all to get excited about let alone pay $87 or whatever it costs to go see a movie nowadays. And when people started not going to see movies so much anymore, they learned how to market the facsimile of a groundbreaking and awesome movie that everyone's excited to see, that leaves everyone satisfied and happy, but after being burned a few too many times by going and seeing a movie that was okay but basically am aggressive and overly proud-of-itself waste of a weekend night, people stopped going.

And now the theaters are fucked, the studios are fine because they can get away with rent-seeking from all the streaming platforms, and the people who made all these decisions are looking at their fat retirement funds and trying to figure out what new things they can even buy with all this money. I don't really blame the theaters for trying to figure out how to keep the lights on, but I don't think it's going to work real well for all that much longer.

- Well, but I think that was the marketing working as intended. It's not reasonable to expect people to become PhDs in media analysis to figure out the movies are bullshit when they're just trying to live their life, and they're being subjected to weapons-grade propaganda at an industrial scale that's trying to trick them into thinking it's a good movie.
  I posted a video recently, with a pretty good analogy about how the best media like the best food is both good for you and fun to consume, but the thing is you have to not be a horrifying corporate husk in order to produce stuff like that, so it's all gone from our current ecosystem, so can you really blame people for hoping that maybe "Infinity War" is it? They are wired to need it, that's not a wrong thing.
- Lol, I mean you are not wrong I guess, but it is a bit of a misrepresentation of what happened. The choice to make slop for the peasants was a choice they made. The people didn't make that decision for them.
  But I do agree with your overall sentiment... people have shit taste and make bad decisions and are easily manipulated.

Movies used to be fun

Just solidifies my hatred of theaters even more lol

A reason not to go to theaters and stream or rent dvds instead.

AMC has been in hard times but now theyve totally lost the plot and make times way worse.

Guess I'm never going to their theaters again.

Theaters are really testing the limits of the bullshit its viewers will sit through.

Actually went to an AMC a few days ago to see that new Wes Anderson film. There were A LOT of previews (trailers), like what i would consider an excessive amount, with some ads sprinkled in. Reminded me why I don't go to the movies 😒

The movie was great BTW, 10/10 enjoyed.

A 10/10 in modern day? Sus af. But I will believe it is a decent movie worth the watch.

Lol what? I guess I haven't been to the movies in longer than I thought, it was like 10 minutes max before. Well, no reason to go back now I guess.

I haven't been in a theater since the first Deadpool. I doubt I'll ever see a movie in a theater again.

this is why my family gets to the theater like 20 minutes late

The early couple decades of cable TV divided the audience into an ad-free overclass and an ad-inflicted underclass. Streaming services, once the province of the overclass, are now dividing their audience the same way.

Finally! Free movies for the masses paid for by ads. That's def a move in the right direction. Lots of people will be going back to the theaters now I bet. /s

Arrive 25-30 minutes later

Soon they'll add an "intermission" to make sure you can't miss all the ads.
- When I was a teenager we would regularly go to a smaller local movie theater instead of the more fancy large chains. The vibe was better, but they also had an intermission during the movies and I loved that. During the intermission you could stretch your legs, use the bathroom and get some fresh drinks and snacks. The theater was also really good at scheduling so only one movie had an intermission at one time, so it was pretty quiet at the bathrooms and bar. The intermission was only for 10-15 mins or so. Of course prices back then were normal, so I didn't mind buying more. There also weren't any ads, they just played some music and had an intermission screen up with a countdown.

That's been the norm in the UK for years, and the main reason I no longer go.

I'm going to warn AMC that I will be watching my movies somewhere else.

A movie theater is correct though.
If you're going to be a pendant, don't be wrong
Next you're going to tell me that biscuits aren't fluffy breakfast foods great with things like eggs and sausage gravy.