Back in the day, watching the film trailers, commercials, and theater policy trailers before a film was fun. Before that started, the mix of slides they put on the screen with local advertisers and different movie facts and trivia were fun to watch. Yet, sometime over the past decade or two, previews seem longer, less similar to the film you paid to see, and frankly, drag on too long. One member of the Connecticult legislature wants to force theaters to post the times the actual film starts. Would you like to see a similar law attempted here in Missouri?

(One of my favorites is the policy trailer that used to run at the theater my late wife Kathy and I went to when we were dating.)

What the Connecticut Law Entails

According to WFSB, the proposed Connecticut law would require theaters to post a start time for previews or announcements and then the actual movie start time.

State Senator Martin Looney says he's heard complaints from people who had messed up dinner reservations, or had to pay babysitters longer than expected because the movie ran longer than expected, because of the trailers and advertisements that play before the feature.

The article says Looney's only gotten pushback from theater managers who want people watching those previews and commercials.

(One of the policy trailers General Cinema Corporation played before movies to get you to the concession stand, this kind of ad, was fun to watch!)

Do Theaters Get Anything For Showing Trailers Before Movies?

Traditionally, the screening of previews wasn't a cash generator for theaters. Maybe as part of an agreement to screen a film, a theater was contractually obligated to show a preview, but it wasn't a cash generator. Around 2013 or a little before, that started to change. The Los Angeles Times then reported that it was "common knowledge" that most big movie studios had deals with the major theater exhibitors worth millions of dollars.

How Theaters Make Their Money

It's no secret that theaters don't make much money on the movie tickets they sell. The profit center of most theaters is concessions, which is one reason concessions are priced so high. Additionally, everything else a theater offers, whether it's more traditional dining, a bar, an arcade, or other entertainment options, brings in revenue and at a higher return than ticket sales. A theater where people don't buy concessions is likely to be unprofitable.

Some theaters show a pre-pre show that comes off as an entertainment TV show about movies, TV shows, actors, and actresses, complete with ads. Yes, theaters get some advertising money from that, too.

(Policy trailers like this made showing up to the movies early to catch them a fun little treat, this Muppets one for Lowe's Theatres was fun.)

This Is Why I Think They Want You There For The Previews and The Ads

The more people in the theater for the ads and the previews, the more leverage theater chains may have to get money from the studios. Additionally, those previews might get someone who shows up right at the movie start time to still pop by the concession stand because they KNOW they're not missing anything important. It also allows someone to pop out of the theater to buy a drink or a popcorn.

What Do I Think?

There was a time I loved watching the previews, and if the advertisements were designed to be shown on a movie screen, not an ad we've seen 100 times on TV, I thought they were cool. Mix in a cool theater policy trailer enticing you to head to the snack bar or a snipe hyping you up for the feature presentation, it was fun. I didn't want to miss those.

Yet, I've noticed an uptick in the number of previews over the past 15 - 20 years, and frankly, there are more previews for films that aren't similar at all to the movie I'm seeing and that hold no interest for me. There's nothing worse than sitting through 20-30 minutes of stuff I don't care about, especially after I've paid money to get into the theater and then chosen to support the theater by buying concessions.

So yeah, I'm all for theaters telling me what time the actual movie starts vs. the previews, so if I don't want to watch 6-8 previews for films I don't care about, I don't have to. What do you think?