By Chris Kavan - 03/02/10 at 12:41 PM CT
Not to sound like a crotchety old man, but back in my day, when Douglas Theaters still owned all the theaters around town, I remember showing up to a movie on time, watching the "let's go out to the lobby-type intro to get you buy popcorn or gift certificates, sitting through two, maybe three trailers, and then BAM movie.
If I showed up early, I didn't mind sitting through the advertisements that went by. When I went to Indianapolis for a year, I noticed that the AMC theaters didn't do that. No they showed a bunch of commercials and stuff beforehand too. All I could think was how good I had it back home.
It's not so good anymore. When Marcus Theaters bought out Douglas, they brought with them a lot of commercials. Heck, I don't even know why I show up on time or early other than to get a good seat. I estimate a good 15-20 minutes of my time is taken up by commercials and trailers. I know theaters have to make money but come on!
They already mark concessions and tickets up to obscene levels - why should I have to wait to see my movie? And, honestly, does anyone rush out to join the Marines or Army after seeing their ads before a movie? And worse, the problems seem to only increase. I swear there are even more ads now then there were a couple years ago.
I doubt things will change anytime soon. Despite the fact that tickets - and now 3D - keeps going up, I'm sure revenue from showing commercials and more trailers is just too good to pass up. So I will live with it, but it doesn't mean I can't rant my head off about how it makes me feel (it's right up there with cell phones and crying babies).
