Commercials at the Movie Theater!

[Beegowl]

I'm a movie fan, as well as an audio enthusiast. The proliferation of new movie houses with state of the art sound systems in the last several years, has been a great improvement to the movie going experience. The fact that the price of tickets keeps going up hasn't deterred me from going to the movies at these new theaters. It's a great entertainment experience and I don't mind paying $8 for a couple of hours of good entertainment in a good auditorium. BUT, when the lights go down and I am forced to sit through 5 to 10 minutes of what are basically enhanced TV commercials, I am incensed. It's not a situation where theaters are using the revenue gained from showing commercials to support showing movies. I bought my ticket and my overpriced popcorn and soda, too. The advertising industry is offering movie houses enough money to make it worth their while to offend their customers by showing commercials. Complain to your theater manager.

 

[anamorphic96]

I understand your complaint Beegowl but this will never change. Might I also mention movie theatres are not the cash cows you might think they are. Movie theatres are extremely expensive to run and maintain.

Tickets / Box Office -
The movie studios take home 90% of the movies opening weekend gross. Usually after the first week the theatre might get 20% of the gross and as weeks go by the theatre gets more of the gross. But by this time the movie is not making anymore money. 80% of all movies drop 50 to 75 percent in the second week. So in reality theatres dont see much of the box office revenue.

Concessions -
I agree prices are high but its the only place theatres can make money. (Besides advertising).

Now factor in all these other items.
Lease Payment
Film Costs
Concession Costs
Payroll
Electric, Phone and Gas
Advertising (showtimes)
projection and sound maintenance
xenon lamps
building maintenance
janitors
insurance

This list can go on. Factor in all the things listed above and the cost gets ridiculous.

This is where commercials come in. They basically help offset the losses theatres take in other areas. The big one being tickets. We get killed here. We dont dictate the price of tickets. The studios are the ones to complain to about this. They are the ones hanging us out to dry here. But to some extent its good old fashion inflation. The cost of making a movie these days has tripled in the last twenty years. It use to cost roughly 20 million to make an average movie. Now its rougly 60 to 70 million if not more depending on whose in the movie. It does not help when some stars get 20 million dollars a film. This is why ticket prices go up. To pay these salaries and production costs.

I hope this sheds some light on this subject. So please next time you guys are at the movies please dont complain and yell at the theatre manager. We are just following the instructions from our home office and have absolutley no input or control over commercials. We are just trying to make a living like everyone else. If you do feel its necessary to let someone know, write a letter to the corporate office of that chain.

Glenn

 

[Beegowl]

Two sides to every story

I hope this sheds some light on this subject. So please next time you guys are at the movies please dont complain and yell at the theatre manager. We are just following the instructions from our home office and have absolutley no input or control over commercials. We are just trying to make a living like everyone else. If you do feel its necessary to let someone know, write a letter to the corporate office of that chain.

Glenn, thanks for the reminder that there is always more than one perspective. The theater manager is not the bad guy. I don't mind writing letters to the corporate offices about this issue. Of course, theaters are subject to astronomical overhead, just as local hi-fi shops are. I don't mind paying a little more at the brick and mortar hi-fi stores because I know that's true. I will concede that commercials help offset some of the theater overhead. I'll watch 'em before the lights go down, after that, I've paid for the seat and don't want to be subjected to them like I am on free TV. Thanks for your input.

 

[Rob Babcock]

The theaters managed to get by for nearly a century without the commercials, even though they still had all the expenses they have now (okay, most of them). Cash cow or no, they're doing it because they're getting away with it. If people really did complain, and stop going, the practice would die, and quickly.

To me the more vile and insidious practice is including them on the DVD. I can simply go late to the movie or use the ad time to hit the restroom. But many DVDs (notably some Disney releases) don't allow you to skip the crappy ads. Which is doubly maddening two or three years later when the thing being advertised no longer even exists, but you must still endure inane commercials for it!

 

[anamorphic96]

Yes they did but the industry has changed dramatically in the past 10 years. Look at the theatres then, and look at how comfortable these new theatres are now. It costs double now than what it did 15 years ago to build a 12 plex. Primarily due to the popularity of stadium seating and other adavances. If you where to sit down and look at a P&L statement you might have a different opinion.

 

[Duffinator]

I will concede that commercials help offset some of the theater overhead. I'll watch 'em before the lights go down, after that, I've paid for the seat and don't want to be subjected to them like I am on free TV. Thanks for your input.

I started a similar thread a few months ago with the same rant. I agree, once the lights go down start the movie, not the commercials. I'd rather pay 25 to 50 cents more per movie then spend 10 minutes being forced to watch commercials. I value my time very highly and if I want to watch commercials I can do that at home.

 

[cam]

I don't mind the commercials at all, I'll tell you why. Most people, especially younger people take about 10 minutes or so to completely settle in, so by the time the commercials are over, everyone has stopped moving, whispering, etc.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

I don't mind the commercials either. In fact, it's nice to see and hear these things on the big screen with surround. They take on a whole new level of appreciation one can't get on television.

But besides that it keeps my kids quiet until the movie starts.

As was noted above, movies make little or no money off the ticket sales, they make it off the concessions. Many people nowadays forgo the concessions preferring to either sneak their own in or just not have anything. The theater has to make up that money somehow. So they run commercials.

Don't like commericials, buy more concessions.

 

[Tom Andry]

If the movie is scheduled to start at 9:30, and the 10 minutes of commercials start at 9:20, then I'm OK with them. If they start at 9:30, I get irritated.

 

[anamorphic96]

If it helps Regal and AMC both have there commercials BEFORE the movie. This way if you show up at the scheduled time you wont have to watch commercials. I know it sucks for the bigger movies that require you to stand in line but its better than nothing. Especially if you go during the week.

If I had things my way, people would not be subjected to commercials. My audience would see three movie previews and that is it.

 

[Rob Babcock]

I for one really do like the previews, partly because I watch very very little television. It lets me see what's coming out, so that's cool. As for their P&Ls, that's their problem- I just don't care. Every insider in an industry is an apologist for their "plight", in my experience. But in the end, you adapt or die. It remains to be seen if people will tolerate the adverts in the long haul. My local century doesn't seem to play any ads at all (at least not yet), so maybe the practice isn't univeral. Or maybe it's just not here yet.

 

[annunaki]

I like watching the previews, but not commercials once the lights go down. At the local theaters, commercials are done if you arrive early, other than that the show starts on time.

 

[algernon]

To me the more vile and insidious practice is including them on the DVD. I can simply go late to the movie or use the ad time to hit the restroom. But many DVDs (notably some Disney releases) don't allow you to skip the crappy ads. Which is doubly maddening two or three years later when the thing being advertised no longer even exists, but you must still endure inane commercials for it!

I got a go-video dvd-vcr combo for the kids. One nice feature is the "quick start" or something like that (mayby "ex-play"?) feature that once enabled automatically starts the movie, bypassing all the trailers and menus. Just pop the disc in and the movie starts. Works on Lion King and Nemo, haven't checked others.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

To me the more vile and insidious practice is including them on the DVD. I can simply go late to the movie or use the ad time to hit the restroom. But many DVDs (notably some Disney releases) don't allow you to skip the crappy ads. Which is doubly maddening two or three years later when the thing being advertised no longer even exists, but you must still endure inane commercials for it!

Oh it isn't just Disney but it seems all the child DVDs. Our Shrek2 does that. I am so sick of Ben Stiller advertising "Madagascar!" As you said, you can't skip them, you can't hit menu and try to get past it.

I have found that in some instances, if after you insert the DVD and the autoplay starts the commercials, if you hit STOP and wait then the main DVD menu will appear.