Finally, an update. Its been a long freaking week. I’ve been in front of a computer screen from Monday till late Thursday just getting everything that I possibly could done. I didn’t get every single little thing, because my twat of a psychology teacher added some chapter summaries (THAT WASN’T IN OUR ORIGNAL AGREEMENT!!!) so that was not finished. I have a presentation next week and I have to meet for one class, but other than that I’m done. *Sigh of relief*
Anyway, here is an article about Loews theaters actually telling patrons what time the movies start…weren’t they supposed to do that already. Here it is from boston.com:
Yielding to pressure, Loews to list films’a ctual starting times
By Sam Allis, Globe Staff | May 5, 2005
Loews Cineplex, the movie theater behemoth, just blinked.
Facing growing audience rage at the proliferation of product ads in theaters before the start of feature films and trailers, the company has decided to list the actual starting times of the features, in addition to the official times that, increasingly, bear no relation to reality.
According to a company statement released Tuesday, the change will begin in Loews theaters in Connecticut on May 13 and will begin to spread to all of its houses across the country over the next month.
Listings will note that the features will start ”10 to 15 minutes after the published showtime.”
The corporate announcement means that for those annoyed by the product ads, relief is on the way. Patrons will now be able to better calibrate their arrival to the start of the movie, although in doing so they risk marginal seating for a popular film.
Ads before movies, which push everything from cars to soft drinks, infuriate many who say they come to movies to escape these kinds of irritants that dominate television. But where TV viewers are armed with remotes to click away commercials, the captive audiences in theaters enjoy no such option.
The Loews Cineplex CEO, Travis Reid, maintained in the statement that the public understands the practice of running house ads. But he allowed, ”Recently, however, some of our customers have suggested that we also publicize the start time of the movie.”
A spokesman for the Regal Entertainment Group, the largest theater chain in the country, said it has no plans to change its listings, which do not include the actual starts of the features.
Personally, I don’t mind the trailers, as long as they are good. I despise, despise, despise (yes you saw it three times) the commercials. And seeing that I read an article in Entertainment Weekly about a month or so ago about how now that the commercials are in the theater, they’ll probably never get out. Advertisers love the fact that they have an audience there and the theaters love the fact that they are getting paid to show someone a commercial (essentially I guess they are getting paid twice, once by the advertiser and once by you, so they win out both ways).
I think those who bitched about it should shut their mouths and deal with it, the movie will play eventually and seeing that you are sitting in a movie theater you shouldn’t have anything else to do if you decided to stop and watch a movie!
That’s my piece for now, I hope to come back with some more interesting things.
I’m back baby, whoo!!
–Socram