AMC Theatres to Trim Pre-Show by 4 to 5 Minutes, CEO Says: 'We Don't Love Deluging Our Customers'
https://www.thewrap.com/amc-theatres-to-trim-pre-show-by-4-to-5-minutes-ceo-says-we-dont-love-deluging-our-customers/Open linkView original on piefed.social
65 replies
I'm gonna guess less trailers, same amount of ads.
Get ready for pop up ads IN the movie, like more than product placement. Full on scrolling across the screen ads!
The minute I see that, it will be the last time I go to a theater.
In that event, I walk and demand a refund on the way out.
Make the ad for a dodgy Asian gambling site, to save pirates having to add it later.
Apparently, not a new idea
I was actually looking for a pop-up video gif and gave up lol
Holy shit, that's a poorly written article
Literally yes. They're dropping a trailer and a couple of the "silence your phone" style vids so they can add more commercials.
...you're aware that the trailers are very literally ads, yeah?
Sure, but I'd rather have ads for movies when I go to see a movie than ads for cars or cell phones.
Since I haven't watched TV for years and used an adblocker for so long I actually enjoy normal commercials before a movie out of curiousity. And they are usually hilariously bad. But it's interesting to see what I am "missing" this whole time.
And it helps my small local cinema get additional money which I'm fine with. It's a nice cinema.
If only there were an option for less of either... sadly that is just completely inconceivable.
I honestly experience so few ads in my daily life that unless I see a trailer on here or in theaters I don't know a new movie is coming out. I actually kinda enjoy seeing all the trailers before movies for that reason.
Most of my upcoming attraction news comes from people bitching about how the new movies coming out are going to suck (Marvel movies, mostly) or people giving attention to the "critics" whare complaining about "wokeness" in cinema.
the people complaining about wokeness, are always not doing it in goodfaith, or is a propangda troll.
And yet people keep giving them the attention they crave.
less trailers, MORE ADS you mean.
AMC wants to know your location so they can put you on a management track
Fewer
I keep seeing stuff about excessive ads before movies, like up to 30 minutes, and I was like, that has to be an exaggeration, because every time I go to the movies it's 10 minutes tops. Maybe my area is just good or something.
Then I took my kids to see Fantastic Four last week at an AMC, and lo and behold, 35 minutes of fucking ads.
Fucking ridiculous. It's noon on a Thursday, there are six people in the theater, and you want to waste that much of our time, for what? To advertise movies that I might see in some other theater because I'm never coming back to an establishment that holds such disdain for their customers?
My 6-year-old and 3-year-old deserve fucking medals for their patience, and AMC is never getting my business again.
Also you PAID to sit down and watch ads for 30 minutes
You have to get seats online now even though they aren't actually sold out, they reserve some for in person, but it doesn't look like it when looking online. So you don't really have to be there early.
It's been forever since I went to the theater...
But, it used to be the listed start time was like 2 trailers and then the main event.
Are you saying it was start time noon, then at 12:30 the movie finally started?
That's fucking insane, and likely has been killing their dwindling customer base.
If it's they start playing commercials a half hour before the start time, that's whatever, better than a dark room for people who show up crazy early.
Yes. And me with two small kids.
More like showtime 12:00
12:06 ads start showing for random products/services including advertisements for the theater itself 12:25 couple movie trailers 12:40ish movie you paid to see
It's been a whike since I've been to an AMC. Cinemark typically starts the real movie about 15-20 minutes after showtime
Trim it by 4 to 5 minutes?
Let me know when you trim it to 4 to 5 minutes.
No kidding. My wife & I go to AMC once in a while. We plan to arrive 15-20 minutes AFTER the posted show time since we know the ads & trailers will last at least that long. We still end up sitting through 5+ minutes of them.
This is the way. Arriving at a theater is the only time I'm ever intentionally late for something.
They did love it until they felt insecure about the fact they might be killing their audience further with it.
Except this is too late to stop the bleed out.
It will take a lot more than that to compete with my living room.
They need to focus on the chairs working, cleanliness, and keeping assholes out. The reason I don’t go to my local AMC has nothing to do with the preshow stuff.
So basically do half of what Alamo does.
Alamo is what theatres used to be (clean, etc) with way better seats and they serve food and drinks.
It costs more, but you get reserved seats too. And the ads that do play are for their own movie schedule, and silly made-up stuff, or ads for movies from decades ago, again as silliness.
Alamo is the only theater I go to anymore. But I do wish they paid their employees better and didn't participate in union busting tactics.
I’ve been to an Alamo Drafthouse when I traveled for work, they are pretty cool but I didn’t love the environment. Definitely better than your average theater though. I prefer Cinergy in that area.
It has gone downhill for sure. Better movie chains out there. I think I'm offically done with trash AMC. They used to be the gold standard!
There is nothing theaters can do. They are fighting an unwinnable battle.
For about 15 years I went to the theater at least once every other week, for a while it was weekly.
Now I go maybe once a year. Theaters have no chance against my living room. My big ass TV, my sound system,my couch , my booze, my powder room, my pause button, my snacks etc etc.
Kids coming up now, just watch it all on thier phones.
Sorry cinema you had a good run.
Not to mention the audiences got worse in terms of behaviors.
Last year I had to ask the guy behind me twice to put his damn shoes back on. Shit was stanky.
I'm 30 and I don't even own a TV.
When I was younger I thought that would be a ridiculous statement for anyone to make, and never thought it would be true for me.
But now I just watch most of my shows and movies on my phone or PC.
Absolutely and the content will shift to accommodate that delivery too.
Sorry, I quit paying money to watch commercials a long time ago. Good luck with your theater with the overpriced snacks, poorly tuned sound systems, sticky floors / trash, expensive tickets and "pre-show"!
We wont miss you.
😙
Man, I watched Weapons this weekend and my local AMC couldn't even get the lights off. 100% lights on during the first 10 mins of the film. All trailers had lights on.
Sad state.
LOL. Let us know when you knock out 30 minutes
Ever since we had to pay to watch advertisements at the theatre it all went downhill. They should have kept the introductory cartoon.
I timed Superman and it was 27 minutes from show time before the movie started at my AMC
That’s why we typically arrive 15-20 minutes after the posted show time…
They’re worried that moviegoers will try to skip the ads? Stop showing so many fucking ads. Theaters already overcharge for everything, and now we’re expected to wait long periods of time (anything past the listed movie start time is too long) before watching our movie.
Nah. Ima buy a boat and go sailing instead. Aside of the Minecraft movie*, there has been nothing worth going to the theater for in a very long time.
* The movie itself was good, but the audience participation is what made it worth the price of admission.
No, you don't have to wait. I show up 20 minutes after show time, catch a couple of trailers and the movie's on.
I refuse to pay money to see ads. Until it’s zero minutes I will continue to boycott.
What's an AMC? 😁
I feel like the theatre is going the same was as it's acronym-sharing auto company forbear... That is out of business.
The only theatre I bother with any more is Alamo, and that's maybe 2x a year. It's just not worth it when I can watch movies at home and control it all.
I haven't gone to an AMC recently, BUT my local theatres do quizzes/fun games in between the ads - I speculate that's the part that will be cut. Paint this as a decision for the customer but in reality, it's a cost cutting/feature cut. Obviously those quizzes won't be missed, but to think they will reduce the ads and trailers is not correct in my opinion.
The last time I went to the theater they had car ads blasting even before the pre show car ads started blasting.
I will show up 5min late for movies now on purpose since there is assigned seating there is no benefit to showing up early
Sounds like you might be able to bump that to 20.
I get it. Need to keep it under an hour.
https://www.harveynorman.com.au/tcl-98-inch-p7k-qled-4k-google-tv.html
98 inch, 4k TV. Pair this up with a secondhand surround sound system, and you've got an amazing setup.
Plus, the snacks are free, and you can't bring your cat to the theatre.
You can pause when you want, rewind, turn on subtitles, and not have the volume too fucking loud by 3 orders of magnitide
Yep. Although, old audio equipment works just as well as the old stuff, and you can buy it for bugger all, so you absolutely can have it that loud if you want.
All for the price of 4 movie tickets.
/s
The TV by itself is roughly 200 movie tickets worth, and that's just the ticket, no snacks, fuel, parking etc.
Actually amazing value when you look at it like that.
Last time we went to a movie theater (few years back) it was over $100 for 4 people + a shared popcorn and a few drinks. That was a matinee. Haven't been back. I'll dump that cash into TV upgrades, thanks.
To be honest, I don’t mind a few trailers at the cinema. It’s also a bit of a buffer if you’re running late (which I usually am).
This is why I've stopped going to the movie theatre. Firstly, I'm paying to see the movie, not see ads. Secondly, it's so inconsistent.
When I was younger, I'd be shitting bricks if we were running late. Gotta get to the theatre before the movie starts so we have time to get popcorn and find our seats!
Now? It's hit or miss if there are a tone of ads or not. Sometimes you'll arrive on time and be welcomed with all the garbage ads. Conversely, arrive late and I'd miss the first part of the movie, so i wouldn't know what's going on.