Awhile back, I started tracking the time between the listed showtime and the actual start time of the movie. I logged them all and I would post it on Twitter. Then, Elon bought Twitter and I sort of abandoned the project (and Twitter).
At AMC (where I see most movies because it’s near me and they have a monthly pass), pre-roll/previews are 15-30 minutes long. The bigger and newer a movie is, the longer it is. Most tend to be around 20-25 minutes.
I started showing up 21 minutes late to most of them but I would usually be right on time for the start of the film.
psivchaz@reddthat.com 5 days ago
I used to like trailers. But just as I was starting to feel like the trailers were getting too long, the new thing became to splice the trailers with ads. So you think you’re watching trailers and then suddenly there’s a Ford commercial. So now they’re too long AND they’re less entertaining and relevant.
WetBeardHairs@lemmy.world 5 days ago
My local cinema now plays older movies too. I got shocked by walking in a few minutes late to the opening of LOTR: The Fellowship of The Ring because it started at the listed showtime! So I’ll support them by going to their older movie showings now. It’s nice to not get ramrodded with ads and movie spoilers.
barsoap@lemm.ee 4 days ago
Cinemas absolutely should be going semi-arthouse at this point in time. You don’t have to cater to a high-brow crowd to not constantly swim with the latest big-studio mainstream, plenty of people who’d totally go to a screening of Reservoir Dogs and you could actually make money off the tickets. Play it again, Sam.
That said I’m totally a fan of shoddily produced local ads. Like a (back in the day) 9mm recording of the interior of a local hair stylist and some cheesy dialogue so bad it could be from porn. Replace 9mm with a phone camera, same thing.
Also, throw in some student project short films. Do list the proper starting time, with a different starting time for the pre-show, “you won’t be bored if you come early and won’t miss anything when not”, avoids everyone rushing to their seats at the same time.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
Movie trailers playing before a movie made sense to me. You like movies? Here’s some that are coming up, in case you’re interested.
It was a movie trailer that made me go all-in on adblockers. One of the Mission Impossible movies, I forget which one, I lost count after the third. This trailer had that annoying “Ready or not, here I come” “song” in the background. And it played ahead of every single Youtube video I watched for a week.
I will never watch a Mission Impossible movie ever again, old or new. I will never watch another Tom Cruise movie ever again. Old or new. I might avoid the spy/action/thriller genre entirely for the rest of my life. I won’t go see James Bond ever again because of Mission Impossible’s marketing. There’s a strong and growing possibility I’ll never walk into a movie theater ever again. And I aggressively block ads now.
They went from letting me know what movies were going to be released soon to trying to beat my personality out.
I used to be a movie buff. I grew up in a house with a lot of VHS tapes, movies were important to my social life in my teens and early twenties, I went to work for a couple years basically living at the airport and sleeping at home, and when I came up for air it was all a cancerous mass, a tumor of its former self.
I would rather watch RedLetterMedia make fun of 40 year old movies than go watch a new one.
tane@lemm.ee 4 days ago
Insane response to mild annoyance honestly
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
I also haven’t bought a game made by EA since 1992. I don’t like their behavior as a company so I have completely stopped buying anything from them. This you label “insane.”
WetBeardHairs@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Don’t let the irritation take that away from you. I used to be a movie buff. But I also still am. My solution is just to ignore the previews. I don’t let it bother me because I am in control of my own life and feelings. So if I am going to a theater with someone, I wait outside until the movie starts (if possible… hard to do with kids). Otherwise I’m fine with streaming.
And even though Tom Cruise is the public face of shitology, those Mission Impossible movies are pretty good. Better than the last few Bond movies for sure. Learn to find things that you like. stoicism