Source: https://filmstories.co.uk/news/us-bill-seeks-to-force-cinemas-to-publish-actual-film-start-times/
A U.S. Senator wants to push a bill compelling movies theaters to publish what time the movie actually starts and not just what time they start screening commercials and trailers… you know, the stuff people don’t care about.
One of the problems with the moviegoing experience is whenever you go watch a movie and you arrive “on time” according to the listing, the movie doesn’t start right away, but rather, you’re bombarded with commercials for products that you’re never going to use and more often than not, movie trailers for films you’re probably never going to watch. Back in the day, when we went to a theater, we’d get a couple trailers somewhat related to the feature in question (similar genre and such) before we get the feature presentation. This lasts about a few minutes before the actual movie starts. Now it’s almost fifteen minutes of commercials, PSAs, and months-old teaser trailers that you’ve probably already saw on Youtube hundreds of times.
So what this bill proposes is you have two times list; one being the time where the commercials play and the second time being when the movie actually starts. On paper, it’s not a bad idea. In practice… well, who the hell knows? Each show, I’d imagine, would be different. I can recall watching a movie or two a couple times and each time, they had different trailers. Could be that one specific theater that I went to, but it could also apply elsewhere as well.
It’s an intriguing bill and a pressure for movie houses to be more honest with their actual start times, but I doubt it’ll actually come to pass. After all, if paying customers can simply walk in during the commercials, that means they’re not watching the commercials and god forbid someone misses that Kia commercial you’ve seen play on Youtube eleventy billion fucking times already?
dtm666 