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Author Topic: How many trailers are standard now? Michael Riley Film Handler Posts: 52 From: New Jersey Registered: Apr 2010 posted 12-17-2016 07:47 PM                  I saw the Liemax showing of Rogue One at an AMC last night, and was astonished by the fact that they had a full 10 trailers totaling a half an hour prior to the movie. I haven't worked at a theater in a few years now, but is this typical? When I worked for Regal, and independents before that, it was never more than 3 or 4 trailers before the feature, maybe the studios would insist on 5 on the biggest movies, but it never stretched out more than 15 minutes. I wasn't the only one in the audience who seemed to be getting annoyed by this. I know the chains use trailer placement as a way to flex their muscle with the studios and shake them down for some extra revenue, but they're skirting dangerously close to where people starting complaining and threatening lawsuits in the late 90's about the 7:00 movie not starting until 7:45.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-17-2016 09:18 PM                        10 trailers is ridiculous. Four should be the max. I sometimes put on five if we're expecting a large crowd, to give people time to get through concessions.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 12-17-2016 09:24 PM                        At my theatre we try to stick to 10 minutes unless the movie's run time forces us to do less. Occasionally with a big movie I will do 11-12 minutes, especially if there are new trailers for upcoming tent poles. 10 minutes has been our standard for so long that this is what customers expect. We even have a few people who will always show up 10 minutes late because they don't want to watch previews. We also start our previews at the advertised time.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 12-17-2016 10:07 PM                        Three is the maximum for me unless ordered otherwise by the studio. I have one guy who comes to the show regularly but never wants to see trailers. Sometimes he will sit in the lobby to wait until the trailers are over, and he told me once that if it's a large crowd and he wants to get in to get his seat immediately, then he will close his eyes until the trailers are over. Seeing the trailer spoils the movie, he says.  |  IP: Logged Harold Hallikainen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 906 From: Denver, CO, USA Registered: Aug 2009 posted 12-17-2016 10:49 PM                        We had to leave the auditorium during the trailers to avoid going deaf. The theater we frequent, however, runs trailers at a reasonable level and we get exposed to movies we want to see. I think they run about 10 minutes. Trailers start at the advertised show time. Harold  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 12-17-2016 11:09 PM                     The theater I worked at starting in 1991 always claimed there were 5 minutes of previews- the show schedules even read "Preview" at the starting time, the name of the feature 5 minutes after that, and the exit time. When I started running the projectors, I would often write in the exact times the movie started and ended with the previews starting at the listed time. I think the longest previews there actually ran was 10 minutes; my personal thing when building films was to have a minimum of two trailers not including whatever was attached to the feature. With G-rated movies sometimes that was a hard minimum to meet as most available trailers weren't "appropriate". Starting in 1994 or 1995, we started having the lights up halfway during the trailers- before that the lights would go completely down. I think trailers look MUCH better with the lights down, but it makes more sense to have them up during the trailers if they also come up during the movie's end credits. As yes, it does seem like more people purposely arrive late to avoid seeing trailers as well as pre-show commercials. If more theaters are going to have reserved seating this will probably become more common.  |  IP: Logged Matt Russell Expert Film Handler Posts: 142 From: Aurora, USA Registered: Aug 2015 posted 12-18-2016 01:38 AM                    Arclight tries to enforce a 5-10 minute max on trailers, which means usually 3 or 4 trailers end up getting played. Cinemark has also lately been trying to reach exactly 15 minutes and no more. Regal can go anywhere between 10-25 minutes depending on the movie. AMC always seems the longest, as I've seen them countless times go above 20 minutes, but they also seem to have longer policy trailers and after each trailer, they show its release date. With a few exceptions, such as red band or a just released trailer, I have noticed they stopped posting the MPAA green band logo before each trailer following the coming attraction logo. It's kind of all over the place in terms of trailer runtimes, but I've noticed the smaller the chain, the less trailers are shown.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-18-2016 09:07 AM                        I complained to AMC here about 23 minutes of trailers. They actually responded and said their policy is 10 mins and would be enforced. The last time I went there (one year ago next week) (and I do mean the last time) they were again way over 10 mins. Four is my max, and then, only movies I have booked and in the order we have them (we're a calendar house). We also have a few people who refuse to sit through trailers. And then there is the guy who is always late and always assumes we have 10 mins of trailers. Sometimes we only have 1 or 2 trailers because we haven't booked that far out yet or we haven't gotten them. Just show up on time, dammit.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 12-18-2016 10:41 AM                        Over time, we've settled on 10 minutes. We're a drive-in, so the dynamics are a little different, but 10 minutes seems to work out pretty well for us.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 12-18-2016 12:05 PM                     Trailer overkill has been standard operating procedure at big theater chains. Carmike has been bad about over-doing it with trailers, TV commercials, etc. for like forever. You could pretty much expect 20 minutes worth of commercials, policy snipes and trailers. The play lists would come down from senior management. Yet it's the staff at the individual theater location who gets its ass chewed by customers over it. If AMC is pushing the edge of the 30 minute barrier I guess that only seems fitting they're buying Carmike. I wouldn't mind the long play list of movie trailers if modern movie trailers were any good. I used to like movie trailers, but lately have grown to hate them. The people who make Hollywood movie trailers are throwing these things together using the same editing gags and boom-whoosh sounds. It's like a graphic designer with no talent who keeps using the same 5 pieces of clip art over and over and over and over again. There's hardly anything remarkable from one trailer to the next. Add to that the fact some trailers show too much of the movies plot points. You don't even have to bother watching the movie.  |  IP: Logged Michael Riley Film Handler Posts: 52 From: New Jersey Registered: Apr 2010 posted 12-18-2016 05:05 PM                  What I didn't get was that some of the choices were nonsense. Does the audience in the theater for Rogue One really the same audience that wants to sit through trailers for Sing or Boss Baby?  |  IP: Logged Buck Wilson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 894 From: St. Joseph MO, USA Registered: Sep 2010 posted 12-18-2016 05:07 PM                     Regal has us slather on about 20 minutes of trailers.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 12-18-2016 05:22 PM                        10 to 12 minutes max. With "Rogue One" we were asked to put on 5 trailers. Since one of the trailers was a teaser, it still fell within our minute range. Part of the problem out there is that some of the ad companies want a few minutes of their ads to play after the advertised start time. They charge extra money for these "prime ads". I recently attended a show at a theatre in which the film was advertised to start at 7:25 p.m. The actual movie started at 7:50.  |  IP: Logged Bradley J Sime Film Handler Posts: 68 From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Registered: Apr 2016 posted 12-18-2016 07:38 PM                     We're a one screen non-profit. I usually play two coming attractions, and one now playing. Start them about 5 minutes before the scheduled feature start time.  |  IP: Logged Matt Smith Film Handler Posts: 19 From: Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, England Registered: Apr 2016 posted 12-19-2016 06:45 AM                    Our multiplex usually plays 4-6 trailers that play for 8-11 minutes. This is on top of 10 minute or so of national adverts that come beforehand.  |  IP: Logged

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