AMC Says It Will Show More Ads Before Movies

[Harold Hallikainen]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/b...smid=url-share

[Steve Guttag]

Because patrons need more reasons to avoid cinemas. They already think we charge too much...then to pay to see even more ads.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I dunno, premium prices should represent premium experiences... That model seems to be falling apart in the corporate chain offices. They at least should have carved out an exemption for their premium screens/rooms. If the streaming model has taught us anything, is that many people are in fact willing to pay a little extra to not be assaulted by ads.

[Ryan Gallagher]

In hindsight, moving away from full screen curtains was probably the biggest industry mistake, it left this vaccum of an empty screen that had to be filled by something (and eventually ads). That "Platinum Slot" never existed before, would you open your curtain to an advertisement... hell no. (End Rant)

[Mike Blakesley]

As much as I don't like ads, I don't exactly understand the vitriol toward them when it comes to movies. After all, advertising is everywhere else, including places it didn't used to be. Go to Disney World, spend $150 per person for a day at Epcot, and you'll see Test Track, presented by Chevrolet, and you're forced to walk through a huge Chevy display on the way off the ride. Etc etc. Nobody avoids going to Disney because of sponsored attractions.

I think people who say they won't go to movies because of the ads are being either dishonest, or shortsighted. The ads aren't in the movie, after all. When they are, THEN there's a problem.

To me the biggest objection is the length of the pre-show, and ads between the trailers. I think there should be no ads once the showtime has passed and once the trailers have started. The last AMC movie I was at, they had ads mixed throughout the trailers, which I didn't like, but it didn't ruin the movie itself.

Here, we have an ad package, but it's only 4 minutes and it runs before the showtime.

When ads showed up on Netflix and Disney+, there was no outcry. People either embraced the ad-laden versions of Netflix and Disney+, or they paid up...and the majority apparently embraced the ads. So, what if we eliminated ads on certain shows but charged a couple bucks more per ticket for those shows, I wonder how well that would go over?

[Steve Guttag]

Mike, in a rare instance, I think you are just dead wrong on all counts.

Historically, cinemas have not been a big bastion of ads, on screen, in particular. Theatres have been sponsored, historically. Think "Theatre Clocks" where a pharmacy or other local business will have their name on a clock in the theatre. Once TV came along, which had to be ad supported, due to its business model, theatres kept to previews and the show (you might have had ads when theatres were THE method of entertainment and news (aside from radio)...theatres ran newsreels too.

As theatres have become notably more expensive, a normal resentment is to also being compelled to seeing ads, which have no tie-in to the movie that they are about to see. Most ads are poorly produced, often not formatted for the predominate formats, have obnoxious volume levels (and are often 2-channel). They couldn't be more in-your-face "we don't care about you" if they tried. They're trashy, with rare exception. They lower the theatre going experience as they do not lend to showmanship. And as you noted with streaming, pay up or get ads. At the theatre, people HAVE PAID UP...and they get ads anyway. Oh, and streaming hasn't fared so well for most and people (at least the ones I've associated with) have indeed bitched about them adding ads to their platforms and feeling ripped off to have to pay yet more for what they had.

If a theatre wants to run ads, that is their business (literally)...but please post the times for when tailers and features start...see when people show up. And yes, there are too many of both before a show. But the industry has not wanted to put forth a standard for that (nothing legal, just a suggestion of how much preshow before patrons get annoyed or the value of what is in the preshow is diminished because they've forgotten what they saw 15-minutes ago).

As for Disney's theme parks...that is not a proper comparison at all. Yes, they have had sponsored attractions (and test track is one of the few that has retained one as most sponsors haven't not realized the business from spending on Disney's attraction). However, GM ties in with the theme of the attraction...at worst, you might see some GM themed stuff while winding through the preshow line. Yeah, you do get to walk through a themed exit with GM products (not unlike a car showroom). How much does that slow you down? And it is A/Ced!

How about comparing it to a live stage performance? No big ad campaigns there. They put the ads in the "playbill." They are far less invasive and the advertiser gets the benefit that if you keep the playbill to remember to you trip to the theatre, you are keeping their ad too!

If theatres kept to a 4-minute ad package and a 10-minute trailer package, I doubt anyone would be too upset. If you have curtains, do a curtain call between sections. Have the ads formatted right for picture and sound, just like the trailers and feature too. But, what we have, in most venues is 20-40 minutes of trash. I think it is harmful to the industry as it gives the patron a bad experience. As I first posted, we don't need to give patrons another reason to not come to the theatre.

[Ed Gordon]

Broadcast OTA television is dying. Cable TV is dying. Streaming continues to grow and the second most popular website is Youtube (just behind Google). Movie theaters are struggling as their audience realizes that there is no need to bother with the expense and hassle of going out to see a movie preceded by commercials when that movie will be streaming on the service they already paid for in a month or less. Increasing the amount of commercials shown in movie theaters is akin to throwing gasoline on the fire.

ef41f10240b7d2cbd664a3ef1b143c2f.jpg

[Randy Stankey]

Ads are for TV.

Movie theaters are not TV.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I like the live theatre analogy. I would much prefer we program music with occasional audio ads, and limit or have no onscreen ads. Keep the visual experience more pristine and traditional.

but personally I’m one of those people that avoids them like the plague. If my subscriptions have ads I move to a tier without them, if none are available I cancel and find another platform with better options.

[Harold Hallikainen]

I like the slide show ads with background
music as rge audience is arriving. People can visit or liok st the ads. It works well at the Loft here in Tucson.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I like the slide show ads with background
music as rge audience is arriving. People can visit or liok st the ads. It works well at the Loft here in Tucson.

yeah those are fine, plus now with QR codes people don’t have to be as proactive to follow through on one.

it is essentially what we do here too, except most of the slides are internal ads for other events, only a handful of sponsor slides actually look like an ad.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

I agree 100% with Steve and Randy on this one. Now, I haven't been to Mike's theatre (yet..I will get out there someday soon) so I cannot comment on the particular ad package he runs, but.....

I announce motocross races and in the past, I have had overzealous track operators insist (in a few cases, demand) that I run down the list of sponsors "every hour" (an average race day is 8-10 hours). The one and only one time some years ago I stuck to that edict, both the track operator and I had numerous complaints that the sponsor plugs were getting very annoying. (that particular owner apologized to the fans and me for the mistake, and let me do the show my way.)

Ever since then I explain to the track operator who makes such a request that: One, we are NOT a radio or TV station, and it is not practical or even possible to take scheduled commercial breaks. Second, there are plenty of natural breaks (or races with little competitive action) where it is easy to work in the sponsor mentions in a way where it flows well with what's happening on the track. Third, even the rodeos out here (which are an all-day event) wouldn't take as many sponsor breaks as they wanted.

In other words, just like going to see a movie, people don't come to the track to get bombarded with ads or commercial plugs for the track sponsors (I need to add that most of the tracks I announce for have at least one huge banner for each sponsor in plain view), they come to race, and hear the announcer call out their child's (or friend's) name and track position during the races. (That, and keep things moving smoothly calling races to the starting line.)

People come to the track to race and the spectators/families/friends want to be entertained as well...they do NOT want a constant flurry of ads/sponsor plugs.

People go to the theatres to watch a movie, not see ads which they are already overloaded with on TV, radio, streaming or even social media.

Ads and the often annoying preshows (plus the twenty minute reel of trailers) is why I have not been to see a movie in decades...last one I saw was "Titanic" during first run (and that was at an AMC, yuck.)

[Mike Blakesley]

Steve, I can't really argue with most of your points, but you did not comment on this one:

So, what if we eliminated ads on certain shows but charged a couple bucks more per ticket for those shows, I wonder how well that would go over?

No ad company would probably allow such a thing, since contracts say the ads will run before "all shows," but it would be an interesting experiment.

If you have curtains, do a curtain call between sections.

As you know, we still don't have curtains although I would love to have them. They remain on my list of hoped-for upgrades. The cost of keeping up with digital equipment has pretty much kept that item in permanent back-burner status, until I win the lottery or something. But, we do have colored lights that shine across the screen whenever there is no image showing. Our ad package runs with the house lights all the way up. After the ads, those screen lights come up for 30 seconds, during which the house lights go to "half bright" for the trailers, so it makes a nice dramatic change.

[Frank Cox]

So, what if we eliminated ads on certain shows but charged a couple bucks more per ticket for those shows, I wonder how well that would go over?

Just raise your ticket prices by one dollar across the board and eliminate the ads before all shows.

Your customers will appreciate it.