This drives me totally insane. About 8 months ago I wrote an article entitles “Why Commercials Before Movies Is Worse Than Piracy“. The basic argument was this:
– When you take my money for popcorn, at least I’m getting a tasty treat
– When you take my cash at the box office, I’m getting to come in to watch the movie
– When you take my time for commercials on TV, I’m getting a “free” TV show out of it
But what are we getting for our time with commercials in movie theaters? When the ad says “Movie starts at 7pm” and I’m in my seat (that I paid admission for) at 7pm, it’s time for you to start giving me what I paid you for… the movie. If you want to show me commercials, fine… give me the movie for free then. The theater industry is pulling in RECORD amounts of income from those commercials, and unlike TV (where we get a free show), WE GET NOTHING IN RETURN FOR OUR TIME SITTING THERE WHEN THE MOVIE IS SUPPOSED TO START.
Movie theaters have in essence found the PERFECT advertising. Ads that take to audiences time, without giving them anything in return. I don’t mind theaters making money off me when I get a product, service or entertainment in return… but commercials playing at 7pm when you told me the movie would be starting is doing nothing but STEALING my time. You are taking from me without giving anything in return. HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT FROM ONLINE MOVIE PIRACY!?!?
One of the things I’ve really been enjoying about staying in Los Angeles recently is that the theater I like going to (The Arclight theater in Hollywood is one of the best I’ve ever been in) refuses to show commercials before movies. I LOVE THAT! But I got spoiled with it, because since coming back to Canada and seeing those damn annoying ads again, it’s made me even more furious.
Anyway… all that money that theaters are making off of OUR TIME… time that we are sitting in the theater when the movie is supposed to start… a movie WE F’ING PAID TO GET IN TO SEE… well.. that money just got 20% bigger in 1 year. The folks at Variety give us this:
New figures just released by the Cinema Advertising Council, a trade org repping 82% of U.S. screens, show a hefty 18.5% gain in revenue to just shy of $540 million in 2007, up from $455.7 million a year earlier.
You know… I really need to come up with a way to charge people money to come into my house… and then make them work for me for free in such a way that earns me more money. That’s a great racket. They made over $85 MILLION more than the year before… and the funny thing is… I didn’t see my movie ticket get any cheaper. Let me check…. ummmm… nope, not any cheaper.
I am so pissed off.
What’s even worse about theaters these days is that you can’t even bloody see two shows in a row without a time gap of 1-2 hours. They try to squeeze in so many shows in multipexes that you simply can’t see 2-3 shows in the same night without either having to hang out for hours or waste gas driving elsewhere and back. It’s tough on reviewers. I’m skipping more and more shows.
john said “26 Hours of sitting in a seat that I PAID FOR to watch ads.”
well I am pretty sure I heard you say ojn the podcast a couple of weeks back that you don’t have to pay to see movies anymore?? so which is it?
;P
I’m from Philadelphia, and the AMC theaters here just went to 10 bucks for a ticket and there are no more student discounts!!!! The prices are off the fucking wall and you still get anally raped with refreshments… all that aside I still enjoy watching the previews, but yes, they should play the movie right when it says it is going to play
John
I think we get it already.
Hey Ricci,
We already covered everything you brought up in your comment.
You said:
“You watching commericals before a film is paying part of your fee to see the movie.”
Ummmm… NO IT’S NOT. We already covered this in another post some time ago. When you do the math, the money they generate from stealing my time, equates to about .22 to .24 cents per actual ticket sold. $0.23 Do you REALLY think they’re reducing the ticket prices by $0.23? No they’re not. Also, they’re revenue from the advertising just went up by almost $90 million dollars. Did our ticket prices go down? NO THEY DIDN’T. The boxoffice broke records again last year… Ad revenue went up… and yet our ticket prices stayed the same.
Also, Commercials before movies is still a NEW thing. It hasn’t been around that long. The theater industry never used it until recent years. It was never a part of the ticket price.
Also, you said:
“If you cant see that your dumb, and blaming the wrong people. Maybe you should blame the studios for taking so much money of the cinemas to screen the film.”
No sir, you are “dumb” for not seeing this for what it is. What you just did is exactly like this:
“Didn’t you just complain that hard working auto workers don’t get paid enough? Then you’re not allowed to complain when one of them breaks into your house and steals your stuff! You’re blaming the wrong people! Blame the Auto industry, not the people who broke into your house!”
That is totally idiotic logic. When you advertise a 7pm start time, and I PAY YOU to get into that movie… then you owe me a movie at 7pm. When you show commercials at 7pm, YOU ARE STEALING MY TIME. Show commercials before 7pm, that’s fine… but when you show 20 mins of commercials at 7pm… the time you said the movie STARTS… then you are stealing from me. I PAID TO BE IN HERE.
You also said:
“if it bother you so much, and enter the screen 15-20mins after the films stated start time, stay in the bar for a drink!”
Oh yeah, that’s brilliant. Except the vast majority of theaters in North America don’t have pre-assigned seating. You show up 20 minutes after 7pm and you risk:
a) Not getting a seat
b) Getting a neck breaker seat
c) Not getting seats for you and your friends together
In theses theaters you pretty much have to show up on time. And why not… after all they said the movie starts at 7pm right?
You also said:
“If there wasnt advertising before films in cinemas expect to see your ticket prices to dramatically increase”
As I’ve already pointed out, you’re 100% wrong. Ad revenue was never a part of the equation before. When ad revenue came, ticket prices didn’t go down…. they’ve gone up by over 300% since that time. Ad revenue just went up by almost $90 million, and ticket prices didn’t go down.
You also said:
“I mean come on, cant you find somthing real to complain about.”
Maybe your time is worthless, but mine isn’t. I had to see about 80 films in theater last year. At an average of 20 minutes of commercials per movie, that’s over 26 hours of my time that theaters stole from me.
26 FUCKING HOURS that I had to sit through commercials AFTER the movie was supposed to start… 26 Hours of sitting in a seat that I PAID FOR to watch ads. Sorry, that’s something very very very REAL to complain about.
Hey, if you don’t see any of that as a problem, then more power to ya, but don’t be so myopic to call those of us who do see this as an issue “dumb”.
I wonder how all the whingers would feel if, for a 7:00 film, they started the ‘pre-show’ and the commercials and the trailers early enough *before* this so that a 7:00 start was in fact a 7:00 start.
Of course, this means that if you chose NOT to get there ‘early’ (and therefore had to sit through all the ‘dreck’), you’d not necessarily get the seats you pine after. ‘First come, first served’.
Unless you go with a strident reservation system, can’t imagine many would be happy with this. And yet, I’m sensing that this reality…that a 7:00 show doesn’t actually start at 7:00…is actually the issue people are carping about.
I could have swore that one of you guys on here were complaining recently about how little the actual cinema gets from each ticket sale with the majority going to the film studio, now your ranting and raving about the cinemas trying to earn a little cash from advertising……..
You cant have it both ways.
Cinema’s make crap money of ticket sales, they make the return on food/beverages and advertising.
You watching commericals before a film is paying part of your fee to see the movie. If you cant see that your dumb, and blaming the wrong people. Maybe you should blame the studios for taking so much money of the cinemas to screen the film.
I couldnt care lesss about having to watch a few commericals before a flick, or you could just do what vaste ammounts of people do if it bother you so much, and enter the screen 15-20mins after the films stated start time, stay in the bar for a drink!
I mean come on, cant you find somthing real to complain about.
If there wasnt advertising before films in cinemas expect to see your ticket prices to dramatically increase, and also your snack prices.
Cinemas arnt a public service, they are there to make money.
Maybe the theater chains are making up for lost revenue due to pirating.
John ?
Oh John ?
Youre not nearly as pissed as you should be.
Actually no one is.Yet.
I just hope the day comes before i turn 100 (i’m 42 )
And now were getting those nice Coke Zero commercials…WITH TALKING TONGUES…talking eyeball,i can take…BUT TALKING TONGUES !!!!!!
I’ll bet even the Jackass crew is ready to puke with this one.
Smelling salts needed now.
I just ask the ticket office what time the movie really starts, it’s usually 30 mins after the published start time.
Then I go for a walk or talk with friends outside the theatre.
There is also no downside to this plan as the cinema issues you a seat number when you purchase a ticket.
What I dont understand is why, oh why must they show me TV show previews that play about every 5 minutes ON TV. Hey I already know about the new season(s) of House, The Bill Engvall show, Inplainsight or Battlestar Galactica. I understand all the “food” mercials, if they can get you to bite on putting down a 2nd mortgage ( ha ha ) on buying that pop, pretzel and candy combo, all the better for them. I will continue to be the wise moviegoer ( who uses the regal reward points, which gives me a free movie from time to time ) who stops at the dollar store before the movie and bring my drink and snacks ( tucked away in pockets of oversized clothes ).
John, I hate the commercials, too. My reasoning has always been, “I’d rather sit through a few commercials and pay $8 vs. $10 or $12 or even $15, though. That is, until I started looking at some numbers online…
It looks like most services charge $30 (USD) per 15 second spot, per week, one screening per day. So, take the average four 30-second commercials I typically see in my town, and that’s about $35 per screening. Divide that by 200 people — which is modest for an opening weekend — and that’s 22 cents per person! Use 20 people for those Wednesday evening second viewings, and it’s $2.20 per person.
Average that out, and you’re maybe looking at $1 per person over time. I changed my tune, and now I’m pissed. :-)
I’ll 50% more than that to get rid of commercials!
Isnt the advertising (besides the candy prices) the main source of income for the theatres as I thought most of the ticket sales go back to the studio and and theatre only makes a couple of dollars off each ticket??
Anyways as far a s commercials go, yeah I see them but I hardly take any notice while ads are running this time is usually spent chatting with friends before the movie starts, we don’t really start paying attention to the screen until the trailers come on
Two me, this is two separate issues. The commercials before the movie thing pisses me off. Like you said, I’m now paying for Coca Cola to cram an ad down my throat. Ridiculous.
As far as ticket prices go… theaters are gonna charge as much as people are willing to pay. That’s just basic economics. If theaters start seeing sales lag, they’ll eventually reduce prices. Movies are entertainment and people use their disposable income to pay for this luxury.
I totally agree with you, John!
“The only way to effectively change the way theatres advertise is to go to the ones that don’t show the commercials.”
Nope. As I mentioned, this isn’t specific. ‘They’ have no way of knowing you’re staying away because a) you abhor commercials, or b) you hate the film they’re showing.
Besides; they have an effective monopoly. And…
…the Studios couldn’t care less about this situation, the disgruntledness of cinemagoers…because they don’t care how they get your money. In the form of ticket revenue, DVD purchases, rentals…as long as they get it. Now, if they still owned their own cinemas…that would be another thing entirely.
Why are your tickets not cheaper?
Same reason Gas Prices are rising (No.. Not the Bush administration)…
BECAUSE YOU WILL PAY FOR IT!
The only way to effectively change the way theatres advertise is to go to the ones that don’t show the commercials. Sadly the only one I have even heard of is the one you mentioned.
Until they have a reason NOT to show those commercials, they still will.
Personally I dont mind if they show commercials, or even trailers… But do it in the 10-15 minutes before the posted start time.
While I’m up at the blackboard, it behooves me to point out that DISKJOKK makes the classic mistake of conflating Hollywood (aka ‘those who make films’) with the people who SHOW the films, the theatres/cinemas. They’re not connected…other than by the product they produce and sell. Think of them as the grower…and the pusher. : )
“Oh, and isn’t it true that the film industry gets most of the revenue earned from ticket sells?”
No.
It’s not.
Not by a country mile.
Look here, and use some grey cells to extrapolate how big the pie slice for ‘theatrical ticket sales’ is: http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/mpa2004.htm
Here’s the truth, boys and girls: Box Office figures may be up…but they’re consistently less and less a factor in the overall revenue scheme of things. Eventually, as the marketplace shifts, as ‘home theatres’ become more and more the default for how people watch their films, cinema-going will, by my reckoning, account for less than 5% of the studios’ revenues. (This doesn’t mean that cinemas will be closing lock, stock and barrel, it means that people will be watching them elsewhere even more often than they presently are.)
I don’t mind our movie theaters running these commercials before the feature film starts (I just block them out by talking with a friend or reading email on my Blackberry). From what I have read, the theater industry had to find other ways to earn revenue because of several changes in the film industry. I mean, the fact that a movie like “Iron Man” will probably end up on DVD within the next 3 – 4 months is a problem for the theater industry. Many of us now wait for the DVD release instead of chosing to go to a movie theater, some of our home theaters rival that of a movie theater and ticket prices are at an all time high ($10 to see a movie?!). In short, there are less people who go to the movie theaters these days so the theaters had to find other ways to earn revenue. Oh, and isn’t it true that the film industry gets most of the revenue earned from ticket sells? Really, I don’t have a real problem with this. I’m just happy that theaters can earn a profit to stay in business. As much as I like watching movies at home, we’ll never get the same experience we can get from actually going to a movie theater.
OMG.
There’s a movie in here somewhere…’The Whining Generation’.
‘Revenues were up, how come my ticket price didn’t go down?!?’
Uh…right. Because that’s the way the world of free-market capitalism works, that the seller’s main priority is to maintain expenditures for the buyer.
LMAO.
I think what’s needed here is a primer, ‘Film Exhibition Realities 101’. (John, I would have expected you’d be conversant in all this, but maybe your fanboy membership provides you with strong in-denial skills as well as a really strong stubborn streak.) Some input for the masses as to how it all works, who gets what from the ‘Box Office Pie’, how the various participants make their money… Start here: http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/Reverseslate.htm
Of course, the funny thing is that unless people proactively protest…and I don’t mean by simply staying away from a particular cinema, which the owner/operator cannot possibly know is a gesture based on their showing of commercials and not simply because the movies they’re screening suck…then nothing will change. (Mind you, in this area, nothing is bound to change, not much; why would someone give up revenue? And Hollywood doesn’t care if you stay home, not really; currently only just over 10% of their global revenues come from theatrical distribution. You boycott the cinematic release of a film because of commercials, they know you’ll buy or rent the DVD; ‘You can pay me now…or you can pay me later’.
Personally, I laugh at this ‘tempest in a teapot’, because I happen to see commercials as part of the moviegoing experience these days. Yes, it’s changed from ‘before’…but then I remember the national anthem being played, I remember cartoons, and I remember there being no alternatives to going to the cinema. No cable, no iTunes, no Internet leeching, no DVDs or VCRs.
Welcome to the modern world; you all contributed to it.
@CALVIIN
I do use official channel such as iTunes and the official web sites.
Like when I am watching Lost I buy them from iTunes then watch them on my Xbox 360.
Part of the problem with your method, Simon, is that when you don’t watch the show while it’s on TV, their ratings are lower. Renting the show off netfliks can’t be done till they’ve put the season out on DVD, which is well past the time for them to count it in ratings. Same for downloading. Unless you are downloading it or streaming it through an official channel, (iTunes or the station’s website, etc.) then they can’t add your viewing to it’s ratings. Every time you watch a show these ways, you are saying that you don’t care if the story line gets cut halfway through a season because the ratings were low. Firefly needed better ratings and couldn’t get them. BSG struggled every season with ratings. Plenty of good shows get hurt because smart people like us find other ways to watch our shows when the time is inconvenient or when we just want to skip the commercials, but the slack-jawed jackholes help make ratings hire on awful reality programming because they tune in to the tv broadcast and don’t view it in other ways. This is quite the tangent, and I am sure I could hit some more points here, but I don’t need this comment to be longer.
It’s because of this I’ve started going back to smaller “mom and pop” theaters. I have one 3 minutes from my house that shows digital movies (even 3D) and actually starts the movie at the time it is listed. I showed up at a 7PM Prince Caspian showing at 7:03 and had missed the first 3 minutes of the show. Its so “small” that not even fandango or yahoo sell tickets or show times for it.
Unfortunately, this small 4 screen theater is overshadowed by the two stadium-seating 15+ screen megaplex theaters that opened a few miles on either side of it. I hope it doesn’t go under, but so far it seems to be doing well because of people avoiding the big theaters due to the tactics listed above.
Oh, and one thing I forgot. The reason your ticket didn’t get cheaper is because theaters don’t make a hell of a lot of money from the ticket–the studio gets most of it. We make our money at the concession stand and from–da ta da–on-screen advertising.
As someone who works in the theater industry, I’ve gotta say it: You watch whatever we want to fucking show you, bitches! Muahahaha!
Seriously, though, I’m not a fan of the whole “commercials during the show time” thing either. When I started working in theaters, it baffled me that the actual “show build,” consisting of the policy trailers, movie trailers, and feature, would start 5-7 minutes AFTER the scheduled start time. It’s always bugged the crap out of me that we’re essentially starting the feature LATE in order to get through the commercials.
However, I’ve got to say, I don’t think it’s gonna change any time soon. On the one hand, the theater industry needs the increased revenue from on-screen advertising to compensate for the loss of custom due to the increasing trend of “waiting for the DVD” or better yet–the Blu-Ray. But on the other hand, if I were a theater patron I’d probably feel more like avoiding the on-screen ads and just getting the DVD–especially with Disney pressuring other studios to start doing same-day release in the theater and on DVD–which is some serious bullshit, by the way.
Don’t like the ads, I can understand. But don’t get angry at the theaters, get angry at the entertainment industry as a whole for evolving beyond the movie theater mentality. I mean really, we’re not movie theaters anymore anyway. We’re being forced into becoming “entertainment venues” (showing concerts, documentaries, etc.) to survive.
I am ok with them showing me a few trailers. When I say few I am talking about 2 -3 not 10 . But commercials NO WAY. commercials are a BIG part why I don’t watch TV. If I want to watch a show I watch it on line or just Netflix it.
The other day when I saw Hulk there was about 20 mins of commercials. I want to a place down the street for my house. Sure it was only $8.75 because it was bargain showing. But still I did not need to watch commercials about the LA Times and a new cell phones that are coming out and also some new kind of coke.
Sure the Arclight theater is only 20 mins from my house but you know what the time it would taking me to watch those fucking commercials. would be the same time as going to the Arclight.
p.s. The Arclight is fucking sexy and I know you miss it John.
Thanks John. I was under the impression that you guys had moved down there. My bad.
There’s the military recruitment stuff you get in the US that makes being in the army seem like starring in your own kick-ass action movie. Gotta love those.
Hey Scott,
Because we live here :)
We just go to LA for extended visits. We’re actually heading back there in a couple of weeks
I’ve never noticed until right now but at the theatre here in Fort McMurray, Alberta..we actually don’t get commericials played before our movies.
Kind of off topic, but I’ve seen it mentioned in passing a couple of times now and was curious; why are John and Doug back in Canada?
When I went to watch the Hulk, I DIDN’T EVEN GET PREVIEWS…which is my favorite part! But of course, there was still 10-15 minutes of commercials…can’t leave those out.
@roguepirate
I think what John is talking about is the coke commercials and such that are shown before the previews start, but after the start time. We are in the mecca of Regal Cinemas here in Knoxville, TN, and we always get ads after the start time. Thank you Regal for taking my money and pooping in my face.
Ever since you started writing about the commercials at the theatres I started to take notice while I’ve been at my local AMC and Regal theatres and I’m not really sure that I see too much of a problem with the commercials. From my experiences there are usually commercials shown prior to the show time which I do recall you don’t mind, and neither do I. Most of the time when the show time hits (actual show time, now when the lights dim) they start show trailers, which again you said you didn’t really mind. The theatres do show about 15 minutes worth of trailers once the show time which can be annoying to some people. If thats the case, maybe theatres should show trailers after the movie which is why they’re called trailers in the first place.
By the way, totally of topic, but my fiancée got cast for one of the Transformers 2 shoots.
Yeah, our tickets just recently went up again, from 9.75 to 10.00
Thanks Hollywood!
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Arclight theater is one of the best. What gets me so pissed about commercials also is that here in LA we most often have to pay for parking. At The Grove and most places(not Arclihght) you need to get to the theater very early to get a seat. Then you sit through commercials and it adds to how long you’re parked and suddenly you’re paying more for parking also.