Commercials at the Movies

[Duffinator]

I went to the movies yesterday and watched Oceans 12 at a Regal owned cinema. This is only the second time I've been to the movies in the past six months and both times were at Regal owned cinemas. Anybody else out there besides me annoyed at "The 20" where they show 20 minutes of commercials before the previews start? Now we have to pay to see commercials at the movies as well? I much preferred 20 minutes of movie trivia. I know this has been going on for some time but it's annoying.

BTW, I like Oceans 12, very entertaining and I didn't figure out the twist until the very end. And Catherine Zeta Jones has got to be one of the most attractive women on the planet

 

[Leprkon]

And Catherine Zeta Jones has got to be one of the most attractive women on the planet

yeah. it's too bad she's Catherine Zeta-Jones-Douglass. but if that cloning thing ever works out....

 

[ruadmaa]

Commercials in Theatres

I went to the movies yesterday and watched Oceans 12 at a Regal owned cinema. This is only the second time I've been to the movies in the past six months and both times were at Regal owned cinemas. Anybody else out there besides me annoyed at "The 20" where they show 20 minutes of commercials before the previews start? Now we have to pay to see commercials at the movies as well? I much preferred 20 minutes of movie trivia. I know this has been going on for some time but it's annoying.

BTW, I like Oceans 12, very entertaining and I didn't figure out the twist until the very end. And Catherine Zeta Jones has got to be one of the most attractive women on the planet

The last time I was in a theatre was over a year ago. At that time they showed over 20 minutes of television commercials before the show. (Goodrich Theatres). I have since emailed Goodrich theatres no less than a half a dozen times and have told them that I refuse to go to their theatres until they stop playing commercials. At over $8.00/ticket I am paying to see a movie, not a commercial. I have upgraded my home theatre system so that I really have no need to go to a theatre. I simply wait until the film comes out on DVD and then rent it. If they insist on showing commercials, I should be able to get in for free to see the movie. After all, doesn't commercial television work on this principle???

 

[Az B]

yeah. it's too bad she's Catherine Zeta-Jones-Douglass. but if that cloning thing ever works out....

Those Hollywood marriages never last... I waited years for Christie Brinkley to get divorced so I could be rejected and my dream finally came true.

 

[Leprkon]

Those Hollywood marriages never last... I waited years for Christie Brinkley to get divorced so I could be rejected and my dream finally came true.

It's a beautiful thing to see a man actually realize his dreams.

 

[Duffinator]

At over $8.00/ticket I am paying to see a movie, not a commercial.

It's $9.25 here in Sacramento, I'd hate to see what the price is on Manhattan! Sounds like all the theater chains are doing it. Now if I could get Catherine Zeta Jones to go with me to the movies instead of my wife I wouldn't even notice the commercials.

 

[zepaholic]

Cartoons

I say bring back the cartoons!

 

[xanteen]

The theaters in the UK have been doing this for years. It was only a matter of time. Instead of thinking of it as demeaning the value of your admission ticket, think of it as helping keep the price down. It's that or $9 Milk Duds.

 

[sjdgpt]

Those Hollywood marriages never last... I waited years for Christie Brinkley to get divorced so I could be rejected and my dream finally came true.

Yea, but it took Billy a long time to trade her in for two 20's.

Oops, darn, she dropped him, didn't she?

 

[vwinterr]

It's that or $9 Milk Duds.

as opposed to $4.75 for a $1.00 box?

and I tried to go to the theater this past weekend for the first time in years... $12/ticket... I told my wife let's go buy a movie/popcorn/twizzlers and save money..

 

[sjdgpt]

I love winter, with lots of pockets to stuff full of goodies to munch during the movie.

Now, if I could only solve the restroom problem, I would never even have to leave the seat. Maybe I will try the Burt Reynolds trick (from that movie with Jill Clayburn?) where Burt had taped a jug to his calf.... the sound effects were quite effective.

 

[Duffinator]

Century Theatres

I started this thread complaining about commercials at the movies. Well I saw an ad in my local paper from Century Theatres claiming:

"Kiss TV Commercials Goodbye! No TV Commercials"

So I guess this means they are no longer going to show commercials before movies. They must have read this thread.

Anyway I'm glad to see one movie theater chain is doing away with the commercials.

 

[nick_danger]

The only thing that I find ridiculous is that they say the movie will start at 4:05, but you have to wait until 4:40 before it actually starts.

 

[anamorphic96]

One thing to note that alot of people might not be aware of is Century owns 98 percent of its locations so its able to get away with this. Im not knocking Century but its the only reason they can pull it off. The other major circuits do not own most of there sights therefore pay rent and the commercials help the keep theatres open.

Theatres take home roughly 0 to 10 percent of a movies opening week gross. The rest goes to the studios. Depending the on how well the movie does it could stay that way or the theatre could get 20 percent next weekend on that movie. Something of a sliding scale. Keep in mind 90 percent of films are not making much money there third week in release.

When you break this down theatres make there money at the concession stand. They make a little in other places but not much. Thats it. The cost to run these theatres is not cheap. If you where to sit down and look at a profit and loss statement for a theatre you would understand why they have commercials. The average 12 screen theatre generates roughly 150 to 200 thousand dollars in net profit per year. Some make more but this is just the average. That is not a whole lot of money in the grand scheme of things. This is not much money when you factor in you will have capital expenditures each year which eat way at that money.

I dont like the commercials but I understand why they show them. At least Regal shows there commercial before the start of the movie and not after the start time like some. May not work in all circumstances but its an easy way to avoid them when its slow.

Cheers

 

[mustang_steve]

it's called "capitalism", despite my thoghts that this is the exact opposite of capitalism....telling the customers to eff off if they don't like your new format is crap.

In san jose, california it was about $10 for the ticket....I eventually chewed out the manager at the theater so vicously for having to apy for commericals, he agreed and somehow got management to agree to playing the movies 5mins early so part the crap was gone....I considered it a partial victory.