Mildly Infuriating

You can ask the workers when the movie actually starts and they will tell you. There's a schedule they have printed every day or a digital one they can reference usually. They will also tell you the exact time the credits end for better scheduling

Just go in 20 minutes later? Been doing it for years at this point.

You'll figure it out some day.

Are you posting from 2007?

Since you get to pick your seat when you buy your ticket, I've been showing up 20 minutes after the start time. I catch the tail end of the endless trailers and haven't missed any of the movie yet.

I don't think they thought this through...

Just show up late. That's what I do.

I have been timing movie previews since August 2022. I was posting the data weekly on Twitter but I stopped using Twitter when the sale to Elon was finalized.

My Qualifications

I have a monthly pass that allows me to go up to 4 times a week. I also worked at a theater for 4 years, with part of that time being as a manager and projectionist. I have selected and put ad rolls on the film myself.

I go every Sunday morning. I started timing ads and previews before the movie started and logging them in a chart, but I am not a data analyst. I am just an annoyed theater patron.

Movie Previews and Ad Roll Lengths

Note: Most of my data is from seeing movies at AMC. I can’t guarantee every theater will be this way but theaters that use digital film distribution instead of physical film should be similar.

Timing start at the scheduled showtime and start the moment the last ad stops and the film credits start.

If you go to AMC, the Nicole Kidman ad is always the last one. I stop counting as soon as she says “AMC Theaters, we make movies better.”

• You can safely go to the theater 15 minutes late every single time.
• Ads ranged from 17 min to 31 min.
• Once, the movie started exactly on time with no ads at all, but that was two years after I started timing previews. This is an outlier.
• Newer movies have longer ads. Movies in the larger rooms have longer ads. IMAX, Dolby, Laser, Prime, and 3D/movies 4D have longer ads. For these movies, ads tend to run approximately 24-27 min.
• The longer the movie has been out the shorter the ad roll length.
• The studio/distributor behind the movie also matters. Indies and smaller budgets have less ads, but big studios like Disney and Sony have more. Studios like Searchlight and Focus can be deceptive as they are owned by bigger companies but they still aren’t as bad as said larger conglomerates.

TLDR: I tracked movie ad times for years and recommend showing up 15 minutes late.

Turns a 2 hour movies into two and a half almost. My ass starts to hurt halfway through.

Well, one of the symptoms how stuff gets rid of itself. Also prices and other things.

It's a luxury issue really and cinemas and in part the entertainment industry can cry me a river.

This is why I haven't gone to the movies in many years. Add in the people who just can't keep off their phones for 2 whole hours (or put them on silent) and that convinced me to invest in higher quality home entertainment.

Go 20 min later if you’re going to something like an AMC theater. AMC is particularly bad.

But better that, support locally owned theaters or smaller companies in general. They generally plug the snack bar, tell you to turn off your phone, then cut to trailers.

Oh yeah? I went to go see Dogma last week. The movie started right on time. I missed out the buddy christ bit because we were busy getting snacks and hitting the bathroom thinking weve got plenty of time.

Growing up in Sweden, ads were not allowed in TV. So only time you got to see ads was at the movie. So ads felt special and fun to watch.

It's fun to try guessing what brand the ad is for (up to a point). I hate when they tease me as if the movie is about to start and then start playing more ads instead.

Movie trailers are good though. Have seen some that I'd never have watched without seeing a trailer there.

I like the movie trailers. But one of the theaters i used to go to started showing 5 minutes of ads, like the premovie soda and popcorn, cars, etc. I dont go to that one anymore.

I don't know in my cinema it's usually max. 5-10 Minutes. Sometimes even no commercials at all.

It's an independent one though.

I leave for the theater when its scheduled to start. I'm in my seat with usually a few minutes to spare. Its super nice living so close to the theater.

I like to see the ads so I know what to get excited to see. I also like it as late protection where if we are late we know the movie still hasn't started. Add 15 mins for the "real" start time.

I was going to mention that this was one of the reasons I like going to the last remaining drive-in theater in my area, since it doesn't do that. Then I realized that it's been quite a while since I've seen a movie there, and decided to check what's playing. 3 of the 4 "now playing" movies and 13 out of 15 "coming soon" movies are sequels or reboots. And now I'm mildly infuriated, too.

There used to be a scary logo animation for National Amusements that used to scare me as a child. It gives me the creeps now still.

It was all neon and then there would be a creepy screen to show you where the exits were.

https://youtu.be/xkuWSpljM5g And https://youtu.be/TK3rSOrE6L0

(Not directly related but this reminded me of it.)