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Author Topic: Commercials Tom Petrov Five Guys Lover Posts: 1121 From: El Paso, TX Registered: Jan 2003 posted 05-25-2004 12:55 AM                    I need some help. I am having arguement about commercials in front of the feature presentation. Is there any theater chains in the US that don't play pre show commercials? I did a forum search but could not come up with a good answer. Thanks. Tom  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 05-25-2004 03:27 AM                        here's a page that i'm sure is not definitive but it's a start. landmark doesn't show them (with the exception of some film-related things, like dvd's and film festivals). neither does century, though i'm told they have slides. carl  |  IP: Logged Peter Kerchinsky Master Film Handler Posts: 326 From: Seattle, WA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 05-25-2004 04:45 AM                     Carl is right. Landmark Theatres, whom I work for, does not show "commecials" yet except for what he mentioned with DVDs and film fests. At my theatre we do have slides but they are self promoting. We have parking problems and we advise customers where to and not to park simply because some we validate or others we don't. I believe and will til the good Lord takes me that commercials, like Coke, American Express and the like DO NOT belong in theatres. I DO NOT and WILL NOT go to any competing theatre that shows commercials before the trailers. They do not belong there. If you want commercials before and during a movie dammit watch TV. All the commercials do is piss the audience off. They paid good money to see a MOVIE not ads. Wake up!  |  IP: Logged Adam Martin I'm not even gonna point out the irony. Posts: 3686 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 05-25-2004 10:54 PM                     Century Theatres does not run commercials.  |  IP: Logged Todd Cornwall Film Handler Posts: 91 From: Madison, WI Registered: Feb 2004 posted 05-26-2004 10:21 AM                     Thats an interesting topic. I dont care for the commericials myself. Its getting really bad..like TV. Not only are there commericals, but now we have to watch little animated sequences during the TV show on the lower (sometimes 1/4 of the screen) about contests and upcomoing shows. I would hope movie theaters would be devoid of that, but it seems like its here for a while until customers really put up a fuss. I prefer to listen to music before the show myself..  |  IP: Logged Tom Petrov Five Guys Lover Posts: 1121 From: El Paso, TX Registered: Jan 2003 posted 05-26-2004 11:54 PM                    Question two of my argument I need answering. Is the there any Century theater near a AMC, Cineplex, Regal etc that does compete with the Century that does play commercials. Perferably side by side or across the street would be great. Thanks. My friend thinks that because a theater does not have commercials, the theater would be charging double the price. Thanks in advance. Tom.  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 05-27-2004 04:49 AM                        well, to answer a similar question, there are 3 landmarks within 2 1/2 blocks (2 within 1 block) of a ua here in berkeley. landmark is $9.25/$7mat and ua is $9/$6.50mat. so there's a small difference there but there are numerous other factors that could account for that. comparing to a mainstream century is probably more helpful. carl  |  IP: Logged Tom Petrov Five Guys Lover Posts: 1121 From: El Paso, TX Registered: Jan 2003 posted 05-27-2004 11:20 AM                    I was going to compare Landmark but it would better to compare a mainstream cinema like Century. If anyone knows of a Century that is very close to another mainstream cinema it would be very helpful. Thanks. Tom.  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Fuentes Mmmm, Dr. Pepper! Posts: 1168 From: Corpus Christi, TX United States Registered: Jan 2004 posted 05-27-2004 11:29 AM                     There is a Century and a Cinemark that compete overhere. But they are about 5 miles or so apart. But off of the same freeway, on the same side, just a few exits down. The Cinemark does play commercials.  |  IP: Logged Eric Hooper Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 532 From: Fort Worth, TX, USA Registered: May 2003 posted 05-27-2004 12:40 PM                     Here in San Francisco, the big 3 Megaplexes are an AMC 14, LOEWS Metreon 15, and a CENTURY 20. We also have some older UA/REGAL singles, twin, and a quad, and some LANDMARK locations. The AMC, LOEWS, and REGAL show commericals, with the LOEWS being the worst violator. (Rumors I hear of 20-30 minutes of commercials beginning at the advertised start time at the movie shown before the movie trailers.) CENTURY does a lot of advertising in the newspapers that they do not show commercials at their theatres. From what I hear, the CENTURY 20 is one of the company's most profitible locations in Century's circuit, and the LOEWS METREON is one of the most profitable locations in the Loew's circuit. The LOEWS Metreon has the advantage of being right on the subway line in a busy part of town. Many friends of mine choose to go there because of the location and the ease of getting there. The CENTURY 20 has the advantage of offering a huge FREE PARKING structure, and they heavily advertise that fact as well. I'm not sure whether or not the fact that they play or do not play commercials contributes to the successes of these two theatres.  |  IP: Logged Peter Hall Master Film Handler Posts: 314 From: London, UK Registered: Dec 2000 posted 05-28-2004 09:20 AM                        To go against the thread, from a customers perspective I have no issue with on screen adverts. Especially in the UK, part of the cinema experience is the "Pearl and Deans" - the advertising logo has been sampled many times in pop songs and is somewhat of an iconic tune. The adverts are usually better quality or more adult themed than TV (does anyone remember the Haagen Daaz adult advert or the Student Travel "Durex" advert ?) and if you prefer not to see them you always know that the film starts 20 minutes after the advertised time. Indeed some cinema adverts have been so popular that they spurred no1 singles - god, how else could the mighty "Steve Miller Band" get a no1 single in 1989 ! I will never go the laundrette in the same clothes again..  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 05-28-2004 11:07 AM                     Peter, if you turn up twenty minutes lateat the David Lean you'd miss the start of the film. They usually run Pearl and Dean, two trailers and then the 'Europa cinemas' thing; between ten and fifteen minutes in total. Two weeks ago it was just under ten minutes. When I'm projecting I run the adverts/trailers reel with the houselights at half, close the tabs on the last couple of seconds of the Europa thing, reset the masking if necessary, walk to the other machine, press houselights off, then motor start, open the tabs on the certificate. This gives about 10 seconds with the tabs closed if the feature is in scope, rather less if it's Academy or widescreen. I think the ten seconds is a bit long, but the top masking moves quite slowly. I close the tabs between adverts/trailers and feature even when the latter is in the same ratio, it separates the feature from the other stuff, and I think it looks better that way than simply doing a changeover to the feature.  |  IP: Logged Alexander Smith Expert Film Handler Posts: 128 From: Walney Island, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Registered: Jun 2003 posted 05-28-2004 03:20 PM                     If you can run your adverts with the house-lights at half-way (or some intermediate level between full and off), I think you're lucky. Pearl & Dean won't let us show their adverts with the house-lights at any other setting than "off". Naturally, our customers are often still arriving during the adverts, so it's only a matter of time before one of them trips over and sues us. :-( We do have secondary lighting, naturally, but that doesn't matter to solicitors. Alex.  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 05-29-2004 03:09 AM                     The 'half' settng is quite low, the picture on screen doesn't look much different, but there is enough light for late-commers to see their way to their seats. The house lights are designed in such a way that the light fills on the floor and the seats, not on the screen. Most places seem to run with a low level of house light on during adverts and trailers. Running adverts frst does at least mean that late-commers are seated by the time the feature starts.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 05-29-2004 02:07 PM                        At most of the cinemas I worked at which showed ads at all (and I worked at a few rep houses which didn't), there was a house rule limiting the 'bullshit reel' to 10 or 15 minutes. The length of the Pearl & Dean or Carlton ads varied widely - between 3 and 12 minutes, I'd guess. We then simply filled the remaining time with trailers. My gut feeling is that 15 minutes is as long as is reasonable. A few months ago I saw a show at the Odeon Leicester Square at which the ads alone lasted for 26 minutes: that was taking the mickey, I think, especially as the tickets cost £9. Agreed with Peter - a few ads are fine and add to the atmosphere of going to the pictures, especially if they have better scripts and production values than their TV counterparts. But 26 minutes sure as hell outstays its welcome.  |  IP: Logged

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