http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/Entertainment/GMA030221Moviegoer_lawsuit.html I hate those stupid commercials before movies and will actually close my eyes to avoid watching them. But, there are only a handful of lawsuits more ridiculous than this one.
Well thank goodness I didn't go in on a startup idea to implement this practice in Texas movie theaters several years ago! My life would suck even more right now.
I have to ask, if it wasn't for these commercials, how much would it cost to go see a movie. The prices are way outta hand already. I hope these movie houses find other means of revenue because I'm tired of digging in my pocket. You might as well wait to buy the DVD. That's how much two tickets cost.
I'm filing a lawsuit against the television networks. They advertise shows as going from 7:30 to 8:00, which is 30 minutes, but I've come to find out that the shows are actually only 22 minutes! I want compensation for my eight minutes per half hour.
Not quite the same thing. Now, if they said a show started at 7:30, then played commercials until 7:38, you'd have a point. But they don't.
This is why my wife and I have about 40 DVDs and rarely go to the movies anymore. Granted, I have bought some horrible flicks like XXX and Mr. Deeds.....but at 14 bucks apiece, I would have spent more at the theater.
Maybe the clock on my television is off, but the shows never start on the hour or half-hour on television. (Plus, I don't know that the general concept is all that different. FOX advertises a "full hour" of the Simpsons and then plays two episodes that equal 44 minutes of The Simpsons including credits, etc.). Personally, I don't mind the commercials. Actually, I kind of like some of them. I went to the movies yesterday, and there was a Coke commercial that wasn't bad, an M&Ms commercial that was funny. That same Fandango commercial that which is getting old, then the "Black People Aren't So Bad" PSA. After that were the previews, which are also commercials. By my watch, the movie started nine minutes later than the posted starting time of 5:25, but I was still out of the theater and heading to my car before what would've been the proper ending time had the film started at 5:25. Why is this all of a sudden such a big deal anyway? We've had commercials before movies for as long as I can remember, why only now is it lawsuit-worthy? I, for one, will miss the previews if they're taken away (and I don't know how you can do away with commercials and not do away with commercials for other movies). And if people's time is so important that they can't wait a few minutes for commercials, why does the average movie-goer show up at the theater about 20 minutes before showtime (according to Regal Entertainment Group)?
The theater companies started showing these commercials for one reason only...they were ALL going belly up. The studio gets the OVERWHELMING majority of receipts for the first 4 or 5 weeks of release. Edward's and United Artists went Chapter 11 and were bought out by Regal. AMC was headed that way too...but these commercials have defrayed a lot of the expenses involved with running a megaplex. If this lawsuit is successful...then we will be damning the theaters to head to U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
To get a good seat. I hate commercials, and I hate previews. I purposely try to arrive at a movie about 15 minutes late, so I don't have to sit through that junk. All I want is to see a movie in its alloted time. Unfortunately my friends don't agree. They like previews, thus I am forced to sit there waiting, and waiting, and waiting...
That, among other reasons I'm sure (like buying popcorn, etc). But that still doesn't change the fact that if the two or three minutes these people spend watching commercials is worth $75 for each instance, why do they have no problem with the other 20 minutes they, on average, spend at the theater before the posted show time? Let's say that the movie I went to see yesterday had posted the actual start time of the previews (since those are not at issue in the lawsuit, only "commercials"), so it said the movie started at 5:27 or 5:28 instead of 5:25, is that really going to change the time I spend at the movie theater? Whether the posted start time is 5:25 or 5:27, I'm probably going to leave the house at about the same time.
If the lawsuit causes theaters to head for bankruptcy, then the studios would lose too. The studios would be doing the "damning", not the people. No commercials, no previews. I rarely go to the movies and I don't care to see a bunch previews for movies I know I won't see anyway. I did not pay bucks to see commercials, and unlike tv I can't change the channel or turn it off. I would have to get up and leave, probably losing my seat. I like the lawsuit. The theaters should only run spots for 10 minutes telling people to shut up and turn off their cell phones.
That's not what you'd get, though, even if the lawsuit is successful. The best case scenario (or worsts-case scenario depending on which side you're on) is that the theaters just have to start advertising the time that the movie actually starts rather than when the commercials start rolling. So, you're still going to see the ads because you're likely going to be in the theater before the posted showtime anyway to get a good seat, etc. The ads aren't going away no matter what.
I don't think that's the point really. It's that the movie starts at a certain time and we're paying to see the movie but they slip these commercials in after the listed starting time. It's like paying for HBO and instead of the Sopranos starting at 7pm you have to watch 4 minutes of commercials first. I've never heard anyone complain about those trivia games and commercials that appear when the lights are still up prior to the movie start time.
My beef with the ads is that we are a captive audience. On TV, we can flip the station, get up, or god forbid shut off the contraption that consumes our lives (or mine at least.) But in a movie theater, we are stuck. No talking, it's dark, and we have to sit there and soak in those stupid commercials. Now if you're with your significant other, maybe you can cop a quick feel...
The 'movie experience' starts at the posted time. BTW I am thinking about suing the NBA because the all star game started late.
