Hey guys, just a quick little follow up to that post I did a couple of days ago about how commercials in movie theaters are essentially the same as movie piracy in the sense that both are forms of taking an asset (my time or the movie itself) without giving anything in compensation for that asset.
Some people rushed to raise the obvious argument that commercials in movie theaters help reduce movie ticket prices… and without those commercials the prices of our movie tickets would skyrocket. I never bought that argument. If you look at the history of when commercials started to get played in theaters and the course of movie ticket price increases, you quickly notice that the advent of commercials in theaters didn’t stop the rate of ticket price increases one little bit.
But is history isn’t enough to persuade you that those commercials in movie theater don’t actually do anything to bring down the cost of that ridiculously priced ticket… then how about the math?
1) The MPAA put out a report that said in North America alone movie theaters sold 1.45 BILLION movie tickets
2) The Cinema Advertising Council reports that in 2006 movie theaters generated a record $456 million in ad revenue for the commercials before movies.
3) That works out to a hefty… are you ready for this…. $0.31 per ticket. And who seriously believes theaters are reducing our ticket prices $0.31? Anyone? Anyone? Busller? Bueller?
I’m sorry, but the movie industry is not reducing their ticket prices in lieu of the commercials they force feed on us. They charge as much as they please… and then just take the advertising money on top of it at MY TIME’S expense without giving me anything in return.
“Commercials In Movies Do NOT Reduce Ticket Prices”
In other news, the sky is blue and water is wet.
Just felt the need to point that out to Andy, who seems a little…well, slow.
Don’t forget they also cut expenses by massively downsizing ushers. Now it takes 5 minutes to find one to get them to fix the sound or projection. Is it really that hard to have the projectionist sit through the commercials and trailers themselves or at least watch the first 5 seconds of the movie to make sure it’s working?
Hi John,
I actually thought that movie houses still didnt make enough money from candy and popcorn to keep the places running so the adverts was another way for them to make the money.
Because I was thinking, despite the candy being overpriced, its also a risky product to sell as not everyone buys it as they are educated enough to avoid paying the high prices and bring in their food with them or eat beforehand. If they are only making money off this alone I dont think they would be making the multi-million dollars necessary to keep the cinema running.
How on earth can anyone be surprised or affronted by all this? Huge companies can get away with more advertisements because people will still pay $12 a ticket anyway and sit there and take it like the good little loyal consumers they are?
Then don’t see movies in the theater. Bootleg or buy on dvd or what it on tv or rent it. OR stomach all the advertising in the theater only for movies you really care about seeing. That’s what I do and what most people I know do. We see like 4-8 movies a year. The only people who would complain about this are the people who have an unhealthy obsession with “needing” to see EVERY movie opening weekend. I can see how that would be annoying for professional critic-types like John, but the rest of us shouldn’t really care. The only solution is to vote with your dollar, by withholding it.
Last night my wife and I paid $14 each to see TRANSFORMERS in IMAX- at first I thought that was a little high.. but then I noticed/recalled the following:
1. it was a Saturday night
2. it WAS in IMAX
3. they only showed ONE preview (Beowulf)
4. the theatre was clean, the viewers were QUIET, and it was a great experience.
Suddenly the $14 didn’t seem too bad..
Hey Andy,
And as “I” already replied to you before:
“Because in North America (at least in most places) we don’t have pre-assigned seating, which means if you show up 5 minutes late, you run the risk of the show being sold out, or getting a neck breaker seat, or not getting enough seats together for you and your date or friends.”
The onus should not be on me to decide to either obediently sit like a good little sheep to watch commercials when the movie was supposed to start, or run the risk of missing part of the movie/not getting a seat/getting a horrible seat/not get enough seats together for me and my friends.
But if “you’re too stupid” to read what other people reply to your comments before repeating your comments, “well, sorry to hear that”.
hahaha, oh man.. what a fuckin bullshit..
anyway, as i said. if you’re too stupid to just come “15 minutes” later, well, sorry to hear that. but what can u said against the masses you also find on digg and co.
unfortuantely times change and things chnage.
box office is so front loaded now the theatres are missing out on the biggest piece of the pie…..
the studios take their biggest cut from the opening weekends and films don’t sit in theatres for months on end raking up coin anymore so the theatre owners have to do something.
sure they are not lowering their prices but i imagine they are not raising the prices as drastically as they would be without the commercials.
sure its a pain but things change.
you want to send them a message – stop going to theatres that play them.
it is not going to go away any time soon unless people actually make a stand but since hollywood just had its biggest summer ever i don’t think the general public give a shit so you might as well get used to them/
I agree with you guys too. Once it’s movie time, then I really can only tolerate a few movie trailers. No commercials, please. Having commercials playing for the crowd that comes in early is tolerable to me, as long as they turn the sound down. I understand the POV of the theaters trying to make a little extra money to offset their costs of business. I wonder if any of that money goes back to the studios?
Sometimes they’ll test my patience with like ten trailers. I don’t want to wait 20-30 minutes for my movie to start. And I can’t stand it when they advertise adult films before a kiddie flick. I took my little girls to see Happy Feet last year and they advertised a Stephen King movie, I kid you not. Sorry, I’ll never take my kids to the theater again until they are much older.
A $.31 ticket price? Now that would be nice.
I’ll just say that I agree that all commercials should be put in before scheduled start time. I also find that pre-movie commercials are often worse and more over the top than what I see on television, though maybe that’s because I’m being force fed the pre movie commercials, so I’m already irritated with them.
I just have to say that I have NO problem with them showing commercials before a movie.
Please forgive my presumption, but I actually find this rather frightening.
If you’d rather listen to 15 minutes of commercials than think your own thoughts, I strongly suggest some kind of critical self examination. That and possibly starting a class action suit against the public school indoctrination that you likely received. You’re living only a small fraction of the life you could be enjoying. Why be short changed?
I’m not singling you out, this seems to be an extremely common malidy.
i thought it was one or the other, it’s late (12pm). i sit corrected.
Hey Tobor68
Good comments. One correction though. There is no more Famous Players. Cineplex bought them out… they’re both owned by the same chain now and considered one entity.
the only thing that lowered movie prices (at least hear in ontario) was AMC chains moving into town. only then did the price wars start when cineplex odeon dropped their prices to be followed by famous players (whose prices are still too high). before that the price just kept going up. remember $2 tuesdays, $2.50 tuesdays, $4.00 tuesdays, $5.00 tuesdays, half-price tuesdays (they were too embarrassed to advertise the price)?
the chains then closed all their smaller single and double screen theaters to move patrons to the superplexes we’ve got now (where the charge even more ridiculous prices for a soda and popcorn.) they also said the more screens would allow for more variety (ie. indie films). what a load of crap.
the only deal we get nowadays is the two or three drive-ins that are scattered over the GTA (greater toronto area).
this history lesson has been brought to you by the letters B and S ;)
I just have to say that I have NO problem with them showing commercials before a movie.
And by “before a movie” I mean “before the listed time the movie starts”
I don’t mind trailers for movies. That is and always will be a part of the movie theatre experience. I love that about theatres. However, the paid commercials can repeat on a loop ad nauseum right up until the scheduled movie plays, then a hand full of trailers and then boom.
Movie.
Commercials at the movie theater are there to help the theater earn money. Yes, this is annoying, but it’s well known that – just like gas stations – they don’t make much money from tickets (um or gas) due to the high cut Hollywood takes of the B.O. (box office, not body odor). It’s the concessions/commercials that allow the theater to install digital projectors, upgrade soundsystems and all that.
Yes, it seems greedy but that’s the simple answer.
I agree with you guys absolutely. And every time I see that commercial where the people drawing in mid-air with colorful lights, the only thing that comes to mind is Transformers. That’s how bad it is. I now relate a commercial on tv to one I saw in the movie, instead of vice/versa. And you said it best,they give us nothing in return. It’s like a having a door-to-door salesman pitch a bunch of magazines that I can buy with my purchase of a vacuum cleaner. No! Just show me the fucking vacuum! That’s what I’m paying for, the vacuum! The fucking vacuum! man. know what I’m sayin?
Couldn’t agree more. It’s friggin ridiculous. Like you said, a commercial before the start time is fine. I actually don’t mind sitting through the pre-movie stuff. If I get there early I’d rather see something than stare at a blank screen. But as soon as the theater goes dark, that’s what I’m paying for. I actually remember the first time I saw a commercial before a movie. The first thought through my mind was, “I am paying to watch a commercial”. The first time it really pissed me off was before “The Incredibles” when there was literally a half dozen commercials. I was absolutely steaming. And yes, it is theft.
Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ve been railing against commercials in theaters for years. Having to sit in a theater listening to their commercials gives you the option of getting up and standing in the lobby for 15 minutes (where it’s likely that big screen monitors will be beaming commercials at you anyway) or being forced to listen with no option to “change the channel”. Which is why theater commercials are so much more successful than TV ones.
My time and thoughts are my own. As you say, they are limited by the amount of time I have on this earth and forcing me to listen to something I’m not being compensated for is theft. I would think that only a certified cretin, who had no reason to value their own thoughts wouldn’t understand this. Unfortunately, sheeplike acceptance of the practice is the general attitude.
Finally, it isn’t always possible to get to the theater right on time due to uncertainty in how long the line will be or the parking situation. So not wanting to listen to commercials means I get to stand in the lobby for 5 to 15 minutes carrying a bag of popcorn and a drink waiting for the movie to start.
I’ll be getting the bigest possible video system soon so I can reduce my moviegoing to less than 2 or 3 times a year, in large part because of just what an ugly experience the entire process has become. I wish more people felt as you do, because it would solve the problem. Movie going is broken and it doesn’t look to be recovering soon.
Thanks again for your comments.
Hey John,
Don’t be sorry, be careful. :o)
Interesting read, I more or less agree with the argument you are making.
The question I ask is, what can we as “the general public” do to stop commercials before a movie? Who can we complain to that will listen and can take potential action? Complaining to friends now and then will not work.
Have a good one.